Does anyone have any info on what the outcomes of SCAD grads in B.F.A. in interactive design and game development and possible in graphic design are ?
I was told by a SCAD admission rep that SCAD is the "second biggest employer to pixar and disney’. Is that true? Does anyone have any hard data on this ?
I don’t know if it is true or not, but Google SCAD and Pixar and you will see evidence that Pixar does have a lot of SCAD grads.
John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Disney/Pixar will deliver the 2015 commencement speech. Lasseter’s son goes to SCAD. That might tell you something.
thanks. that is interesting if true (that his son attends scad). Lassiter would not only have the resources to go anywhere, but more important he wd have the competence to assess evaluate a program - certainly better than I wd , a non art person. How do you know that JL 's kid attends? what yr is he?
Doesn’t worth the money. At all.
First of all they lie everybody about the scholarship. First they say that you’ve received this much as an ANNUAL amount, but once you’re in, they cut it to 2/3. SCAM.
Also they’ll tell you there are more scholarships once you’re in. don’t ever count on that. I’ve been there 2 years, never seen a single soul get more funds than what they offered in the first place.
Secondly, they call themselves “the university of creative careers” while the career adviser may never even see you during your whole time of study (true story- happened to a couple of people) and will never answer your emails and inquiries ( happened to myself, all the time). In some departments even the career adviser herself is a recent graduate student. It doesn’t matter if the student/adviser has a lot of connections and is a successful one in her field herself, but unfortunately this is not the case here.
In one sentence, the day you graduate, they kick you out of school, and you are ALL BY YOUR OWN. of course they always want to hear about your success stories to brag about, you know.
And last but not least, Savannah is beautiful and all, but what I was looking for as an student/ job seeker was knowing people in the filed, and making connections. They have a career fair every year, but it’s mostly about small local businesses, so if you’r in film/digital media/fashion/writing/sequential arts, it’s gonna be a time waster.
All and all, if I had the knowledge I have today, I would never waste my time and money in SCAD, I’d go to a big city, meet real people, and attend a school that really cares about students, and not wants to rip them off, even on the commencement day by trying to sell them $200 mandatory gowns.
For my daughter, SCAD was a great decision. BFA in Graphic Design, class of 2013. She earned a renewable scholarship that, in effect, paid for one of her four years there. She loved her time there and felt very prepared to enter the workforce after graduation.
It was offered to us during freshman orientation that 85% of SCAD grads are working IN their field of study within 6 months of graduation. Two months after graduation, our daughter had a design position with a small web-based design firm. Not enough to fully support herself, but she was able to live with her aunt. 10 months later she landed a much better paying position with a bigger design firm and, at 24 years old, is out on her own and fully supporting herself in a VERY nice apartment. Most of her colleagues were surprised that she was just a year out of college when she started, as they said her skill level was that of someone who had much more experience.
There were many skeptics about her ability to make a living as an ‘art student’ when she graduated from high school. She has proven them wrong, and I give the credit to SCAD.
Well I’m an international student at SCAD and according to your english level it’s fair to assume you are another international student who clearly started academic courses to early before your english was good enough. SCAD is a very hard school for all the right reasons and have a good communication skills is absolutely necessary in order to strive for the best so just because you haven’t been able to keep up doesn’t mean it’s less of a good school. We all go to college so that we can leave it standing on our own so I’m not what you complaining about regarding that matter. Your review is bitter and not based on facts but you should work on your English and I’m sure you’ll improve your experience here at SCAD. I myself thought is wasn’t worth the money too at first but the more I implicated myself, the more I realized it was.
You need to work harder instead of blaming the school
Congratulations to your daughter on finding a job and building a career, but it is important to understand how these numbers are often skewed. ALL schools use statistics in this manner – not just SCAD, but ALL of them.
SCAD has something like 30 different majors. Not all have equal employment rates as well.
SCAD was very specific in stating that “in their field of study” meant REALLY working as an artist in their field, not as you describe running the copier at Office Max.
Art major or not, no one is going to hand you success. You cannot simply assume that if you go to a school and major in a ‘good’ subject you will support yourself. It takes work and talent regardless of your chosen field.
What SCAD taught us as parents is that art is indeed a viable career. Through her education and the activities we saw her engaged in while there, we truly felt that she had found the place to give her the best chance at actually making a living doing what she loves.
Outputting digital files would be “in the field of graphic design”. I graduated and worked at SCAD. I did work for the admissions department and traveled the country doing portfolio reviews. I’ve worked at other schools as well. There’s a lot of flexibility in how all schools present their statistics. Can you earn a living? Of course. Hard work will pay off – but the discipline matters too. There are more lucrative opportunities in some majors than others.
