SCAD in general

<p>Moominmama-
REALLY good idea to visit the schools if you can. Have a BALL in Savannah. Where are you staying? PM me if you would like some personal "favs" suggested...</p>

<p>When visiting Savannah, be sure and watch "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" first! Then go and stand in front of Johnny Mercer's house, and reflect. Have fun!</p>

<p>My son was just accepted to SCAD, and offered some money. Unfortunately, we have heard too many negative stories about the crime rate. Another parent we know just visited SCAD with his son to check out the Film/Television program. While they were suitably impressed with the facilities, they were very concerned with the "unsafe" feeling they got walking around the campus and the city in general. This is coming from someone who was brought upand still lives in NYC. </p>

<p>I will not be sending my son there. While there are no totally safe places anywhere, this was a red flag for me.</p>

<p>//While they were suitably impressed with the facilities, they were very concerned with the "unsafe" feeling they got walking around the campus and the city in general.//</p>

<p>The "campus" is the city. I agree that the presence of some elements can make it uncomfortable. I personally blame the mayor. SCAD is responsible for the safety of students within its facilities and does provide transportation between facilities. The city is responsible for the safety of the tourists, residents, etc on its streets. There are rarely any problems during the day, but at night, one should use common sense and be careful.</p>

<p>Due to a medical emergency the morning we were to leave for the airport, our trip to SCAD has been indefinitely postponed :( We'll have to double check AP testing dates, play schedules, etc. to see if we can do it this school year, or in the fall.</p>

<p>I do want to share a little info about the pre-visiting process. In February, I sent an email to the admission office with our visit dates and a list of classes my daughter wanted to visit. No reply. I sent a follow-up email a week later, and still no reply. She had already sent an online request for a tour and gotten confirmation of the date and time for that, so she was in their system. She received a letter with a tour ticket and maps, and also a letter regarding her eligibility for a scholarship. About a month before we were supposed to go, I called the admissions office, and they said they only arranged for class tours during the same quarter, and the new quarter would begin March 28, a week before we were to arrive. So I promptly called that Monday morning, and was told, "Oh, you should arrange for this at least two weeks ahead of time, and anyway, you should talk to someone at the visitation office." So I called over there, got the "two weeks" line again, but they said they'd arrange for something. They did have my email with the class request, but they don't do visits that way, by requesting specific classes. They have student ambassadors who will take the visitor to their class that is relevent to the visitor's intended major. This is arranged by email between the visitation office and the student ambassadors. They did line up two classes that were reasonably relevent (in inking and storyboarding), but the student who could take her to a writing class already had a visitor in tow, and only one is allowed.</p>

<p>I don't fault their way of doing class visits -- if the professors feel that visitors without student escorts are too disruptive, that is their call. What I am not happy about is the lack of communication from the outset. Whoever saw my email at the admissions office could easily have said, "Please get in touch with the visitation office" and I would have done that. So a B- grade to the admissions office for this progress report. Final grades can be brought up with extra effort:)</p>

<p>//In February, I sent an email to the admission office with our visit dates and a list of classes my daughter wanted to visit. No reply. I sent a follow-up email a week later, and still no reply.//</p>

<p>I would offer this ...e-mail the admissions rep that is specifically assigned to your application file. If that person does not respond, call him/her directly. If you find anyone to be unresponsive, call and ask to speak to the director of admissions. Employees need to be held accountable, or perhaps systems of communications with applicants need to be netter managed. Point is...my making the right people aware of the situation, someone can respond with a remedy directly or internally, so that if there is a pattern, it does not persist. It's not about getting angry..but a matter of saying alerting people to a problem. </p>

<p>I chose SCAD because my visit was very intimate, welcoming, nurturing, encouraging, etc., but that was a long time ago when it was smaller; and it is now becoming a bit of a monster with over 10,000 applicants per year. It would be a shame if it lost the personal touches that it demonstrated when I applied. </p>

