<p>This is an issue I'm struggling with as a parent. We'll be visiting an art school soon, so I intend to ask them this, but I'd like some honest opinions here. I can think of several reasons to study art at a university, but I am struggling to list reasons to attend an art school instead. What do you consider to be the advantages of attending an art school?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, let's see. First, you will find that there are a lesser general education reqirements over that found in a university setting. Thus, you can take more art related courses.</p>
<p>Second, usually the general educational courses aren't as rigerous as with a university, Thus, you might get better grades.</p>
<p>Third, many of the good stand alone art schools have a LOT more offierings in art and design than that found in most universities. </p>
<p>Fourth, everyone you will meet is interested in art,which provides more focus on work. In fact, art takes a LOT of work especially in the freshmen year, if the school has a good program. If you have a bunch of kids who aren't in art and aren't working that hard, it can be distracting.</p>
<p>Fifth, in order to attract the better students, some of the art schools offer a better shot at scholarship money.</p>
<p>Sixth, art schools tend to have more art related facilities such as kilns, foundaries, drafting tables etc. Some of the schools have furniture specifically designed for art students. Check out the new dorms in RISD.</p>
<p>Please report back after your visit advmom- as we are in the same boat here. We did not look at any art schools per se and I would like to hear your take.
One of the drawbacks I have found is the expense of many art schools and the concern with a change of plans ( as in change in major). Also- my d is not sure she wants to surround herself with only other "artists" as opposed to many students with varying interests.</p>
<p>I was asked about the advantages and not the disadvantages.Here are a list of disadvantages:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you want to change major to a non-art field, you must transfer schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Doesn't allow a double major especially for non-art related fields</p></li>
<li><p>You only associate with art students,which can be good or bad depending on your point of view. This was a major factor for my daughter who wanted to associate with many different types of people and different types of majors.</p></li>
<li><p>Liberal arts courses tend to be more rigorous at universities.</p></li>
<li><p>You can't minor in a non-art related field at stand alone art schools. In fact, minors are almost non-existant since each art major is very time consuming. Let me note that you can take other art courses however. It is just that you normally can't minor in other areas.</p></li>
<li><p>Facilities not specifically art related are usually much better at universities. For example, most of the gyms, exercise equipment and pools at art schools were usually pretty poor or not well maintained. Facilities at universities such as University of Cincinnati and RIT were FABULOUS. Check out the facilities at the more well known art schools such as RISD or Pratt. They are very underwhelming.</p></li>
<li><p>There are usually more extracurricular stuff happening in universities than at art schools. Universities tend to have more and better sports programs, marching bands, more concerts etc.There are also more openings for musicians, concert performances and sports. There is usually much less of these things at stand alone art schools.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As a student going to an art school(hopefully) having to convince parents about art school rather than a university i can say this:</p>
<p>Art Schools offer a BFA(bachelor of fine arts) which in order to recieve, the student will need about 70% studio courses and about 30% General Ed. In an LAC or university its about 50/50. Though some LACs or Universities will also offer a BFA(with the same requirements as an art school of 70/30) so there isn't much of a difference in degree from an art school or university(only certain social aspects, mentioned by people above)</p>
<p>taxguy made two very good points, about art-related facilities also about the offerings in art and design classes. </p>
<p>though i think the largest difference between Art Schools and Universities, is your son should go to school where he feels comfortable, i personally didn't want to hangout at a school with frat-guys or people just looking to get laid. I wanted to go to a school where people were serious about their art. And although there will still be students looking to party at both places, i've felt at art schools theres a certain intensity about art. I like being able to walk through the halls and come across art galleries and art hung on the walls. When it comes down to it, its really about where your son feels comfortable and where your son wants to be, because if your son isn't in an enviornment where he feels comfortable, he will have a bad experience.</p>
<p>Taxguy's second post pretty much listed all of my concerns with art schools. </p>
<p>It makes sense that the art facilities and art course offerings would be better at an art school. I will check that out in a couple of weeks when we visit. Unfortunately, we are in the midwest, so checking out the east and west coast schools is not currently an option. I think the midwest art schools are much smaller and will be less impressive than their counterparts on both coasts. If she decides that she prefers an art school, we will try to make a trip out east later in the year.</p>
<p>What about job prospects and salaries? Does anybody know if there is a difference between art schools and universities in that area? I should mention that she wants to major in graphic design, not the fine arts.</p>
<p>Thanks again. And I will report back after our visit.</p>
