Best College for Art?

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

Hi,

My daughter just started her senior year in high school. She loves art (painting, digital art, drawing, etc.). We are trying to decide which schools to apply to and have found that the “lists” of best schools for art varies widely and is extremely inconsistent (e.g., SCAD shows in top 10 in some lists and not in the top 100 in other lists). Also, half the time the list is for an MFA rather than a BFA.

She hasn’t decided between attending a normal university with a good Fine Arts program or an art school/institute. As I mentioned earlier, she loves all art, but is slightly leaning towards majoring in illustration or painting. Does anyone have a resource or a list of what are considered the best schools for art?

I have a hard time assessing her art skill as I don’t have a creative bone in my body, but I’ve been told by others (including all of her art teachers, as well as feedback from many colleges from a portfolio review day that we attended) that she is talented in art. She is also pretty good academically, with a 1520 on her SAT, 4.0 GPA and 5’s on all of the AP tests that she has taken so far (Studio Art, Digital Imaging, US History, Environmental Science).

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

2

You could ask the in the Art Majors forum: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/

The parents there will have useful suggestions for you.

3

Moving to Arts Major forum.

4

Go visit schools. Location will be a factor. If your daughter is talented as an artist she won’t really need a degree to succeed. Most artists are judged on portfolios rather than degrees. So you have to weigh the expenses of private art school versus a more well rounded academic experience in a traditional college setting. There are many paths to success as an artist and your daughter will recognize the school on her visits. If money is a consideration, you can weed out choices before visiting. You can look at niche’s website for rankings and reviews. There’s tons of information and you’ll have tons of options with your daughter’s academic record.

5

I agree with @Artful4art. My artsy daughter who wanted to major in Industrial Design had her heart set on art school. She did a summer camp at SCAD and loved it. However, we also looked at traditional universities as well as art schools and after all was said and done she decided traditional university in the Design program was what she wanted. I think it’s a very personal choice. I would say that the school that she ended up at doesn’t require portfolios but bases admissions strictly off of academic record. Your daughter would absolutely be a great candidate there. Good luck! I know how confusing it can all be.

6

Also if she’s a senior have her art teachers told her about any National Portfolio Events nearby? This is an easy way to see a lot of art schools reps all at once and get feedback on her portfolio before she submits it to slideroom (an admissions requirement for most art schools and art programs within a university).

7

Don’t forget to think outside the box, also:

http://earlham.edu/art/

https://www.bowdoin.edu/visual-arts/

8

@Tyc777 I think your daughter needs to divide her options into general categories and then consider the pros and cons of each category. Art is a big field, both as a career and in style of education. There are many roads to success. None is better than another, just different.

First, your daughter should think about whether she wants to attend an art school or a traditional, “full service university.” This may be stating the obvious, but at a college dedicated to art and design all of her colleagues will be studying art and design, pretty much 24/7. This can be either a plus or a minus depending on your inclination.

At a full-service university or college, your friends, roommates, classmates will be studying everything under the sun and extra-curricular speaking events, performances, seminars will similarly reflect a wide range of disciplines.

Within the context of a traditional university/college, your daughter will also need to consider whether she wants to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) or a Bachelor of Art (BA) in art. Most schools only offer one or the other. Again, neither the BFA nor the BA is better than the other, but the focus and emphasis is different.

The BFA is generally a 5.0 year program which is more narrowly focused on studio than is the 4.0 year BA. Opportunities for exposure to other disciplines (other humanities, languages, sciences, social sciences) are generally greater within BA programs, though each course requirements vary widely from school to school.

Your daughter has strong grades and score which would make her a reasonable candidate for most traditional universities and colleges. For art schools and most BFA programs, her portfolio would be a key factor in admissions. Her art teachers and mentors should be able to give her an idea of what schools that require portfolios are looking for.

Since she’s going to be applying in three months or so, she really needs to accelerate the decision about what type of school and which degree. Her long list may include all of the above: art schools, universities/college with BFAs, universities/colleges with BAs. From there she can narrow in based on what you can afford, location, size and pervasive culture. Visiting will help a lot.