<p>BTW, the Chair of the sequential art department, I forgot his name momentarily -John "Something" - is a fascinating man. He instills both fear and love in hisstudents because he is honest, and maybe harsh, but also instils within them the motivation to work hard and practice their craft diligently. If you slack, he puts it back in your face. He's also very very funny. I suspect students hate him at times because he says what they don't want to hear, but in the end they love him because they became better students and artists as a result. I met him a few times and thought he was fantastic -very friendly and funny.</p>

<p>now that we've talked about SCAD and its current issues, what about SCAD's graduates? (both bachelors and masters)</p>

<p>How are they doing, in general? How are their lives? How much do they earn? Where and how are they working? (These are all in general)</p>

<p>also, can you give a sepcific example of a few of SCAD's succesful graduates?</p>

<p><a href="http://employeepages.scad.edu/%7Ejkolko/_InteractionMinor/studentsAlumni.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://employeepages.scad.edu/~jkolko/_InteractionMinor/studentsAlumni.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My alum are doing pretty good ..</p>

<p>RainingAgain, I'll keep your suggestions in mind when we plan our trip again. Thanks for the info about the department head -- something for my daughter to look forward too! She loves her current AP history teacher, who works her very hard. That class has been a real brain-stretcher for her.</p>

<p>I am a graduate Visual effects student at SCAD. Im extremely happy with my decision of coming to SCAD. And definitely i can get where i want after graduating from here. The program is extremely competitive. During these 8 months, every major production house in California had visited scad including EA, dreamworks, R&H, digital domain, apple .... and 2 of my classmates got internships in pixar last week. IMO, School is what you take out of it especially grad school!</p>

<p>Everyone who has every recommended SCAD, such as RainingAgain ( who I think attended RIT) and Jkolko ( who attended CMU) notes that SCAD has a number of professors from the top name schools. Another ID professor there, who has posted here, attended University of Cincinnati.</p>

<p>My attitude is, if this is important, why not go to a top name school yourself? Why take a chance on SCAD where it has, as you noted, a mixed reputation especially if the tuition, room and board is about the same?</p>

<p>I honestly don't get it.</p>

<p>//My attitude is, if this is important, why not go to a top name school yourself? Why take a chance on SCAD where it has, as you noted, a mixed reputation especially if the tuition, room and board is about the same?</p>

<p>I honestly don't get it.//</p>

<ol>
<li>Take what chance? Apparently Pixar feels secure. Are you qualified to doubt their judgment? Also EA and SCAD are taking collaborative measures as well.</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="http://www.gamecareerguide.com/news/12586/scad_ea_collaborate_on_game_producer_course.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gamecareerguide.com/news/12586/scad_ea_collaborate_on_game_producer_course.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<ol>
<li><p>What mixed reputation? If you want to bring up stuff that happened 10 years ago, o-kay, but how would that be relevant today? Do you think every single department at Cincinnati is equal? don't all schools have some depts. that are better than others? Don't all schools have students that complain and students tha praise?</p></li>
<li><p>Not every one is admitted to the top 3 or 5 schools. Maybe it's okay to go to your next best option. </p></li>
<li><p>You never even visited the college, why don't you simply let people who visited or attended do the talking, for better or worse?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I'm not a complete anti-SCAD so I don't want to rebutt every single point of this, but there is one that jumped out at me: "2. What mixed reputation? If you want to bring up stuff that happened 10 years ago, o-kay, but how would that be relevant today?"</p>

<p>The fact is that whether because of the stuff that happened ten years ago, or because of the lenient admissions, or the reputation for high turnover, or whatever, the mixed reputation remains in the minds of many professionals, and that has the potential to affect future job prospects. I know that when I told people where I had been admitted for grad school, several expressed a very negative reaction when I mentioned SCAD. People from other schools (but even those who typically didn't compete with SCAD for applicants and some I didn't apply to so they weren't competing for me), my recommenders, professionals that I mentioned my situation to.... the list was a long one. Maybe they were right, maybe they weren't, and maybe I wouldn't have gotten those reactions if I were in another field (such as animation, which does seem to be doing well), but the fact was that I was already having to defend the decision to even <em>apply</em> there, much less attend. I didn't want to have to do that at every interview I went to. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the reputation in the minds of the people the students want to work for matters whether you like it or not, and whether that reputation has solid basis or not. I'm not saying that doesn't suck, just that it's something that applicants do need to consider.</p>

