<p>i am new - so excuse me if this is discussed somewhere here already, but how important are test scores (SAT)? and grades? i'd like to consider those 2 separately. personal history: i have a daughter, junior enrolled in an arts high school. all the art schools she has shown her portfolio to have been very positive. she is talented and works very hard. her grades are average, probably about a 3.0 but frankly the academics at her school are very uneven. mostly poor. she has a fabulous AP art history class she is doing great in, she is learning little elsewhere. her SAT scores were low. her math very low. how much will this affect schools decisions about her? she is looking, right now at pratt, risd, mica and cooper. thanks for any replies to this.</p>
<p>The schools you mentioned get such a large influx of quality applicants that they can afford to be picky about both talent and academics. If you daughter really has an extraordinary and developed talent, it can compensate for poor grades and test scores, but if she is just 'talented', then it might not be enough. Of the scools you mentioned, I would guess she has the best chance at Pratt, next best chance at MICA.</p>
<p>thanks for the helpful reply.</p>
<p>I think most art schools put more weight on portoflio than academics, but there are exceptions, and most do have some kind of minimum requirement. I believe both RISD and Cooper have much higher academic requirements than other art schools. RISD students can take classes at Brown, and Brown being the highly competive school that it is, may be difficult for a student who has an academic record not on par with the other students.</p>
<p>That being said, I think most art schools, and even art programs at liberal arts schools, do look for talent (not necessarily even developed, but potential and passion) more than anything. I think they also look at the entire package (recs, extra currics, essay, etc).</p>
<p>My daughter is a not a good standardized test taker. Her SATs were all in the mid-500s for each of the 3 sections. She did not take any SAT 2s and only took the SAT once (with lots of tutoring leading up to the test). Her average was about a B+ (her school doesn't rank, doesn't give a GPA, doesn't weigh the average and doesn't have AP classes). I know she had great references. Her extra currics primarily were in the arts (more in performing than visual, but creative none the less). She also did the pre-college program at RISD and did well in that (only 1 school wanted those grades). </p>
<p>She was accepted into all 5 schools she applied, 3 art (MICA, MassArt, SCAD w/ scholarship) and 2 liberal art (Syracuse VPA and Towson). </p>
<p>You should check the school stats on sites like collegeboard.com. They give you the middle 50% range of SAT/ACT scores, and high school GPA distributions for accepted students. They also give the % accepted. My D was in the low end of the SAT range for Syracuse, and from what I hear their VPA school is competitive, but she hit it off with the reviewer on Portfolio day, and received a followup note from Syracuse asking her to apply. A similar thing happened with MICA.</p>
<p>There are lots of possibilities even if the SATs aren't quite up to snuff. Trust me, it's not as bad as I it may appear.</p>
<p>that is very encouraging, thank you! she is such a passionate artist. and the schools that have seen her work - chicago, pratt, cooper and risd have been very positive. but man oh man she cannot do math. loved your daughter's story - thanks!</p>
<p>Most art programs don't require a high amount of academic performance. This is especially true of some schools that require portfolios. There are some notable exceptions, however, that do require a fair amount of academic success in both GPA and SATs. Some of the more notable ones are:</p>
<p>1.RISD
2. MICA
3. University of Cincinnati
4. CMU
5. Wash U St Louis
6. UCLA et al.</p>
<p>Pratt does require some decent GPA and SATs,but a good portfolio can overcome weaknesses in the academic part of the transcript.</p>
<p>Even schools like RISD and MICA will require a lower GPA and SAt if the portfolio is amazing.</p>
<p>Some decent schools such as SCAD have no portfolio requirements and lessor academic requirements. Good luck</p>
<p>that's great information. and that makes sense. i know students from her high school have gotten into pratt. i dont think any one has applied or gotten into risd or mica. one went to cooper. thanks.</p>