<p>Has anyone been accepted into the art dept. yet? I so what were your stats…Thanks</p>
<p>I applied to transfer into graphic design and I haven’t heard back yet. From what I hear though, it’s pretty much all based on your portfolio.</p>
<p>If it helps, I contacted the art/design dept. today and was told that decisions won’t be made until “probably late March.” Purposely vague. The reason the decisions are coming late relative to other depts. is that the portfolios STILL need review and the faculty is “really busy” right now. I have also heard that your decision will be based almost entirely on your portfolio review. If you previously received a request for your portfolio, then you have cleared the first hurdle and your STATS look fine for entrance. To be blunt, you will live or die by your portfolio…good luck to all applicants in this very competitive dept. Everybody stay positive and let’s keep each other posted as the acceptances start to roll in. Keep the faith!</p>
<p>good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>Anyone currently IN the Art/Design program out there? Your thoughts on the quality of the program would really be appreciated.</p>
<p>Update from the dept. when contacted yesterday…portfolios have now been reviewed (finally!) and acceptances will be sent during the next two weeks. Can’t wait to be out of pain!</p>
<p>From what this girl I’ve talked to has said about the department is that it’s good, but the professors are awful. They constantly are working on projects, pulling late nights. The people are very competitive and pretty harsh. I’ve heard from only word of mouth from other friends that the art department, people aren’t as “friendly” and they have this very pretentious vibe. A few GrC students took classes in the art department for their concentration and always felt inferior at times by both professors and students in that department 
ive heard its mainly if the professor doesnt like your work, your grade will be docked. Another girl I know transferred out of graphic design to graphic communications because the professors and people are a lot better/nicer/more encouraging/etc. She could still do graphic design but with less stress.</p>
<p>What I’m trying to get at is the program is good/decent I’d say, it just depends on the person you are and if you can fit in and deal with all of the projects and harsh criticisms on your work. I thought my friend was good but she’s told me she has cried or know of people who have cried when people rip her art pieces. Good luck though! Hope the art department is a nice fit!</p>
<p>CaliGirl–thanks for the info! It’s really hard to come by as the dept. is so small. Do you know if it was hard for your friend to transfer out of Graphic Art to GrC?
This whole issue of switching majors has me confused…I hear they make it REALLy hard, i hear it’s not so hard if it’s in the liberal arts school…what’s the real scoop? Right now I’m applying for Studio Art but may want to transfer to Graphic Design later though they already told me I’d have to go through a whole new portfolio review. One thing I DO know is that I don’t want to be in a dept. that is not collaborative and supportive of each other. Life is too short and I vote for hard work and HAPPINESS!</p>
<p>Fellow applicants…start checking those portals. I got ACCEPTED to the Art/Design dept. today.
Whoopee!!! Best of luck to all of you, too!</p>
<p>artsymom - no problem. my friend said it was not hard to transfer from graphic design to grc. she had to take a 101 class, which was kind of “boring” but that is just the intro class and it gets a lot easier and more fun. she said they mainly based it off of her cal poly grades. she said a bunch of her friends from other majors switched into grc and said they all got in easily and the professors and advisers in that department were really encouraging for her transfers. as far as switching from studio art to graphic design, i don’t know anything about. but i actually knew a girl in grc who tried to switch from grc to graphic design and tried 3 times and couldnt get in. but she now says she loves grc because she got past the 101 course. </p>
<p>but i hope you do have a great experience in the art department! i only know so much from the people i talk with and the ones i did talk with did switch or wanted to switch into grc based on their experience. i’m sure there are other art students who love the department but only you can find out for yourself! i don’t want to sound discouraging at all because these are only little bits of info i know and are very biased because i have know people in grc or know people in art who switched majors.</p>
<p>Caligirl- you’re so nice to write me back. I agree with you that i will just have to see for myself what the atmosphere in the dept. is. i have a pretty strong art background, so I’m used to being critiqued…we shall see. I’m gonna make an appt. to meet a professor and to hang out in the dept. Different kind of question…i want to spend a night in a dorm over Spring break…do you know if Poly has a program for this? Seem like a good idea? I’m coming to Poly Weekend the next weekend too. BTW-I’ve also been accepted to the CCS program(Art) @ UCSB so will need to make a decsion between the two so I’ll be running around ALOT mid-April! I’m actually pretty stoked to have these two choices.</p>
<p>I found out I got accepted as well and I’m definitely going there. I have 3 friends already in the department for graphic design and while the professors can be pretty tough on you, they seem to like it. I also hear the professors make the students very competitive against each other in order to do well, but there’s also quite a bit of collaborative group design projects. As long as you’re able to take some harsh criticism I think you should be fine. </p>
<p>artsymom: I think Cal Poly is definitely a better choice than ucsb if you want to do graphic design or any more design oriented career since css doesn’t seem to have any design concentrations.</p>
<p>No problem, artsymom. Like elemenohpee said, it’s pretty competitive. My friend said that too and I think she’s really talented… she’s just not used to the harsh critiques and competitive nature of all of her classmates, but you sound like you can handle it. It should be fine! I don’t know much about the UCSB program, but I hope everything goes well! </p>
<p>There is a program, which I can’t remember at the tip of my tongue at the moment but you can stay at the dorms for a few days or something. I’d advise you to call maybe housing for more information. I think they might have some clue. I remember back when I was a freshmen they had something because I saw a group of high schoolers stay for a week in our dorms.</p>
<p>elemenopee- congratulations on your admit! Well done…
So, do your friends in the graphic design dept. see the competition between students as friendly or cut-throat. I think it’s an important distinction to make.