<p>I should also mention that the biggest advantage I've found for art schools so far is that they review your portfolio prior to admission. Universities typically review your portfolio after foundation courses, so you can be admitted to the university, but not get admitted to your desired major a year or two later. There are exceptions to this.</p>
<p>Just to clarify...RISD students are allowed to use Brown's gym and sign up for classes at Brown and visa versa. RISD also recently completed the renovation of a new dorm, library, student center and cafeteria. Don't think Taxguy visited RISD before the renovation had been completed.</p>
<p>Da5is,yes, I visited RISD about 2 years ago; thus, things might have changed. However, what I said did seem to apply to most of the stand alone art schools that I visited at the time. I should note that even with the renovations of RISD, I would be surprised if the non-art related facilities come up to par with schools like University of Cincinnati or RIT.</p>
<p>Advmom, as for salaries and job offers, a lot will depend on the quality of the school and the quality of the portfolio and grades of the student. Each school has its own advantages and disadvantages.</p>
<p>For example, University of Cincinnati, where my daughter goes, has 1.5 years of paid coops,which provides not only experience but great contacts. CMU has the reputation for great placement of its design grads. RISD can have good placement depending on the major. </p>
<p>Generally schools with good name cache get more interviewers,but it really will boil down to the contacts made by the student and by their portfolio.</p>
<p>It also won't hurt to get great grades since this should at least get the student in the door for an interview. However, it is the interview and the portfolio that will sell the employer on hiring the applicant.</p>
<p>Overall, I don't think it will make that much of a difference when it comes to job interviews on campus as to whether one attends a university or stand alone art school AS LONG AS the school has a well-respected program.</p>
<p>AdvMom, I would put the salary and career prospects to the side for a moment and concentrate on finding the environment in which your daughter would do best. People tend to do best when they are happy and well adjusted and doing well in undergraduate school -- good grades, strong recommendations, solid internships, compelling extracurricular activities -- is the key to a successful next step, whether it's a job or an advanced degree.</p>
<p>My husband went to an artschool and is a practicing artist. My son studied art at an LAC and is now thinking about a masters in architecture. I studied art history at a mega-university and ended up in a design related field.</p>
<p>We know a lot of fine artists and people in arts driven careers and honestly don't see any direct correlation between their financial success and their alma maters. Some went to artschool, some to large universities, some to small liberal arts colleges. Some have done combinations of any of the above plus a graduate degree. There are so many options that it boggles the mind to think about pluses or minuses without considering the individual.</p>
<p>To me, the major difference between art school and a university or college is the make up of the student body. At art school all of your friends and instructors will be artists of some sort. They will eat, think and breathe art and design 24/7. At a university or college your colleagues and teachers will be involved in everything under the sun -- literature, science, social studies --- in short, you'll get the benefit of a true liberal arts education.</p>
<p>If your daughter does decide that she wants a “full-service” college, then she’ll need to carefully examine the art and design offerings of the schools that she’s interested in. Obviously, an artschool should be good at art and design. Less obviously, all colleges and universities have art departments, but they are definitely not all created equal. </p>
<p>So the first decision is art school or college/university? If she wants to explore both at this point, then she should be looking at colleges/universities that are good fits for her – academically and environmentally. The artschools are easier to identify as there are fewer of them. The college/university choices are extremely wide, so if you’d give a few more details about her wishlist – geography, size, personality, as well as her basic grades and scores – we could come up with some recommendations.</p>
<p>Momrath said:</p>
<p>"concentrate on finding the environment in which your daughter would do best."</p>
<p>Bingo! It is all about the fit and the focus. The majority of kids at a pure art school are there because they are pretty sure that is what they want to do. For fine arts in particular, I think the keys are the facilities, the instruction and higher level of competition/collaboration.</p>
<p>If your S or D is not sure if art is for them, I would recommend against an art school. If your S or D has always done art, is drawn to others who do art, including facullty and professional artists, I would strogly consider it as an option.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: my D will be returning to MICA as a sophomore in the fall.</p>
<p>If your child wants to do something art/design related, but isn't sure specifically what yet, then the advantage of an art school is that they'll usually have a greater variety of options to choose from. The school I went to for undergrad had Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Mixed Media, Animation, and a limited Graphic Design curriculum, but no Industrial Design, Metalworking, Printmaking.... if someone knew that they wanted to do one of the things they had it could be a great place, but if someone came in and tried some things out and realized that Industrial Design was really their passion, they were up a creek.</p>
<p>i figure i'd give my story because i was in the same situation</p>
