We also attended the UMich Campus Day this weekend. Previous to Stamps, we have visited RISD and SCAD in Atlanta. We will be going to Pratt in a few weeks. Still waiting to hear from a few others, including Tufts and Northeastern. However, UMich as a university has a clear advantage over the others given the academics, student organizations, alumni network, opportunities for internships, etc.
With regards to Stamps specifically, we liked the class size and the small community feel. The students seemed to be genuinely happy. However, I was a bit surprised by the facilities when walking into the school. I know you canât judge a book by its cover, but being an art and design school, I was expecting a more modern space. I thought it was rather dark and cramped. RISD and SCAD are very modern, bright, and spacious.
My daughter is interested in illustration, sequential art, and digital media. On the tour, I felt that we were shown the facilities where they spend most of their time during the freshman foundational year. I wish I could have seen the computer rooms. I did ask two of the students if the program was more of a âfine artsâ (painting, etc) program as I was concerned that it may not have enough instruction in digital media. They assured me that in fact they have plenty, so that was reassuring.
I think my daughter is edging towards Stamps, so they may soon get be classmates!
We are from north New Jersey. Our daughter is waiting on Northeastern, NYU, BU and the UCâs. But I think she may have found a home at UMich. UMich may provide the best combination of what she is looking for in a college experience. What is attractive to us, as parents, is the wide array of opportunities to combine other areas of studies - e.g., communications, which could complement an arts degree very nicely for a career in this field. Penny Stamps seems to be very flexible in this regard.
With Northeasternâs decisions out today, did anyone who applied to the Northeastern/SMFA Studio Art program get in? My daughter was first deferred from EA to RD. Now she has been waitlisted. Curious to see what others have experienced. I know they have received record numbers of applicants overall, and my daughter didnât do herself any favors by not writing a LOCI.
Time to make final decision. D wants a traditional university with a good BFA program for art illustration. Decision is between Syracuse, Penn State, Temple, UConn and Rowan (medical illustration). The program/facilities at Temple are top notch but the crime in the area is out of control. Rowan program mimics what RIT is doing for about a 1/3 of the cost but does it have recognition within the Art community? She loves Syracuse but it is the most expensive. Does anyone have experience with any of these programs? TIA!
Unfortunately, I have no experience to help you in this process. But I do wonder, if your daughter is interested in medical illustration, wouldnât most jobs be based largely upon a portfolio ? So no matter where she attends, itâs going to be the quality of the instruction and the skills she develops which would be evident in her portfolio.
Are all of these programs affordable for your family? Meaning that there is preferably no debt, or at least no debt beyond federal loans, and your family is on track for a financially secure retirement. If there are any schools that are not affordable for your family, then I would eliminate them, as you cannot afford them.
I have my BFA from SyracuseâŠthey have a very good art school. I will say if it is something very specified, such as medical illustrationâŠif there are specific ranked programs for that, she should find which colleges have strong programs for it. If she is still kind of undecided, maybe pick a university or art school that has a general core art curriculum that is the same for everyone and doesnât make you declare until sophomore year. I know when I was at Syracuse, that was how it was set up and they had all of the art and design majors come in every few weeks to art theory lecture and give a presentation of careers and such to help people decideâŠI thought it was great. I know RISD is an example as well if an art school that does not declare freshman yearâŠSCAD I believe is similar.
When I went my major was textile/surface pattern designâŠSyracuse and FIT were the top 2 programs in the country for that and I can say I got every interview for every job because I was a Syracuse gradâŠmy portfolio did the rest. That said I was always told Syracuse/FIT always had the best prepared and best portfolios leaps and bounds above the rest.
My daughter got into Syracuse for Fashion Design, loves the schoolâŠisnât convinced yet that is the best program for her. She also got into Drexel and loves their fashion program but is a little wary of the urban school campusâŠor lack there of (even though she loves a city vibe and is always in NYC because we live right outside of it) I totally get and feel the same as you about the area. We are also concerned about crime and safety if she chooses there as the surrounding area not the best but the immediate University City area with the campus police does seem like it is pretty safe and crawling with students.
As I said earlier, I know nothing about medical illustration. But when @Juliekarol mentioned looking at ranking programs for that, I decided to see if any even existed (I didnât think there would be). I found the two sites below, and I would recommend looking at the methodology they used to develop their rankings. But Rowan was the only program on both lists, and Temple was the only other school on your list that made a list.
All of that said, rankings might point you in a direction, but has your daughter visited the programs? Spoken with students? Read through class descriptions (and seen how frequently classes are offered)? Seen what the facultyâs special areas of interest are? Academically, where does she feel the best fit? And then donât forget about the social and environmental parts of college. The social & environmental fit is just as important as the academic one, because this is where your daughter will be living for four years.
I do agree about the social and environmental fitâŠthat is the other part I keep pointing out to my daughterâŠeven if itâs the best program in the worldâŠyou also have to be happy in the environment or the program wonât make a difference. You have to be happy with where you are at the same time. You put in the extra effort looking up actual programsâŠI thought perhaps a longer list might exist and therefore more of a choice in different school environments.
Perhaps if there isnât really many programs so specificâŠmaybe look up illustration programsâŠI would think a strong illustration program would also suffice if you can find that in combination with a campus environment that she feels more at home in and that fits your pocketbook.
Thank you for all your thoughtful input. It is very helpful to hear others thoughts and experiences. Ultimately you look at all the data and put in the feel good factors and hope for the best.
Just wanted to comment that I love seeing someone talk about medical illustration. My daughter graduated high school last year and was torn between medical illustration and video game art. She ended up going with game art and also was torn between Syracuse. For M.I. she applied to Middle Tennessee State University, University of Georgia, SCAD and Virginia Commonwealth.
She fell in love with the campus and area when we visited in 2019 and two of my best friends graduated with a masters from 'Cuse and told her all about their experience. Best wishes to you all!
Thank you! Is your D attending 'Cuse? This school is still on the short list while it doesnât have Medical Illustration, the programs are excellent and placement seems good after graduation. Visiting for accepted students day soon. Itâs just expensive and gave no $âŠ
Cuse made the top 3 but she ended up picking Northeastern. She went back and forth between her top three (Carnegie Mellon) and eventually decided that Boston would be a better fit overall. Plus they have the major and minor she was looking for (video game art and animation; music industry).
She is leaning towards Stamps, however the debate in our house regarding traditional art school (Pratt Institute in her case) vs university BFA continues! I am hoping she chooses Stamps. We are going on a few last- minute campus tours over spring break to confirm her decision. Has your daughter decided yet?
Not final but it will most likely be Stamps - she will hear from the last two schools this week but I donât think it will change her mind. She got shut out by the UCs except for two waitlists. Stamps seems like a very good fit for her - and as parents we liked the breadth of opportunities and UMich seemed to very flexible in letting their students take courses or even double major in other schools - all within a small art school setting. And the social and sports scene is hard to find in some of the other art schools we had on her list.
Hi! Iâm actually been admitted to Stamps too. Iâm a bit worried about the quality of art education at Stamps. Iâm an international student so I donât have a chance to visit the campus in-person. How is the art education at Stamps? Thanks very much.
