I’ll second @ArtAngst 's message re: ED. Anyone I know that applied ED had that school as a far-and-away first choice and $ was not a concern. And it was a good thing…they received next to no financial help from the school. It seems ED and wait lists are tough places to be if you need significant financial aid.
consider Carnegie Mellon for game design, also RIT
@NYart15 Welcome! This forum was a God send to me years ago… my other 2 went a very academic route and on the MD track now. They both went to their dream college… and even though they worked so very hard, it was nothing compared to my youngest. We visited all the schools (just about) on your list. NPD’s were very important for building confidence and listening to feedback and critique. My daughter’s portfolio was accepted for admission to SAIC at portfolio day her senior year, which was great, because she had high academics, and knew that would not keep her from admission. She did Early Action to SAIC and SVA and had very good offers before Christmas. SCAD came before Christmas as well, and they continually offered more money as the season went on. In the end, it truly was about fit. Her top 4 schools all offered her a good amount of money (both for merit and grades) but in the end she didn’t choose the school that would have been the best financially. (She chose SVA). I know you’re in NYC, so I understand she wants to go away. It was really important to my daughter to start animation classes right away, and she has! I’ve been blown away by her drawing classes as well. I wish you a wonderful year!! All of you parents, actually!!! And just a side not… my daughter met a fellow CC member’s daughter, they ended up choosing SVA at admitted students day last April, and are now best buds. You never know where CC will lead you! I’m so grateful for connections I’ve made that ended up with personal friends down the line!
Thanks @moonpie! I recall your journey through the Art Admission 2017 thread! CC has been very helpful to me along the way.
We’re actually a little ways outside NYC and my daughter doesn’t want to go far, so SVA was on her radar. I’m a little wary of their for-profit status (though they have a great reputation) and I’m afraid they won’t give much financial aid.
@NYart15 My husband had the same concern. She did end up getting one of their top scholarships, and qualified for work study. That being said, it’s very expensive, even with FA and help. It would have been better for her to go to Pratt, because she was offered their top scholarship, but she just didn’t like the school and a few things were deal breakers. I LOVED it and really wanted her to go there, but I’ve experienced sending a child to the school for the best “deal” and not where she really wanted to go. Didn’t work out, and that was a killer. Ultimately, she choose SVA and never wavered from her first visit , and she has to take out about 4000 in loans a year to cover what is not doable by us. I never wanted my kids to have to deal with UG student loans, but the number was a deal breaker if not. So far she is super happy there, and learning a lot. Loves her classes and has made great friends. Hard to predict the future, but one good thing is they are brining in industry BIGS almost every week for information sessions, special screenings, Q and A’s and my girls LOVES that and goes to all offered! I am so excited to watch the journeys of this year’s class!
@NYart15 My D considered SVA and I, too, had reservations about their “for profit status”. I researched for answers and while I can’t find the original source now, I did read that the school has never paid its owner’s dividends and that the profit has always been re-invested into the institution for new equipment and supplies. I know that they are at the cutting edge of technology and has had a jump on some other art schools when I came to embracing and buying digital equipment and new technology.
@moonpie, @uskoolfish Thanks so much for the insight…I really appreciate it! Did either of your daughters look into SVA for animation? It looks like they split up 2D and 3D animation pretty significantly. I’m not seeing it on their website now, but I thought you had to even gear your tour to one or the other?
@NYart15 My D graduated with her BFA in studio art with a concentration in sculpture from NYU. We did look into SVA and toured, but it just wasn’t the right fit for my D. I don’t know of any animators who studied there, but older D has a friend who went there for film making and he has been very successful, working full time in NYC. He thought SVA’s equipment and instructors were spot on and prepared him well for internships and real life employment.
My D was seeking a more academic setting and was hoping to juggle being a working artist with teaching someday. NYU was a good choice for her as she completed both her BFA and MA in art ed in 5 years. She just started teaching in a NYC public elementary/ middle school in Brooklyn and was brought in as the “sculpture” teacher. She met the principal at a job fair, showed the principal her art website even though the school already had 2 art teachers and no openings. They spoke about her artwork and the art on her website that her students created when she taught pre-college ceramics and installation art. Two weeks later she was contacted by the principal, asked to come into the school and was offered a position! Right now her focus is surviving as a first year teacher, but she is hoping to work on her personal art summers once the dust has settled.
Good luck with your D! I would try to have your D meet with heads of departments as much as possible to really get a feel for the program–especially since you’re near the city, they might have time to set up a meeting and possibly review your D’s portfolio. We were able to do that with NYU and the input was invaluable.
@NYart15 My son is interested in animation at SVA. He likes to draw and he believes 2D is more suitable for him. One of my son’s pre-college teachers at Ringling said 2D was dying … 
so I hope my son can study more than just 2D, a more complete animation curriculum.
Has Cartoon Network gone all 3D? Haven’t watched for awhile.
Also, Cal Arts CA is the #1 ranked school for animation - are they teaching ANY 3d? I profess to being ignorant of their curriculum but here are some recent student projects:
https://vimeo.com/channels/calartscharanimfilms2017/page:1
I’d be wary of blanket statements like “2D is dying”. That person might be correct in some context but can also be easily misunderstood.
Update: just looked up CalArt’s CA curriculum and they work in both. Also, perusing through some of the 25 pages of animation shorts I did notice some 3D.
To learn 2D vs 3D is based on art preference. job market,and present economics. It is not a debate on which medium may be better.
This is from an article I found: (dated 2015)–I agree with it from what I know.