@comicdude you seem to have the experience to answer some questions that I have. Any anyone else please feel free to chime in. If I don’t get a response in a week or so I’ll post as a separate thread in the VA/Film forum:
my D2 is VERY interested in joining SCAD’s animation program. She’s extremely creative and has been actively involved in performing arts (theater and voice) and more recently creative writing and VERY recently drawing and animating. She revealed to us at the beginning of Jr. year (so last year this time) that she has wanted to create her own animated series and has been sketch booking for a few years now (we didn’t know). She’s been working on storyboarding, creative writing and so forth all academic year but on her own using the internet for guidance. Around mid-year she said she discovered through her research that she probably needs to have animation skills to do what she wants to do. Her goal is to major in animation with a minor in storyboarding at SCAD and then through her training and (hopefully) some connections get a job that leads to doing storyboard concept art. This summer she took beginning Figure Drawing at the local art school and then took off for 5 weeks to join Northwestern U’s NHSI film program (“cherubs”) which she was accepted to in January. She emerged from that with a six page screenplay (I saw the finished product on film which I loved), a film short project (a dance piece which she choreographed and directed), and lots of insight into what she really wants to do (so she says) which is to get her animation training at an art school known for its animation program. For her it’s Go Big or Go Home.
She got very interested in SCAD through her research this summer while at Northwestern, especially when she discovered that she could minor in storyboarding. She realizes that no portfolio is required; however, she plans to submit one (as well as letters of recommendation) in order to maximize her chances for admission and hopefully a scholarship.
Keep in mind that she has had ZERO visual arts training at this point other than her Drawing I class from June and what she’s been able to pick up on the internet. She has signed up for more drawing as a HS elective but she would hopefully have applied to all her schools of interest by Dec. so time is running out to improve skills in that area in time for admission consideration.
Here are her stats:
Cum. GPA 3.65 (w)/3.64(uw)
SAT 1960 (680 R, 580 M, 700 W), essay = 9,
AP lit/comp exam (this May) = 5;
Portfolio at this point would be sketchbook and stuff from her Drawing I class this summer, her screenplay (which I’ve encouraged her to submit), and her video.
She is visiting SCAD at the end of August and I’ve encouraged her to have a good heart-to-heart with the admissions office and show them what she has so far. D2 is a quirky expressive creative which I (her mom) think is her strongest feature. She’s obviously bright and she’s very self-directed and stubborn oops I mean extremely determined :). I’m just concerned that she’ll get in there and be over her head, not having done a visual arts pre-college. She does assure me that Cherubs was extremely intense and therefore comparable - I can believe that. But I have been assuming she would choose a MEDIA arts school such as Emerson or Columbia College Chicago where she can focus on screenplays/writing and perhaps do some animation on the side - but she has decided to go full steam into animation (including foundation work).
Just based on your experience at SCAD as a student and working for admissions, what are your thoughts regarding her chances for admission, an academic and/or creative scholarship, and ability to persevere? Does SCAD accept beginning visual arts students? Do they tend to do well? What skills will she need to survive?
Thanks in advance for any insights you (or anyone reading this!) can provide.
A couple of things:
SCAD does not require portfolios. Here is why they do not:
Statistics show that students most likely to complete 4-year or 2-year degree programs have higher than average GPAs and SAT scores. ALL schools are interested in students that complete degree programs because 4 years of tuition is greater than 1 or 2 years of tuition of the student drops out or is expelled because of failing grades. No school wants uber-talented students who lack the discipline to attend classes, finish assignments on time, etc, because if their GPA falls below a threshold too often, they are kicked out. No student = no money for the college. DWF (Grade D, Withdrawal, Fail) rates are important to ALL schools and ALL programs.
Many of SCAD’s programs do not require students to be artistically-skilled. For example, a student with limited experience can learn to become a competent and well-paid architect, commercial photographer, web developer, set designer, film editing, historical preservationist, etc. Students do not declare their majors until near the end of their Freshmen years – hopefully they will choose a major in line with their aptitudes.
As far as the animation program is concerned, while the Admissions office will likely be glad your daughter already has an interest in a degree program, it’s not relevant yet. It does sound as though she is taking steps to put an adequate portfolio in place to help with her admission.
SCAD is not a particularly difficult school to get into – but undisciplined students (talented and untalented) typically wash out by the second year. In the end every school is what the student makes of the opportunity. I don’t know about the quality of the animation program itself as it has been years and years since I left the college.
Thank you @comicdude. This is pretty much what I was thinking as well so I’m glad to hear a similar opinion.
SCAD’s animation output is very impressive but I have no idea whether they’ve weeded like hell to those few kids. The big outlier question is whether D2 has artistic talent in that category - although sure she might tweak her major once she experiences foundation year.
Lasseter sent his son there which is a good sign (weren’t you the one who posted the link on another thread?).
Oops sorry @comicdude it was on THIS thread about Lasseter . . . btw thanks for posting that.
