Looking for guidance from the experts here on cc. Would love it if @taxguy and @gouf78 and @colcon2010 would chime in. I have learned lots from your previous posts.
DS has been accepted to many traditional universities as an animation major and wanted help sorting out the programs or finding out anything that anyone knows about these programs. As for background, DS did precollege at Otis in animation and loved it! Also has taken classes at Art Center in figure drawing, char design, environment design and at RPI in video game design (less applicable). Looking most into the quality of the art education, connections, final job placement. Cost is less of an issue. Lastly, if he loves animation and continues on, is it possible to transfer to an arts college (prefers 2D)? Current dream jobs include animation, character design, video game art, concept art. We live in Los Angeles.
Accepted to:
College / 4 or 5 year cost (Cal states take 5 years)
San Jose State University 125K
Loyola Marymount University 217K
Chapman 160K
RIT 132K
Syracuse 192K
DePaul 132K
Champlain awaiting merit award
Cal State Univ Long Beach 115K
Cal State Univ Northridge 115K
Cal State Univ Fullerton 125K
UC San Diego (not a real animation major; major is called ICAM: Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts) 128K
UC Santa Cruz (definitely not animation; major is CS computer game design) 138K
Have visited
LMU
Chapman
DePaul
UCSC
Was going to cram in a bunch of visits during each weekend in April, but unfortunately he cannot go due to a major EC commitment each weekend that he cannot get out of
I wish I could help! But other than general advice which I think you’ve already received in other posts, I don’t have f information on any of these programs. My D attended Ringling. Is that an option?
Look at students work–do they win awards? Currently? (and if you can dig it out) alumni and where they are working presently. More than just a superstar they like to advertise?
Faculty background?
Career services–who recruits at the school on a regular basis? Look up the school’s calendar and see what companies visit, how often and when.
Do you know anybody in the industry? You’re located in LA. Anybody there to ask?
Look at websites, event calendars (should have recruitment visits, guest lecturers listed). Check out a school’s facebook page and see what’s up. E-mail school and ask for copy of alumni magazine.
Look up student work–should be on website. Student awards.
@gouf78,
Thanks so much for your advice!! Your post gave me a few additional ideas and we will start researching these. Also made me dig deep to think of some distant connections so working on these as well. Thanks for your thoughts and ideas!!
Where is your D working now and in what capacity? How does she like it?
I’d check out the school’s or the department’s Twitter feed, FB page and even their Tumblr page (if they are cool enough to have one LOL). Schools are using those to get the word out quick about what stuff their alums and their current students are doing, including awards won.
Get on their e-mail list to receive weekly e-letters about what’s going on.
Also at least for the art schools they are putting out booklets and zines every year showing what the alums are doing. The view books should have examples of student work.
@gouf78 - I would like to hear as well. There is a thread here called “film school: is your grad still working in a restaurant?” I will start another thread: “Art school: is your grad still working in a restaurant?” I would love to hear from CC “alumni” parents.
My D is at a top 5 film studio. She was hired directly after graduation. LOVES her job (I envy her enthusiasm for going to work!) . She wanted story like everyone else but that wasn’t the job offer. She hesitated taking the position at first but of course parents were “Are you kidding me!?” She got her foot in the door and been very happy.She’s discovered strengths she didn’t know she had, learned much and moving up. It’s exciting work and a palpably creative environment.
She’s been very fortunate to not have to move around on a contract basis as most do in the industry. And the animation industry has become hugely competitive --when a studio closes or a contract is up the job market is flooded with highly experienced professionals. It’s tough.
Like film, connections matter including having successful friends which is why I think it’s important to go to the best school you can afford with talent around you. The first day of class her prof said “Look around you. Make friends because these are the people who may be getting you a job. The industry is not large.” And it’s been true still. .But talent wins if you get seen no matter what you do. And the best school won’t get you a job–you have to have talent.
Short story: My D got a friend of hers an interview (in this case D was the connection)–but her friend turned the job down because she wanted to be in story (not happening) and didn’t want to settle for less…D was stunned to say the least that her friend blew a such a huge chance. She was embarrassed for both of them. Now THAT friend is working in a restaurant probably…
@gouf78,
Thanks for sharing your D’s experiences. Glad that she is doing so well.
As for DS’s choices, we started watching reels, short animations, etc on you tube to get examples of the students’ work. I figured we’d use Ringling as the gold standard. I have to say that the work of the Ringling students are amazing! Most could be a short films for Pixar.