"Likewise Samantha Youssef of Studio Technique and the upcoming book Movement and Form adds to this idea of infrastructure and cost:
“Ultimately I think that 3D is a more business effective medium and the industry is a business not an art. Thats the bottom line. Artists work in the industry and create art within it but the motivating decisions are based on money.”
This is a tremendous point from the logistical side of things. (I know, as artists we sometimes ignore logistics. They exist, however.) Studios are now set up to do huge 3D films much more than they are to work in 2D. In fact, many years ago the big studios like Disney sold off their traditional animation desks en masse. While one can certainly animate hand-drawn style on a Cintiq, the physical systems in place are better suited to 3D these days. "
The part that struck my heart is that my D actually got to do 2D work as part of her training at Ringling sitting at those Disney animator desks. Too bad the Disney animators were no longer working behind those desks.
@moonpie, I’m so happy to hear she’s loving SVA. Before this summer, my daughter didn’t want to apply to SVA BUT she took their 3D computer Animation over the summer and loved it. It is now on the list. She loved the teacher and everything about the school. I cringe at the thought of tuition and the amount of loans but I’m happy she’s in love with a field where I believe she will always find work.
@NYart15 My daughter is an animation major! Within that program you can choose 2D or 3D, however there are many opportunities for electives in both. She’s in story pitch class, a digital computing class, intro to animation, drawing, and some liberal arts. There is also an honors program where they can go more intensely into art history, and social sciences, however we were not told it was almost $4000 more (this is because it requires freshman to go over hours their first semester, which we also decided was not a good idea). So NOPE we pulled the plug on that. She really wanted to be in the honors program, however we told her she could take an incredible trip of her own for that amount of money! She will have more flexibility her junior year because of AP credits to take some additional classes and I think that’s a good time for her to figure out what more she would like to learn while she is there! @NYCMomof3 you’re close by, right? I’m trying to dust off the cobwebs!! I’m glad your daughter had a great experience! The tuition is EEEEEEK but so is the dorm! So maybe you could cut out that expense if she goes there? My daughter would NOT have gone for that at this age, but my recent college graduate is LOVING living at home again, hanging with us, and stockpiling money while she works full time and applies to med school!
@moonpie yes I do live very close to SVA. The commute to the campus this summer for my daughter was easy and familiar. She really did enjoy the program this summer, the staff and their computers. She always thought 3D animation was for her and the summer class helped confirm it. She would stay after class and even go in on the weekends for 8+ hour days just to work on her animation. The fact that I never had to encourage her to do anything was great…she really did love it that much and the long hours didn’t bother her. I’m glad she truly loved it.
If she were to go to SVA I had mentioned her living at home to save money but she’s adamant on living in the dorms. It’s something she will have to choose on her own and when the loans add up (regardless of where she ends up), she will soon see why living at home would have saved her a ton of money.
She’s away at boarding school and this entire process is such a pain. She’s working on fine tuning her portfolio, her common app essay will be done this week and now it’s the damn scholarship applications that are driving me nuts.
I will be very happy when this is over. I know she will get into schools but it’s all about money at the end of the day. She did earn a 5 on her AP art portfolio and her feedback so far on her Portfolio from a few schools is very good. I’m hoping she is able to get $$ for a good portfolio. Do the schools call $$ awarded for a good portfolio merit aid? She’s taking AP art again this year and I’m glad that the schools will accept those credits.
She has 8 schools on her list. She didn’t want to apply to more than that. Out of the 8, one is s state school that she’s not excited about (FIT) but it’s a “just in case” addition to the list. She’s applying to SVA, RIT, Emerson, MassART, MICA, MCAD, CIA and FIT. She took PRATT off of the list because she heard that the head of animation department isn’t a 3D animation fan and that part of the program is weak. I don’t know if it’s true but this was what was told her her by her friend who attends PRATT and my her SVA teacher this summer. Her SVA teacher graduated from PRATT so she feels like he had good info. I was bummed because we had liked school last summer (2016) and it was towards the top of her list. We will see how it all goes.
@NYCMomof3 I know I posted a bit about MCAD earlier - two good things about that school (actually 4 including the small class sizes and 24/7 access to the studios which is NOT the norm for many of the top schools . . ). The quality of animation work is pretty impressive - at least when we visited a few years ago. Also, the location is fantastic as they share the same campus with Minneapolis Institute of Arts and are nearby to “Eat Street”, Uptown, etc. Minneapolis isn’t NYC but it’s a great place to live. PM me with specific questions if it becomes a serious contender. Can’t remember if I mentioned this earlier but Pres. Jay Coogan used to be the provost at RISD and had done some great things with the school. Would have been very happy if either of my daughters had opted for MCAD, given what I know about it.
Don’t forget to compare the student work from all these schools! They can differ quite a bit.
I know Ringling and SCAD aren’t on your list but take a look at their student work also
And good luck!
@JBStillFlying thanks…I will reach out if I have any questions. The MCAD admissions person who is assigned to my daughter has been very attentive. She gave her a glowing review of the pieces that were emailed and she emails my daughter every few weeks to check in. I like that the school is located in a city but my daughter doesn’t care about locations. We will visit if it’s a contender. Out of the 8 schools she’s applying to, we didn’t visit 2 (MCAD and CIA). I also liked MCADs price. It’s still a lot of money but it’s less than others. I didn’t know that Pres. Jay Coogan was previously at RISD…that’s great to know.
@gouf78 thanks for the suggestion but my daughter doesn’t want either SCAD or RINGLING
@JBStillFlying I will definitely let you know if MCAD becomes a serious contender …thanks
@NYCMomof3 SCAD is on my son’s list. Any particular reason your daughter is not interested in SCAD? location? Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks.