u/ikigai_mirror

I have this LSAD school listed in my fashion school list, because fees is somewhat less than the prestigious fashion schools like CSM, LCF, Parsons, FIT, Bunka etc.,

Earlier I was planning for NCAD Dublin, but due to the very negative reviews about that college's environment, culture, curriculum, infrastructure, I had to remove it from my list.

Please suggest me how is the TUS/LSAD as a whole, the college reputation, culture, environment, how respected is that university or fashion/art& design department, any negatives, because as an international student I will be paying tuition fees of 12,500Euros per year, so 4times that to complete Bachelors, which is infact expensive for me but if the school is really good, will be taking education loan.

I have read some posts about Masters program at TUS - Technological University of the Shannon (previously called AIT - Athlone Institute of Technology) is really bad and many redditors commented on those posts saying don't apply, its a bad university, very small city so no part time jobs, or job opportunities after graduation, student accommodation issues from apartment owners etc., But my post is about Bachelors in Fashion Design program, so no related posts found on reddit.

I would like to hear honest suggestions, opinions, feedback from the Indians in Ireland.

To understand Germany's Masters process. You must do a "research" which will take a few days of time for sure.
Also, I would recommend reading the wiki of this sub as part of your "learning" about Germany’s study process.

Here is the basic info you should know, before posting a simple query expecting you will receive helpful answers but instead get unnecessarily harsh replies from some of this sub members :

1. Almost all the German public universities offer free of tuition Masters programs. Some universities do charge semester fees (which is also minimal) and this varies based on the location of the university and government regulations. Seeking someone to list out the recommended University names is impossible and hard as its your responsibility to shortlist the universities based on your career interests, explore more about each university, application timelines, suitable programs, Teaching language, English language score requirement, GRE/GMAT requirement, application method (direct university specific application portal or UniAssist or any other approach the university has mentioned), and most importantly check the ECTS/Credit points requirement for the MSc program you are interested in. Just because you have good Bachelors score card won't get you automatically selected, German education system is very strict about the ECTS match.
2. Be it summer or winter intake, application window "isn't" same for all universities and don't assume you can apply only 1 or 2 months before the intake. Some universities will require you to submit few months before itself (for example few of the programs at Universität Stuttgart requires you to submit application 9 months before the intake), whereas some universities will open the application window 3-5months before the intake and will close quickly like within a month or so, it varies for each university and in some rare cases varies for each program of same university itself. And some universities will have application window open just 2months before the ultimate common last date for the intake (For example from November/December to January, with the ultimate common last date being January 15th for summer intake, that's your last chance). I would strongly suggest you to be prepared with all your documents including language proficiency certificates, APS, top 10% ranking certificate, recommendation letters, Bachelor thesis, if required GRE/GMAT etc., at least 7-9 months before. Many colleges have started adding this GRE/GMAT requirement now for winter intake 2026 which didn't exist for summer intake 2026, this is purely for the purpose of filtering out applicants, as the no. of international applicants applying to Germany has increased drastically since 2025 due to global issues. It's recommended to maintain an excel file to have all the info noted down for each and every university.
3. Universities for which you have to apply through UniAssist, as far as I know, it will be 2 types of UniAssist applications, 1st type -> you apply directly to UniAssist by submitting all the required documents before the deadline and they will evaluate the docs and directly forward it to university and you no need to do anything after submission to UniAssist, just wait to hear results from university, 2nd type -> you apply to UniAssist with all the required docs and UniAssist will evaluate and share you a VPD document, and you will submit this VPD doc as part of your application process on university's own application portal. If a university mentions VPD requirement, its a mandatory one, if you skip submitting that, they won't even consider your application valid and straight away rejects. Its important to note UniAssist takes minimum 4-6 weeks of time to evaluate your submission, so if your application is of VPD requirement type (2nd type I mentioned above), it's your responsibility to submit the application on UniAssist 1.5-2.5 months before the university opens the application window, so that you'll have the VPD ready before the deadline. And one more info I would like to tell you, lets say you have submitted application for an university on UniAssist, be it of non-VPD or VPD type, and later you realized you don't want to proceed due to various reasons like you got admission from the desired university already, or you understood you won't be able to get VPD by the required time, or you just want to withdraw the application out of no interest, if the UniAssist status for that application is "In Evaluation" & "Withdraw" button is enabled, you can just withdraw and get the money back, first they will immediately credit the amount you paid to your UniAssist account's credit balance, then you should fill their contact us form requesting to have the money refunded back to your original mode of payment instead, and they will process your request within few days. In case, you didn't get admission from any university for the planned intake, and surely would like to plan for next intake, you can skip contacting them for refunding to original mode of payment, so the amount stays in your UniAssist account credit balance itself, and you can just use it later while applying for next intake, this is also helpful to avoid paying international transaction charges by your bank again. So many students usually think if they withdraw applications, they won't be able to get the amount back anyways, and simply ignore withdrawing with the misconceptions.
4. About the results announcement from universities - Some universities will only evaluate all the applications only after application deadline & announce results just 1-3 months before the intake, and some will evaluate the applications as soon as you apply and announce results within few days. Keep in mind some universities will conduct interview/aptitude test too, so it's crucial to read carefully all the info on the program description page for every university and have a clear understanding. The sooner you are prepared with all the docs and apply, the more best-to-better choices you will have to choose from.
5. Regarding visa application timeline, you should start your Visa process as soon as you receive the admission letter, generally varying between 1-3 months before the semester start. Again, the sooner you apply, the more peace of mind & time you will have, as the Visa processing gets delayed during peak months, and depends on the branch location and your luck factor, I recently read a post where a student got visa processed in a few days., whereas some students struggle to find slots availability itself. Delaying application submissions reduces your choices of universities.
6. IELTS minimum band of 6.5 with no individual component being less than 6.5 makes you eligible for so many public universities, the more your score the more options of universities.
7. Your CV should be of acceptable format, you should explore the list of formats suitable for your profile and acceptable by German universities, EuroPass format is one of them. You can't simply submit the CV in regular Indian CV format.

