<p>A friend who has a rising high school senior has recently been diagnosed with Celiac. She is beside herself trying to help her daughter find great schools and deal with her own illness and diagnosis. </p>
<p>Her daughter is a great artist and has a wonderful portfolio. She has other strong ECs including film making, sports (competitive soccer player), and leadership. She is an excellent student with a 4.0 at a very strong high school--she will likely be valedictorian. D will receive a full IB Diploma (with Higher Level Art) and has a bunch of APs too. Friend says her test scores are not quite as strong--I'm guessing ACT score of 31 or so, which she hopes to improve this fall by one or two points. D is a commended NM student but probably will not be a semifinalist. She is a very hard worker and teachers love her. Daughter has legacy status at Harvard and UPenn, through her father (undergrad and grad school respectively).</p>
<p>Daughter wants to apply to a few ivies and some LACs, all with strong studio art programs (she draws and paints) and maybe film programs. She is not interested in art schools. Right now, she's interested in East Coast schools, but I think would welcome other college suggestions that fit her interests. Friend and daughter are very grateful for any suggestions during this hard time.</p>
<p>East, friend might look at Vassar, which has a nice studio art program, as does Skidmore. Brown has a joint program with RISD (very competitive admissions!) If she’ll look at non east coast, Wash U in St. Louis has an art school and so does U Mich.</p>
<p>If the D has any interest in joint programs, there is a good 5 year one between Parsons and Eugene Lang which would probably be a safety or match for her. [The</a> New School BA/BFA Program](<a href=“http://www.newschool.edu/babfa/]The”>BA/BFA | The New School)</p>
<p>UMich also has a good dual degree program in liberal arts/art.</p>
<p>Yale has a good studio art major–a reach for anyone.</p>
<p>With her stats, she should have a lot of options. It isn’t clear whether finances are an issue, but if they are, I know of a gifted artist who will be going to Sarah Lawrence because of the strong merit money she received. I believe this young woman’s first choice was Bard, but it was too pricey for her parents (both of whom are art teachers). I don’t think her stats were as compelling as your young friend’s, but these might provide some good safeties in her case–very important for students with Ivy League aspirations due to the low admission rates.</p>
<p>Haverford has a strong studio art department she could also access via Bryn Mawr if that is a better match for her. And she’d also have access to Swarthmore and Penn from either. Philly is a great city for budding artists, with strong art schools throughout the region (PAFA, Tyler at Temple, UArts, etc.).</p>
<p>Bard, Vassar, Skidmore
Tufts has a joint program with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston school. My son took one class at the MFA and found it too much of a schlep. (And found the grading unexpectedly severe, though personally I think he deserved the grade he got! Just wished the teacher had communicated better with him ahead of time.)</p>
<p>I know you don’t want an MFA program, but I have to say when I checked out art departments when my kids were applying to colleges I loved what I saw coming out of Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>re #7 I majored in VES and while it’s sort of stupid to go to Harvard to major in art, I loved the architectural history courses, enjoyed doing art regularly and went on to architecture grad school. I loved being in a small department where everyone knew each other and if I’d taken a film course earlier I might well have gone in that direction, the course was fabulous, one of the best I took as an undergrad.</p>
<p>@mathmom, compmom: Harvard is daughter’s first choice–and I’m glad to have some specific info about VES to pass along–thank you! Fortunately, daughter also realizes it’s a super-reach for everyone, and she is realistic about her scores. She’s waiting to see her final ACT and SAT scores. If she can push her ACT score to a 33 or 34, she will definitely apply, unless she chooses to apply early decision to Penn. </p>
<p>It is great to have all these other suggestions to share with her.</p>
<p>Has she looked into Oberlin. While I don’t know how well its Studio Art department ranks, it does have associations to the Allen Art Museum which is ranked up there with Harvard’s and Yale’s Art Museums in terms of its collections.</p>
