Hello, I’m an international high school senior who is now making that tough decision to attend college. As my title shows, I want to be an art major and I’m considering the three schools I got accepted to. I’ve always thought that I wanted to do illustration, so it seems only right that I choose Pratt or Art Center that offer illustration rather than CMU’s School of Art that only offers bachelor of fine arts (BFA). I strongly believe that specializing in one area of commercial art (e.g. illustration, product design, fashion, etc.) is more advantageous when it comes to finding a job than majoring fine art since I know someone who majored painting at Pratt and is now practically out of job. However, my parents believe that I should still go to CMU’s School of Art because they think the school’s brand name and prestige will get me better, higher paying jobs. Since they insist on CMU but I don’t think fine art is ideal, I thought about switching to CMU’s School of Design (I’m not even sure if this is possible) whose programs are supposedly more geared towards the commercial aspect of art, but I’m not even sure if I can do illustration there because their programs really aren’t specified unlike other art schools (their website just says communications design). I honestly don’t have any problem with attending CMU as long as their job placement rate is good enough, but unfortunately I just don’t have access to any information. If anyone knows anything about it, please let me know.
Also, in the case that I throw CMU out and choose between Art Center and Pratt, which one is the right place for illustration? I heard from many people that Art Center is very rigorous and therefore whips you into shape to prepare you for your career, but I would also like to attend Pratt since it’s in NYC. It seems like many people agree that NYC is the best place to get internships and connections that would eventually help me get jobs, but I’m just not sure if this consensus is necessarily right. Is living in NYC significantly more beneficial in terms of career than living in any other city like Los Angeles? Also, if I go to Pratt, will I most likely do internships and get jobs in NYC? I’m a little bit worried because living in NYC as a working individual would be pretty tough since I will have to spend most of my income to pay my rent. Thank you so much for reading this tediously long post!