<p>//because of the lenient admissions//</p>

<p>Admissions are more lenient than other schools because there are more seats to fill. Acceptance is approx. 65% and I'd bet that with 10,000 applicants each year, they are able to be more and more selective. </p>

<p>BTW, you mentioned you had been accepted into SCAD's graduate program with a nice fellowship. In regards to a previous discussion, I am curious as to how many undergraduate courses you were assigned given that you said your experience was in architecture? Students must pass these courses with at least a B and then PASS a portfolio review by a committee of faculty before they are allowed to take graduate classes. If you do not pass the review, you are not a graduate student and in effect you are "expelled". If you were assigned undergraduate classes, how many, and did you understand that in effect you were not yet officially admitted as a graduate student. </p>

<p>How did this compare with your application to MICA or other schools, did they also assign undergrad classes, how many, more, or less? Which school was actually the more lenient? I suspect it wasn't SCAD?</p>

<p>//or the reputation for high turnover,//</p>

<p>people misunderstand that the reason behind all the job advertisements is because of growth, not turnover. Also, there is no tenure and Savannah is not a vibrant community. It's tough to stay here a long while if you are young and seek a faster pace. This is why some faculty do leave IMO.</p>

<p>//and that has the potential to affect future job prospects.//</p>

<p>No it does not. You and your portfolio affect your future job prospects.</p>

<p>Taxman never visited?</p>

<p>I never caught that before. VERY interesting. He has pretty strong feelings for someone who didn't attend, hasn't visited, who's kid didn't even apply(right?), really has no ties to the school. Or is there something we don't know?</p>

<p>RainingAgain, time and again you have made excellent and helpful comments with facts about SCAD from your personal knowledge and experience with them. You have not seemed to advocate or promote SCAD, just keep the record and facts straight. On the other hand, Taxman seems to be on a campaign to derail anyone on this board who is interested in SCAD. To me it is starting to look like Taxman wants to justify the decisions and paths that he and his D have taken.</p>

<p>From where I sit (and I HAVE visited SCAD and Savannah several times, D & I have met with admissions, graduates and current students - as well as occassionally running into professionals familiar with SCAD AND D being taught by some SCAD professors in a summer intensive - not SCAD's) SCAD is a fine school that may be the perfect school for some. Just as RISD, MICA, RIT, PARSONS, or U of Cinci are the right/perfect schools for others. I will never understand why anyone thinks that running down a school makes any sense. Maybe Taxman you enjoy sparing with RainingAgain, but if that is the case, please take it to e-mail or PMs, it is getting tedious to read and since MY D IS considering SCAD, I would like to read the constructive discussions about SCAD, not your opinion over and over. Although, maybe this is a good thing, make the school less desireable to the competition so that when my D applies she will get tons of $$$!!! Oh wait, changed my mind, post away...LOL!</p>

<p>This DOES say it all...
"...//and that has the potential to affect future job prospects.//
No it does not. You and your portfolio affect your future job prospects." Truer words were never spoken. In a creative field such as visual/graphic arts the same is true as in the performing arena, it's all about the "audition." So that begs the question why do any of us worry so much about the school itself, especially trying to get into ones that have the higher price tag? </p>

<p>I work in an industry where the companies are WIDELY varied as far as quality and reputation, with a large number having a horrible reputation. Tempting as it is when I am recruiting a new person to come work with me, to run down the less reputable companies, it is bad for the industry to do so and ultimately will be bad for me. Instead I point out that any of these companies that have been around for more than 10 years MUST have some redeeming qualities otherwise they wouldn't still be in business. Then I go on to show why my company is just a better option in concrete terms (you will earn more money over time, you have better job security, you have better training). I, not so humbly, request that Taxman do the same. If you despise SCAD so much, offer better alternatives in terms that matter (higher job placement, higher rate of admission to grad school, more awards of scholarship & grant money, more classes offered in particular major, better dorms, better food, more internships, awesome study abroad program, better weather, closer to the ocean, larger endowment, accredited by the grand poobah of higher education...).</p>