<p>I would recommend the following LACs for studio art + excellent academics (and very good art history as well): Williams, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Vassar, Smith, Haverford, Conn College, Skidmore, Kenyon.</p>
<p>Among the Ivy League I would give precedence to Yale and Brown over Harvard and Penn.</p>
<p>The combination of academics, art and sports is especially valued at Willliams which has one of the best art history programs in the country, three worldclass museums on or near campus and a vibrant and well funded studio art program.</p>
<p>She should be sure to submit an art portfolio with her application. She can put together an art package that includes the portfolio, a supplementary recommendation from an instructor or mentor, essays that concern her interest in art, a resume listing her accomplishments, awards, travel opportunities and one or two media articles if available.</p>
<p>Also, when she tours colleges, she should visit the art department (usually not on the tour) and see the facilities and student work in person.</p>
<p>Another vote for Bard, Vassar and Skidmore here! She should contact the soccer coaches (not sure if Bard has a team - less sports there). It could provide an admissions boost or at least get her ‘noticed’ if she wants to play soccer in college. I think she will get a great art/film education at any of these schools. Although they appear similar, they all have a different vibe. I also think that she will benefit from the intellectually diverse atmosphere of an LAC as opposed to an art school.</p>
<p>I don’t know much of studio arts programs but my daughter loved Brown and I know about the awesome access to Rhode Island School of Design. For Brown there are 2 ways she can go</p>
<p>1) the Brown-RISD dual degree 5 year program, super competitive, only 15ish students per year. You do the first year at RISD and room there; the second year is next door at Brown; after that you choose which dorms to live in and schedule your classes at either/both. You can live off campus year 4/5. You can study film/studio art at RISD and also have any concentration at Brown and you earn 2 degrees, AB and BFA.
[Brown-RISD</a> Dual Degree Program FAQ](<a href=“Home | Brown | RISD Dual Degree Program | Brown University”>Home | Brown | RISD Dual Degree Program | Brown University)</p>
<p>I think the gpa and the portfolio will be the major factors in admittance, along with essay. I’m guessing that an ‘in-range’ ACT/SAT for Brown will be fine, and you won’t have to be at the top of the pool.</p>
<p>EastGrad: Hugs to you and your friend. Do not discount Penn. Its Fine Arts undergraduate program is under the radar, but my assessment is that it is a goldmine of talented teachers waiting for more students to discover them. Take a look a the faculty’s work. Their focus is less on the “paint whatever you feel” variety and more on developing technique and marketable skills. Nearly every class and teacher are very highly rated by students. Fine Arts also works closely with the Cinema Studies, Art History, Communications, and Computer Science faculty and Majors. </p>
<p>Note that at Penn, unlike an Arts School or Brown, you have to do classes in diverse fields such as Writing, Comp Sci or Calculus, History, Philosophy/Humanities, Psych, and Hard Sciences/Physics to graduate, so it is a great choice for smart, inquisitive artists who still want to be educated in many subjects. In addition, Philly has incredible resources in the arts (e.g museums, workshops at PAFA and Studio Incamminati). The Brown/RISD, Carnegie Mellon, and other suggestions are also ones to investigate.</p>
<p>I generally post re DD1, but this thread is perfect for DD2. Although only in middle school, she is already thinking of a career using art but not a degree in art. Right now,I am suggesting a plastic surgeon…I had a friend who was more of a sculptor than a doctor,and I think she might really mesh with that. Would any of the schools listed above be a good premed fit as well? (I know…I sound creakily pushy even thinking about this, but DD1 who attends Boston University talks about it with her all the time, so it is on her mind.</p>
<p>Close of friend of my D’s did the Tufts/Museum of Fine Arts program and loved it. She’s now an art teacher in a public school in a Boston suburb. The Museum School usually has a show/sale each year that showcases the work of current and former students. We purchased some wonderful pieces there–it was a group of very talented artists. D’s friend had work in the show too.</p>