Thanks for the details on merit and acceptances. That’s really helpful for us future applicants. Good luck to your daughter-sounds like she has good choices!
@mlong623 wow I was surprised to here that was the unfortunate takeaway you got from an SVA reviewer at NPD. My daughter had quite the opposite experience. She had recently become interested in printmaking and had a couple of pieces in her portfolio. He talked to her and gave her some techniques to try as well as giving her great feedback on her other pieces. He also wrote down the names of a couple of illustrators for her to Google. I just wanted to give “another side of the coin” as someone else said up thread for future readers, because you state the reviewer was “disinterested and unhelpful to pretty much everyone” and I’m not sure how you are able to speak to anyone’s experience but your own.
Just going to update where we are so far. I know for the past 2 years I have been looking for this kind of info on here and there’s not a lot. I also might ramble a little and welcome any and all opinions. 
Would love feedback too from the experienced art school parents, @BrooklynRye @ArtAngst @JBFlying We did go the apply to a lot of schools route, because this is my third kid in college and we are definitely chasing merit! This is my first art kid, though, which is why we cast a wide net, not knowing what to expect, and wanted to make sure there was at least some affordable option.
GPA: 4.0
ACT: 32
Major is illustration or CommD depending on the school
Would also like to do a creative writing minor if possible
Great feedback at NPD (except for RISD, where she did not apply)
The direct costs that I offer here are after scholarships and before loans and are estimated based on this year’s rates of room, board, tuition and fees. My daughter will only be taking the Direct Federal Loan of $5500. My budget is really about $30,000, but we do have the ability to stretch it, and after 2 years kid 2 graduates from Ohio State and I will only be paying for this kid. Right now we pay all out of current earnings for two kids, kid 1 graduates this May.
Pratt- $27,000 yr Presidential, Direct cost after scholly approx. $42,000
PRO:Loved the school, going back Monday
CON: VERY stretchy for our budget.
SVA- $20,000 Silas Rhodes scholarship, Direct cost approx. $48,000 (the dorms are RIDICULOUS) BUT if she commutes, which is about an hour train ride and a 20 min walk only @$28,000
PRO: She loves the programs there. She would do illustration, but they also have cartooning, which she also loves, and there are SO MANY cool electives there that she would love to take. Still waiting to hear about honors. With the commuting option, this would be a good value for this caliber of school.
CONS: VERY stretchy again, unless she commutes. One of the dorms is downright disgusting and she said she absolutely would not live there. The other one is nice but @ $19,000 a year 
The facilities seemed cramped and not particularly nice. On the tour you get paraded through the studios that a few select students get, but where is everyone else? Possible long commute to make it work. I got a very isolating vibe (nobody interacting with each other?) but my daughter said she did not.
MICA- $11,500/yr Creative Vision Award, $3000/yr pre-college scholarship, still pending the juried/academic awards which is taking FOREVER. MICA grant $1500 Direct Costs so far approx. $46,500
PRO- Went to pre-college, LOVED it here, explored and grew so much in 3 short weeks I couldn’t believe it. Worth every penny. My daughter has multiple interests, and MICA lets you do that. My daughter also wants a creative writing minor, which she can do here. You can also take academic classes at other Baltimore colleges in the area. The dorms were awesome. Everyone seemed so happy there and we both got a real vibe that those are her people.
CONS: The area is kind of sketchy. Still waiting on the $$$$$$$$$
Temple/Tyler- $14,000 scholarship. Direct cost approx. 37,000.
PRO- I already have a kid a Temple so we are very prejudiced and love this school. It has been nothing but awesome. The facilities at Tyler are probably the nicest of any school we have looked at. You can explore all kinds of art here, and they have glass blowing which my daughter is dying to get her hands on. She is in honors and there are perks with that. They have a great campus in Rome for study abroad with lots of art offerings. Again, the vibe was these are her people.
