<p>I'm planning to major in either advertising or Graphic design, which type of college would it be smarter for me to attend? A Liberal arts college with those majors or go to a just art college that requires liberal arts as well?</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>I don’t know that a lot of liberal arts colleges are going to have advertising or graphic design majors. You could, however, combine majors like business or marketing with studio art.</p>
<p>Well i’m looking into BU and Northeastern, and they both offer graphic design/advertising as a major.</p>
<p>Both are good universities, but neither are what you would traditionally consider a liberal arts college. I would personally go to a university or LAC rather than a specialized institution like an arts college. You’ll have more options if you decide that there’s something else that you’re passionate about.</p>
<p>I agree there will be more options open in attending a LAC vs an Art college. Why would you attend an Art college? Most artists do not get jobs from their education/school but from their work.</p>
<p>specialized programs like advertising or graphics design would tend to be found more often at a U than at a LAC. One thing to keep in mind is that some arts colleges (at least performing arts colleges) are not acredited for giving a bachelors degree; they do not award a BA degree that would be recognized should you decide to go for a further degree such as an MBA, a law degree, etc.</p>
<p>yeah i realized that but most of the art colleges i looked at offers a BA degree. but im just wondering if a U would have a better graphic design program or an arts college. because a lot of the times an arts college is just well known for its fine arts, so i never know how good their graphic design program is.</p>
<p>Is RISD on your list? If you go there, you can take courses at Brown. There may be other good art/design schools that have cooperative agreements with neighboring universities (like MICA and Hopkins?)</p>
<p>If you know for sure you want to go into advertising/graphic design, larger universities will probably be a better choice than LACs. If you are looking into BU and Northeastern, look into Syracuse University as well. They offer both advertising and graphic design majors in Newhouse School of Communications; they also have a separate School of Art and Design with many majors you would typically find at art schools; and they also offer Art and Fine Arts majors in the College of Arts and Sciences. So lots of choices at Syracuse.</p>
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<p>BU and Northeastern aren’t liberal arts schools.</p>
<p>Coincidentally I attended a presentation on this today. :)</p>
<p>The speaker, an admissions officer at an arts college, talked about the differences between the two environments. Points to think about: do you want the “traditional” college experiences with fraternities and football games? Do you want your friends to be other artists, dancers, and musicians? Or do you want your friends to include scientists and English majors? Might you want to double major, or change majors? Do you have a portfolio of work (necessary for admission to an art school)? She claimed that a degree at a traditional college means about 40% of your classes are in your major, but at an arts college it would be about 75%. She emphasized that neither type of program is better than the other, but that either type could be better for a particular student.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I’m currently having the same dilemma as well. As for now, I’m applying to both art schools and LACs (I prefer small schools), leaving me a few more months to mull it over.</p>
<p>alexx, I think there’s some confusion in definition here between Liberal Arts in the general sense and small liberal arts college (LAC) in the specific. All universities and colleges – large, small, medium – offer the liberal arts, as in humanities/social sciences/science & math. Large universities offer professional programs as well, like engineering, architecture, nursing. Small liberal arts colleges often do not.</p>
<p>I believe what the OP is looking for here is a choice between art school per se and a full service university or college, not necessarily a small LAC. As others have pointed out although several small LACs have good studio art departments they do not offer much depth or breadth in design or new media. </p>
<p>[For those interested in studio art at small LACs I would recommend Williams, Wesleyan, Skidmore, Conn College, Kenyon, Oberlin, Hamilton. Smith for females.]</p>
<p>My husband who is a practicing artist attended an art school. My son who is also an artist, but with a focus on architecture, attended a small LAC, before going on to graduate school in architecture. Both experiences were very positive but quite different.</p>
<p>To me the major difference between an art school and a university is that at an art school you will be living and breathing art 24/7. All of your friends will be similarly involved in the arts of one sort or another. At a full service university you may major in art and depending on the distribution requirements of the school take from 40 to 80% studio courses, but you will also be exposed to a wide range of academic disciplines. You will interact with students whose interests cover a wide spectrum of ideas. </p>
<p>Which is better? It really depends on what you’re seeking, i.e., which fits YOU better. </p>
<p>There are several universities that have good graphic arts/design programs within their art departments. I think you should spend some time on line looking at the course catalogs – how many courses, how advanced, who are the instructors? Many colleges post the career paths of their alums – the internships and jobs they were able to secure. </p>
<p>I think Northeastern is an excellent choice and I’d suggest that you look at Michigan, WUSTL, CMU and Cincinnati. Brown is an excellent choice because of its connection to RISD, but it’s very selective.</p>