Art schools are expensive, and while I think with my stats (will post below) I could get at least academic scholarships, if not portfolio ones as well, but there’s almost always still more to pay. Going to a state school (I’m in Georgia) would be cheaper, and I could get full tuition because of a public-school-only scholarship I’ve got. The issue is, I want to do something artistic (illustration, storyboard art, character design, concept art, graphic design) in the future. Public schools tend to have options like “Studio Art” and “Fine Arts” for degree options, rather than art schools’ more specific “Animation” degrees and such. So, does going to a state school make any sense at all with the money taken into consideration, or should I just go for an art school?
GPA: 3.842 unweighted
SAT (New): 1320 total, 670 reading/writing, 650 math, 31 reading, perfect score on optional essay
SAT (converted to old): 1880 total
Class Rigor: will have 5 APs by graduation (including 2 for art, got a 4 on AP drawing test), Gifted and Honors classes entirely, 2 years of French
Extracurriculars: Job, Unpaid Internship at an Advertising agency, Vice President of National Art Honors Society, Treasurer of Student Council, Beta/Key Club (community service), plenty more clubs that I’m not a leader of
In addition, UCF (Orlando) has a very reputable program in character animation along with other majors you might be interested in via their School of Visual Art and Design and if you apply quickly you just might be eligible for their Knight’s scholarship which will lower your tuition to in-state levels:
Public schools can offer some excellent training for a fraction of the price of a private art college. The one thing you won’t get at a uni. would be the dedicated student body all pursuing similar lines of study. For my two art-school daughters, it was important for them to be fully immersed in an art/design environment 24/7. Others, however, love the diversity of a large uni. and feel that such an environment can broaden their perspective, force them to get out and explore a bit more, and can inform their work. So it really depends on finances and personal preferences.
You should pay visits to your colleges of interest - both public and private - then sit down and crunch the numbers.
You can check if the broader art majors at those schools which have them offer sufficient in-major elective course offerings to tailor the majors to your interest.
For example, University of Georgia does have subarea concentrations within the art major, listed at http://art.uga.edu/academics .
Avoidance of student loan debt can be a major factor in school choice, since art tends to be a field where only a few do really well financially while most scrape by or have to do something else to pay the bills.
Is that so? See, I recently asked my art teacher about this and he has essentially told me a degree from a public school, even with a concentration, is useless. He says at an art school I’d learn specific programs and techniques, where as a public school degree doesn’t qualify me for much and that employers tend to skip over them. He says most people interested in art only go to public school undergrad and then immediately get a masters from an art school if they want a job. I don’t want to do that because I already know I want an MBA, so getting two masters sounds a little too…slow for me.
What is your desired career track? An MFA will put you on the creative side while an MBA is a business-oriented degree. MBA’s are the opposite of creative – they’re all about accounting/finance/taxes/spreadsheets/etc.
I think that your art teacher is being unnecessarily harsh. I know someone who got a one year internship at Disney out of a community college art program. Employers look all over. You can check with the career offices at the colleges you are considering.
I like the combination of BFA, work experience, and then MBA! There are lots of options there. So you should find a BFA program with an excellent job placement rate so you can get right to work upon graduation.
One thing you are paying for at the private art school - in addition to the training! - is the professional development and career services offered both through the career placement office and through contacts with working professionals in residence at the school. Obviously, they are 100% focused on placing putting their graduate creatives in good outcomes. The career office at a public uni might not be as focused unless the college of art has it’s own thing going on with employers - which many do. There are some pretty well known schools of art and design at public uni’s - in CA for instance, or FL. So it might really come down to the particular school you choose. If you visit and get job placement information you’ll have a better idea of what those programs are like. Perhaps you will then have updated information that can confirm - or correct - your art teacher!
Edit to add: Make sure in all cases that you pursue the BFA and not a BA (an option at some uni’s).
We had the debate with my D about art school versus public universities with schools of art. She applied to both and was accepted to all so then we went to a few accepted students days to help decide. She was still unsure until she decided she wanted to be in a more diverse place.
There a quite a few NASAD accredited publics. She chose to go to Tyler School of Art at Temple. The school makes an effort to get internships and jobs out to the students in weekly email blasts. A lot of Tyler grads work in Philly so there’s a alumni network. She loves the diversity of the larger university.
It really comes down to personal preference. Once she decided she didn’t want to just be around artists, that helped her decision. One of her good friends decided otherwise and she’s at MICA. Both are happy with their decisions.
I think your art teacher was being too simplistic about it. Many people have been successful coming out of both types of schools. Your portfolio and work ethic will mean a lot more than the name of the school.
one of the absolute top ranked art schools is actually a public university with an art school . Actually two of them
VCUARTS and UCLA both tied for #2 nationally ranked best fine arts programs in the entire country . Only Yale was ranked higher while RISD MICA etc all were behind them. VCU is located in Richmond VA, a great arts town and university with many different highly noted programs from art to medicine. Check it out. Merit $ is available and it is more reasonable priced than the lower ranked privates.
^^ These rankings from @stones3 are accurate, but are for graduate degrees not undergraduate. While one might think that means the same, it does not. As a matter of fact Yale’s renowned School of Art is a graduate program only. Yale College offers a Bachelor degree (not BFA) in art but it is a very separate program in a different college within the university.
The faculty and often facilities available for undergraduate and graduate programs may be different. D attended NYU for a BFA in studio art. I would consider their BFA program stronger, larger and better funded than their MFA program. But for some schools, it may be the opposite.