Key points:

a) Learning German is highly important, if you already started learning it - very good, if you choose to learn German only after you receive admission - good, if you only want to start learning German during your Masters duration - okay. Having German language proficiency gives you an edge in many ways - you can cut-out the competition while applying for some universities where the teaching language is only German or partially German, highly helpful in daily life while studying in Germany, and you will be eligible for most of the job opportunities after graduation whatever is your field. Same with GRE/GMAT score too, it gives you an edge to be eligible for reputed universities where this requirement filters out competition from many students.

b) Good thing is you don't need to depend on any consultancies for any of the steps.

c) The websites you definitely would/should have knowledge about are APS India, DAAD, UniAssist, Anabin, StudyInGermany, VFS Global, Expatrio. Anyways, you will get to know about these websites once you start researching about Germany Masters process. Always use official & authentic websites only.

d) If you get confused about the program requirements, your eligibility, process to be followed, anything related to university, you can happily mail the official admissions team of that particular university and they will respond within very short time. But this doesn't mean you can spam their inbox.

e) You should also check the dorm facility, job market situation, career opportunities in Germany for the program you have chosen, the kind of city where the university is located at, cost of living etc.,

f) Your professional work experience has very less to no consideration by German universities, unless they mention that as part of the requirements.

g) Your Letter of Motivation/Statement of purpose should be specific to the program & university you are applying for, don't blindly copy paste content from random internet websites. Refer to the official format expected by university, DAAD portal too can be helpful.

h) A Master’s program at a German university is usually 3 to 4 semesters long, which means it is officially designed to be completed in around 2 years. However, it is not always commonly completed within 2 years by the international students. I've noticed that many previous and current students take longer, often 2.5 to >=3 years, to complete their MSc in Germany due to various reasons. I’m saying this because you should also take into consideration the realistic and not-so-positive aspects regarding the circumstances before, during, and after a Master’s program. Don't just choose MSc in Germany considering only positive factors or just because your friend/colleague/relative is studying abroad.

i) Another important aspect is cultural adaptation. Like any other nation, Germany too has different social norms, public etiquette, and regulations compared to a student's home country (India, for example, in this context). As an international student, understanding and adapting to local culture and expectations can make daily life, academics, and social interactions much smoother. The behavior of international students can also influence how future students from the same country are perceived, so being respectful and responsible is generally beneficial for everyone.

j) And "DON'T even think of German private universities".

Finally I would say do your own research on every single process, and don't blindly trust some online reddit or similar forum's posts, as some of them will be outdated info or partially-to-completely false info.

Note : The reason I am sharing this info thinking it might be helpful to other students.

When I applied for Masters, I did few mistakes without learning complete knowledge and having incorrect assumptions about how the Masters application process works, which resulted in rejections from all the 15+ universities I applied to., wasted time & money, disappointed and had to wait for another intake.

All the best.

P.S: Dear members of this sub, you can add more new info or correct the info.

Of course IT job is a dream on-demand career, offers best salaries and gives best ROI for your study abroad investments, but is it still valid in present day situations ?

And just because the above mentioned MSc programs are "suitable" for your Bachelors programs to get admission and Visa, doesnt mean you should automatically choose these programs just to move and study abroad, without realistically calculating the job market and the day to day issues international students face silently ? Also just because your friend/colleague/relative is studying abroad, you shouldn't do the same without understanding which college/program suits you and on top of that by taking hefty educational loans.

