Thanks all. I will read both this weekend. I do have concerns. My daughter does too. I mean, doesn’t charging tuition fly in the face of their mission statement? I know school is very expensive. It’s hard to hire great professors. They have expensive real estate etc etc. I hope they can retain outstanding faculty in all fields. If I were teaching there, I sure would be mad at the administration over all this. It seems like people at the top, going a long way back, didn’t have that mission of free education driving their decisions. From what I’ve read ( on the cooper site only) they still attract high caliber students. It is just unfortunate that they (I think) are no longer really “need blind”. It is no longer based solely on meritocracy. Or at least some of the best students that could contribute are choosing other schools with better aid packages. I hope the faculty are still “all in”. That is my biggest concern. It’s the most important aspect of her education. Also, at some point, if they continue to charge, or even begin charging full tuition, they will no longer really be “cooper union”. They will be just like any other selective college. It seems that this would affect the quality but maybe not. It is really really all on the faculty I think. And if they are at odds with admin all the time, they will also pursue other opportunities.
Need blind refers to financial aid. So a student is admitted to a need blind institution without regards to their ability to pay tuition, room, board etc. Cooper Union admissions are absolutely still need blind.
As far as the faculty, I haven’t heard of any great exodus. Also, many of the professors are Cooper graduates, either undergrad, grad or both, so they have a great affinity towards the school. It’s truly a place like no other that’s why it still attracts the highest caliber students and faculty.
I haven’t heard anything about a plan to charge full tuition, in fact they are working towards returning to the tuition free model as soon as practical.
sorry Jimbo but I refer to Mr. Schneiderman’s report, it’s widely available on the web and tells a very interesting true account. Not the schools recent report of sunshine and rainbows. Mic drop,
update! daughter accepted to Cooper!! Yay! She was having a tough time deciding between cal arts and risd. She was rejected ED, so we sure didn’t think this would happen. NYC and $help from Cooper also a big draw!
Congratulations to daughter of nmmomma! My daughter was accepted to Cooper Union too. She is now trying to decide. Cooper Union is at top, but it is a big decision. Also accepted to RISD with some aid, but will be more expensive than Cooper Union. Good offers from MICA, Pratt, and Purchase. Any student comments or parent comments on why choose Cooper?
@parent207 congratulations! I’m a parent of a current Cooper engineering student so I vote for Cooper!! I usually don’t see many current students or their parents on this forum, so I’m not sure if you’ll get any replies. It’s a small school and they are very busy with the semester winding down. I do know @brooklynrye has a daughter at RISD and knows more about art schools in general so maybe he can chime in.
It’s art. It’s NYC. That may be enough right there. We are worried about the disarray. Especially the art school. Not detail oriented admissions office. Communication poor compared to Risd’ s lucy. She is so on top of it! But cooper just hired more art profs, and looking at present faculty bios reassures me. The content/ general philosophy on the art school website also reassuring. We didn’t qualify for need aid this year. Got good $ from Pratt and saic. None from calarts risd nyu. My daughter more conceptually /philosophically focused so that’s why calarts sAIC and cooper appeal to her. If not accepted to cooper I would have chosen RIsd but she would choose calarts
@Parent207 Hi!! I was accepted ED to Cooper! I think it’s a great school, and there’s loads of reasons why I gunned for it rather than RISD or some other art school, but there are also a couple of gripes I have with it.
To get the bad out of the way, the first of those gripes, like @nmmomma said, is the disorganization. I notice it most in the school website and the student Facebook group / admission process, but the whole institution is sort of in shambles right now. Definitely has something to do with the whole free tuition conundrum, so I’m sure it will go back to being fine once that is settled, but for now, the general feeling of the school is uncertainty. The second and last thing I was, and still am, anxious about at Cooper is the social life. It’s an insanely small school and everyone always said it was quite antisocial. I’m not sure if it’s because the students are worked so hard or if it’s because Cooper just generally draws introverted students, but it seems to be true for the students there currently.
To counter that though, and move on to the things that I love about Cooper: the Class of 2021 is amazing! We all seem to know about the stereotype of the antisocial Cooper student and are actively fighting against it. There are student-run group chats, city guides from NYC natives, and constant talk of going out and partying. We’re using our small size to our advantage, everyone knows each other and everyone is kind and inclusive. Admitted Students Day was this past Thursday, I didn’t have the money to attend, but I heard that it was great and that everyone was just as lovely face-to-face. So I’m not sure about the antisocial myth. Maybe it exists in years above us or in other programs, but Art '21 is definitely a social bunch!
Since that’s more of a recent discovery and something that might not apply for students outside of my circle, the things that drew me to the school initially were the location and the reputation. NYC is so rad! I visited for the first time in the summer (unrelated to Cooper), and then again in the fall for an open house event. For first year students who are doing the housing bit, the residence hall is literally a block away from Cooper Square — and Cooper Square is in a prime location in Manhattan! You go south and you’re in SoHo for shopping or general “cool” spots, you go East and you’re in East Village for bars and eating, you go West and you’re in West Village with the NYU crowd for partying and getting away from Cooper, and you go North for everything else. That’s not even to mention the fact that Brooklyn and Queens are right there as well! Everything I just said could be horribly wrong because I’ve only been twice, but nevertheless, the location was definitely the main reason why I chose Cooper.
But, the reputation was also very appealing! It’s probably the most well-respected art school in NYC and I’ve heard that a lot of students end up going for MFA programs, specifically at Yale. If you make it through, it seems to be very easy to get a good-paying job on the other side. I’m a graphic design student, and when I told my senior design friends (25–35 year olds) working in NYC that I was going to Cooper, they all had good things to say about past Cooper students they knew. The connections you make with your peers and professors are invaluable. Going to a bigger art school, finding a job after graduation might be difficult, but at Cooper since the classes are so small (I think on average there are 65 art students per year), it’s a lot easier.
Not sure what else to say!! Overall, I’m really happy with my decision so far, and I’m excited to move in August! Hopefully your daughter chooses Cooper as well! And hopefully this reply was helpful! <3
Oh! The faculty has also been really great so far!! Specifically Mike Essl and Scott Nobles.