CON- Yeah this area is sketchy too, but DD 1 is still alive so its all good:) They don’t have an illustration major, but there are illustration electives within the graphic design major, but my daughter is not sure she wants to try to tailor a major she wants when she has other schools that already have it. She did look closely at the curriculum and was ok with it, as long as its not all just typography.
VCUArts - No word on scholarships yet. She got into the Honors College so I’m figuring something must be coming, fingers crossed.
PROS- Nice school, if money comes it could be a good value. Honors dorms have single rooms and private bathrooms (I keep telling her that’s not a deciding factor! LOL)
CONS- I know it’s ranked well, but just wonder what kind of internships/work the students get. I don’t know a lot about it but will wait for the $ before look into it more.
SCAD - $12,000 academic scholarship and $3,000 portfolio scholarship, direct costs approx. $38,000.
PRO- We haven’t visited, TBD. My daughter really likes the Illustration program and concentrations offered. So far looks to be a cheaper alternative.
CON- My daughter was a little turned off that you don’t need to submit a portfolio. How can they do that? If anyone is still reading, and you know, let me know. She submitted one for scholarship consideration, but kind of weird, no? This kids does not go out of doors from June till September and hates the sun and heat, so not sure if she’s a Georgia girl.
RIT: $19,000 Presidential Scholarship/ direct costs approx. $46,000
No pros
CON: My daughter super hated this school. She went to an overnight program there in the summer and hated every single thing about the campus, dorms, and illustration program. She felt it would have been good for someone doing animation, though. If they could get past the aesthetics of the school. And the cost. Applied with a fee waiver otherwise would not have.
She also applied to Kutztown University and Montclair State University (in-state) as super safeties, and both come in at less than $20,000. I thought these programs are actuallly nice alternatives for someone who really could not afford to swing the full freight of the above schools. We had no idea what, if anything she would get from the other schools, so wanted to make sure she had somewhere she could go if push came to shove.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
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@mommek3 Experiences will vary and “Everyone” may be too strong but I watched and listened to several reviews before they got to her and spoke to a few families afterwards. None were jazzed about the reviews.
The body language of the eye rolls, sighs and constant watch and phone checking was unmistakable. When you open a portfolio and just quickly flip through and ask no questions or really engage much beyond closing it and asking what you want to study and saying “well, we’re pretty competitive” it’s pretty obvious that the young lady doing the review had no interest in being there and/or was looking for hyper specific things that she was unable or unwilling to communicate to a prospective student.
Contrast that with about 12 portfolio reviews with my daughter that were all significantly more engaging, productive and encouraging and my history as a reviewer myself… I gotta go with what I saw and heard.
While we could have just gotten someone on a very bad day … the damage was done and it bummed us both out.
@mlong623 I get it. My daughter had a similar experience with FIT. I think it was probably that reviewer, not necessarily the attitude of the school in general, so I wanted to share a different experience. I could see by the end of the day some of them were just done, which is understandable. To endlessly look at work and talk for 4 hours straight I’m sure is exhausting.
@mommek3 - First off, this is absolutely brilliant!
Second, offer you the best of my research and experience with the caveat that choices are personal, nuanced, and almost always unique to the decision-maker.
Chasing merit at dedicated art schools is tough. So-called “academic art schools” tend to offer this more because they are expressly looking for applicants with higher standardized test scores and superior academic records. But these are few an far between; primarily RISD and Pratt in the Northeast, perhaps SCAD in the South.
The tipping point for significant need-based aid seems to be 3 kids in school. Believe it or not, our family has done that for the past 4 years!
Kid 3 has great stats! The GPA and ACT scores outdo my art kid and she got into every art school to which she applied, including most of the ones you list below; all with significant financial/merit awards (with the notable exception of VCU).
@JBStillFlying can weigh in best regarding these majors, in particular at Pratt and SCAD. My firsthand experience is limited to RISD and daughter is ID, now leaning toward UX.
