Art School admission 2017

My daughter has been accepted to SCAD, SAIC and VCU. Not sure where my she wants to go. Waiting on RISD and UNCSA ( for Costume Design.). I have to say these early acceptances are so nice. The Musical Theater process is just terrible! I know everything about that track but absolutely nothing about art or art schools. Not even sure how to give her any guidance.

@mtmom2014 my daughter’s scholarship from SAIC is $88,200 ( Distinguished Merit Scholarship). I think that is at about half the tuition. Still waiting to hear from MICA, CCA and Cooper. Also still waitng to hear from Pratt, VCU and KCAI about any scholarship.
My daughter is my oldest, so this is the first time for us in the application process. My husband and I went to school in a different country, so we are not familiar with any kind of college application, let alone arts school. College Confidential was a wealth of knowledge! I found out about NPD here, and I think that was such a great thing since my daughter’s portfolio changed dramatically after that, and it seems in a good way. It is also here that I found out about summer pre-college programs.
I am so thankful to the members that, even though have kids that are already in college, still return to this board to advise the novice parents @BrooklynRye , @JBStillFlying , @spoonyj and others!

My son’s scholarship to SAIC was 63k and scholarship to UArts was 100k.

The acceptance rate into computer animation at Ringling is about 10 per cent. You may be offered admission to other majors if you don’t make it.

Such awesome scholarships!!! What great news!!! Congrats to everyone!

Pratt gave my daughter $21,000/year , prety much the same with SAIC. VCU gave my daughter a sticker ( decal ) :)) :)) :))

While it may smart that VCU did not give your daughter money, note that with a COA of around $64k, deducting the $21k they gave you, brings Pratt down to just about the COA for OOS at VCU.

On the other hand, since schools such as Pratt, RISD, and MICA are now giving that kind of money, VCU better reconsider if it wants to remain a more economically friendly place to land.

I agree! After all decisions will be made by the schools my daughter applied to, we will do some number crunching and possibly some visits.

We had a similar experience with VCU Arts. COA in 2016-2017 (my D’s entering year) was approximately $44k for OOS. RISD COA was around $60k. VCU gave nothing (don’t even think we received the sticker). RISD gave around $25k, reducing COA to $35k, significantly less than VCU Arts. Btw, this was true for EVERY school to which D applied, including Tyler, RIT, UofArts, MassArt, SVA, MICA & Pratt.

Congrats to your daughter, @Isichitiu - such great choices!

VCU was pretty stingy with us last year (I think we got 2,500) which for OOS was laughable. Especially when Pratt, UArts, and Tyler all gave her very generous merit aid. It made the decision to nix them from her list very easy.

veehee, did the VCU merit aid offer come with the packet or later on? We too only received a sticker! Lol!

@mtmom2014 and @veehee - VCU is a public institution and is, therefore, very stingy with money for OOS. Since their mandate, in VA by law, dictates a minimum percentage of in-state students, they have to be able to fund, when necessary, to maintain this floor. OOS generally divide what’s left over (which tends to be minimal) and, only then, when they have demonstrated true ‘need’ AND distinguished themselves for aid among the pool of needy OOS. With the advent of greater and greater merit and other aid from elite dedicated art schools, I imagine this makes it increasingly difficult for public school-affiliated art schools to compete. My guess would be that drawing in OOS who can pay full tuition is a major focus of such institutions. I know this has been the case at CA schools such as UCLA which are looking for well-heeled OOS so that the schools can maintain their commitment to in-state students without decreasing campus resources.

@BrooklynRye it’s also true at the Cal State schools (a few of which have excellent animation programs so oftentimes among the choice set for OOS kids). These are severely impacted schools, meaning that CA residents not in the local area have a very hard time getting in. It seems that OOS students will be admitted as long as they apply on time and meet the admission index (computed from GPA and test scores) for the school and/or major. My D20 applied to four of them - SJSU, Fullerton, Long Beach and Northridge - and was admitted first round for all. But forget about any scholarships - those available go to the in-state kids. D20 was admitted with honors to one of them but no money attached (so it’s a bit like a sticker LOL).

Also, at the risk of highjacking the conversation and not to plug one school over another, but in case future readers happen upon this thread: UCF in Orlando has a number of excellent art/design programs (including animation, film, graphic design . . . ) and they are actually a state school with generous OOS merit aid that brings down the tuition to in-state levels. I believe these are academic-based only, because they don’t require a portfolio for admission to foundation year (like the CSU schools you are admitted to “pre-major status” for animation and other art/design programs, not sure about film). My D20 received a half-tuition scholarship as an OOS student and, even considering that she would need to be there more than 4 years, it became her least expensive option. The only reason she’s able to be at her first-choice SCAD is that they ended up matching the merit aid so that her net COA came out to about the same as UCF.

My middle daughter is at SCAD for performing arts, and they are good about giving more aid when you ask. Thanks for VCU explaination. Makes total sense.

@mtmom2014 it came with the financial aid info sometime in the spring.

Aside from the fact my daughter loved Temple and Tyler, it also offered her merit aid that brought the cost down to what our NJ publics cost. Some state schools (Miami of Ohio, Ole Miss, Temple) have excellent merit awards for OOS students. It’s just not widely known.

@moonpie I saw that you had toured all of the NYC schools my D has been accepted to…but hasn’t visited yet. They are SVA, Pratt, and Parsons. Any observations/comparisons of the three? We will be planning a visit in late Jan as one of them requires a deposit by Feb 1. Thanks in advance.

@neapmom she loved SVA the most, really feels that is where she will end up if her California dreams don’t come through, and even if she does get accepted to USC or CAL ARTS, they may not be a good fit. I loved Pratt the most, because it felt like a college campus, the area was beautiful and seemed safe, yet close to city. She did not like Parsons… at all. The school is a design school first, abd then art is secondary to design. So for her to stretch that way of thinking to animation was too much. Also, when she asked to see the design studios the student said the equipment is moved to different buildings depending in who was teaching… that really turned her off.

My D15 has been at Pratt for three semesters now and loves the area. Clinton Hill is very safe, esp. when you consider it’s NYC! I’ve stayed at a couple of Air BnB’s in the area and have no qualms about getting out of the subway late at night near campus, or walking to the market or liquor store at night, etc. The 88th precinct is catty-corner from the campus, security monitors both gates, and the campus is actually fenced in (but with 25 acres there’s lots of room to roam). My D15 has been able to walk from studio to dorm late at night with no worries. She’s currently in Willoughby which is right outside the campus gates, but then so is the school of Architecture and those kids definitely keep very late hours! (especially the freshman students). Pratt kids are all over the area at all hours. It’s a real presence in the community.