<p>There is not much information here about Midwest art colleges: MIAD (in Milwaukee), KCAI (in Kansas), CIA (in Cleveland), Herron (in Indianapolis).
Any thoughts? Experience? Recommendations?</p>
<p>Also, regarding more prominent Midwest school: School of Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). It is considered one of the top art schools. At the same time, we keep hearing that they don't have good foundation program and that the education there is not sufficiently structured.
Who is right?
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>If you are interested in applied art such as design, or architecture, one of the best schools in the US is University of Cincinnati. It is not a stand alone art school, but it is top notch in design and architecture.</p>
<p>Thanks, taxguy! We never looked at this university and we definitely will. The only thing that my daughter may not like is that it seems to be a big urban university, while she prefers smaller colleges.
My daughter is currently thinking about majoring in design and/or illustration.
I haven't been at CollegeConfidential for a while. Where is your daughter studying now?</p>
<p>Worried_dad, she is at Cincinnati studying Digital Design, which is a combination of graphic design and digital media. Cincinnati is VERY highly ranked in design and is much cheaper than most private schools. If it is too big for her then she might want to pass on it. However, it really is top rated in many areas of design. For example, for architecture, interior design, industrial desiign etc. Cincinnati is higher rated than Pratt, RISD, Carnegie Mellon, RICE etc. She should really consider it.</p>
<p>We will definitely take a close look, and maybe visit it. Thank you very much for the interesting hint!
I started to look at UC on the Internet and noticed a phrase about co-op education. Is it a separate track, or - any design student does it? It seems
a very good idea.</p>
<p>Worried_dad, Cincinnati was the founder of the Coop concept. All design kids, and those of other majors, are REQUIRED to participate in 6 quarters of coop. These are paid positions, and the university helps find positions for the kids.Moreover, you don't pay tuition while the student is on coop. This provides a lot of real world experience for these kids and certainly beefs up their resume. </p>
<p>This is why Cincinnati's design programs are generally 5 year programs. Kids even go in the summer to be able to take 4 full years of courses in order to take the 6 quarters of coop and still graduate in 5 years.</p>
<p>Another interesting choice in the midwest would be Wash U St. Louis. It has a strong art and design program, although not as well ranked in this area as Cincinnati. Both schools are tough to get into though. Cincinnati doesn't take as many transfers as Wash U but it is a bit easier to get admtted as a freshmen than Wash U.</p>
<p>I should note that Wash U and especially Cincinnati are big schools. Thus, your daughter has to weigh the merits/demerits of this. My daughter also wanted music ,and Cincinnati has some fabulous musical opportunities with their marching band and with their conservatory of music, which is also top rated with the best conservatories in the US.</p>
<p>KCAI has a very strong reputation as an art school. One of the National Foundation for the Arts Awards or Scholastic Arts Awards winners is going there.</p>
<p>SAIC has a better reputation for grad than undergrad. Acceptance for undergrad is in the the high eighty percent range. Half the freshman don't make it through freshman year. The academics were an afterthought.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon also has a decent school for visual arts. Think the class size is 60 to 75 students per year, and there are dual degree programs in the sciences and liberal arts.</p>
<p>M&Sdad, she just participated in her first football game with the marching band. Although her feet hurt and were in fact bleeding from all the marching, she LOVED the game and her perticipation in the band. She is treated as part of a family with 200 family members! </p>
<p>School, however, doesn't start until September 20. We shall see how she likes it then especially living in a quad with other honors students.</p>
<p>Yes, I am sorry, zules01, I have to acknowledge that KCAI is located in Kansas City in Missouri.
Unsoccer-mom, could you tell more about Wash U at St. Louis? We spoke to their representative last year during National Portfolio day at MIAD. The guy did not seem very knowledgeable about their program. He was an alumni, not from admissions, and, if I remember right, he studied art as minor and did go in this direction after graduation. It was somewhat discouraging.</p>
<p>My daughter is thinking about applying to Graphic Design and she is considering KCAI. What majors are the strongest there? Do you have Foundation in the 1st year, like many colleges do, and only then apply for major?
How much flexibility is there? Can you double-major? Change major? Do you live in the dorm and how do you like your housing? Just write what do you like most about KCAI. Is there anything you wish would be better?
Thank you very much in advance.</p>
<p>well i do not really know much about the graphic design school here other than they have class in a 1950's grocery store, and they get a majority of the internships at hallmark cards and other publising houses around the area. strongest majors are hands down ceramics(my major and it is also the second best ceramic's program in the nation, alfred is number 1) and sculpture(jim leedy and peter vulkis) and the interdisiplanary(i can not spell today!) program is one of a kind in the nation. foundations is one of a kind here, i did not do my foundations classes here i did them at mica but i have several friends in the foundation department and their projects a extremely cool. drawing is heavily emphasized. there seems to be a lot of flexibilty here. yes i believe you can double major, i am double majoring in art history, change major absolutely. I do not live in the dorm and i am glad of it! all freshmen are required to live in the dorm. the food is okay but i wish it was better for the price i am paying for a meal plan.
I do like kcai, im still adjusting, the midwest is sooooo different form the east coast and right now im slightly homesick for the beach. If i could change one thing it would be more sense of a community of artist. you get a community feel in your majors but i wish there was a more unified sense.
If you are looking for graphic design schools stay in the east coast. I know mica has an extremely good program i believe it is run by graphic designer Ellen Lupton.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for such a detailed response! Just curious, did you ever look at MIAD in Milwaukee. Size-wise it looks a lot like KCAI. But it seems that KCAI has a campus, while MIAD is basically just one building in the city.
What was your main reason for switching from MICA to KCAI: stronger program or better city, better campus? Do you like Kansas City better than Baltimore?
And best wishes to you in your adjustment to the new place!</p>