Portfolio reviews vary. Not sure from our experience which is better, a rave or a true “crit”. Our daughter did not like that some schools fawned over her work. After one such interview, she said, “I’m just not that good!” RISD was by far the toughest critique. In fact, the reviewer strongly dissuaded her from applying ED and told her to use the extra time to improve her portfolio. What nailed that decision was that it was not just a blow-off. The reviewer actually gave her very specific criticisms and technical suggestions to improve her work.
We also did our stretch for our art kid. We viewed art school as 2 for 1 because she will not go to grad school whereas all of other 3 will. Not that we are paying for grad school, but to the extent to which we may help, we don’t have to do this for art kid. Our budget was around $35k and we managed to pull this off for most of the schools to which she was admitted.
Despite the gap of several years, your detailed analysis below dovetails closely with ours.
Pratt: We were able to net this down to $40k. The school would offer no more. We asked. School is very impressive. Great connections in NYC and nationally. Lifetime career planning/placement resources. Early student groups were a bit cliquey for daughter’s taste at accepted students’ day. She also felt that Brooklyn might get a bit ‘small’ and most students said they didn’t have time to expand by visiting NYC too often.
SVA: Got this one down to $38k. Dorms were disgusting. Commuting up and down 23rd street all day was not particularly appealing. Absolutely no concern about academics. Tour guide told her not to worry about test scores at all. Minimal high school GPA and nominal test scores (way below your student) qualified for ‘honors’ program. But tremendous resources and contacts in the illustration, cartooning and animation fields. Super access to NYC. Most of the kids we met while touring, several of whom were alums of our daughter’s high school, commuted. That $25-30k is nothing to sneeze at!
MICA: It’s the neighborhood, stupid! Sorry. Daughter loved her precollege experience at MICA and met some amazing, talented friends. But the area is very sketchy with a very limited safety zone. If anyone thinks Temple is bad, MICA is far worse. At the time, MICA did not offer an ID major. This pretty much eliminated it for our daughter, although MICA was the first of the triple-play accepted students’ days we did, passing through Brooklyn and then up to Providence in 3 days. Oh, we had this one down at $40k net.
Temple/Tyler: Truly loved this one for many of the reasons you cite. Access to larger college campus and resources is very impressive. Tyler itself has a great building and a lot of new facilities. Although not our daughter’s field, the jewelry and industrial facilities (I think having some financial and/or design connection with Tiffany?) were very impressive. I think they have more “tools” than any other art school or something like that….lol. Just didn’t feel as if the school was quite there. Can easily see this school surge in rankings as it gains in reputation and adds majors. One of our best deals though at $30k.
VCUArts: Richmond was one of the truly gorgeous Southern cities…but back in the 80’s. Like a lot of tertiary cities, Richmond lost a lot of businesses, cultural resources and saw a real abandonment of the city. It’s making a slow comeback. The problem for us with VCU is that we categorized it with schools such as Temple, that offer mainstream university resources alongside dedicated art, and VCU is just way below other such schools. It was so important for our daughter to feel that she did not come out of art school totally ignorant about anything except art. Temple was impressive in its academic offerings, teaching staff, and student body. VCU pretty much not at all outside of the art school itself. VCU also offered almost no aid of any kind making it one of the most expensive choices for us.
SCAD: Will leave this one for JB noting only that Savannah is a gorgeous city and that the college is very cool. Savannah is super-hot in the warmer months, almost unbearably so. At least 1 or 2 hurricane evacuations each season as well. SCAD also has that SVA-all over the city feel, but it’s not along one street and it’s kind of cool to explore the city via classes in different neighborhoods.
RIT: Also came in under $30k. But it’s Troy. It’s very CS and Engineering. Troy makes Richmond look like Paris (although they do really try). Very cement-blocky all over campus. Very male-dominant student population. But if you are Engineering, CS and perhaps Architecture, tremendous resources and post-grad contacts.
