Looking for college suggestions: visual arts/design&humanities

Hello whoever is reading this now.

Currently my top choice is RISD, and I will take a shot at Brown for RD for the dual-degree program.
I have been trying to find colleges that offer a mix of design and humanities education like RISD, where students have access to some of Brown’s courses. It seems to me that the RISD/Brown combination is probably the only place in the States for an extensive design and humanities education together.

My GPA is 4.23(an average of 99.7 out of 100 points). My SAT combined is 1550, uncombined is 1540. I had AP Literature, Calc BC, French, Studio Art, and Physics: C Mechanics last year. I got all 5’s except for a 4 on French.

Portfolio-wise, mine is able to ace any art schools but sufficient enough for me to consider RISD as a proper “reach” school. I went to RISD Pre-college last summer and had my portfolio reviewed, so my estimation shouldn’t be off by much.

I do prioritize art/design over humanities, so I don’t want to go to a place where humanities dominate design.

Does anybody have useful suggestions? For a comfortable mix of design and humanities for me?

Thank you!

Hello, was looking for same on this site. My daughter is a junior and we are researching. I know that Tufts has a combined program with the Museum of Fine Arts; also Carnegie Mellon has a BXA program that might fit your needs. Let us know what you learn and experience as well. Good luck!

We visited Tufts and Brown for the combination programs. We actually were lucky enough to have a private lunch with the SMFA Admissions Director - because he was hungry and so were we! He and DD talked extensively about the two programs, which in his estimation were opposites in many ways. If you get into the combo program, which is a high reach for anyone due to # of apps and # of spots, it is a study in contrasts. You have Brown, with limited required curriculum and lots of freedom, and RISD, with the most rigid foundational program of any school that we visited. I would talk to a student to get more details, but his understanding is that the first two years at RISD are all required courses. There are also scheduling issues: they are on different calendars, and sometimes it’s very challenging to make your schedule work. Contrast that with Tufts. Tufts is middle of the road in terms of academic course requirements. You CAN do art at Tufts as well as SMFA, but most who are minors or majors take plenty of classes at SMFA, which is part of Tufts but in downtown Boston near the Red Sox. They are about 20 -30 minutes apart unless you are hitting high traffic times. The SMFA program is focused on the student’s artistic goals. There are a couple of required courses, but the bulk is coursework where you are working 1:1 with an instructor. Basically, you meet with the instructor and a panel at the beginning of the semester and discuss your goals. At the end of the semester, you put on a display of what you accomplished. As the Director said "This is a great spot for a student who thinks having access to many different studios on campus with assistants to facilitate (e.g. the photography room has a photography aide to help run the machines, etc) is like being locked in a candy store. SMFA is now (as of 7/2016) absorbed into Tufts, so they are on the same calendar and classes are more easily combined. RISD is a separate campus, which is walkable from Brown. We didn’t tour the program, but the outside is beautiful. SMFA is basically part of the Museum of Fine Arts. They were under construction when we were there, so I am sure that it looks different now, but there was something about being under and around the museum that was really exciting and motivational. The student exhibits are often in the cafeteria of the museum. The Admissions Director could not possibly be kinder - we basically had to kick ourselves out of his office at 5:30 after a 1:30 tour because he and my daughter were reviewing her portfolio and shooting the breeze about art and what the merge with Tufts might mean. If you are interested in drawing or painting, those studios were particularly gorgeous. I would think that SMFA would be terrific for a student who has her head set on specific types of art as my daughter does (she is interested in representational art, a la Rembrandt, as a preparation for a career combining biology and art such as orthopedic design or plastic surgery. It’s really a case of what you are looking for. He called them polar opposites.

Check out VCUARTS. Its one of the top art/design schools in the country. D attends as GD major, loves it. Very competitive.

@Momoware I think a lot depends upon on how important “design” is to you, as opposed to traditional visual arts media such as drawing, painting, sculpture, print making etc.

There are many colleges and universities that have excellent studio art departments as well as excellent academics across a white de range of humanities. Most offer the BA (versus the BFA) which makes double majoring or experimenting in other disciplines a little easier.

As a general statement, however, their offerings in graphic design, technology or new media might be more limited than what you would find at an art or design school.

In this category I would include Brown’s own art department (as separate from RISD’s), Yale, Williams, Vassar, Oberlin, Bard, Wesleyan, Smith. I’m sure there are others.