<p>My son is debating between SAIC and Skidmore right now. Loves SAIC and would do their BFA with emphasis in writing. Loves the city but not sure if it would be too much all of the time. Skidmore would also have the education he wants but yet doesn't have the same environment (great for the out doors but not enough city stimulation). Has any body had a similar situation?</p>
<p>My sister almost went to art school and is so relieved she went to a liberal arts school instead. She still did her art thing, but found out she loved other subjects as well and she thinks she wouldn’t have discovered them in art school. She is now in graduate school studying philosophy.</p>
<p>As someone who went to an art school for 2.5 years, and who now is trying to transfer to any school who will accept me as a humanities majors, I found out the hard and expensive way about the disadvantage of attending an art school. I feel art school/s should be like grad/medical schools where it follows an undergraduate education, after one has majored in something relevant to art. There is to much of an education that your son will miss by attending an art school straight out of high school(of course this is assuming he has yet to discover the value in the liberal arts/humanities/etc)</p>
<p>PS How many 18 or even 21 years old have lived life fully to make worthy art? That’s one of the reasons why I’m so against art schools straight out of high school. Art schools are very much like trade schools were you’re taught skills, and when you go in thinking that just because you get into a top art school you’ll have doors open is a delusion.</p>
<p>My D is struggling with this question right now. She got accepted into top art colleges (Risd, Mica & Pratt), but is now reconsidering. Finances have a lot to do with it, but so does her realization – she feels she is too young and inexperienced to produce really good art, art with any meaning; and that she also has other interests (linguistics, writing and singing), which she wants to also develop. She wants to be a more fully rounded person with more life experience and maturity, before focusing entirely on the art. She feels that at this stage, ALL she would be focusing on is technique; she would have a lack of anything to say (other than through the prism of her limited experience). I’m interested in what others have to say who have been through this. If she does choose to take off the year, she will hold two jobs, finish her novel, take local linguistics classes at Temple Univ. (not for credit), go on an archaeological volunteer dig, and work more on her portfolio. What do you all think?</p>
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ALL she would be focusing on is technique
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that’s exactly what art school was like at my former school. It may have to do with the fact that my former school is considered more commercial than others, but even so it’s made me realize the business side of the current art industry and how much of whats out there is people trained in skills and taking advantage of the industry by saturating it with “marketing” if that makes sense.</p>
<p>To me the biggest point of differentiation between an art school and a liberal arts program at a college or university is the other students. At an art school all of your friends and classmates will be studying art, making art, talking art 24/7; at a “full service” university you’ll most likely interact with kids studying a wide range of disciplines. </p>
<p>My husband who is a painter graduated from an art school when he was in his late 20’s. For a variety of reasons – finances, maturity, lack of focus – his gap year became years, but when he started his serious studies he was really ready. Many of his friends were his age or older and had already completed liberal arts degrees and started professional careers. They brought a lot of life experience to the community.</p>
<p>My son studied studio art and art history at a small liberal arts college. He eventually decided to pursue architecture which not quite the same as a career in pure fine arts, but even if he had chosen to pursue painting instead, he would have valued the liberal arts educational experience both in class and out of class. </p>
<p>raisin, Skidmore has a wonderful arts program – both studio and history – and Saratoga is a lively small town, but if your son wants urban, Skidmore isn’t it!</p>
<p>hoveringmom, Your daughter’s gap year idea sounds great. On another thread you asked for suggestions for LACs with good studio art programs. These are some that my son was interested in. He graduated from Williams.
Williams, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Kenyon, Skidmore, Vassar, Conn College. For females, Smith.</p>
<p>momrath, wow, thank you SO much. And thanks for the support. She worked all year at the public library in town, and with her savings, she has decided to spend three weeks traveling in England, one week of which will be at a volunteer archaeological dig connected with a major university (not for credit). She’s gonna bring her sketchbook!..</p>