We did a couple you omitted – MassArt and University of the Arts. The former is “eh” but located in the heart of the Boston college seen, across the street from Northeastern. The latter was oddly impressive. I believe it is the only dedicated art school (perhaps on the East Coast), that offers degrees in performing arts as well as in fine arts. This gives some cool opportunities for experiences across the artistic board. The school offered a ton of money and was by far our cheapest option. It’s in the cultural section of Philly, on Market near Symphony House. During one of Philly’s intermitted downturns, the school bought up a lot of wonderfully old apartment buildings. The dorms are crazy cool with high ceilings, sky lights and a lovely vintage feel all around. Definitely worth a look if you have not already checked it out.
….and so ends my Ted Talk Response!
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My oldest graduated from Pratt (ComD) last year and is working as a publishing art director in Chicago. My 2nd oldest graduates from SCAD this spring (animation with a minor in story board) - job prospects still TBD but I will update when we know more. Both made it through in four years, on scholarship but with relatively little vis arts experience going in from high school. My oldest attended RISD pre-college so that helped, and she’s very proficient with tech which is the direction of GD these days (and something that Pratt emphasizes). My 2nd oldest had more of a MT and creative writing background and attended Cherubs (screenwriting) at NU. So both had a taste of the difficulty and challenge of a studio program, even despite not having years of skill-building on the visual side, and both figured they could pick up the needed visual concepts and skills in their BFA program.
I’ve posted a lot about Pratt and SCAD on CC so feel free to search for that.
The scholarship offers are more than just cost-savings; these schools don’t just give out money to any and everyone. Scholarships are a valuable signal that the school believes you will graduate on time and have decent job prospects in your field.
To help with the decision, you may wish to check out metrics like freshman retention, 4-year, and 6-year graduation rates, and career placement rates for your schools of interest, as these tend to be highly correlated with successful experience. Keep in mind that art/design students might be completing a five-year degree program (such as a B.Arch) or specialized minors that take a bit longer so it’s not unusual to see four year rates that seem “low.” However, both my kids also knew lots of others who didn’t make it in four years either because they stretched out their time to completion in order to make the workload more manageable, or because they were weeded out (didn’t meet a GPA requirement, decided art/design wasn’t their thing, etc.). SCAD, for instance, sees about 1/3 of its freshman class leave the school prior to graduating and I’m sure that’s higher in wildly popular majors such as animation. If your D is coming in with a good skill set to begin with, she will probably thrive during foundation year and first year of major so those weeder stats won’t apply to her directly. However, they are still helpful to look at, IMO.
A word about academics: It was important to me that the gen eds not be “throwaway” courses, so I spent some time looking into what the various art schools offered w/r/t the academic side of the BFA. Both Pratt and SCAD satisfied here, IMO. Both girls came in with AP’s, but Pratt is a bit stingy on AP credits so be sure to check that out if your D is planning to waive out of some generals due to AP.
Feel free to PM me or tag me on this forum if you have any additional questions. Your D appears to be off to an excellent start - good luck to her going forward!
An update to @BrooklynRye about RIT (and waving hi cuz we & our kids made it to senior year at RISD!!!):
For folks who haven’t gotten a chance to visit - RPI is in Troy, which is a Victorian era industrial city that’s had it’s struggles, but the campus itself is a bit prettier than RIT and sits on top of the hill so students can easily walk to events, farmers’ markets etc in the small city below. Hubs is an alum, and I went to high school across the street so a bit of ‘Troy-let’ pride here, but I’ll be honest about its shortcomings in that it’s no Paris!
Rochester’s RIT is much farther away from the city of Rochester - more like in the suburbs/rural area and aesthetically all cinder block as you described.
^^ Addendum to #46 above: Savannah is a wonderful city but it gets very humid. My D has definitely “suffered” for her art there, although she’s truly enjoyed the city and all it has to offer. And yes, each of the past four years has involved a “hurrica-tion” of some sort, beginning with Matthew in 2016. SCAD is probably the best-prepared school for evacuation procedures in the event of a hurricane. They take it seriously and their communications with parents is simply top-notch.
Wow. Really mixed up my Rochester with my Troy. Too many kids. Too many college visits. Thanks @ArtAngst - We’re seniors!!
