<p>Hi! My older child was a traditional student and is now happily at a LAC. My younger child, though, is completely different. She wants to attend an art college, but not for studio art -- she is focused more on fashion and toy design, though she likes some graphic art related to product/fashion/toy design. Her design aesthetic is very Japanese pop-culture informed, a la the Toki-doki line. She is already an entrepeneur and sells things via Etsy. She has no interest in attending a traditional LAC or BFA program that includes liberal arts classes. Pretty much, if she never took another academic course after high school, she'd be okay with that. She's a sophomore now; by senior year she'll probably have a GPA in the 3.0-3.3 range with average SAT's -- she doesn't like tests. </p>
<p>Currently her "reach" school is Parsons, and she thinks of our local community college and Academy of Art Univerty as safeties. Of course, she's just a sophomore, so it's early to be looking at a lot of things. </p>
<p>So, here's the thing. I'm great helping with the traditional app process, but I have no idea about the art school path. She's planning to go to NPD in two weeks, more to get a feel for what's up. She wants to go to school in a big city or urban area. She is more about "the business of art" than being a pure studio artist. </p>
<p>What steps should she be taking? Any suggestions for schools? How is financial aid for art schools? My son has a full ride to his LAC, because of our EFC=0 and his grades, etc, but it sounds like art schools are less likely to meet all need. Are there better schools for aid? Any other suggestions/tips/advice?</p>
<p>Well, there's a difference in liberal arts as in some art history classes and liberal arts as in "Oh, you should attend Bard, they have a good art program". Many times when I bring this up, people suggest a LAC with an art program, which is not going to happen for daughter.</p>
<p>As far as toy design, what she does is more fabric arts than mass market toy design. We looked at the Otis program and it seemed to be of a different focus.</p>
<p>Trin, Parsons, Pratt, FIT, RISD are all excellent for fashion design. Personally, I like the New York schools for fashion because of their proximity to resources such internships and summer jobs, industry instructors and overall fashion and design buzz. </p>
<p>There's a whole subset of toy design that focuses on "plush" vinyl and fabric toys (as opposed to technical toys). The fashion schools are good for this category too because of their interaction with fabric design and sewing construction.</p>
<p>There are several parents/students who write on this board who know a lot about graphics. Again, Parsons, RISD, Pratt are great plus a few others like MICA. I would also look into Cooper Union.</p>
<p>As for preparation, the portfolio is tantamount. Her entrepreneurial streak is also a big plus. She should be accumulating information for her resume.</p>
<p>Also a summer or part-time retail job is another positive move. Getting inside the customer's head is the first step for a business minded designer. </p>
<p>Any exposure that she could gain into the manufacturing process would also be an incredible insight. It's hard for a highschooler to make connections unless you know somebody in the industry, but sometimes a retail job can lead to an introduction to the supply chain.</p>
<p>Maybe she could take her earnings and join a teen tour group to Japan. For anyone with a Japanese sensibility actually being there would knock her socks off!</p>
<p>momrath: Thanks for your comments! She does certainly lean towards New York instead of this coast. Most of her current "marketable" work is in stuffed animals that are fashion accessories -- things with wrist straps, among other things. She's also looking to have a job as soon as possible, in retail or a related art field. As far as Japanese, she's studying the language via night classes at the local college. It's the only academic course she's really ever gotten passionate about -- she studies 2-4 hours a day on it. She is planning/hoping to spend junior summer in Japan.</p>
<p>Basically, what she lacks in academics, she more than makes up for in sheer drive and focus. She is always selling, always designing, always working on new media. </p>
<p>She has a sort of odd connection into the fashion industry -- a family friend owns one of the most well-known made-to-order fashion corsetry companies in the US. She has an open invitation to intern there, though it's a bit of a commute for us, so really only practical during the summer. </p>
<p>I guess the biggest thing I worry about is that it's always hard for me to tell if she's aiming too high. I mean, I was pretty comfortable judging what schools were reaches/matches/safeties for my son, because of his more traditional qualifications, but I have no idea what consistutes "a strong candidate" for fashion/art.</p>
<p>Bring all your stuff with you to NPD. Anything done in the last three years. Just let them see it all and they will give you feedback on how to narrow things down to refect your interest and capabilities. Don't bring slides. (unless the 3-d is too big)</p>
<p>Both RISD and MICA are very academically oriented for admission UNLESS she has a superlative portfolio,which is tough to do at that schools.</p>
<p>I was told by an admission officer thare that they RISD requires a MINIMUM of a 3.3 GPA taking only math, english, science, language and socials studies into account. They don't count other courses such as music, art, gym, theater etc. into the calculation.</p>
<p>Hi, I am a parent of visual art high school sophomore and was looking for his pre college for the summer, then saw your post, had to jump in.
I work at stuffed toy design studio in NYC, and am Japanese, went to art school in Tokyo, started my career there and came here 17years ago.
Far as I know, all schools mentioned here are good but most people I work with business-wise went to FIT some point of their life.
<a href="http://www.fitnyc.edu/aspx/Content.aspx?menu=Future%5B/url%5D">http://www.fitnyc.edu/aspx/Content.aspx?menu=Future</a>
It is not cheap for out of state student, but you should look into. They have summer residential classes for high school kids as well. Funny thing is that, all designers I work with are rather fine art majored, not fashion, but happened to like making stuff out of fabrics. It all comes down to drawing skill and color theory thing in the end unless your daughter likes Japanese character goods only and forever. Even those character design jobs I applied as newly grad long time ago, they wanted to see strong drawing skill, like animals' anatomy and such. It's always good to know how to draw properly.
About plush design nowadays, actual sewing and graphics for embroidery template and what not are done by other people, not us plush designer though we still like to sew up our own sample ourselves instead of the factories overseas.