9

@momrath gave a lot of great info although a BFA is NOT generally a 5 year degree UNLESS it’s in architecture, combining it with teaching which would be a BFA/MA, or your student changes their concentration/major after sophomore year which will mess up the track of study they’re on. So don’t let that scare you re a BFAs.

BFAs compared to BAs are hard and have longer hours in the studio per certification programs like NASAD, so bear that in mind and check on the actual graduation rates of the colleges you’re looking at. Also remember that a lot of students can sometimes be in for a shock with the studio hours and homework hours expected outside of the classroom, so some degree of dropping out is not unusual.

10

@momrath D attended NYU and earned her BFA in studio art. She was on track and graduated on time in 4 years. She actually could have accelerated and easily have graduated in 3 1/2 years, but she wanted to continue in the senior honors studio program she was placed in which allowed for amazing opportunities to exhibit and offered her studio space to use.

She actually stayed for one more year at NYU and in that time was able to earn her MA in art education including all her certification requirements. So in 5 years she had a BFA and an MA degree.

11

@Tyc777 D (above) was a good student and loved that there were many academic opportunities at NYU and an overall academic bend to the program and its students.

12

A few years ago USA Today ranked Pratt first for “a degree in fine and studio arts”: https://www.pratt.edu/news/view/usa-today-ranks-pratt-number-one-college-for-a-degree-in-fine-and-studio-ar. For a more intimate setting for the first two years, look into Pratt-Utica: https://www.mwpai.edu/about-prattmwp/pratt-utica-campus/.

Broader-based liberal arts colleges and universities could make great choices as well, of course.

13

RISD and look at the RISD/Brown program. They only take about a dozen kids per year but she looks like a good fit. Rhode Island School of Design, FIT, Parsons and NYU are the ones people in the fine arts world acknowledge to be the best. NYU’s tisch school is also another one that people take note of. She could do a degree at NYU and be in the Tisch school. Also remember if she does fine arts, she is unlikely to have enough time to also do academic courses. You can check out the web site though and see how they manage it. I think if it’s film the schools are entirely different however (mainly West Coast). Ideally, you should ask someone who is in the field she wants to be in what schools they think are best. Discount the one they went to ( bias) and listen to the rest.

14

You might want to also consider Tufts/Museum School in Boston or The Univ of MI as your daughter has such good academic credentials in addition to her portfolio - good luck!

15

I would concur…if you want Art and academics I would highly recommend Stamps school of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. You get a good art school with all the opportunities of being at one of the best institutions in the country. My daughter is pursing her BFA at Michigan right now.

16

@DBY2017 Can you tell me how big the classes are at UofM? I assume the studio classes are pretty small but what about the humanities classes?

17

Her studio classes are 12-15 people. Humanities can really vary, it could be as small as studio classes but can also be large lecture halls. She had a creative writing class that had 30 people but her HIV history class at the nursing college had 100+ students. The diversity and classes at UM are just phenomenal. So this current semester she had 3 studio classes, Creative Writing and Television and the History of the HIV epidemic. Next semester she has 3 studio classes, Art History and Creative Writing and Dance. She tried to get into a Children’s book writing class and a History of Video Game music class but they are very popular and filled up before she registered. She got AP credits for American Government, History, Psychology and Calculus so she doesn’t have to take some courses that others do. Having access to such a diverse amount of classes just opens up opportunities for learning. My daughter is creative but still academic and liked this type of environment over just an Art school. You won’t get into UM unless you have the academics though, so you need a strong art portfolio and academics, which is a combination that you don’t always see. Carnegie Mellon and Yale were on our list too but she felt like those schools were too serious and she wanted to enjoy college too. UM has been great so far and she just loves Ann Arbor. College is also about the experience and she did not want to just be working all the time and dealing with stuffy people. We got a horrible vibe from CM and was completely turned off- everyone seemed to take themselves way too seriously.