Hi everyone,
I’m a sophomore in high school currently, and considering the fact that these two are almost complete opposites and college apps are in less than 2 years, I would appreciate some input…
Art has been my passion for many years, but I also love engineering. I don’t think I’d be 100% happy if I chose engineering for some reason, even though I love it, but I also feel worried about the future after art school. I’d want to go into animation or something related. Some people tell me to combine my talents, such as in web design, but that’s not what I want… I’m on complete opposite sides of the spectrum. I never imagined that I might go to art school because I guess for some reason I used to think that I would go into some different “professional”(?) field? I guess I mean things like STEM. But looking back art has been what I love the most for years…Input? Thank you.
You are literally so far away, you will change a lot in the time remaining. You can decide then for now just pursue your interests and the right choice will come to you.
You’ve got plenty of time ahead of you and it’s quite likely you’ll change your mind or decide on one over the other. Quite a few students change their mind even in college.
With that said, engineering has many great job prospects while art might be a bit more limiting (financially and opportunity-wise). You could certainly keep art as a hobby (and even a minor or double major) in college.
But if art truly is your passion when you’re a senior and applying to colleges then by all means pursue it.
When I was visiting my alma mater, Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, TX last fall, I learned about an exciting new major that they are offering that blends engineering and art - I think this type of things will be more popular in the future. Might be worth looking into either at SMU or somewhere else:
http://www.smu.edu/Meadows/AreasOfStudy/CreativeComputation/UndergraduateStudies/CreativeCompBA
So first of all, yes, you are far away, and things may become more solid when you get closer.
But second of all, art and engineering aren’t complete opposites. In fact, if you are interested in animation, you will probably have to combine a study in art with a study of computer science and engineering elements. Something that might interest you would be that SMU major; another example is Stanford’s major in product design, or a major in industrial design. Lots of engineering schools offer degrees in industrial design, which combines engineering principles and art to emphasize the design of products and structures that are useful to people. Here’s a list: http://www.idsa.org/education/id-schools
Last week my job was visited by some students in the multidisciplinary design major at University of Utah: http://design.cap.utah.edu/
Even if you went somewhere and majored in animation, since most animation is done at least with the assistance of computers and technology if not completely by them, you’ll have to study computer science as well.
agree with the last poster. They are much much more similar than apart. In fact fine engineering/design schools have incorporated both disciplines . For example: RIT is a strong engineering school and a strong design school ie graphic arts, industrial design, game design. Another example is the very very small school Cooper Union that only has 3 majors- Engineering, art, architect. Cross discipline . You have plenty of time, but it wouldn’t hurt to maybe read up on schools and even take a visit.
I agree with the above posters - I also second RIT’s commitment to the arts/engineering. When my daughter went to “Accepted Students’ Day” at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) the President greeted the students “Welcome, Artists and Geeks!” That sold her.
See this chart: https://www.rit.edu/emcs/oce/employer/salary
It will give you an idea of what careers happen after graduating and their salaries (also, RIT is a co-op school, and salaries are given for co-ops as well.)
Scroll down to “New Media Design” which is a BFA. Combines design with some coding/interactive planning - highest students fresh-out-of-college salary: $120,000.
Other majors which combine both interests; 3D animator. Industrial Design. 3D Design. The list goes on and on. Both disciplines co-exist really well.
RIT is the university, it has various colleges within that university, and there are different schools within each college. It has a College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, as well as a College of Engineering, etc. They have a highly competitive School of Film and Animation - I find it odd that acceptance is based on school record, not portfolio, but graduates have gone onto working in big animation houses. (Co-ops really help here as well.)
I highly recommend if you can afford it, do a pre-college summer this year. RIT has one: https://www.rit.edu/emcs/admissions/careers/
Also, grades/SAT scores DO matter for art students at some specific schools. Ringling gives scholarship based on a combination of portfolio and GPA/SAT’s - RIT gives scholarship based on GPA/SAT’s. If you are preparing a portfolio, a pre-college month between junior and senior year is recommended. Also, look online at the portfolios of students applying to/accepted from, colleges you are interested in - for example, CalArts students post a lot of their application portfolios on YouTube.
Last, plan on going to a National Portfolio Day next Fall. http://www.portfolioday.net/ While your art teacher may say that it is “too soon” (my daughter’s did) you will get great feedback - get there early (we were about 150th in line, I think, and 2 hours early) and bring parents/friends if you can to just hold a place in line at another school while you have your portfolio discussed at another school. It will really help you target what you need to include/work on for the next year. This was VERY helpful for my daughter.
Honestly, I recommend all artists learn to code. It is the next frontier of creativity.
Might architecture suit you? That might combine your interests and abilities.