<p>Im entering my senior year this fall and I'm weighing the benefits of a university arty program vs. those of an art school.I plan on applying to three of each. Is one option better than the other?? </p>
<p>Yes and no.
Cost - most university programs win. Art schools are pretty expensive.
Rigor - most well known art schools win.
University - has sports and tons of non-art activities, Greek organizations and various majors besides art plus a huge variety of people.
Art school - usually limited to art related clubs, activities, immersed in an artistic, creative environment, lots of very artsy students. Do you want to date another artist or would you rather date an engineering major?
Connections - art schools usually have their finger on the pulse of the art world, most professors are working artists. University professors may teach full time and do art on the side.
Talent - art school has many insanely talented students, universities can have a wider variability of talent, some schools do a portfolio after the frosh yr to evaluate potential.<br>
Studios/tech - art schools I’ve seen have most of the latest industry standard equipment and facilities and some with equipment labs where you can check out gear for filming movies, photography, etc as well as software like adobe creative suite. University programs are a maybe.
Focus - art school is all about artists. Universities have football teams, business majors and many other things to keep them busy besides art.</p>
<p>Some universities have very robust art programs that are worth attending plus you get the full college experience, other universities have a tiny art department with substandard equipment and focus on art teaching vs creating successful artists.</p>
<p>Art schools are really expensive but do offer some pretty significant scholarships to talented students. And if you go into debt, art offer no guarantee of getting paid.</p>
<p>I hope all this helps.</p>
<p>Hey-same boat here. </p>
<p>I decided strictly on art school just because I liked the culture better and have been going to an arts magnet for the past 6 years so I’m used to the culture. BUT! something I found really useful in picking out schools is to see who came out of them. There is a list somewhere on the internet that you could probably find by Googling. </p>
<p>Surprisingly the big schools like RISD and MICA do not have many well known alumni while other smaller schools did. It was a deciding factor for me. </p>