Fine Arts Requirement for Private Colleges/Universities?

Applying to College
1

Hi guys, this is my first post here so I hope this is the right section and I’m following all the rules.

So basically my counselor has caused me a bit of confusion. I know that the UCs have a “fine arts class” requirement when applying. She told me that all 4-year private colleges also have a fine arts requirement, so I would need to send a transcript from the community college to the 4-year privates. However, I’ve been looking at the websites of some of the colleges I’m applying to such as Stanford and I don’t see any mention of a fine arts requirement. The counselors at my school don’t really have a great record for being accurate so I’m not sure if I’m missing something or she’s just mistaken. I don’t really want to send my transcript if possible because I actually received a B in the class…

2

Check each school’s web site to see if it wants to see you take an art course.

However, they do want to know about college courses taken while in high school, even if they are not needed to fill any course requirements for admission. For example, Stanford says at http://admission.stanford.edu/application/freshman/transcripts.html :

3

Thanks! Do you think a B in a CC course would hurt my chances? Maybe I’m over-analyzing but I don’t really want to give off the impression that I didn’t really care about the class and did it for the credit… Apparently I just really suck at hearing music tones lol.

4

It would have been better to get an A, of course. A non-remedial college course will be seen as more rigorous than a high school course, through some colleges may perceive it as being more rigorous than an AP course while others may perceive it as less rigorous than an AP course.

If you plan to apply to medical or law school in the future, college courses taken while in high school and their grades will be included in GPA calculations for such applications.

5

Not true. Few have a fine arts requirement. Almost all colleges will list its recommended preparation on its website, which you should check out for yourself.

Whether you want to or not is really not an option. If your prospective college uses National Student Clearinghouse and you omit a transcript, you are jeopardizing your application.
http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/
Regardless, a B in any class, and especially a non-core academic class, is not going to break your application.

6

Regardless of if there is a fine arts requirement at a school or not, you are supposed to send all transcripts from all classes you have taken. And a B in an arts class won’t kill your application, in fact many schools recalculate your GPA using only academic classes.

7

The UC requirement is for 1 unit (2 semesters) of visual or performing arts. For some of us “fine arts” suggests painting or sculpture – i.e. something created for pure aesthetic purposes. The UC requirement can be met in many ways – certainly art courses, but also music, theater,dance, graphic/web design courses, etc.

See: http://www.ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/f-visual-performing-arts/index.html

In practice, apart from colleges whose main focus is “art and design” (as for example RISD), or applications to art, theater, etc. departments at major universities few colleges have such a requirement.

8

Adding to above, S watched movies for six weeks one summer in a Cinema class at a community college, satisfied year long hs req, UC admission req, UC GE req, and was reported on med school app.