What to Expect

Despite what many people think, fashion merchandising is not all about glitz and glamour.

Just ask Angelina Yagadayev. She took fashion merchandising at a community college. "Before I got into this program, I thought fashion buyers had spectacular jobs which included lots of travel and fashion shows in Europe," she says.

Now, however, she knows that's not the case. "It includes working long hours, in front of the computer most of the day, writing up orders at 3 in the morning, contacting vendors, doing a lot of research and keeping up with the trends and doing a lot of presentations."

Yagadayev says students in her program spent 15 to 25 hours a week in class and around four to five hours per day on homework.

Robin Evans studied fashion merchandising at Louisiana State University. "I have learned that the fashion business is always changing. It's never boring," she says.

"The curriculum also gave me a good mixture of business courses as well as textile courses, which I was really interested in."

How to Prepare

Be computer and Internet savvy. You should also be active in organizations that encourage leadership and teamwork.

Yagadayev suggests watching television in order to get an inside look at how fashion goes through changes.

It's crucial to understand customers and their needs. "The most important [thing I did] was getting a part-time job in retail sales," says Yagadayev.