I’ll be in Studio Art…maybe it’s a little less “competitive”…could you maybe ask your friends if they know the atmosphere for the Art students in my concentration?
What I’m really trying to determine is the actual vibe of the dept. Is it positive and healthy or stressful and no fun. Don’t get me wrong…I work harder than most, but as I’ve said in a previous post, life is too short to place yourself in a potentially negative situation.</p>
<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I also got in, but I probably won’t be going if it’s cutthroat because I don’t have strong background in art. makes me a little nervous…</p>
<p>But mostly I want to know what reputation Cal Poly’s Art and Design program has. Do you have any idea?</p>
<p>Congrats on acceptances. My son is a sophomore at Cal Poly in Graphic communications and loves it and we have 4 family members that have graduated from that program and have all been very successful. From what I understand it is NOT easy to transfer into the program and I think one of the main reasons is that printing is not as big an industry as it once was and the dept. is being scaled back a bit. I have a daughter that is a junior in high school and we were wondering what the gpa’s were of incoming art students . I know that the portfolios are that main determination for acceptance, but I am sure the art dept. has a cut off for students who are given the opportunity to show their portfolios. My daughter has a 3.1 which is way below Cal Poly standards, but has a great portfolio.</p>
<p>As for the competition in the department, that is life in the real world. In the art world you need to develop a thick skin.</p>
<p>5555- My stats were GPA 3.8, ACT 23. GPA OK but ACT was low so I was really kinda surprised I made it to round #2 where they asked to see my portfolio. I’m not an admissions officer, but i would think the 3.1 is low…maybe your daughter can bring it up this semester?
And maybe her SAT/ACT scores will be high which will help. I was also accepted to CCS @ UCSB which was even a bigger surprise. (it’s REALLY selective.) What I’m trying to say is that your daughter should never give up…APPLY, even if you think the chances are slim. It worked for me…and maybe for your daughter too. Good luck to her!</p>
<p>I don’t know how much lower the minimum gpa is for transfer students, but I transferred with a 3.29 and was accepted. I would guess that if she has a killer portfolio a 3.1 wouldn’t be out of the question.</p>
<p>i meant 3.1 for an incoming freshman is low…transfers can get in on lower GPAs relative to freshmen GPAs as it is assumed that college-level classes are harder(and they ARE).
My advice for your daughter is to study hard for the SAT/ACT, Hopefully she has started her portfolio. I waited too long to really develop mine so i had a lot of pieces to finish while trying to keep my GPA up, apply to colleges, write college essays,etc this last fall … well, you get the point. Really stressful. So, if she has time this summer, it’d be great if she could get her portfolio mostly nailed down and can tweak it in the fall. More time to develop= better chance of “killer portfolio” to use E’s term. Good luck to her!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, it definitely helps to see what she is up against. Good luck to all of you, Cal Poly is a great place to go to school.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of a person who has switched from studio art into graphic design within the art/design department @ Poly? I have been accepted into studio art (which I like) but since then am developing a passion for graphic design. I was hoping that since I will already be in the dept. that it might be a little easier to switch. Any advice would be appreciated!</p>