<p>Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Cornell, Yale, Rochester have great art programs and are universities, not art schools.</p>
<p>Add Syracuse, Boston University, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and UMass-Amherst.</p>
<p>I assume reference in the preceding post is to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), not Univ. of Rochester (but I could be wrong). I don't know that all of the places named have "great" art programs (though a few do, such as Yale and Carnegie Mellon). But they may be worth exploring.</p>
<p>RISD accepts 33/35% of their applicants but only about half (...or 420...) end up attending.</p>
<p>I got my numbers from here: <a href="http://risd.edu/admit_fresh.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://risd.edu/admit_fresh.cfm</a> I guess it technically says 420 will be beginning in the fall but it doesn't state exactly if thats how many they accepted or how many will enroll. I just kinda assumed that was how many were accepted, but perhaps not. I wasn't just trying to make up numbers to make it seem like its super difficult to get into. Just wanted to clearify.</p>
<p>Almost every program (with the exception of a few small grad programs to my knowledge) accepts more students than they actually have room for because they know they won't all attend. For state schools, they know that more prestigious schools will get a good number of the kids they admit, and for schools like RISD, they know that some of the kids just won't be able to swing it financially.</p>
<p>Based on historical data, schools/colleges will accept a certain number of students expecting that a certain percentage will actually matriculate...actually end up accepting the offer of admission. RISD accepts 33/35% of applicants, but your figure (420) represents the number who actually end up attending. This is the case for all colleges, not just expensive art schools.</p>
<p>I expect the numbers will show a lower acceptance rate this year due to the exceptional year for all colleges. I have not seen any 2007 numbers (acceptance % or actual attending) for RISD. Has anyone else? When do those usually come out? I assume Alisoart has 2006 or 2005 numbers.</p>
<p>Wow, I feel like I've finally met people who understand! I wasn't aware that anyone knew about RISD before, even though it's a very good design school.</p>
<p>I have a little dilemma here. My art teacher, she thinks that I could make it into RISD no problem. It kind of shocked me. You see, I've never even considered this viewpoint before. My strongpoints are math and science, so I've always thought about a career involving those topics, or perhaps something financial, or in business. But designing sounds so fun! Architechture especially intrigues me. </p>
<p>However, although RISD is a specialty school for art, it doesn't have much science or math, and I don't want to waste all my years and future years of learning in those subjects. Plus, I love science, and want my career to have something to do with it. </p>
<p>I know that Brown's U is RISD's sister school, and I was thinking of maybe majoring something there, but a guest speaker came in to talk about life on RISD and she said there's virtually no time at all to do anything, barely any spare time, especially for those who're majoring in architechture. </p>
<p>So what do I do? God to RISD, or try for some other, more prestigious college that has an OK art program?</p>
<p>You can take classes at Brown, but probably not more than one per semester. You probably could not fit a class in your schedule freshman year because you will be in class over 30 hours per week.</p>
<p>My daughter (who will be a senior at RISD) has a very good friend who is an architecture major. The RISD was correct...her friend has very little spare time.</p>
<p>If you are aready concerned about missing academic classes, then I think you should look at colleges that have good art programs.</p>
<p>Maybe you should visit RISD and talk to someone in the architecture department...</p>
<p>Risd doesn't allow any freshman to take a class at Brown that first year. The intensive freshman year is just too demanding. The 1st semester is the foundation for your decision in picking a major.</p>
<p>San Jose State has a fantastic program.
<a href=“http://ad.sjsu.edu/[/url]”>http://ad.sjsu.edu/</a></p>
<p>Any info on SAIC? I know I’ve seen something about it on this site, but can’t find it now.</p>
<p>
Hehe. If you major in architecture you’ll have more science shoved down your throat than you can handle. My dad used to teach physics to RISD architecture students, they had all the life sucked out of them by the end of the semester. At RISD architecture, you will never learn enough science. Ever. When you’re done with one concept, you’ll be sent back for more work. That’s part of the reason I never want to become an architect. (No offense.) But if science is your thing, maybe you’ll love it. Not many people combine science with art, but RISD’s new president is a former MIT professor, so it seems as if RISD is moving in that direction.</p>
<p>To some extent, every major is like this. You can never know enough about painting, about film, glass blowing or anything else. Part of being an artist is pushing the limits forever. But architecture and industrial design are probably the most intense of all majors. They’re not only artists, they’re scientists. They build things that can kill if they’re not built well.</p>
<p>Don’t assume anything about art school. Even if you don’t pick a science related major, if you like science, you will get science. RISD is one of the few art schools that takes liberal arts seriously, and Brown has a very impressive science library. It’s true that you won’t have spare time but you are required to take liberal arts classes so don’t worry about it. People say it pays to go to a god specialized art school because the art world is very competitive. For some people there are probably benefits to attending a large university though. Things are more laid back and you can meet more people. Just be aware if you pursue a design career, people might not take the prestige of your school seriously if the school has little to do with the design world.</p>
<p>Linzoy states," For some people there are probably benefits to attending a large university though. Things are more laid back and you can meet more people."</p>
<p>Response: Gotta love all of the misrepresentation and bad opinions given on these boards. Yes, some prefer large universities;however, not being an art school doesn’t mean that the kids in art programs don’t work just as hard, or even harder, than art school kids. Just ask any student of design at Carnegie Mellon, University of Cincinnati or RIT et.al. </p>
<p>My daughter attends University of Cincinnati School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning. She works like a dog and notes that most other students are working just as hard. She regularly leaves DAAP at the “wee hours” in the morning and sees plenty of kids doing the same.</p>
<p>Some universities may not work their kids as hard. Some art schools may not be as demanding as University of Cincinnati. However, you can’t make a blanket statement that at large universities, “things are more laid back.” Large universities do, however, usually offer more events and activities and sports. They usually ( and I am not saying all)have better facilities overall such as work-out facilities and almost always have better and certainly more offerings in liberal arts and science courses. Large universities tend to take their liberal arts more seriously than many art schools;however, as noted, there are art schools that do take their liberal arts seriously such as MICA and RISD.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I have heard from a number of kids that there are art schools that provides liberal arts only because it is required for graduation and that some of these schools water them down tremendously. Again, this isn’t necessarily true of all art schools ,but it certainly does occur.</p>
<p>Trust me, there are a number of universities that provide very strong training in art and design. Many stand-alone art schools were merged into the universities,which is how some got their art departments; thus, they have the same quality and, in many cases, quantity of art and design offerings that a stand alone art school would have. A good example of this is Temple University, which acquired “Tyler School of Art.”
