<p>Hello there! I'm a high school senior who has been accepted to Oberlin, but I don't know much about the art program at the school. </p>
<p>I'm having some trouble deciding between Vassar/Oberlin or dropping the academic focus entirely and going to RISD. I was hoping that Oberlin provides some rigorous art training as either a double major or minor, but if not I might take the risk and go to art school? </p>
<p>Anyways any information about the art program and teachers at Oberlin would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>My D is also interested in the studio art program at Oberlin. Clearly the music program is outstanding. Does that mean the studio art program is (relatively) neglected? Anyone have any first hand knowledge?</p>
<p>I have a son who faces the same choice in a year. And it is a choice–you will not get the studio art education at Oberlin or any LAC that you would at RISD, and you will not get the liberal arts education at RISD or any art school that you would at Oberlin. For a studio art major at Oberlin, probably 1/3 of the curriculum would be studio art, 2/3 liberal arts courses; at RISD that would be flipped, 2/3 art, 1/3 liberal arts. Just in terms of resources committed to studio art, I believe that Oberlin has 8 or 9 studio art faculty, RISD has 30 faculty in its painting department alone. And while I think that the liberal arts education at conservatories has improved from where it was 20 or 30 years ago, I do not believe that the rigor of the liberal arts courses at a conservatory approaches what you would find at a LAC like Oberlin. This should not be surprising–Oberlin and RISD are very different animals, with very different missions. One a LAC with the mission of a broad, liberal education, the other a highly specialized pre-professional school. No easy answer for a kid that wants an art education at the level a RISD provides it but also wants a rigorous liberal arts education, unless you are willing to go the 5 year route at say Brown-RISD, Tufts-SMFA, etc., or someplace with a really integrated program like Carnegie Mellon.</p>