General Info. on CA Art Schools

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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<p>I was going to post this in the other thread about CA Art schools, but it focused more on graphic design. For this post, it'll just be MY personal thoughts and feelings about the art schools that I've visited (during Winter and Spring Break).</p>

<p>I think the great thing about going to an Art School in CA is that there are MANY opprotunities (specifically in the design/commercial/entertainment industry, like filiming, animation, etc etc etc). And the fact that there are many cities that have a heavy influence on them (such as the Silicon Valley and LA/Hollywood).</p>

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<p>Pasadena Art Center
<a href="http://www.artcenter.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.artcenter.edu/&lt;/a>
- It's on a hillside with lots of trees, very secluded from the typical LA city life in my opinion. The interior and campus seem very sleek and sophisitcated (two large buildings). Art Center seems more of a GRADUATE school (MANY of the students are in their early to mid 20s), not many freshmen right out of high school are there. There's no dorms and/or major school acivities (so it's NOT like a typical college). I interviewed my sister's friend's brother there and he said Art Center is an "Artist's boot camp". The emphasis seems more industry related than fine arts (in my opinion), with programs like Automotive Design and Entertainment Art and Graphic Design. Out of all the school, it's the most expensive school. When you enter this school, you MUST have a solid idea of what you want to pursure (NO foundation classes 1st year, unlike all the rest of these art schools). The English/Math classes are ART oriented so that it furthur enchances your artwork itself.</p>

<p>CAL Arts
<a href="http://www.academyart.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.academyart.edu/&lt;/a>
- It's by a highway in a residential area. Out of all the schools, CAL Arts is the most like a typical college (dorms provided and MANY activities). There emphasis is on Animation (MANY of the people who work for Pixar and many of the cartoon creators you see on T.V. come from CAL Arts). Everything is under one building, and it's not only an Art School, but also a Music/Critial Studies/Dance/Performance Art school (it merges them together). STUDENT work is also a strong emphasis (over alumni work). However, on my two visits to CAL Arts, I had such a horrible time. MOST would say CAL Arts is LAID back (compared to Art Center), but it's just lazy (in my opinion). I didn't like the people there because they were kind of dis-respectful and I seriously felt unwanted there.</p>

<p>OTIS
<a href="http://www.otis.edu/fileadmin/homepage/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.otis.edu/fileadmin/homepage/index.html&lt;/a>
- Right in the middle of semi-busy streets, it's a 7~8 story building (and one branch downtown for it's Fashion branch). I would say that OTIS is a mixture of CAL Arts AND Art Center. Many of the students there definately have the "art/vibe" thing to them. No dorms are provided, but there are many appartments near them. The draw back is that when I took a look at their gallery, their stuff isn't as refined OR as polished compared to Art Center or CAL Arts. </p>

<p>SF Academy of Art University
<a href="http://www.academyart.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.academyart.edu/&lt;/a>
- Right in the heart of Downtown SF. I'd have to say, I LOVE it, it's right in the middle of the busy city. Housing/dorms are provided for ALL students and you don't have to drive a car (EVERYTHING you need is within the city). There are a number of different buildings scattered throughout downtown SF (ALL within walking distance AND they have shuttles to drive you there). The classes there as BUSINESS-ART oriented so that students know how the Art industry works. There are many activities to do. However, I haven't gotten a hard look at their students' work. </p>

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<ul>
<li>Note that these are just MY personal point of view. And these are all just a very broad generalization of each school I went to. If you have more questions, feel free to ask me and I'll try to answer them as best as I can. OTHER CA art schools include: Laguna College of Art and Design and a couple of other ones I've forgotten at the moment! XD (I'll add them later)</li>
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<p>Being an Otis student myself, I could see why someone would think that Otis provides no dorms. In reality, Otis does provide students with housing, but it's not in the dorm style. They provide students with housing in either two apartment complexs. The one acrross the street, and one that is approximately 1 mile north of the main campus. They pair up 2 students per room in a 2 bedroom apartment. So in total, there are 4 students living in one apartment with one bathroom to share.</p>

<p>The thing with the housing that Otis provides is that the price you pay to share a room with another student is more expensive than finding a roomate on your own and paying for your own room. I believe you pay like 800-900 dollars a month to share a room with an otis student to live in student housing.
But with 800-900 dollars a month you can honestly find a studio/bachelor apt by yourself(if you don't mind commuting) or even find a room all to yourself for that price.</p>

<p>That's why a lot of the students end up finding there own housing after their first year, or don't choose to go through Otis housing.</p>

<p>By the way, I haven't looked at other school's galleries, but I do agree that our gallery isn't really refined or impressive to look at.</p>