Thank you all for the information. My D, now a junior, just informed us she no longer wants to go into architecture and has decided on art school. We just visited Ringling this past weekend and I am completely out of my element. I was a traditional science student. Straight from B.S. to grad school. Husband an engineer. No clue how to judge a good or bad art school. My D has good academics top 5% of her class, ACT 32. However, until this weekend I had no idea about this portfolio review stuff and summer sessions. Where are these reviews? What are the best summer sessions? Are they all 4 weeks and as pricey as Ringling? Any help would be appreciated.
Daughter did precollege at FIT, MICA, and at RISD. All about the same price on a per week basis. RISD by far the most valuable in terms of rigor, development of portfolio, and evolution of skill sets. A real crucible for assessing one’s ability to survive first-year foundation curriculum. MICA also very good. FIT more like day-school, perhaps lacking the living-there benefits. Also, top schools do weigh attendance at their precollege. Some of the same profs and administrators, some of whom will write recommendations. Very, very useful in the process.
Thank you for all this information. My DD21 is deciding now which schools she is interested in applying after researching and visiting several schools in our area. We live in Philly, and she wants to stay on the east coast. She wants to major in animation but also is interested in Psychology so is leaning more towards going to a regular university vs. art school. Her first choice so far is UCF and their Experimental Animation program followed by schools close to home, UArts and Temple/Tyler for their Art Therapy Program. We are also visiting Kutztown in April as they have a Digital Arts Program and figured it’s an affordable and safe bet in case the others don’t work out. I believe she also has shown some interest in Towson but don’t much about them. She’s in a Philly Magnet HS with a 3.8 UW GPA and 1100 SAT which she is taking again in May so not sure which she would get in financial aid or how many of these schools would be a reach for her. She took a precollege art program at UPENN last summer and is attending UArts precollege this summer which I hope will help in getting her portfolio together.
Hi there. @ArtAngst, you are absolutely right about PrattMWP. I agree, Munson Williams was a wonderful school. As I said, I studied dance there for years and loved it. I just think that the culture in that area is lacking. I would call it more of a “depressed” area than “industrial”. That being said, I am sure that the program is quality and it is a definite option for students who intend to transition into Pratt.
OK, so, for any parents out there who this may be helpful for, here’s where we stand:
MassArt: $9K yr / $36K merit
MICA: $15.5K yr / $62K total Creative Vision Award (former MICA admissions counselor said to add award and grant together because they have to cap the CV award. Also said that there will be more to come)
SUNY Purchase: nothing, nada, zilch (but what can we expect w a SUNY?)
MECA: $21K yr / $84K total Presidential
Pratt - Still waiting (of course!)
I like to write the totals because it helps me to get over the sticker shock of the final cost LOL
Does anyone have insight to MECA? We visited and really liked facilities and Portland haas a great vibe. I know it is a tiny school, and not as competitive as most of the others, but just wondering. Right now, top choices are MICA and Pratt (IF she gets in and get competitive $$).
Thanks all!
@Canadan5 re pre-college summer programs, our family budget was tight and couldn’t afford the traditional travel ones…so we got creative, hunted down things locally that helped get my kids more art experience. portfolio pieces, feedback etc.
For oldest (RISD senior) - the college I work at had a day program for HS students so she did that one summer (and as alum so got 1/2 off). That program wasn’t running anymore, so coughed up more $ for another local college’s summer pre-college program for youngest (Parsons freshman), but at a reduced rate as a day student.
In addition to that, there’s a local arts org that had break and summer HS level classes. That arts org, my college and a local art store all have open figure drawing sessions too. Instruction was not provided, but they’re still a great experience (and a lot of times folks there were happy to see younger artists so would chat, give advice, casual instruction). Rates ranged from $5 -$20 (to pay the model). All welcomed under 18s as long as a parent signed off. A lot of portfolio reviewers were happy to see this kind of experience in their portfolios. Have your daughter ask her art teachers or research online if things like this are available in your area.
