<p>I have been accepted to all of these schools. Now comes the hard part. Deciding! I’m planning to go for Fine Arts and I want to focus on painting. I’ve been to Parsons and SVA and liked both of them. I espcially like how the campus is just spread throughout Manhattan for both SVA and Parsons. </p>
<li> First I want to go to a great program. When visiting Parsons I noticed the fine arts department was a little small. Also, they seem to focus on ideas and incorporating ideas from other programs. I find this to be fantastic, however I’m worried there won’t be enough time focused on pure technique. Has anyone went to Parsons for fine arts and what was their experience? </li>
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<p>On a side note. Parsons doesn’t have a gym. Does anyone live in Manhattan and can a gym be had for a reasonable price ~ 100/month?</p>
<li><p>With Pratt. I don’t like the fact that I’m in Brooklyn. I much rather be in Manhattan, but its a much more reasonable place to live. Is it easy to take a subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan esp. late at night? Also, from everything I’ve been reading its seems like Pratt has the best fine arts dep. out of the three. Is this true, or is this more a repuation not meeting reality thing?</p></li>
<li><p>As for SVA, this is the one I know the least about. Has anyone been through this program and what can they tell what they thought?</p></li>
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<p>I’m having a tough time decideing between these three and any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior at SVA. She has had a love/hate relationship with it for most of her four years. But now as she is about to graduate, she reflected back and says that without a doubt she made the right choice. The fine arts at SVA has brand new facilities that will open in the fall of "09. It is a much larger program than Parsons and I think that does matter. I, also, think that the depth and breadth of the other majors at SVA enhance the fine arts program by being able to expose you to more ideas and practices. She has had exposure to many different working artists as teachers and mentors. That is one of the school’s biggest strengths, because if you do well with an instructor there is a good chance that they will connect you with an artist to intern with. Lastly, she has her own private studio in Chelsea. As a fine arts student, that is hard to beat.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. Why did you daughter have a love hate realationship with it the first few years? You said your daughter was a fine artist, what is her focus in fine arts?</p>
<p>One of my main concerns is going so far in debt and not being able to find a good job. Was she able to find internships easily and does she think she will have good job prospects coming out of the SVA?</p>
<p>It is different for everyone, but for my daughter I think that she found the logistics very difficult. She came from a small private arts high school where access the studios was pretty easy. She was able to have a space to do work and keep it in the studio and keep going back to work on it. That was not the case for the first three years at SVA. Only this year with her own studio was she able to do that. I am not sure if the new fine arts building changes that, but imagine walking from the Chelsea with a large wet canvas through crowds of people back to a postage size dorm room on the east side. The other thing is that many art schools have 24/7 access to the studios. SVA does not have that. It is especially difficult that the studios close at 6 on Sat. and Sun. They have a very active continuing ed program that essentially takes over most over the fine arts studios in the evening M-F.</p>
<p>Fine arts is not something that one goes into thinking that they will get a “job” after graduating. You will not. You may make a living doing a variety of things and she knows many artists that are successful at that. But there are few jobs assisting artists p-t at low pay. Do not go to any art school for a fine arts job, if you will come out in significant debt. Think of other ways that you will make a living while practicing your art. Will you teach? Will you illustrate books? Will you do design work? Make sure that you develop the skills to do things that will support you. Do not think that you will support yourself by painting. It might eventually happen, but not right away. </p>
<p>You need to calculate what you monthly payments will be and to see how much debt you can afford. I know young people with business degrees and good jobs that live with their parents because of school loans.</p>
<p>“One of my main concerns is going so far in debt and not being able to find a good job.”</p>
<p>As an art major, I would highly suggest you think about what you want to do and what it is you expect from your eduction and further whether or not you should go to art school versus a liberal arts college. </p>
<p>I understand its a bit silly to bank on making money from Fine Arts right away. I actually already have an undergraduate degree in economics so I always have that to fall back on. Its never to hard for me to find something in accounting. I guess I should rephrase my question. Is your daughter finding it difficult to make the transition from being a senior to being a graduate and has SVA helped in finding her oppurtunities for her to show her work/ work with other artists after she graduates?</p>
<p>That is disappointing that the studious close at 6 on weekends. You would think it would be open 24/7.</p>
<p>The main thing about art education, you have to be passionate about it. While in school, it will be critical, because if the instructors see the work you put in and can tell you’ve got your heart in it, that can go along way after graduation.</p>
<p>Going back a bit, if you’re certain you want to go the fine art route, you may best suited to go through Pratt or SVA, Parsons is very business minded as I understand, that’s not saying they’re program is bad, but it seems better suited for people going for other things (fashion, design&management, photography). I don’t know if you have an account on Livejournal, but there are active communities for all of those schools, so you may be able to ask someone with first hand experience.</p>
<p>hi tom!
did you make your decision already?!!
i’m in the same situation as you!
