<ul>
<li><p>School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston</p></li>
<li><p>Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I don't hear much about them. Has anyone out there ever attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts pre-college program in the summer? I wonder how it compares with other programs?</p>
<p>Many thanks,
Mom of high school sophmore</p>
<p>I didn't do the pre-college program at the SMFA Boston, but I <em>love</em> that school. I've taken several classes there, and I really like their approach. It's a small school, so it's far more personal in feel than, for example, Mass Art. It's well ranked - in the top 50 art schools in the US - but it's not elite like RISD. Instead, it's seen as solid and respectable. </p>
<p>It's in a section of Boston near many other colleges, and right across from the Museum of Fine Arts. Because it's so close to the museum, and you get a free pass for the museum, students tend to spend a lot of time there, which is nice. The T stops right outside the school, so the city is there for you. </p>
<p>The Corocoran school is also well respected. Not elite, but well ranked and considered quite solid. I know a bit about them (all good), but haven't been there personally, so I won't comment.</p>
<p>I never went to SMFA either but it's one of the places I considered going to. If you are self disciplined, this would be the ideal place to go because they essentially let you work on your own projects. I'm not self disciplined at all so I avoid that type of program. That type of program also results in a lot of things of questionable taste such as statues built entirely out of red bull cans and an enormous explicit painting of a man having sex with a dog. The MFA is a great museum and I try to go there as much as I can.</p>
<p>Hey
I took a residential pre-college summer course for 2 weeks at Corcoran and think I can answer some questions...
The school is VERY small... approximately 300 undergrads! I personally don't think such a small school is beneficial. Since it's an art school, it's all about networking and I'd think it'd be hard to do that there.
However, since it's so small I got a sense of community from the alumni.</p>
<p>There are two campuses... The Downtown DC one and the Georgetown. They just recently bought a HUGE facility called the Randolph Building which you can read about on their website.
The Downtown DC building is in the basement of the museum. It's very warehouse-esque and there are only 3 classrooms! 2 of them are general classrooms and one is the photography darkrooms. I took the photography class and the darkroom is actually quite nice for a small school.
The Georgetown campus is newer. I don't know much about it because I was only in it once but it is definitely bigger than the Downtown, so I'd imagine that more classes are there. It's quite nice.</p>
<p>Anyhow, I wouldn't recommend Corcoran. It doesn't have an excellent reputation as of now. Maybe when they expand their school so will their prestige.</p>
<p>Hope I helped :)</p>