Re Portfolio Reviews - there’s National Portfolio Days held in major cities in the Fall. https://nationalportfolioday(dot)org
These tend to be large events with a LOT of students showing up, so it helps to plan ahead. Depending where you live, you may also have smaller ‘spin-off’ regional Portfolio Days. Basically, most of the reps in town for the NPD one will gather a day or two later at nearby art college or arts org and do the same thing BUT with much shorter lines!! They’re not always well advertised, but your art teacher should know if there’s one nearby. We’re lucky that we live near 2 in my area, so my kids did those instead and had no problem getting reviews from the schools they were interested in.
You can also request a portfolio review as part of a campus visit. Some schools will offer it as part of a Open Houses, a visit day etc (MICA and Pratt). Others don’t always advertise this well, and some schools won’t do it at all (looking at you RISD). My youngest was a bit more brave about this and would research online or email the admission person directly and ask for one. Oldest did it but was mixed on how helpful it was or not. Youngest enjoyed them and also asked THEM questions and it helped her get a sense of if the school was the right fit for what she wanted in a program.
@Canadan5 Like your D, my S didn’t start his art training until after sophomore, and I knew nothing of art portfolios or that he had to do them for college applications until my friend (whose daughter was applying to art high schools in NYC) said her daughter had to do them, which made us do some research on what was involved in applying to art colleges. In addition to studio art classes, he took several pre-college classes during the school year and pre-college summer program during summer after junior year. FIT (Basic Life Drawing) was probably the most helpful in advancing his figure drawing skills; SVA (Cartooning) was fun and helped him develop storytelling, but didn’t do much for the portfolio; Cooper Union (Summer Art Intensive- Graphic Design concentration) was a great 4-week program and about $1K less than Pratt with a similar program of several classes during that period–Contemporary Art Issues (writing, discussing, visiting museums), Drawing, and Graphic Design. He came out with a few pieces for the portfolio with CU. CU helped him most with learning to work faster because they had always a lot to do in a short period of time. The thing I liked about the summer program was that it covered several areas of art and gave him a taste of college life by having to manage 3 classes.
I found this page very useful when I was looking into different programs:
https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/features/pre-college-summer-arts-programs-high-school-students/
I do know Pratt and Cooper Union offer scholarships for their summer programs, but they are very limited.
Try to apply soon because I believe a lot of the deadlines are coming up or have passed (Pratt is March 1 and Cooper Union is late March).
Good luck!
I applied to MFA programmes in illustration (SVA, FIT), cartooning (CCS) and graphic design/VCD (SAIC, MCAD).
Got accepted by CCS, MCAD (with Trustees scholarship) and SAIC (haven’t received my actual acceptance letter yet so no info about scholarships so far). Was rejected by SVA. Have just been contacted to schedule an interview with FIT.
I’m really happy with what I’ve got but am wondering how often SAIC give out merit scholarships? Going there is super pricey and I’ve got my heart set on going there but would rather not spend literally all my savings doing so. Does anyone have any info on the rate at which they give scholarships out (especially for MFAs)??
OK, I’ve been reading these forever and soaking up the info. Now I’ve decided to wade in and mention our situation. I would appreciate any guidance, feedback or advice that may come to mind.
Our D is a Junior in High School and wants to go to art school. Unfortunately between her other extra curricular activities (drum major in the band, theater leader) and the low availability of art classes in our school, she is largely self taught. She’s very talented and passionate about her art and I have no doubt that she can mix it up with the most talented kids once it’s her main/only focus.
Through this early process of trying to figure out portfolio and visiting schools we have learned a lot. Enough to know that there is so much more we don’t understand still. Long story short, I don’t know how good is good enough. How difficult is acceptance at these schools? Which ones does she have the best shot at? It’s all very stressful.
She sees herself as probably an illustrator. Or perhaps trying to work in the entertainment industry but not as an animator exactly. Maybe story boards, concept art or illustration.