<p>i had applied to both art schools & big universities in highschool and because of my parents concern i ended up at Syracuse University majoring in their communications design major. i hated it. i loved syracuse, i loved the environment, and still to this day i have not found friends like the friends i had at syracuse, they were amazing. but i wasn't happy with the education. it wasn't focused on design enough, the professors were no-names who half the time contradicted themselves. and the program was so hard but it wasn't like i was learning anything, it was just hard to give itself prestige. </p>
<p>after researching i ended up applying to transfer to SVA or CalArts. calarts really isn't advertised anywhere because the school does very little marketing. but in circles its pretty well known. for example on the non-graphic design front, pretty much almost all the well known animators for disney/pixar including brad bird & lassater went to calarts for animation. it still is the #1 2d animation school in the country. </p>
<p>for graphic design, which is my major, its pretty much the top for experimental graphic design. thats the thing that made it different.. it was experimental, and most of the focus was on the creativity of the student etc. but its a super small program. theres only 13 people in my year and we all have studio space. the faculty is all so super well known that just saying you were being taught by ed fella or jeff keedy was a pretty awesome thing to say. it was pretty much the perfect school for me. i felt like i was learning, and while its super hard and very demanding, i WANTED to learn, versus at syracuse where i just wanted to finish. </p>
<p>anyway, for me art school ended up working out better. im very happy with my decision.</p>
<p>for your daughter, make sure to research what kind of design department it is. commerical, experimental, fine arts based, etc. like sva is still somewhat fine arts based, but commerical, syracuse was PURELY commerical, it was more advertising than graphic design.</p>
<p>As promised, here is a follow-up after our visit to an art school (School of the Art Institute of Chicago).</p>
<p>The facilities and opportunities within art definitely were much better than those we've seen at universities.</p>
<p>According to their admissions department, the advantage is that you are totally immersed in art. Everyone around you, from fellow students to professors, is immersed in art. To me, this would not be an advantage. I liked the diversity of attending a large university, meeting people from other majors, going to football games, hanging out at the quad or union. But, to my daughter, to be immersed in art sounded incredible and I can see her flourishing there.</p>
<p>We will probably visit other art schools to find the best fit for here.</p>
<p>We are kind of in the same boat, but our daughter wants a place where she can double major in her specific kind of art (not just general "studio art"), and something else (TBD at this point). She also prefers diverse student body (as opposed to artists only). The schools on her short list are WUSTL, CMU, Brown and Boston U (we visited and liked all of those). </p>
<p>Other universities (more on a "safety" side) I heard of that should have very strong art programs are Virginia Commonwealth U and U of Greensboro, NC.</p>
<p>AdvMom-
I only skimmed this thread so am sorry if you made this clear but depending upon what specific art major your S is interested in, U of MN can be a great compromise (and if you are in certain states in the MW, they have reciprocal tuition).
At UM, all of the art majors (visual AND performing) with the exception of the design majors, take their classes in an area called the Arts Quarter on the West Bank. This area is right across from the student union and is set up like a private art school. IMO it is the best of both worlds, L.A. University in an artsy metro city, but the students are treated like and can feel like they are at an art school. Throughout the year they hold special view days just for potential west bank students, check with admissions.</p>
<p>The design majors, from what I understand from a friend of my D's, have their classes and programs through a different college/division at UMTC, not in the West Bank, but verify that. Maybe they can get some of the same experience or at least live in the dorms in the AQ.</p>
<p>Good luck. My D will be applying there for next fall.</p>
<p>nngmm, is your daughter applying for fall of 08? i'm in the same boat as your daughter also! :) i really want to do WUSTL hehe.</p>
<p>and advmom,
what kind of art does your daughter want to do?
Parsons is very strong in fashion, whereas a school like RISD would be good in many areas but it doesn't have commercial art.
I heard that it was much tougher getting into non-artschools' art programs, but i'm not sure about this.</p>
<p>My daughter is interested in graphic design.</p>
<p>For those looking into the university option, other schools I've heard are good are NC State, UIUC, RIT, Carnegie Mellon and Cincinnati. We haven't looked at the west coast at all, so I can't suggest any that direction. </p>
<p>So many schools, so little time!</p>
<p>We had the same question while looking at schools for my daughter last year. I have several friends with art degrees who work in art-related fields. The ones who went to liberal arts schools, wished they had gone to art school, the ones that went to art school, wished they had gone to liberal arts. </p>
<p>That being said, we looked at both and she ended up applying to 3 art and 2 liberal arts. 4 of the 5 schools had some form of a non-binding early action application so by January she had already been accepted to 4 schools. The 5th school, Syracuse, she hit it off with the rep on portfolio day and they sent her a note to apply, so she did and was also accepted. If we hand't heard from the others so early she probably would have applied to 2 or 3 more schools.</p>
<p>She chose Mass Art based on location (she loved the area and wanted an urban campus), and reputation (also interested in graphic design and we knew people in that field who are very familiar with their program and strongly recommended it).</p>
<p>I would have been happy if she ended up at any of the other 4 schools she applied to.</p>