<p>I have just recently taken some art classes at my highschool, and have decided to apply to one or two art schools. Because I have'nt worked on my portfolio for very long, I'm worried that it might not be good enough to get into some of the best art schools like RISD, The School of Visual Arts, Parson's, etc. While my grades are good enough to get into these schools, my art just isn't up to their level. This is why I have been looking for some other schools to apply to whose competition won't be so tough. I am thinking of applying as either a graphic design or animation major. Preferably, the school would be on the east coast (north-east especially). Any help or advice from people who have been in a similar situation would be GREATLY appreciated because deadlines for applications are coming up really quickly! Thank You!</p>
<p>In some ways, SUNY Purchase has even more competition than the more well known art schools. But since you ARE in NY, you should try there and New Paltz. My kid went for the name schools, but Purchase was her safety. I think there’s a couple of schools in CT and also the Mass Arts one that’s associated with the museum – but I can’t think of it’s proper name right now. I’d stay away from the AI type franchises. One of my kid’s good friends, who is a fairly good artist, is going to Salve Regina in RI, that’s a LAC with an arts study program. I think Rochester has a medical illustration program and some of the more technical schools that are into video game design, like Rensslaer have animation. Be sure to take the time to visit the schools though, I think that’s really important.
Good luck!</p>
<p>you never know. go to NPD and see what they’d say.
as long as you are hard working, love art and your grades are good, you really should not sell yourself too short. I have seen Parsons’ works made me want to question if that school is legit. (so is occasional RISD but let’s not say it. oops I just did.)
Portfolio could be anything - up to who is reviewing it with what kind of mood.
RIT accepted my kid’s 9th grade portfolio without knowing he was not yet senior.
one year, SAIC payed little attention. next year love love loved identical portfolio he never cared to update - by then (junior year) he was sure not doing art-art school anymore besides Cooper but made to go to NPD thru his school.</p>
<p>How are you money wise?
there are schools always open always accepting as long as you can pay. getting in somewhere is not hard, staying in and make something out of it will be the challenge.
what do you want to achieve? what else do you like to do? who is your fav artist?</p>
<p>D goes to Alfred University, majoring in Art and Design-loves it. Tuition is lower due to Art being part of the NYS college of ceramics-more like SUNY rates.</p>
<p>You can search for animation as a major (it’s relatively rare) and the location that you want. If you add graphic design as a major, only 4 schools come up in the northeast/mid atlantic that offer both majors. (that seems like a small number, maybe I did it wrong???)</p>
<p>Mass art, RIT, U arts (Philly), and College of the Atlantic in Maine</p>
<p>I think that applying to Suny Purchase and New Paltz is a good idea. I took a look at that school in Massachusetts (Mass Art) and liked it as well. I’m not sure what NPD is, but I suppose it might be worth applying to a school like Parsons or RISD if the competition isn’t as hard as I thought. I haven’t thought about Alfred, but I’ll definetly look it up. As far as money, I’m in a little bit of a bind, so that won’t help with applications. Lately I’ve been thinking of majoring in 3D animation because some of my favorite artists are working in that field like Nicholas Marlet, but my art interests are varied, so I’m not exactly set on what major I want. In this way I’m pretty open to most art schools so I would be okay if a school gives me alot of merit-aid and their majors aren’t perfect. Overall, thanks for the advice, and I’m still open for more!</p>
<p>NPD is National Portfolio Day. It’s kind of like a college fair for prospective art students. You take your work and have an admissions person from the school you are interested have a look. Sometimes they will ‘accept’ your portfolio then and there, other times they will give you specific things to work on. They are usually pretty big on seeing drawings from ‘real life’ – still lifes and so forth --rather than copying from a photo. They also don’t want to see Manga or cartoons so much --and they do like to see some more conceptual pieces (from your imagination) but every school we went to, including the big name ones, were most impressed (in my kid’s case) with her botanical art (extremely technical drawing) and figure drawings she did from real life. This year the NYC one is at Lehman College (hosted by Parsons) on Nov 20 and at SUNY Purchase on Nov 21. Details are at [National</a> Portfolio Day - Home](<a href=“http://www.portfolioday.net%5DNational”>http://www.portfolioday.net).</p>
<p>Some of the big name schools, like RISD, have ‘extra’ requirements besides the portfolio that carry a lot of weight insofar as admission goes. There is the Cooper Union home test, the three required drawings for RISD and I believe Parsons had a requirement too (three art pieces with three related essays), but I can’t think of what exactly it was called at the moment. At NPD, take notes on what the individual schools tell you – for instance one school really loved the botanical art and wanted to see more botanical art, another school said, if she was interested in illustration, then they wanted to see more ‘situational’ pieces etc. Then you take those comments and build a portfolio that best fits each school (that’s what my kid did).</p>
<p>From an admissions standpoint, SUNY Purchase does get a lot of applications – and you have to be meet the SUNY requirements. My kid also applied to Syracuse and they accepted her portfoliio at NPD; but she had to meet the Syracuse admission requirements and be accepted by Syracuse before the art piece kicked in. So you’ll see that every school is a bit different. You have to find what fits for you.</p>
<p>SVA is considered a prestigious school, yet many of its students say that getting in is easy, as long as your portfolio carries the required amount, observational drawings, and varied media. They have a Livejournal, where many prospective high school students ask questions, which current SVA students answer. I believe that SVA wants to see that you have serious interest that you’re willing to take risk in exploring creative choices. Some art schools are rather generous in understanding that as an entering freshmen you’re not expected to be as great and “talented” as, say, what SVA shows in their student gallery pages. Although RISD is very difficult to get in. </p>
<p>SVA is a for-profit school, so they would rather take in any decent art student, not just for your money but they have quality education to serve you, if you care. Throughout their program, you’re expected to exceed your current skills.</p>