<p>believersmom,Yes, I have never visited or seen SCAD. I have made that known before. Moreover, I do NOT have any ax to grind about SCAD one way or the other. Let me make that clear. I don't need to justify my daughter's decision to go to Cincinnati nor am I unhappy with the decision. </p>

<p>However,read over post 53 by Larationalist,which is NOT BY ME. He makes some good points. SCAD has a checkered history surrounding it. There is a lot of negative "smoke" about the school. Maybe it isn't fair or even justifiable. However, it does exist. If you want to send a kid to SCAD, fine. I am NOT saying nor can I say that the education there will be bad.I am solely saying that with all of the nagativity that has been published about SCAD, it warrants a good investigation. </p>

<p>As an aside, knock the message and NOT the messanger. I am citing facts that should be investigated.</p>

<p>SCAD isn't NASAD accredited. This is a fact! Yes, as RainingAgain and others noted, they do have their local accreditation that many colleges in that area normally have. Maybe this is meaningless as RainingAgain has stated. I just don't know. Again, an informed consumer is a better consumer in my book. </p>

<p>SCAD does have a checkered history and a lot of negativity about it. This may be unjustified,but it is a fact.</p>

<p>The area by SCAD has allegedly had some serious crime programs. Maybe, as others have noted, it isn't as bad as that of other major cities. Who knows,but it is a fact.</p>

<p>Check out the reviews at students review forum about SCAD. I can't give you the url for it since that would violate the TOS here. Just do a search for "students review."</p>

<p>Also, check out SCAD on the Web and see what other information you can find. You will probably find information that is both pro and con. If you find SCAD is a good fit for your kids, go for it. Again, I am NOT knocking SCAD.</p>

<p>RainingAgain- I was assigned four classes by SCAD. Two of them were absolute BS, and if I had decided to go there would have petitioned to get out of them. Ironically, none of them were in web design or coding, the one area I was a bit worried about. They never explained it the way you did, and the fact is that I'll take a college's official explanation over someone on a message board's any day, so forgive me for not otherwise addressing your claims that I was "not really admitted", since I have paperwork stating otherwise...</p>

<p>One other school assigned me a single pre-requisite, and it was a very fair one (typography, totally welcome because the typography class I'd taken was very disrupted and I didn't learn as much as I would have liked). I expect this is because no other school had such a very rigid curriculum, they were all more flexible and allow their curriculums to be tailored to address what each student needs work in instead of making every student take the same courses regardless of previous experience or interest.</p>

<p>Nothing you say can take away from the fact that I was taking heat just for applying to this school. </p>

<p>Again, I am not saying that this makes SCAD a horrible school or that nobody should go there, or that they can't do well afterwards. I'm ONLY SAYING that the reputation exists whether you like it or not, and it is something worth considering (among many other factors) when applying there.</p>

<p>//RainingAgain- I was assigned four classes by SCAD. Two of them were absolute BS, and if I had decided to go there would have petitioned to get out of them.//</p>

<p>So in other words, you think you are better at evaluating your skill set and talent than a professor who upon looking at your work, decided you would not pass the class? Of course you can always resubmit, this is true. Sometimes the outcome changed, sometimes it did not.</p>

<p>//One other school assigned me a single pre-requisite, and it was a very fair one//</p>

<p>In other words, SCAD held you to a higher standard because one (or more) faculty members reviewed your work and noted that you lacked a skill set - technical or conceptual - that would not allow you to address the demands of graduate level courses.</p>

<p>Thank you very very much for helping me dispel the notion that the college has low admissions standards.</p>

<p>//Ironically, none of them were in web design or coding, the one area I was a bit worried about.//</p>

