<p>My daughter had attended National Portfolio Day at San Diego last month and her portfolio was approved by SAIC rep. She also received some letters from SAIC's Director of Admissions about it saying if she applies with all the requirements by Dec. 1, she will get in and also have a good chance of getting a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>We were thrilled to find out and were somewhat relieved from all this application process stress (she's a senior), but this worried mom is also wondering if we could rely on this. My daughter is saying since she prefers SAIC over MICA or some other schools, she won't even apply to those that she was planning to other than her favorites in NYC. She also got a good review from SVA.</p>
<p>Does anyone have this kind of experience? Can we trust that she will get in to SAIC if she applies by Dec. 1 as she was told? Her GPA is 3.3 and SAT is 1900 or 1300 with reading and math only.</p>
<p>Yes, definitely apply to more schools. There are many reasons but here are a few:</p>
<p>1.) Portfolio approval is not admission to SAIC. She has a really strong chance of admission and I would peg her odds at 90%-ish of getting the ‘yes’. But stuff happens all the time to get in the way and I have learned there are no 100% opportunities out there.</p>
<p>2.) Kids have a wonderful habit of changing their minds between now and May 1st. Sometimes they change them ohhh like 26 times between now and then.</p>
<p>3.) Another school’s net cost (after merit or fin aid) to you might be significantly lower.</p>
<p>Right now D finished applying to 3 including SAIC and Cooper (she’s waiting for the hometest package) and she’s planning to apply to 2 to 3 more. We will see how it goes…</p>
<p>BTW, she submitted her Common App and ePortfolio for SAIC last week but has not gotten a confirmation email yet from the school itself. Did anyone get a confirmation email from SAIC?</p>
<p>She’s applying to SVA and MICA but not RISD… Though the curriculum itself attracted her, she hated Providence when we visited last spring so she’s not. She says she knows the reputation RISD has and the benefits that RISD can offer her but cannot imagine living there for 4 years. She will try to transfer if she thinks she needs to later on. Thanks again for the help.</p>
<p>If you haven’t already done so do a search through this site for SAIC. There has been a lot of discussion about their early acceptance of portfolios, the high number of acceptances to the school and the high drop-out rate after the first or second years. It’s hard to predict, perhaps this is your child’s dream school but the reputation for being firmly embedded in conceptual art is not a myth or rumor. What causes the high drop-out rates may be a myriad of issues, accepting people not ready for the workload or an art school, accepting people who find the focus on the conceptual not what they wanted, someone realizing it wasn’t the right fit, who knows. But their stats show a much higher drop out rate than the more selective schools. They turn heads with that early portfolio acceptance and unfortunately some interpret that as a sign that they “like me, they really really like me” quote Sally Fields. But in fact they accept a high rate of portfolios at NPD so it is a sign that you’ll get in but that’s about it. And you pretty much WILL get in unless they find out you’ve murdered someone or some such horrible thing if your portfolio is accepted. I’m glad your child has decided to continue to apply to other schools, it’s really best to apply to as many as possible and see where the chips fall. SAIC by doing that early acceptance routine, can do students a disservice. good luck</p>
<p>Thanks again for the information. We have done some research through this site and through other sources also and understand that there is a high acceptance rate and drop out rate, but then other than a few, I understand that all art schools do have very high acceptance rate compared to regular colleges. We also know that the school’s emphasis on conceptual art. Even the rep at NPD mentioned something similar. I believe every school has its own style of teaching to bring out each student’s yet undiscovered talent and help them express and communicate with the world using their talent. It will fit some students but not all. In that sense, I do not think that SAIC’s method, conceptual or not, can be considered as negatively as you have done since its students do produce some great artworks and do well eventually (well, depending on the majors). The school also has very good faculty members whose reputations are regarded very highly by outsiders.</p>
<p>And please do not think that SAIC is my daughter’s dream school since it’s not. ^^ And I do not think that students who get their portfolios approved at NPD think that they are something special though not everyone at NPD get their portfolios approved, but it does give them a relief. At least, it did for my daughter.</p>
<p>I understand that this “early acceptance routine” is SAIC’s way of marketing the school, but I do not think that it should be criticized so much for doing it though I also understand that why you may be so displeased with the system. Thanks again for your input.</p>
<p>I think you misinterpret my comments. I do not feel negatively about SAIC at all. However I do think that it’s important that students understand that the emphasis on conceptual art is probably higher than at most art schools. I do not feel that the methods used at SAIC are a negative but that it is important that students who wish to learn more about technique understand that they will be attending a school where the emphasis early on will be on concept. That doesn’t mean that you won’t encounter teachers who put emphasis on technique but the general emphasis up to now has been on concept. I consider that informational not negative. </p>
<p>I also did not say having an early portfolio acceptance made students think they were “special”, in fact, what I said was that it turns heads probably partially because it’s a relief as the process is so complicated. All these schools are marketing themselves and again, I just think mentioning this is a caution, not a sign of being displeased with the system. It’s the system SAIC has set up, I just think a caution to students is in order so they don’t quit looking out of a sense of that sense of relief. And, yes, my natural cynicism leads me to believe that SAIC is quite aware of this response in doing these early portfolio acceptances. I doubt that they are so naive as to not realize that this sort of nod will not make the student think more positively about their school. But that’s just good marketing.</p>
<p>Again let me state that I don’t feel negatively about SAIC. In fact, I was quite pleased with some aspects of our experiences with the school. Perhaps my general cynicism gave you that impression but in general I think that all these schools, even considering generous grant awards, are so expensive that it’s important that students and parents be as well informed as possible. </p>
<p>I wish I could feel like you do, that “every school has its own style of teaching to bring out each student’s yet undiscovered talent and help them express and communicate with the world using their talent.” While that’s probably true at some schools, or with some instructors at every school, I think it’s important to remember that these are private institutions and as such profit is also a motivation. But perhaps again that’s my natural cynicism coming into play.</p>
<p>At any rate, good luck with your search. SAIC would be a very good choice as long as the conceptual “thing” is okay. The facilities there are fantastic, the location wonderful in my opinion.</p>