I have a NYC kid looking for a strong photography/visual arts department in a Liberal Arts College preferably in an urban setting. The obvious option is an Art School but we’re hoping for a broader education.
Try Trinity college
1 Like
Can you give us a rough idea of your kid’s stats? Most LAC’s will consider a visual arts portfolio, but that won’t override academic qualifications to the extent that it would at an art school.
Another approach would be to find an art school that has a consortium/cross-registration relationship with one or more other schools that would broaden the liberal arts coursework available. On the super-competitive end, there’s RISD in Providence, which has cross-registration and dual-degree programs with Brown. Similarly, there’s the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which has cross-registration and dual-degree programs with Tufts.
Also in Boston, look at MassArt Photography BFA | MassArt which is part of the Colleges of the Fenway as well as the Pro-Arts Consortium Colleges of the Fenway & ProArts Consortia | MassArt (Emerson, which is one of the consortium schools, also has its own Visual & Media Arts BFA with a Photography BFA option Photography BFA Option | Emerson College And if the kid is female, Simmons College is another consortium school, and has its own Art BA, within which a photography emphasis is possible.)
There are also the Catholic urban LAC’s and universities that are urban and have strong visual arts - DePaul Photography and Media Art Concentration | Concentration Requirements | Art, Media, and Design (BFA) | Undergraduate | The Art School | Academics | College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences | DePaul University, Chicago and U of San Francisco Program: Studio Art, Photography Concentration, Major - University of San Francisco - Acalog ACMS™ are two examples. (And close to home, Fordham is another possibility.)
To get the best advice, info on GPA, class rank, and test scores will help.
4 Likes
I agree with the above recs.
Also WashU (although maybe bigger than your student would like?)
Another option would be Macalester. It has a strong art program itself, plus allows students to open-enroll 1 class per semester at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design.) It has very strong overall academics, but is less rejective in admissions than Brown, Tufts or WashU.
A school with excellent art and likely admissions would be UW-Milwaukee.
2 Likes
Look into Purchase College.
2 Likes
These don’t all qualify as liberal arts colleges, but some possibilities might be:
-
American (D.C.) has about 8500 undergrads and offers a BA in photography.
-
Barry (FL) in Miami has about 3300 undergrads and offers both a BA and BFA in photography. @AmyIzzy might have more information on the school if you’re interested, as I believe Barry is one of the finalists her son is considering.
-
Bradley (IL): Not exactly a big-name metro (Peoria), but it’s midsize (about 4300 undergrads) and offers a BA, BS, or BFA with a concentration in photography.
-
Endicott (MA): This school with about 3k undergrads is in a beautiful location by the ocean, but only about 35m from Boston. It offers a B.S. in Photography as well as a BFA in Photography.
-
Lesley (MA): This less famous school in Cambridge with about 1800 undergrads offers a BFA in Photography, a BA in Art, or a minor in Photography. The BFA seems particularly intensive…appearing to only offer 6 hours of non-art related electives, which may defeat the purpose of not attending a strict art school.
-
Loyola Maryland: This school in Baltimore has about 3800 undergrads and offers a BA in Photography. It’s also part of Baltimore Collegetown (whose website is currently under renovation and which alternatively seems to be called the Baltimore Student Exchange Program) which allows students to take one class/semester at a different area university, like at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) or Johns Hopkins. Loyola’s site with info on the program which subsequently links to the under-construction site, and MICA’s, which is a bit more informative.
-
Marywood (PA ): This school of about 1800 undergrads is in Scranton, so a definite city, but not a world-renowned city. It offers a BFA in Photography.
-
St. Edwards (TX): This Austin school has about 2900 undergrads and offers a B.A. in Photography and Media Arts. It requires 51 hours of courses in the major, leaving ample room for study of other fields.
-
Seattle (WA): This Jesuit school has about 4200 undergrads and offers a BFA in Photography.
-
SUNY New Paltz: This in-state school with about 6300 undergrads offers a BS and a BFA in Photography.
-
SUNY Purchase: Seconding this rec. About 3400 undergrads are here. There is only a BFA in Photography here.
-
U. of Dayton (OH): This school with about 8600 undergrads offers a BFA in Photography.
-
U. of Hartford (CT): This school of about 4k undergrads offers a BFA in Photography (portfolio required).
-
Webster (MO): This St. Louis school with about 2300 undergrads offers a BA in Photography and a BFA with an emphasis in Photography.
@fiftyfifty1, is Macalester still offering cross-registration with MCAD? Looking at this link, I don’t see MCAD listed, but maybe I wasn’t looking in the right place.
3 Likes
Is the desire to get a BA/BFA in Photography or a BA/BS in something else but have access to photography classes?
Another college that has a relationship with an Art School is Case Western Reserve. I believe that you can take one class per semester at the Cleveland Art Institute.
One issue that you might run into at a standalone LAC is very limited classes in photography and limited faculty. You may only have one faculty member that teaches photography. If you don’t like them, you have issues.
2 Likes
Yes, Macalester still has the arrangement with MCAD according to its webpage. It is a bit confusing, because MCAD is NOT a member of the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC) consortium. Instead, Macalester seems to have formed a separate agreement with MCAD that the other ACTC schools have not.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.