<p>That would surprise me a great deal if they did not. Communication is moving toward visual digital distribution systems at an accelerated pace. Think about this, our culture and our communication systems, are largely defined by our technology. From agrarian society to industrial to digital and then where? From clay to papyrus, to paper, to screen, and then where? Information = power in the future. And the internet is the greatest warehouse of information ever assembled. Will print die? Not entirely I am certain, but the medium will change. I fully expect that we will experience "paper" encoded with some means to embed interactive data, video, etc. Our culture demands quick and immediate access and response to information. You might say it began with CNN - 24 hours of continuous news. Now we have the internet, and our expectations have changed again. Watch how fast someone will update Wikipedia the moment an event occurs. You may dismiss "web-based" design of course...but because of these reasons if you were not assigned a class in this area, I am very surprised. BTW, Web design and coding are not necessarily part f the same skill set. Many large agencies have "designers" and employees who do the coding. Plus, basic HTML pages are created with software that really isn't necessarily so different than page layout applications. Layout is layout. Good design is good design though one must account for some differences between media, like color gamut per print and bandwidth per Web.</p>

<p>//so forgive me for not otherwise addressing your claims that I was "not really admitted"//</p>

<p>Fair enough, you were accepted into the program on a "provisional" basis. What does this mean? It means you are not able to take graduate level classes unless you demonstrate appropriate proficiency. If you do not during your review, then you are "excused" from the program and not permitted to take graduate level courses.</p>

<p>BTW, I am not being argumentative. I was a grad student, I worked for admissions, and I maintain friendships with a number of profs who quite often discuss their observations about the school, their depts. the students, etc. I will only tell you the way it is to the very best of my ability, and honestly.</p>

<p>//Ironically, none of them were in web design or coding, the one area I was a bit worried about.//</p>

<p>Here is the M.A. G.D. Course sequence
<a href="http://www.scad.edu/academic/majors/grds/ma_mfa.cfm#ma%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.scad.edu/academic/majors/grds/ma_mfa.cfm#ma&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>ARTH 701 Contemporary Art
GRDS 703 Digital Production Design+
GRDS 705 Design Methodologies+
GRDS 709 Typography Studio I
GRDS 715 Print Studio I
GRDS 720 Digital Studio I
GRDS 726 The Role of Graphic Design in Social Awareness
GRDS 730 3-D Graphics Studio
GRDS 748 Graphic Design M.A. Final Project
Elective 7** 5 hours</p>

<p>Here is the course description for GRDS 720. It is required. How might you have fared?</p>

<p>GRDS 720 Digital Studio I
This course focuses on Web site design and management. Students are expected to be familiar with basic HTML, XHTML and industry-standard Web authoring and imaging applications. Students review and critique Web sites for design and functionality, as well as explore the assessment and development techniques that facilitate the design of Web sites for overall usability. To gain a broader appreciation of Web site ethics and aesthetics, students reorganize content structures and revise image formats to optimize download times. They are also introduced to accessibility guidelines and are expected to revise site structures, scripted actions, text and media objects to adhere to recommended standards.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.scad.edu/academic/majors/grds/courses.cfm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.scad.edu/academic/majors/grds/courses.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>//There is a lot of negative "smoke" about the school.//</p>

<p>Maybe there was a fire, and what you see (hear) is the smoke (memories) of some growing pains? Eventually our children mature, grow up, and become successful adults. </p>

<p>//SCAD isn't NASAD accredited. This is a fact! Yes, as RainingAgain and others noted, they do have their local accreditation that many colleges in that area normally have.//</p>

<p>Regional accreditation; SACS - which also accredits William and Mary (one school I recall). Education is education regardless of subject matter. Educational models do not distinguish between disciplines, ask any Instructional Designer. Accreditation ensures standards such as facilities, faculty qualifications, etc. Would you question the standards at William and Mary, or, some of the other schools under SACS?</p>

<p>//The area by SCAD has allegedly had some serious crime programs. //</p>

<p>Yes. Savannah is a city. We have poor people who like the bling (ipods) kids carry. Be cautious. Use the college's security resources and transportation. And don't go into bad neighborhoods looking to buy some weed. In other words, if you look for trouble; it can find you. This isn't a wheatfield in Nebraska afterall.</p>