<p>My point: it doesn’t hurt to apply. To any art school. Just realize that art school is an investment: you should be confident in your decision. Unless you draw like a five year old, even so, if you make complete artworks with thoughtful creative choices, that is a finished piece.</p>
<p>SVA acce[ts 73 percent of every person applying…how does that make them prestigious? the only one accpeting more like 85 percent or something is the no grades place and the drive through portfolio glance: SAIC - the thing they have in common is the profit mode no?</p>
<p>Dear wgs5504
This was a serious question, do you believe an ability to do great PR makes a school prestigious? Do you believe a highly selective student body ensures that a school is better at instruction. It appears you do but may I point out that a highly selective process doesn’t ensure that the school is the right place or does a better job of instructing, it just ensures that the school has stacked the deck by skimming off the cream. </p>
<p>I love to give the example of the top scoring public school in NYC, in a wealthy neighborhood where most kids went to private school, run by an authoritarian principal for many years and any kids who came from outside the neighborhood were only accepted if they scored in the 98 percentile or higher. About 90% of the student body was from outside the neighborhood and for years this school took top honors on test scores. But did it mean that the school was doing a bang-up job instructing the students? No, all it meant was that the school was essentially full of genius kids who did very well on tests and scored in the top 98% or higher. Was the school prestigious, oh yes, parents fell all over themselves trying to get their kids in. But those same kids who got in would have probably done just as well at other schools.</p>
<p>Prestige of a school does not indicate success for individual students. If the match is good, great but every school has famous graduates and for every RISD or Cooper graduate whose name you know there are many more whose names you’ve never heard. </p>
<p>Also it’s not a good idea to out-right “diss” schools on this site, while we do openly discuss the pros and cons of different schools it’s not really in good form to make comments that might be interpreted as “snide.” Remember there are many students and parents of students reading and posting here whose kids might be at those very schools you comment upon as “less prestigious.” So I ask again, how do YOU define prestigious.</p>
<p>you seem to have a better working knowledge of what the word presigious means. somehow I mistakenly thought it was tied to admission rates as a portion of at least admission acclaim or right to the marriage of such a word as prestige. but maybe it’s like the constant use of any accolade fabulous, fantastic, prestigious. I appreciate the education and even the tone. i’m not doing the diss thing you purport to, I was responding to the use of a word.</p>
<p>Well we could have a conversation about what defines a pretigious school.
Prestige being not fabulous or fantastic but having a reputation of influence that
comes from success, achievement, rank or other favorable attributes. A distinction or reputation. This is the dictionary definition.</p>
<p>I guess tightness of admissions could factor into this as being extremely selective would ensure that a school’s students would have success and achievement re: those top scores at that NYC school I mentioned. However, as I said, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that any particular school is doing well instructing the students.</p>
<p>And we can certainly acknowledge that getting into a RISD or Cooper carries a certain amount of prestige as those who get in carry the mantle of being one of a select few. But that doesn’t mean that SVA isn’t a prestigious school as defined by reputation or influence.</p>
<p>One could certainly make a very successful argument that SVA has produced students who were very influential in their fields, hence, prestige. In NYC, in certain design and fashion circles SVA is considered to be very influential and students from that school have done very well. SAIC while less selective in it’s admission policies has certainly garnered a high level of influence and rank particularly at the graduate level. </p>
<p>This has nothing to do with being fantastic or fabulous and selective admissions policies are just that, selective admissions policies to my mind. I just think that the prestige a school carries isn’t just about admission policies which seemed to be where you were going. And I happen to know that SVA and SAIC both have very good reputations and carry weight in different ways. And I have no connection with either school by the way so this isn’t personal. </p>
<p>And I do feel that while you may have felt that you were just responding to the use of a word, that when posting here we must take into consideration how we frame comments about different schools considering that may readers and posters might have a vested interest in the school. Your comment “SVA accepts 73 percent of every person applying…how does that make them prestigious?” could maybe have seemed a little less of a “dis” if worded thusly " if a school, like SVA, accepts 73 percent of every person applying would that affect their reputation and prestige?" And the answer would be "not much, SVA is considered a very influential school with a long standing track record and a good reputation.</p>
<p>I’m not saying you need to be overly careful about what you say here but obviously the way you framed your question seemed harsh to me. Just a pointer to think about how you would react to a comment if you were a parent spending tons of money at any of these schools with great concern about your kid’s future.</p>
<p>One other personal observation, I don’t think not grading in the traditional manner is any indication of whether a school is “good” or “bad”. In fact I kind of like the idea of an art school not grading work since it’s all so subjective anyway. What defines an A painting as opposed to a B painting? Well, I suppose you could stretch that out even into other liberal arts fields like writing also. Grading just seems sort of odd when applied to art. Are you getting the A because you work in a style your professor likes, are you getting the A because you followed are the parameters? what about the student that starts out following all the parameters and then gets pulled off in a new direction and ends up with a really interesting painting that doesn’t fit the “assignment.” I’m not that big a fan of “grading” art.</p>
<p>My nephew graduated last year from Maine College of Art in Portland in illustration and did a lot with animation. He had a good experience and opportunities. I think it is a small and fairly new department. His older brother graduated from Mass Art in 2007 but in film - he had a great experience as well.</p>