<p>I think the most reliable indicator of the quality of a school is the work of its students. That's mostly how I decided which school I wanted to go to - I collected the schools' catalogues when they sent them to me and when I went to portfolio days, and I looked at the student work. </p>
<p>Stats and information about the professors can be misleading, but the student work is telling. You see what kinds of people the school accepts and how selective it is. It matters less how good the professors are, because if the best students are congregating in other schools, that makes them better schools, doesn't it? Also, the catalogues usually showcase the best work of the past several years, so it seems to be an unusually accurate measure of the school's quality. If they all try to show their best work, then they should be on equal footing.</p>
<p>So, I thought that the best work came from RISD and MICA. I decided to go to RISD because of the location, and the proximity to Brown. MICA's student work was easily as good. I didnt apply to SCAD because the student work didnt impress me. </p>
<p>I'm anticipating you insisting that an 18-year-old is no judge of the quality of artwork, and that's fine. I realize that I'm not basing my analysis on hard facts, but I think my way of looking at it is factual in its own right.</p>