If you are choosing to pursue Masters abroad just because of the all-glittery lifestyle shared on social media, you better rethink your decisions. No international student will expose the negatives of studying abroad and the real job market. Every post they share is for views and gaining fame, more subscribers and promotions.

I am from a middle class background, so can't afford top Fashion colleges abroad. Even for NCAD, I need to take education loan. I cant opt for studying fashion design in my country as my age factor doesn't qualify me for pursuing fashion Bachelors.

I would like to seek the opinions from this sub, to make the right choice and not to waste time & money. Please share your honest thoughts about NCAD Ireland.

I read so many bad google reviews about NCAD which is adding up negative points. And college building too is so average.

I am from a middle class background, so can't afford top Fashion colleges abroad. Even for NCAD, I need to take education loan. I cant opt for studying fashion design in my country as my age factor doesn't qualify me for pursuing fashion Bachelors.

I would like to seek the opinions from this sub, to make the right choice and not to waste time & money. Please share your honest thoughts about NCAD Ireland.

I read so many bad google reviews about NCAD which is adding up negative points. And college building & infrastructure too is so average.

I don't know sewing, I assumed I will be taught that skill in college, but some forums mentioned NCAD expects the applicant must have sewing knowledge. Then what is the college meant for if they expect student to learn everything beforehand at a teenage phase?

I am from a middle class background, so can't afford top Fashion colleges abroad. Even for NCAD, I need to take education loan. I cant opt for studying fashion design in India as my age factor doesn't qualify me for pursuing fashion Bachelors.

I would like to seek the opinions from this sub, to make the right choice and not to waste time & money. Please share your honest thoughts about NCAD Ireland.

I read so many bad google reviews about NCAD which is adding up negative points. And college building too is so average.

"my_qualifications" : NA

I am from a middle class background, so can't afford top Fashion colleges abroad. Even for NCAD, I need to take education loan. I cant opt for studying fashion design in my country as my age factor doesn't qualify me for pursuing fashion Bachelors.

I would like to seek the opinions from this sub, to make the right choice and not to waste time & money. Please share your honest thoughts about NCAD Ireland.

I read so many bad google reviews about NCAD which is adding up negative points. And college building too is so average.

I am from a middle class background, so can't afford top Fashion colleges abroad. Even for NCAD, I need to take education loan. I cant opt for studying fashion design in my country as my age factor doesn't qualify me for pursuing fashion Bachelors.

I would like to seek the opinions from this sub, to make the right choice and not to waste time & money.

Please share your honest thoughts about the NCAD Ireland.

I read so many bad google reviews about NCAD which is adding up negative points.

I am from a middle class background, so can't afford top Fashion colleges abroad. Even for NCAD, I need to take education loan. I cant opt for studying fashion design in my country as my age factor doesn't qualify me for pursuing fashion Bachelors.

I would like to seek the opinions from this sub, to make the right choice and not to waste time & money.

I read so many bad google reviews about NCAD which is adding up negative points.

I have been hearing this conditional offer related posts with German universities too on Reddit nowadays, but their requirement seems different like language certificate etc., in order to get the unconditional offer. But does Ireland has similar requirement too specifically NCAD?

Also TU Berlin says only 5% of applicants match their ECTS/Credit point requirements. I would like to know whether anyone from JNTU with BTech CS background made it to TU Berlin? Is JNTU syllabus curriculum suitable for TUB's expectations? As the application goes through UniAssist, I dont want to waste 75Euros unnecessarily if no JNTU alumni has got admitted earlier.

"my_qualifications": BTech CSE

I noticed for some of the competitive universities to which most apply, application deadline has passed for winter intake. Should I have applied earlier? Am I too late?

Are both of these colleges considered equal in terms of global reputation and value, for a teenager dreaming of studying fashion ?

Does a fashion degree from any of these colleges adds weightage to my profile for job search or to establish a career in fashion industry later ?

I am not from European nation by the way.

Are both of these colleges considered equal in terms of global reputation and value, for a teenager dreaming of studying fashion ?

Does a fashion degree from any of these colleges adds weightage to my profile for job search or to establish a career in fashion industry later ?

I am not from European nation by the way.

I am planning for 2027 intake.

The colleges I aim for are :

1. Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp(RAFA), Belgium
2. NCAD, Ireland
3. UAL, London
4. FIT, New York

From an international student perspective, I noticed RAFA & NCAD have affordable fee even though they are highly famous colleges.

UAL is highly expensive and seems like a college for only richie-rich students, so its out of my budget and not much scholarship offerings from them either. so its out of the list.

I am seeking suggestions on RAFA, NCAD, FIT. Please let me know your suggestions about these colleges.