We have a make shift portfolio which we have had reviewed a few times as part of our visits. She knows what she needs more work on and we currently have found a local figure drawing class and private lesson with a local illustrator who will work with her on observational drawing. Unfortunately she’s facing another very busy summer with drum major camps and band camps. It makes it tough for her to participate in any of the pre-college offerings which sound like they are invaluable. We are looking for maybe a 1-2 week program somewhere in June where she has her only free time.
She doesn’t want to do band in college but it’s a big deal at our school and she’s a leader. So we hate to pull her back from things that she is successful in for her senior year of high school just to get ready for college more. But at the same time it feels like we’re already behind and she needs to spend all her energy on art practice and portfolio development. It’s a tough balance to enjoy the NOW without sacrificing her college dreams.
The next hurdle is cost. It’s a lot as you all know (LOL). We are still holding out hope that an in-state school here in Texas will strike a chord with her. But so far they are all essentially “studio” or “fine art” type degrees. We would prefer her to be able to work for a company/client at least at first. But I’m sure our fears about career are based in our ignorance of the entire scope of the art world.
Here grades are great and I hate the idea of that work “going to waste”.
Her GPA is above 4 and her class rank is top 5% at a public TX high school.
We have visited:
Texas A&M University for Visualization which is apparently a well thought of program which has ties to Pixar. But it seems largely interested in 3D animation and not much traditional media which she loves way, way more. We will expect automatic acceptance and possible scholarships to help with the already low IS tuition. But honestly she does not want to go there.
CALarts: Loved the vibe and got great feedback from an admissions councelor.
I see this school as a definite reach for an “unexperienced” portfolio student. And honestly they don’t even have a degree program that fits closely with Illustration as I understand it.
CSU Fullerton: Not an art school vibe but definite potential for what seems like a quality art education. Proximity to So Cal jobs and internships is a plus. Their BFA programs sound very impacted and placement into the desired choice is an uncertainty two years in.
LCAD: we loved this school. Much more than I thought we would. The admissions and tour people were fantastic and several professors stopped instruction to talk about their class and answer questions. This school immediately went to the top of her list. And we left there feeling like it is very doable for acceptance and would probably come in as one of the lower cost private art colleges. She has a lot of work to do but the admissions person basically offered to help her along the way and help her get in. It felt like they saw her potential as a self-trained person. But on the other hand they may just be excellent sales people.
We have visits planned in the next month to MassArt and RISD. But I’m not sure how much of a “reach” any of these schools are. And with yearly cost above $70k before aid it seems like it would be a tall order for them to end up being our college.
I have also been researching for good art universities that would reward her academic record a bit more or who might “waive” OOS tuition. UCF in Orlando has come up a few times and seems like a place where the OOS tuition would be significanlty mitigated by larger merit award. She doesn’t want to live in FL but she does love WDW and would be close by.
Other schools in Texas that we are also planning to see would include UT Austin, UT Dallas and the University of North Texas which is very strong for the arts in general. It just seems like a long way from working at Disney Feature Animation, Imagineering or Dreamworks etc.
That was a lot of words. If you read all of that, thanks. And if I’m missing anything obvious please let me know.
My D is pursuing Animation. We’re in CA & she’s not too excited about going out of state, so while she started with a huge list of schools - Pratt, RHSD, NYU, SAIC & a few others I can’t remember, she only ended up applying to SAIC (she spent a summer in Chicago a few years back) out of state & then withdrew when she started getting her CA acceptances. In CA, the only art school she was really drawn to is CalArts - a definite reach for her, but you never know if you can get in unless you apply… that was the only true art school she applied to. She decided to go for Chapman (fell in love with Dodge the second she walked in), CSULB, CSUF, SJSU & UC Irvine. The state schools were all backups for her since Dodge & CalArts are portfolio based… The only CSU school that you can jump right into animation without doing art or pre-art is SJSU, but that’s a local school for us, so she wasn’t too excited about it. She’s been accepted to all schools so far, though we’re waiting to hear from Irvine & CalArts. She knows CalArts is a reach, so if she doesn’t get in, she says she’s Chapman bound in the fall.
FYI - My D just got her acceptance to Pratt via email!