@ArtandAcademics1 My D and I did a lot of research on Tufts/SMFA and visited and then participated in the webinars after she was accepted, so I’d be happy to answer any questions you and your D may have about the program. When my D was looking into options for art colleges, she was interested in both independent art schools and universities that had art schools within them and applied to both, because she wasn’t sure at first which environment she wanted and there are pros and cons to both, depending on what one is looking for. While she initially thought she wanted to go to a university, she then chose RISD, which offers the art school environment she ultimately decided she wanted while still offering some opportunities at Brown. If your D is interested in strong academics or a dual degree, in addition to Tufts, we would recommend looking into Washington University in St. Louis, NYU, Carnegie Mellon and Boston University.
@ArtandAcademics1 Let me know what your D’s interests are, what she is looking for in her college education/experience, and any questions she has, so we can share the information we gathered and our impressions of Tufts/SFMA.
@artdreamer Are you familiar with the Tufts/SMFA joint degree program? If so, what have you heard. I don’t know very much.
@artdreamer Thank you for all that information!
What was your daughter’s impressions of the SMFA after participating in the webinar? RISD seems to be the most elite art school and I understand that they are allowed to take one class a year at Brown – which is so nice. Does your daughter have any regrets about not pursuing a dual degree BFA + BA/BS vs. just a BFA?
We don’t know much about any of the schools except for what the schools say. We wish we knew more about what actual students there think of SMFA.
@ArtandAcademics1 Students in the 4-year BFA program at RISD can take one Brown class per semester. And Brown and RISD also have a 5-year dual degree program option, like the one at Tufts, that your D may want to look into. It’s very competitive to get into and requires separate applications to both schools. Yes, my D looked into dual degree programs at Tufts, BU, Wash U, and Carnegie Mellon, but then she decided that she wanted to concentrate on art and that she would rather save funds to put towards tuition for a masters rather than adding a fifth year at the undergraduate level. What’s best really depends on each student’s particular interests and passions! I can’t recall if NYU had a dual degree program, but they might. In any case, if your D is interested in a dual degree, I would recommend looking into Wash U, BU, CMU, and RISD/Brown, as well as Tufts/SFMA. Two things your D should know about Tufts/SFMA which are either pro or con depending on what she is looking for: 1) the Tufts big main campus and the much smaller SFMA are not located in the same location. It’s about a half hour or so through public transportation or school shuttle to travel between campuses. 2) SFMA has a very open-ended curriculum. It doesn’t have distinct majors or any required courses. The students receive a general Fine Arts degree and get to design their own schedule, choosing all of their classes, whereas many other art schools have a Foundation Year or other art requirements leading to a degree in a specific major in the fine or graphic arts (like painting or illustration or design, etc.) All of the dual degree programs at these schools, including the one at Tufts/SFMA, are known to require demanding schedules and a lot of work. Let me know if you have any other questions, and best of luck to your D in making her decisions!
@artdreamer Thank you so very much for your very helpful information that you shared with us! You are a very kind person to spend the time to help us. We can’t thank you enough. Your daughter is so lucky to have a supportive mom like you!
My daughter is probably going to Early Decision at SMFA and Tufts Dual Degree program this week. She really is worried that if she doesn’t do ED, then her chances of being accepted into the program will be much less. I’ve heard that the acceptance rate at Tufts is very low and the acceptance rate at the SMFA was very high in the past but it’s now much lower.
@ArtandAcademics1 Best of luck to your daughter! And let her know that it is also possible to start in just the BFA program and then after a year in that she can still apply to enter the 5-year dual degree program, if for some reason she wants to go that route. Regarding the acceptance rates, you are correct that they are quite low for Tufts and were until recently very high for SFMA, but have been getting more competitive in the last few years since SFMA fully joined with Tufts. A few years ago the SFMA acceptance rate was at 90%, but then went down to 42%. I’m not sure what the rate of acceptance is for the dual degree program, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were significantly lower, so if Tufts is her first choice school, then applying ED is a good move.
Oh wow! I didn’t know that it was possible to start in just the BFA program and then later apply to the 5-year dual degree program. Thanks so much for all the great info.