I have been accepted to the same schools and i’m also planning to go for Fine Arts with a focus on painting!!
did you visit any of them?!!</p>
<p>I am in the same situation. I am preparing to complete my BA at a Canadian university and will be applying to SVA for painting very soon! Were you offered the Silas Rhodes scholarship? Did you make your decision?</p>
<p>If anyone knows someone who graduated from this program, could you please let me know what their post-graduation experience was like?</p>
<p>hey tom
Though i’m not in art school yet, i’ve done quite a bit of research on art school in the states. I would personally recommend SVA because of all the schools you’ve mentioned, SVA has the best track record of producing notable contemporary artists. It also seems like the best option for an environment that is balanced conceptually and technically.</p>
<p>Parsons’ Fine Art program (as opposed to a specific medium) seems to be more conceptually oriented (as you’ve noticed) and as is the case with such programs, it takes a more generalist approach, sculpture, drawing and painting are required for the first 5 semesters. The prgoram/department is very small as (you’ve also noticed) which isn’t necessarily a bad thing (small program=more teacher student contact) but it also means that you have less curricular options. the curriculum in fact is very rigid and their program doesn’t really have a track record of producing any notable contemporary artists. </p>
<p>Pratt on the other hand, is a little over hyped as far as being a good fine art school goes. They had an exceptional track record until the 60s after which they seemed to have lost some steam. Their fine art curricula are more specialized. Instead of parsons’ do everything approach, at pratt you choose one medium and stick with it. If specialized technical training is what you’re looking for, pratt’s the place to be unless of course you have the option of going to RISD. But all this technique seems to come at a cost. Unlike RISD, it doesn’t seem like pratt offers much in the way of conceptual development and expansion for their students which if you intend on becoming a practising contemporary artist is something you might want to consider. Also their curricula, Much like Parsons’ seem to be very rigid.</p>
<p>SVA seems to be the best of both worlds. Their curriculum seems to offer more freedom than either pratt or parsons. Which you could use to either specialize more than other schools would allow or go all over the place. Even though ur certain about painting now, most people change their minds after foundation year. SVA also has a more established fine art program than Parsons while having the urban environment that Pratt lacks. I personally found pratt’s campus a little bleh when i went to NPD there and its actually not easy to get around via subway in that part of brooklyn. The nearest stop only services one line which is NEVER working and the second nearest stop is at least 5 blocks away.</p>
<p>Also, for fine art, undergrad ≠ job. If you want to be a practising artist and are looking for a competitive advantage look at the major grad schools for fine art (yale, columbia, calarts etc) and find out whether ur school of choice has a high rate of placing students into those programs.</p>
<p>hey all,
I have to disagree with kaelyn.
SVA has a lot of great alumni but only from the SVA graduate program.
SVA undergrads are not preferred a lot because they do not go through a foundations program as good as Pratt. I can’t speak for Parsons, since I have no interest in that school.
I’ve been accepted to RISD, Pratt, MICA, SAIC, SVA, and gotten scholarships from all schools. I chose to go to Pratt because they offered a greater scholarship than RISD. Pratt also built then new Myrtle Hall building and it’s so much more campus-like and one of the best experiences i’ve had. A lot of students from SVA ended up transferring to Pratt since Pratt offered a wide range of courses in Graphic Design.
and according to UNDERGRAD ranking of graphic design, pratt is ranked higher than SVA. as for graduate degree obviously sva wins.
[Top</a> 10 Graphic Design Schools Ranked](<a href=“GoDaddy Corporate Domains - Protected”>GoDaddy Corporate Domains - Protected)
Pratt was also ranked top art and design school of 2011.
[The</a> Global Language Monitor Colleges](<a href=“http://www.languagemonitor.com/college-rankings/]The”>http://www.languagemonitor.com/college-rankings/)</p>
<p>A lot of SVA students were either rejected from Pratt or waitlisted. SVA students tend to lack a lot of art skill and only focus on the major which is why it was not even ranked in the top 10 for graphic in undergrad. when I interned, sva students were the underdogs since companies appreciate the fact that you went through the basics of foundation.</p>
<p>Hello everyone
My name’s Sheri
I’m having a bit of trouble finding information on Pratt…
If anyone could help me, please message me.
It would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!</p>