As a side note to your D’s experiences, my friend’s kid, MFA USC film prod, many yrs ago, was working her way thru the biz and got job offer for the show “ed”. She turned it down because she didn’t like the people on the show. She has not been able to get a job “in Hollywood” since then.
Update:
Was thinking that DS should stay in CA due to the connections and industry proximity. DS wanted to try exploring other parts of the country for fun, but agreed that it would be more pragmatic to stay in CA.
DS and I have been looking at the reels of the students and will have to say that SJSU is the best. Other notable standouts were Chapman and Drexel. Will visit SJSU and do a second pass at Chapman and LMU. LMU’s reels are not as good as Chapman’s, but internships and connections seem moderately better than Chapman’s although both seem good. CSUN and LMU reels seem about equal to each other.
@writef,
Yes, DS and I did look into LCAD. However, DS and I want him to start off at a traditional college because he often can change his mind. @gladiatorbird has a DS that originally got accepted to USC, LMU, and chapman. He chose chapman. But after frosh yr, transfered into LCAD. She has got some great posts about LCAD and chapman if you do a search. She has provided good advice to me thru PM as well. As a side note, your kiddo will definitely get better arts training at LCAD compared with LMU. LMU provides more choices should your kiddo decide to change majors especially if kiddo wants to consider changing to a non-arts major. But if your kiddo is 100 % arts all the way, then LCAD would be better. As @gouf78 says, check to see who recruits at LCAD. And you might want to pm @gladiatorbird. We did like seeing the LCAD work at NPD.
LMU is definitely well connected with internships and industry placement. Don’t know about lcad’s internships and job placement.
Thank you @YoHoYoHo
We have signed up to audit a class and meet with faculty in both LMU and LCAD next week. We are currently on a visit to SCAD and Ringling.
Great!! DS was signed up for a class at LMU on mon, but now must cancel due to HS commitments. I would love to hear your post class thoughts. lMU’s campus is gorgeous, BTW.
@writef,
Here is my impression of LMU. I did not specifically ask about LCAD since it’s not on DS accepted colleges list. My apologies for that. I’m interested in hearing your impressions as well.
This is compiled from
Our visit on admitted student’s day. Spoke with Animation dept chair.
Disclaimer: DS was going to attend an animation class but had to cancel. So he has not attended an actual class. Second disclaimer: DS had to leave slightly early due to another commitment, so only had a partial tour of the facilities and did not get to view any reels. DS and I had reviewed reels on the internet, though.
I spoke personally with a friend of a friend who is dept chair of on-line animation program at Academy of Art, San Francisco. Bio: worked at Pixar, undergrad Northwestern, some CalArts post grad.
I spoke with personally with Don Hall, director, creator and storyboard for Big Hero 6, Disney’s 3rd highest grossing animated movie (after Frozen #1, and Lion King #2) which won an Academy Award. Bio: Disney, undergrad Iowa, CalArts with MFA? Or post grad?
I spoke with the art foundations professor at SJSU regarding the LMU program. Of course, his answers will be biased.
Both #2 and #3 and #4: all were frankly surprised that LMU has an animation program. Had never heard of it or seen any of the graduates come through. Clearly, LMU is not on the radar or map for animation at Disney or Pixar.
With #1, he stated that students have gone to work at
Bento Box
Titmouse
WB
Dreamworks
RGH
Cartoon Network
It seems that the students are getting placed due to the strength of LMU’s film connections with the studios and entertainment industry, in general, and maybe not so much for the strength of the portfolio or reel. They are able to get a standard entry level-type job and then prove their drawing skills to move to the artistic areas for animation. This is just a guess on my part.
Of course, the equipment at LMU is top notch. The campus is gorgeous and the facilities are awesome. There are opportunities for internships given the proximity to the industry; although the students must be the ones to contact the companies and try to hustle the internships. There is no setups for automatic internships with the companies. The foundation courses in drawing seem present, although much weaker than an arts college. The chair does strongly believe that drawing skills are important for an animator, which is great, but it seems that they accommodate this with figure drawing and movement mechanics, but it is not as strongly supported with contour, tonal, light and dark, and color theory.
As a side note, based on my discussions with #2 and #3 above, seems like SJSU and Chapman/Dodge are much stronger in the animation industry for traditional, non-arts, colleges than LMU. Another notable traditional college for animation noted by #3 and #4 was BYU.
As a side note, it seems like almost all of the students admitted to LMU for animation for fall 2015 were Asian females. Very unusual. I hope that they have very individual voices so that the range of stories for the animation for that cohort remains diverse.
