I’m currently a junior working on a list of colleges to apply to next year and am looking for other schools to consider.
I am planning on majoring in studio or fine arts. I would also like to pursue a minor in history (perhaps a second major, but I’m not sure). I am not looking to major in art history.
I am looking for a medium or large sized school on the east coast (possibly the midwest, depending on the school). Financial aid is not an issue.
3.93 W; ~3.83 UW (estimate; school doesn’t calculate UW GPA’s)
SAT: 1300 (new)
Honors/AP classes: 5 honors (2 this year); I will be taking 3 AP’s and 1 honors class next year.
So far, I have the following schools on my list:
Michigan (my number one choice so far, even though it’s a high reach)
Tulane (also a reach)
UMiami
Boston U
Ohio State (safety)
Syracuse (safety)
Hi, I got accepted to Stamps at Michigan this year, and my best advice is to make sure your portfolio is as amazing as possible. I know so many people who got in just based on their portfolio. Your grades and scores are just fine for Stamps, it’s the portfolio part that makes stamps so hard to get into.
Make sure that your portfolio shows a lot of diversity and curiosity (I included both my not impressive sewing projects and my decent origami), specialization in a couple of areas (I did colored pencil, digital, and photography), and good base skills (like the major paintings, drawing, good composition, color and black and white, definitely a few choice pieces from your sketchbook).
If you have any quirky pieces, make sure to include them (I had a scratchboard and a Mola, a type of Latin American art). Show some improvement if you can (might be hard to fit in).
Don’t worry about the description part of it, just write the basics and let your art speak for itself.
@notherstudent This might not be the right thread, but there are barely any posts/threads about Stamps and I feel like I can’t miss my shot at getting some insight. I applied to both LSA and Stamps this January, and I haven’t heard back from either. I know that LSA will send their decisions pretty soon in a big batch, but I still haven’t got a clue when I’ll hear from Stamps. Approx. how long did you have to wait for your decision? Hopefully I’ll be joining you this fall!
@jenny91 Sorry, but I’m not really the best person to ask. There was an error with my letter of rec, so while I had all my other stuff in time for ED, I was put in the RD cycle just because of the letter.
After they got my rec letter I got my stamps decision in about a month. I’m still waiting on engineering so i know how you feel, this wait is agonizing… esp. because I was expecting to know by December!
As someone who hires artists and looks at portfolios all the time, I’m wondering why you don’t have art schools on your list if you are interested in studio art? SCAD, RSDI, Pratt, Art Center?
You’ll find a lot more information about art schools in general, in addition to universities with strong art departments. I’ve got one kid at RISD now and another in high school who’s starting to tour art schools again too & we’ve been up and down the East Coast research and visiting the last few years.
From your list, I’ve only toured Boston U and Syracuse. I’d highly recc’d Syracuse, but with Boston it really depends on your major. We weren’t impressed with the studio spaces or facilities for the art department compared to other schools. Boston U is great for many other subjects, but the art department doesn’t seem like it’s a priority funding wise for the college.
I also work part time as an instructor in a small college art department so know some of the behind doors wrangling for students. Your grades & AP classes are solid for an art college. They generally assume a student is stronger visually and your portfolio is key to your application. HOWEVER, if you are strong academically, art schools tend to be very generous with merit aid and scholarships because your test scores help bump up their rankings so they’ll compete to get you (as long as you have a solid portfolio to get in the door). For my oldest, RISD gave us so much $ that they were not only her first choice, but the least expensive than all the school’s she applied to (minus a state school).
Also, keep in mind what kind of career you’d ultimately like. Pay attention to what job services, placement, mentoring and networking the school provides specifically for careers in art. It is not always a field with linear career options (like many STEM subjects). So the more a school can help prepare you for that, the better.
if money is no object, definitely include art schools like RISD and SVA.
May want to add VCU - very strong in art.
Also, with art as the focus, arts at Syracuse might not actually be a safety - but i don’t know for sure. just know they’re pretty well respected.
As for schools like Tulane and UMiami and BostonU, you may want to add SMU in Dallas. Pitt is another school that people applying to Tulane also consider. And with Pitt in mind, and art, you may want to consider Carnegie Mellon (CMU) since they have a very well respected art program. And for that matter, why not WUStL - definintely a high reach academically but strong art program. I don’t think art at Tulane, Miami or BU is comparable to these, but maybe I’m wrong.
I’m not sure which sub-area of art these schools are known for (VCU, CMU and WUStL) so do your own research. With strong art, a reach may become a match (our D was barely in range (similar score to you and much lower GPA) for several schools that admitted her due to her strong art portfolios - SMU and St Olaf).
If you would consider a dual BFA-BA degree, check out Tufts. Academically it would be a reach, but they are very interested in dual degree students right since they just merged with SMFA (previously a separate institution that students could coordinate a dual degree in art with).
