Advice on Visual Arts Majors (CC Transfer)?

Hi, I’m going to be a junior transfer this Fall after 2 years at a CC, transferring to four-year and looking into Art / Design programs. I’m taking 10 cr. of Art History and 15 cr. of Studio Art at my CC before graduating, as well as a year of Foreign Language and Gen-Eds for most schools completed. My GPA is a 4.0 and I have plenty of ECs.

My main concern is choosing a major in the Arts that has earning potential, but is also attainable for a junior transfer. It seems most design programs are closed to transfers, and the fact that I’ve already completed quite a bit of the Studio Art major at most schools is a plus. However, the earning potential for this field seems very limited. I have a range of creative interests (photography, film, architecture, technology, drawing, etc.) as well as other academic interests, so it’s been very hard for me to choose a major (part of the reason I’m at CC in the first place).

Sorry for rambling, but I’m hoping maybe some of you have advice for me? Is it possible to get design jobs with a Fine/Studio Art degree?

It is possible to find art/design jobs in the commercial fields. You may be amazed by the types of jobs available. One way to see which opportunities are available is to use Linkedin. As we all know, this app lets you see where any individual has worked, but many people don’t know that you can also view the profile of college alumni by searching for a specific college. To do this just google “Linkedin ”. It will pull up various results, but you want to click on the one that has “linkedin.com/school/…” in the URL. Then click on the “alumni” button on the first page. From here you can click the “next” button to filter the alumni by major. Then you can filter it further by region, etc. It’s very interesting to see how some creative people got to where they are now; you are going to find some unexpected results.

When choosing which college name to insert, you can use any college, but be sure to also do a few searches on some well known art and design colleges that focus on training students for commercial jobs. Do this not because those schools are where you should go, but because those schools have a big concentration of alumni who work in those types of jobs. So finding the answers you are looking for may be easier.

When my daughter expressed interest in studying illustration and going to an art school, I was naively skeptical because I am not a creative one and I came from a traditional 4-year university. And of course, as a mom I was ultimately concerned about employment. But Linkedin (and a ton of other online research) really enlightened me. Now, my daughter is in art school and I am constantly impressed by the teachers’ focus on professionalism and employment, and the connections she has already made. My daughter chose an art school because that was the type of environment she wanted. But when I did my Linkedin searches, I searched different types of colleges and found alumni from unexpected places doing what she wants to do. So remember, there’s more than one path to a job.

I am a firm believer that creative people are given their talents for a purpose. But, because art/design jobs are not as abundant or as obvious as business/science/etc. jobs, you just have to do a bit more research, be tenacious, and make as many connections as you can to end up where you want to be.

@animal1096 Hi, sorry I don’t log into this site too often, but thanks for this advice regarding LinkedIn. I will definitely take a look at this. Also, if it makes any difference, I’m not planning to attend a school that focuses exclusively on art, rather majoring in a related field at a traditional four year university. I look forward to getting to know people in a variety of majors other than my own and being able to minor in another unrelated field.

To add to this discussion, I’d like to know if anyone knows of a school which offers an interdisciplinary art and design program. Schools seem to push specialization and separate fine arts and design, but I’d like to take courses in multiple disciplines while being able to transfer coursework. Any ideas?

@lookingxaround do you have a certain area of the country you’re looking at? That might help narrow down suggestions a bit. Often art departments specialize, esp in the commercial arts, because that allows them to best prepare you for the jobs in those fields. It is a bit of a catch-22 since students often don’t know they’ll like that field until later in college and/or on the job. BUT there’s plenty of schools that will be a bit more inter-disciplinary, in that they understand working artists often come from a wide variety of backgrounds and evolve as their interests, the job market changes and technology changes.

@ArtAngst I’m looking pretty exclusively at WA/OR/CA, though I might possibly be open to schools in the Northeast.

Got it - I’m most familiar with the Northeast based on where my kids applied and what other schools I interact with work-wise. So far just from many tours etc, MICA gives the best ‘sell’ on being inter-disciplinary, but I’d definitely talk with admissions counselors there to find out how that would work as a potential transfer.