I am the parent of math/science geeks, and no one in our family could even pretend to have any art skills. But I will put in my suggestion for you as a parent. I think it would help to have some independent, but highly respectable art person look at your daughter’s portfolio. A school that wants to take your $$ is not an independent opinion you want to put your full trust in.
Where would your D end up working? Can you research to see what kinds of grads they employ? Do they want someone who has a degree, or do they just want to hire the kids with the most talent and don’t care if they come with a degree? Do you have any connections to people who can spend time with your D and give her a realistic feel for what her career daily life might be like.
I understand your questioning of your daughter’s late blooming skills and desires that seem to have come out of nowhere. It can be hard to change your vision as a parent, and it is quite understandable to wonder if this new direction is real and permanent, or just a passing fad.
My D is a chemistry major with a passion for sign language that seemed to come out of nowhere her freshman year of college. We had to address this possible change in her future and research what it took to be a sign language interpreter. D joined and attended national association for deaf convention, and spent several hours with a man who has been working in the deaf community for over 30 years. We found another school to transfer to, evaluated how her credits would transfer, and as parents told her we supported whatever career she decided on. She ended up sticking with chemistry, but we were glad to have supported her by researching sign language.
Best of luck to you.
@powercropper thank you so much for your very thoughtful comments. I agree 100% on the independent appraisal of the artwork. D2 will be attending National Portfolio Day at our local art college in October so that she can get some detailed feedback. True, more art schools (wanting more $$$) but these guys know a thing or two about what should be included in a portfolio and what skills the student needs to work on. She did receive feedback from her art college instructor this summer which is good and I think she is planning to take more of those classes as time permits. She has also signed up for more art as two of her HS electives and hopefully the teacher is decent (I really have no idea if that’s the case but we’ll see . . . ).
The real disadvantage, in my view, is that she didn’t spend her precollege at an intensive art program like my D1 did last summer (yes, we’ve been down this road before LOL . . . ) but maybe I’m thinking about it incorrectly. While a visual arts program like that tends to improve skill and build your portfolio quickly, my D2 was definitely exposed to LOTS of creative elements while at Cherubs this summer including acting out, producing, and building the narrative for the stories they were shooting. Those kids were amazingly talented and smart so she was in a fantastic group of peers (with wonderful instructors guiding them). She said her experience was invaluable and will help her enormously in her work going forward. I spoke to her “writing room” instructor and he told me that she was a very different kid at the end of the program - better able to collaborate, take constructive criticism, tweak her ideas so that they work better overall. When I asked D2 what was the best part about the program, she told me that the immersion into the collaborative environment helped her work with others which has always been difficult for her to do. Now THAT is a kid who knows herself well!! (And knows how important that skill is in the entertainment industry . . . ).
We will definitely offer emotional and (as able) financial support but D2 knows that a scholarship will be critical to her ability to attend a dedicated art program. And of course she would need to be able to maintain the grades so that the scholarship isn’t at risk. Our requirement is that the program has to be reputable from OUR standpoint, not just hers (and I am very much into doing my own EXTENSIVE research on these programs including where do these kids go and what do they do after art college . . . ). But if the school passes that basic requirement, then as long as she is able to get net costs down to a certain level my husband and I will absolutely support her decision because at that point she will have earned it (we did the same with D1). I do agree that helping with the research, taking an active interest, etc. but leaving the ultimate decision up to them is the way to proceed. There is a fine line between caring about and controlling the situation. But also, I’ve seen parents who support their kids at ANY endeavor . . . and then support them financially as time after time it doesn’t work out. Both too controlling and too enabling can be crippling in my view. It’s a fine line to walk (and nearly impossible to do so w/o accidentally treading on feelings or on budding independence now and then . . . ).
D2 (and I) will be doing more research on SCAD this month and of course we visit at month’s end right before she’s back to school. She does not want to rush her application so if they pressure her I’m sure it’ll be a turnoff from her standpoint. That’s why I’m willing to let her talk to them about her prospects this early on. In a way it’ll be a good test for both her and the school 
Sounds like you are well-grounded, and not going to be swayed by any snake oil salesman just trying to get into your pocketbook.
Companies hire based on portfolio. Internship experience is very helpful as well - especially if the work is included in the portfolio and a letter of recommendation backs it up. The degree is probably last on the list.
For those still interested in post-graduation outcomes, the recent statistic that the admissions office shared during our recent visit to SCAD is: 97% placement in their creative career within 10 months. The admissions person went on to emphasize that this definitely meant creative career not Starbucks. Have no idea whether SCAD only looks at paid positions or counts unpaid internships as well.
@comicdude, my daughter was beyond thrilled with the animation facilities. Really, all the buildings we toured were very impressive in layout and amount of available technology. I definitely got the impression that the school was for serious students of art and design.