A liberal art college in Chicago vs SCAD

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>I need some advice. </p>

<p>I'm a film student transferring to a liberal art college in the Chicago area. They offered me a full-ride, which covers tuition, books, room, board, even a flight to and from the U.S. per year because I am an international student. I thought I should definitely take advantage of it and decided to attend this school, especially since the location is perfect and they have a great public transportation. It's not too far from where I live, either, so moving won't be difficult for me. </p>

<p>However, I was also accepted and awarded four different scholarships by SCAD at the same time: $10,000 Academic Honors Scholarship, $6500 Artistic Honors Scholarship based on my portfolio presentation, the $2100 Student Incentive Scholarship, and $5000 Student Opportunity Scholarship based on my personal financial needs. I had a total of US$23,600 to attend SCAD. </p>

<p>Since SCAD's scholarships didn't cover everything, I chose to go to the one in Chicago and already told SCAD that I won't be able to attend the college, but still SCAD gave me a great amount of money.</p>

<p>SCAD</a> > Admission > Cost</p>

<p>Even though they already cancelled my admission and scholarship awards for now, they said they will be more than happy to reactivate my enrollment if I change my mind.</p>

<p>SCAD is such an amazing, well-respected art college, which has been my dream school to go to for many years. SCAD told me that all of my portfolios were submitted to the committee for review; I received higher scores in the areas of storytelling, cinematography, editing, incorporation of sound, dialogue, effects, and sound/image composition. After hearing it, I have started thinking that this school might have been the better option for me... If I asked my parents for a little bit of support, I could have attended this school. But the other school offered me a full-ride, I decided to attend theirs. They do have film / graphic art major, but compared to SCAD, it's nothing impressive. The good thing about attending this liberal art college is that I can double major something else for a backup plan in case I won't get a job in the creative world, such as marketing, Spanish, or whatever. I do like learning foreign languages and am interested in study abroad program they offer, so I thought choosing this school might be good. </p>

<p>Now I don't know if I'm making the right decision, though. Which college would you choose if you were me?</p>

2

<p>I think you are making the right decision.</p>

3

<p>There is something to be said for graduating without debt. To get a full ride is impressive. It sounds like you are very talented. If you have talent, drive and passion, it won’t matter what the name of the school on your degree says. It is about what you make of the opportunities given to you. I think you made a very wise decision, and that you will succeed at whatever you set your mind to doing.</p>

4

<p>It sounds like your work is already quite strong. </p>

<p>Might I offer also that Chicago will give you an opportunity to go-see and talk to many of the already established companies in the film scene, albeit there won’t be much in the way of Hollywood style film companies.You’ll be living in a city with a thriving art scene and a lot of computer-generated types of film companies as well as independent film companies. Take advantage of that opportunity, while you might not want to get too involved in working while in school, certainly you will have the opportunity to call these places up, go in and talk to them about what they’re doing, show them your work that you submitted to SCAD, get their opinions. It’ll give you the opportunity to talk to real people working in the field, much more so than you’d find at SCAD. And most will probably be quite responsive to your coming in and talking to them. </p>

<p>You might find yourself with some real-life opportunities and/or you might find you want to change direction after getting more info about the real=world work and in that case you’re in a school where you can change direction if that’s what you decide.</p>

5

<p>Thanks to all of you! I think you guys are right; I’m making the right, wise decision. I would love to stay social and try to make connections while I am in the Chicago area. </p>

<p>If I still really, really want to go to SCAD in the future, they have a grad school anyway.</p>

6

<p>Hey, I am an international student too and my dream has always been going to scad.
I was also accepted and awarded four different scholarships by SCAD, $5,000 Academic Honors Scholarship, $6500 Artistic Honors Scholarship, the $2000 Student Incentive Scholarship, and $3000 International Student Scholarship. Summed up is a total of US$16,500 which is still not enough for me.
My time is running out and I really need to get a college. I want to study fashion marketing and management. Do you know of any schools that offer financial aid for international students? also, can I know what college in chicago you go to and hoe they contacted you? Seriously I’ve been doing research for over 2 years, and I got nothing.
Please heeeelp</p>

7

<p>Hey, just follow your gut! I’m sure you’re making the right decision. And once grad school comes around, maybe you’ll get a fantastic scholarship to a school even better than SCAD! Take advantage of your resources in Chicago, and good luck :)</p>