But that’s not all you need. You also need to be doing work at a very high level, professionally. You need a professional portfolio, with work for clients. You may want to take a couple years between undergrad and grad school to work in the field. This would make you a stronger candidate both for grad school admissions, and for finding a job as a professor. But if you don’t – if you can get into an MFA program right away – be sure to do such work as part of that program.

To be able to find a job as a professor, you not only want to be producing top level work yourself, but you also want to get into the strongest possible grad school.

In your area, the top programs in Graphic Design are at:
- Yale (a bit of a haul from Long Island, but drivable)
- School of Visual Arts (in NYC)
- Pratt (right on LI, more or less)

These are actually among the top 5 programs in the US, so you’re lucky that they are so close.

Other strong programs in the field can be found near you at:
- Parsons (NYC)
- Columbia University (NYC)
- Bard College (upstate)
- Rutgers (NJ)
- New York University

Some of these are a drive, but they are driveable. There are others, like RIT, that are great, but are further, and I don’t think would be a realistic commute from Long Island.

This is an academic prospective, not a graphic design one… to complete the degree of education you will need, be prepared to attend school away from your home. It will be a couple years (4-5), but definately worthwhile.