Congratulations to all. @lsichitiu, I hope your D really enjoys SAIC! Let me know if you have any questions for a fellow SAIC parent.
@JBStillFlying we always fly into Laguardia. I got a Southwest CC a couple years ago, and get 1/2 free tickets a year just buying gas and a few plane. May need to start buying groceries, too!!!
Thank you @GrnMtnMom ! I am sure I will have questions, so thank you for offering your help.
@JBStillFlying for the major in animation, what is the difference between Atlanta and Savannah SCAD campus? Many thanks.
@AskExperts according to SCAD you should be able to complete the major at either campus. Atlanta will have potential employers such as Nickeleon or, I think, Cartoon Network so the proximity is nice. Savannah campus is much bigger, of course and with the freshman dorms near completion there is more of a collegey feel to that campus (SCAD students are pretty much everywhere!). My D16 is in Savannah but might transfer to Atlanta in Junior year (I think) to be near some of those animation opportunities (she’s looking to put a television series together someday - long term goal!).
My son has narrowed it down to RISD and Ringling Animation. He is really struggling with his decision. We went to accepted students day at both schools and RISD was an organizational disaster. 2 hours of lecture and slides in the auditorium, no opportunity to interact with professors, and the FAV (Film-Animation-Video) student that was supposed to do our tour didn’t show up. An illustration student took us around but it was the same as the regular tour which we had already done. No chance to see the upperclassmen animation studio. The dorms were decrepit and many of the work areas had no AC. It was totally frustrating. Plusses: likes the vibe and the other students, as well as an opportunity to do more traditional animation and do it his own way. Minuses: The above debacle and that a third of the curriculum is in academics. No financial aid at all and a 70k price tag. The story was different at Ringling. Great facilities–very impressive. He didn’t have an opportunity to interact with any other kids but said they seemed very introverted and it made him uncomfortable. (He is very outgoing). Plusses: Strong in 3D, Career services, facilities. Minuses: Too much focus on 3D, rigid program - "the “Disney/Pixar way”.
@Jazzbutcher - Ringling doesn’t do 1/3 academics?
the way the curriculum is laid out it doesn’t seem as onerous at Ringling. They made it a big focus at the RISD event.
@Jazzbutcher - I clearly cannot speak to your daughter’s specific situation, but my daughter is finishing up her freshman year at RISD and the balance between dedicated art and liberal arts classes has been critical to her sanity. Even the most dedicated of art students (and believe me, there are a ton of them at RISD) need a break sometime. So-called “academic art schools” such as RISD and Pratt also provide a fruitful environment for kids who are not uni-dimensional in their choice of a career in art. As devoted as my daughter is to her craft, she wants to continue to learn along the broader spectrum of academia. Continuing to read, to maintain socio-political awareness, and to continue to improve her writing, are worthwhile endeavors even if they do not strictly adhere to studio art.
All professional baccalaureate programs (nursing, engineering, business, and - yes - art/design) require some education in the liberal arts. This isn’t a masters program where the training is highly specialized, nor is it a vocational program where the student is there merely to learn a trade or pick up some specialized skills. The LA component exists in order to complement and enhance the professional training, provide a more well-rounded education, and educate the student in how to think critically, write coherently, etc.
I’d be leery of any program that doesn’t talk about its liberal arts component and why it’s important to a professional education. You certainly don’t want the school to consider it a “throw-away” component of the degree program. Guessing Ringling isn’t like that but you might want to ask them how they view this part of the program. Those courses should definitely be rigorous and challenging.
For NASAD schools (and similar), the rule seems to be about 1/3 of your contact hours is in the liberal arts (including art history) and hopefully the array of disciplines is broad (math, science, literature, social science, decision science, philosophy, etc.). For RISD in particular, the cross registration opportunity with Brown means you can take CS or higher math, or a lab science or maybe something in the humanities or social sciences that isn’t offered at RISD. Being able to take courses at an uber-selective Ivy is a pretty nice feature, IMHO!
D was a studio art major at NYU–earning her BFA. Even her studio art classes required a great deal of reading in art history, art criticism, philosophy, psychology and social justice issues. Since art making is another form of story-telling, the program believed students should be articulate and well informed across an array of disciplines in order to be better artists and communicators. There were required courses in art history and theory within the major and liberal arts classes that were required for all art majors outside of the art department in subjects like language, writing, literature, social sciences and math/ computers, and science.
If I had wanted my son to have a fully rounded liberal arts education, he wouldn’t be attending a dedicated art school. He’s not even taking math and science this year as a senior as they are not required in New York state.I fully expect him to take some liberal arts courses–my point was that RISD made a much bigger deal out of it. That combined with the poor facilities we were able to see really soured us on the school.
@Jazzbutcher he will likely have to take at least one math or science course at art school - most likely two. My older daughter at Pratt was able to waive one of her math courses due to her calculus BC score – but she still is on the hook to take another one. I think she signed up for astronomy next year.
there are more practical aspects to a career in fine arts that are well serviced by at least some liberal arts courses. for instance, the basic business aspects of marketing, selling, protecting one’s works may prove invaluable. a deeper understanding of culture and history often feeds into the creative stew that produces some of the finest works. i personally do not see these as mutually exclusive nor do i feel ‘cheated’ in any way that a school such as risd incorporates a partial liberal arts curriculum into my daughter’s education. can’t speak to the facilities as i am by no means an artist myself. however, in reading your earlier post about your son’s (as opposed to your) take on the schools, it sounds as if the physical facilities of the schools weighed a lot less on your son who was very taken with the social vibe and his sense of greater autonomy in pursuing his art. while ringling may be spanking shiny and new, it sounds as if your son found it less appealing both socially as well as in terms of his art. in any case, don’t worry too much about a/c in providence. you won’t need it for very long…
@Jazzbutcher I’m not trying to argue the merits pro/con of more liberals, but I have a freshman at RISD and she’s in studio for 3 foundation art classes a full three days a week (class time is basically 8am - 5pm) and has 2 liberal classes that meet for a little over an hour twice a week. So the emphasis is definitely more on studios.
And she feels that a lot of her classmates skip the liberal classes alot and don’t put much effort in to them - in fairness to them probably because they’re so fried with the work load of the foundation classes (they ALL expect a ton more hours outside of studio time). She’s a Type A overachiever kid so she’s still trying to put full effort into these classes, but it’s a tough juggle.
So not trying to convince you on RISD’s merits per se but liberals seem like a smaller part of Ds time there, so it seems weird they emphasized it so much during that event. Maybe it’s the whole 'Brown connection" they were selling or in response to a parents question.
@JBStillFlying-- happy and thankful to report that D is starting CommD at Pratt-Brooklyn in the Fall. Her #1 choice. Thanks again for your earlier guidance; that, and everyone’s input on different programs here, helped me greatly in discussing her choices. Much obliged!
Awesome @WhoDeyKC congrats to her! Is she planning to dorm on campus?
@JBStillFlying, Yes, planning on dorms. Although she’s a little reluctant because they didn’t show dorms on tour, and she is convinced they have scrubbed the internet of any pictures of dorm life! She will have to get over her conspiracist self.
@WhoDeyKC my daughter (who’s a junior at a boarding school) has a friend living in the PRATT dorms. My daughter has visited the room and stayed a few times over this past school year and liked it. With that said…she’s used to a tiny room for two at school (nothing fancy). She will be applying to Pratt this fall and even though we live in manhattan, she’d want to live in their dorms
I spoke too soon. RISD it is! Of course it’s literally the only school that did not give a dime of financial support… :((