Rankings are tricky as it is. But making assumptions makes it even worse.
@mssunnymuffins please don’t be swayed by rankings (especially graduate programs) because they do not paint an accurate picture of an undergraduate program. Some posters will insist otherwise, but the USNWR art school rankings do not mean much to someone looking for a good solid undergraduate program in visual arts.
For our search we used the national portfolio day website to find schools that cared enough about their programs to send reps around the country. The AICAD and NASAD are good sources as well. Once you have a good list of schools, visit or at least check out their website.
well I can attest that at VCUARTS its many of the same facilities/faculty. that may be why both undergrad and grad are so noteworthy. In some cases she has been interacting directly with mfa faculty and mfa grads/students. all I know is our D is very happy and doing exceptionally well. As an aside , with the help of one of
her prof she has in fact sold a few pieces. Photography, something she had little real interest in. Anyway paid for supplies and books this year so I’m impressed. From what we have seen the VCUARTS foundation year is really outstanding, and coupled with the DaVinci center , well the focus seems to be on real world applications. I see that as a huge huge plus.
My daughter is at the University of Virginia undergraduate school in Charlottesville. In USNWR, UVA is tied for #24 among National Universities. My daughter is pre-law. Some of her classes are taught by professors from UVA Law. UVA Law is ranked #8 in USNWR. My daughter has interacted directly with Law school faculty. She is very happy and doing exceptionally well (Dean’s List all semesters to date). She even received the support of a law professor for a major summer internship-scholarship program. The stipend for this scholarship will pay for supplies and books for the rest of her tenure at UVA. I am very impressed. From everything I have seen of UVA, combined with UVA Law and The Meriwether Lewis Institute, focus seems to be on real world skills and accomplishment. We see this as a huge plus. According to the Stones3 Transitive Property of College Rankings, my daughter is currently studying at one of the Top 10 undergraduate National Universities in the country. QED.
my remarks stand 100% and if the poster would like to contact me I am happy , very happy to discuss . No one is in need of your additional rhetoric for rhetoric sake. BTW UVA is a great school , should be very proud. alas, it has little to do with the topic.
“Alas” is that you totally miss the point. The analogy is totally wasted on you. UVA is tied for #24 on the generally accepted ranking scale. No measure of affiliation with the #10 graduate school with which it shares a campus renders the undergraduates school a higher rank. VCU Arts is in exactly the same position. No measure of perceived overlap or affiliation transfers the VCU Arts graduate program ranking to the undergraduate program. You may reasonably assume enhanced value and it is certainly to your child’s benefit that she receives teaching and mentoring from graduate professors. Your ‘remarks’ are biased, inaccurate, and misleading. They serve no one on any of the threads on which you pander them other than yourself. What is truly sad is your need to do so.
wow talk about lost. LOL. Obviously didn’t occur to you that the #24 ranking (which is very good though I haven’t checked its validity) has a lot to do with the success of its grad program? just maybe it helps attract better and better students? just maybe? Think what that rank would go to if the grad school was crap. No need to reply as you are once again completely off target and on your own agenda.
You just talk, without information or data to support anything you say. Do you even know the factors that go into the methodology of the rankings you love to cite? (this is a rhetorical question).
Although I know you will not read this and have no hopes of a learning curve in these conversations, following are the factors USNWR uses in ranking undergraduate institutions: (1) Graduation and retention rates (22.5%), (2) Undergraduate academic reputation (22.5%), (3) Faculty resources (20%), (4) Student selectivity (12.5%), (5) Financial resources (10%), (6) Graduation rate performance, (7) Alumni giving rate (5%).
Nowhere among these varied criteria is ranking in anyway impacted by the success of grad programs. I have yet to meet another living person, on this site or elsewhere (other than you), who actually considered the presence of grad schools at a college as a criteria for undergraduate application. Yes, if one is considering a joint degree or accelerated program the synergy is important, but this only applies to a very small percentage of applicants.
Once again, what you are guessing, hypothesizing or supposing is not only totally unsupported by empirical evidence, but is also totally untrue.
You can continue to cite rankings and statistics of schools at which your child does not attend. This does not enhance the status of the school at which she does attend. This is just a fact. No matter how much you stretch that tent, no matter how insistent you are that there is a connection, you will never convince a single person on this site or elsewhere that your daughter is at Harvard because she is being taught by a visiting professor from that school.
bottom line is VCUARTS is in fact the #2 ranked fine arts grad program in the United States of America . That’s a FACT. My D actual experience with the undergrad program and all the crossover is also a FACT. All the rest posted
is nothing more than rhetoric.
Bottom line is that the ranking of VCU Arts graduate program is IRRELEVANT to a discussion about undergraduate fine arts programs.
Any parent or student’s personal experience only generates an opinion, impressions, etc. These are not “facts”. They are at best hearsay.
All the rest of what you refer to as “rhetoric” are, sadly, the pits and holes in every bucket of biased opinion, extrapolated projection, and incorrect information you carry and continue to believe represent reality.
bottom line is VCUARTS is in fact the #2 ranked fine arts grad program in the United States of America . That’s a FACT. My D actual experience with the undergrad program and all the crossover is also a FACT. All the rest posted
is nothing more than rhetoric.
JB, which schools in CA are you referring to? We are looking there at the moment for representational art in a non-art school environment. The best we have found is Loyola Marymount, but I would love more suggestions!