You do have to research the schools to see what they offer and what the general education requirements are.</p>
<p>
Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t make generalizations like that. I wrote that post at about 2 am. I can only speak from my own experience, and I know that most Brown kids do not work as hard as RISD students. I also know that Brown students can sometimes show up late for class or even not show up at all and pass if they ace the final. Grades are optional there and they choose all of their own courses. Things aren’t like that at RISD. Maybe some other art schools are more laid back, but RISD students have a larger freshman workload than MIT students.</p>
<p>I don’t really believe that large universitys produce just as good artists as the best art schools on average. If you have some evidence of this please show it to us. I know yale school of art has a great reputation but that’s a graduate school.</p>
<p>Linzoy notes,"I know that most Brown kids do not work as hard as RISD students. I also know that Brown students can sometimes show up late for class or even not show up at all and pass if they ace the final. Grades are optional there and they choose all of their own courses. "</p>
<p>Response: I don’t think it is fair to make a sweeping statement that you make simply from judging the work that you see in some of your Brown University friends. All schools are different regarding the expected work as are all majors. They require varying degree of work and much of which is student driven. </p>
<p>Yes, I think art students, as a whole, work harder than that found in many other majors. As for what you said about Brown kids, Brown is an ivy league and one of the tougher IVY league schools to be admitted to. The ivy league schools are known to give better grades than found at schools with lower admission standards. This is their reputation, whether true or not. I have a friend who attended Harvard, and he told me that the average grade was at least a "B and in many classes “B+”. This was certainly NOT true for the schools that I attended.</p>
<p>In terms of average quality of work, I don’t have that to show you. However, I can tell you that the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon have almost a 100% job placement statistic. University of Cincinnati also has a 90%+ job placement for their design kids. Kids from these schools can’t be too bad if the placement is that high!</p>
<p>Note: I am NOT knocking the quality of work or courses offered at stand alone art schools. I am suggesting that universities that have strong art programs can produce artists and designers that are every bit as good as graduates from stand alone art schools. Check out the ratings of schools like University of Cincinnati, RIT, and Carnegie Mellon. They usually are in the top 5 in most of their design majors. If you check the ratings for industrial design programs, interior design, graphic design and architecture, most of the top 5 rated schools are NOT stand alone art schools. They are usually schools like Cincinnati, Rice, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon etc.
Also, I am speaking only about design and architecture. I am NOT talking about fine art such as painting, illustration, glass, fiber, printmaking, metalsmithing etc. There may be an advantage attending a stand alone art school for these types of majors over that of most universities. Even here, I am not totally sure of this statement. Andy Warhol, for example, attended Carnegie Mellon’s art school.</p>
<p>As for Yale, yes, they have a great reputation, but, frankly, I have seen student work and wasn’t impressed. You can, however, major in art even as an undergraduate. I think ( and this is an “I think”) Yale made this change to allow this several years ago.</p>
<p>Finally, not to belabor this point, universities can and do offer one advantage that is not normally seen even among top art schools: There is usually a lot of interdisciplinary stuff that goes on between design departments and other areas such as engineering, anthropology etc. Carnegie Mellon, for example, has a human-computer interaction institute that involve computer folks, engineering students and design students. This opens up a whole world of cutting edge research opportunities.</p>
<p>Cincinnati has a similar program, although it isn’t a formal. These schools also offer opportunities for interdisciplinary stuff such as solar house competitions and many other fantastic opportunities not offered by many stand alone art schools.</p>
<p>100% job placement is pretty impressive. I’m more fine arts orientated so I’m not as up to speed about what goes on in the design world. My school’s pretty interdisciplinary but I’m not sure about the other art schools.</p>
<p>//As for Yale, yes, they have a great reputation, but, frankly, I have seen student work and wasn’t impressed.// TG</p>
<p>You can see some work here: [Yale</a> University School of Art: Gallery](<a href=“http://art.yale.edu/Gallery]Yale”>Exhibitions - Yale School of Art)</p>
<p>RainingAgain, did you think that what was shown was fabulous?</p>
<p>Taxguy, you mentioned your daughter is at UC. My son was just accepted there. He is much more interested in fine arts than design, and some people well connected with UC have told me that the FA program doesn’t come close to the design program.</p>
<p>His portfolio has been accepted at MICA and Tyler, but we haven’t gotten anything “Official” yet. He has a portfolio review at CMU in February.</p>
<p>What have you heard about UC in terms of fine arts?</p>
<p>Thanks for any insight you can offer!</p>