I am sure there are many different way to produce soft toys than we do but if you are interested and ever come to NY, I will show you our place. I will check in this site often since I am looking for summer course in California. My son grew up in Manhattan and sort of jaded and I want to show him more option that there are wide world of schooling out there. Isnt it funny we are in the opposite ends?
Do you know how good SFAI and CCA pre colleges are? They cost far less than we have in East coast. When I read materials included I couldnt believe my eyes!</p>
<p>Bears and dogs -- thanks for your message! While I certainly expect she will apply to FIT, my experience is that at our financial level (<em>no</em> money for college, EFC=0) private schools are better choices financially. Public schools typically cannot offer "full-ride" aid, especially to out-of-state students, while private schools are more able to meet need with extra grants. Ultimately, financial aid will be the deciding factor for my daughter, so we have to keep that in mind when she's applying. </p>
<p>I don't have any experience with the SFAI and CCA precollege programs, but I know that both schools are strongly regarded in the area. SFAI seems more geared towards studio art. CCA was previously the California College of Arts & Crafts, and has courses still that reflect that, like furniture making and textile arts. Be careful about housing costs if it's not included, as they are typically <em>very</em> expensive, even compared to NYC.</p>
<p>Perhaps she could look at schools that offer an industrial design major...the same skill set really works in many different industries and product categories. No reason to exclude schools that don't specifically have toy design, IMO. Industry specific experience will be gained on the job.</p>
<p>By the way, I can only speak for Pratt, but my daughter got in there with roughly a 3.0 from a competitive high school, and a good portfolio/work experience. When she visited there, the admissions rep told her she really needed a 3.0; at that point, she had a 2.8 or a 2.9. Since she really liked the school, this was just the incentive she needed to apply herself toward the end of HS and get some better grades. Perhaps if she feels RISD is worth shooting for, it is not too late for her to apply herself and raise her GPA a bit.</p>
<p>Same here, no money.
I wish we can switch places since schools I looked up in California are affordable if you are in state, or would give schollorship ONLY for residents.
I should also add, production manager, who went to FIT worked through college, it took year longer for her to graduate but she did it on her own, though she is from upstate NY.</p>
<p>If you see a state school that you REALLY like but can't afford due to being an out-of-state resident, there is a solution: Take a year off and live and work in that state. Once you are there for a year, you are a state resident.</p>
<p>Well. Just how 18year old just out of high school kid can make enough money to live in say, San Francisco on his own?
Do you mean if any friend or relative in the state takes him in and just be there for a year hed be qualified for next year?
For now we are trying to test water with pre-college course so, either way it wont work, but thank you.</p>
<p>ronnie: It's not that she's not applying herself. Her high school is a small charter school with a very rigorous curriculum -- all students take the exact same academic classes, which are mostly AP courses at the higher grades. At her school, a 3.0 puts her into the top third of the class. She's also constantly trending upward; her grades get a little better each semester. The schools sends 100% of students to 4 year colleges; they exceed California a-g requirements, if you know what that means. </p>
<p>She spends about 6 hours a day studying when her academic courses are meeting. In January and May, she has intersession, when students are just taking their fine arts elective. So, for the next month, she'll have 6 hours a day of intensive art study, with a different focus for each day of the week. (So, for example, Monday morning might be life drawing, while Thursday afternoon is mixed media.) </p>
<p>In a different school, she'd probably be put into a easier "track" and not be taking AP courses at all. My impression is that her friends at the big high schools who are like her are taking "Math for vocational students" and stuff like that. So I guess what I'm saying is that even if she ends up with a 3.2, it will be 3.2 with a very challenging curriculum at one of the best high schools in our state. :-)</p>
<p>taxguy: That's actually not true for California. Students here have to prove much more residency than that. I know that when I took community college classes, I had to show <em>three years</em> residency to get in state rates. For students, if their parents are outside the state, the state is even pricklier -- they can refuse you residency if it appears you are in the state only to try to get it for school purposes.</p>
<p>TrinSF, I can't speak for now;however, I know someone who was from NY. She originally attended University of Illinois and hated it. She quit Illinois and got a job in California for at least one year ( although it might have been two years). She applied to Berkeley as a transfer student and not only got admitted there but got in-state tuition. I would say that this happened about 10-15 years ago.</p>
<p>trinsf: Based on what you have written, your daughter should be in good shape grade-wise and needs to focus her efforts on deciding which art program would best suit her interests, and how to navigate the portfolio requirements and financial aid. My experience is that colleges are familiar with the grading and rigor of varying high schools, and take it all into account. </p>
<p>Here's my specific example: regarding grades, my daughter was in the exact same position...her H.S. was very highly ranked as far as it's rigor and difficulty. To put this into perspective, there is a frequent poster here who often cites how high a GPa one needs to be accepted by the University of Cincinnati DAAP program, (3.5+?) ...yet, my daughter got in with a borderline 3.0, so I can only assume that the difference was her high school's reputation and the rigor of her coursework, and the college must have adjusted for that. She should be in good shape, you are starting nice and early...good luck</p>
<p>Ronnie56, if I may ask,what was your daughter's major at DAAP? My daughter has met a lot of kids in DAAP and never met someone who got in with less than a 3.4 UNLESS they had very strong SATs or was majoring in Urban Planning or fine art or Art History. Thus, I am curious about your daughter's major.</p>
<p>Sean
Sad to say, we really can’t afford professional help. I am not that kind of Japanese, thanks.
Reading up this site would make me understand (and wonder, why are we fighting over favorite school’s reputation or our kids’ achievements if something is true or not or worthy or not… It is getting very strange. I thought we are here to help each other???? )</p>