um well, i’m a prospective scad student and ive seen both positive and negative reviews. can someone whos recently graduated or joined the college tell me how it is?
We are neither having just visited with my rising senior D2. She loves the place and will be applying. Amazing facilities and everything we’ve read and heard point to the school having quite a bit of “street cred” in many fields of art and design. D2 is interested in animation but Admissions assured her that while having a current interest is commendable, in no way would she be declaring a major till after her foundation year. Very sensible, in my view.
Admissions claimed that there was now a 97% placement rate in your field of study within 9 months of graduating which is pretty impressive if accurate. There is a high attrition rate - many drop or transfer out along the way. My impression is that if you can get through the program you are probably going to do well in your field.
SCAD students were everywhere in Savannah - and we were visiting between quarters! The school has a wonderful reputation in the city and pretty much every comment we heard from “outside” the school was “that’s a great school.” Our Uber driver from the airport was in Savannah because her daughter had transferred to SCAD after being dissatisfied with her university program up north. The driver couldn’t say enough about the school (and she was a parent!). The student work we saw - not just at SCAD but throughout the city - was top notch.
The only drawback is that it’s not an “enclosed” campus. But SCAD owns and operates so many buildings throughout the historic district - 81 at current count, and many of them quite large and prominent - that the entire area seems to belong to the school. This is a very different feel from most urban colleges - and most urban art schools! - which would have a few buildings here and there but for the most part be swallowed up by the city. Savannah is small enough, and SCAD large enough - that much of the city truly is the campus.
My experience with the quarter class scheduling system at SCAD.
I attended SCAD from 2001 to 2004 studying architecture in the Master of Architecture program. Since I was a student with an undergraduate degree in a related discipline, I needed to go for 3 years to meet the requirements. For anyone considering to go to SCAD I can provide some first hand experience that can help anyone make their own decisions of where to go to college. I am going to list the major things that someone should consider before going to SCAD.
- SCAD has the quarter scheduling system. A quarter system class scheduling system is a lot different than a semester system class schedule. A quarter system academic year is three quarters: fall, winter, spring. A full time class schedule is 3 classes. This sounds reasonable but each class is 2.5 hours long. Studio classes are 5.5 hours long. If you schedule a studio class and a regular class back to back you are in class all day. In architecture studio classes. we spent a lot of time discussing our own projects or other students projects with the class which limits your own time of getting your own projects completed.
To make up the time, students have to spend long hours into the night to get their projects complete. Eichberg Hall where the architecture department is located at SCAD was open 24/7 when I was there. Students had to do a lot of all nighters because the quarter system class periods are too long.
I personally did at least 100 all nighters in 3 years while attending SCAD. I look back and consider that torture. I would never go to a quarter system college again. All nighters become a very painful experience after a while. I still suffer from all of the sleep deprivation. I did not waste time going to parties. I worked on my projects as much as I needed to do to do my best considering the time constraints of the quarter system. I managed to get straight 'A’s my last year and my GPA was over 3.7.
- Another downfall of the quarter system is that professors have difficulty maintaining a class for 2.5 hours. I had some professors at SCAD cancel class after about 1 hour of teaching. But I paid for 2.5 hours of class time. SCAD is very expensive.
I also think the quarter system is not flexible. You cannot take extra classes over full time like you can a semester system.
I went to a semester system college for my undergraduate degree. Class periods are only 50 minutes long 3 times a week or 1.5 hours long 2 times a week. Since the class times are shorter I had much more time after class to do my work. I only needed to do 1 all nighter and that was because I was taking extra classes over full time. I was able to take 1 or 2 classes over full time each semester in order to study business classes outside of my major and complete the required elective classes for my major.
- Quarter systems are designed to prevent you from taking free classes like at a semester system. At a semester system, you pay for a full class load of 12 credits. Since the class times are shorter, you can easily take an extra class a semester. Since you only pay for 12 credits, that extra class is free. The quarter system at SCAD is virtually impossibly to take an extra class. So, no free classes. I paid for my own college education. I greatly appreciate being able to take an extra class a semester at the semester system college.
- The scope of classes at SCAD is limited compared to a college such as Penn State University. Do your research on what classes a college offers before choosing a college.
To any student considering going to college, I highly recommend going to a semester system college.
I think the quarter system at SCAD is a fundamentally flawed educational system. Don’t go to a quarter system. I regret going to SCAD for that reason.
Since I graduated from SCAD, I have finished the Architecture Registration Exams and became registered. I passed all of the exams one the first attempt. Most importantly, I have not experienced an all nighter since 2004. I do not miss the all nighter life at all. I would never ever consider going to a quarter system college again. If I take any college courses in the future, I will certainly go to a semester system college.
@quarter2004 what we were told is that the architecture and Interior design studios are 5 hours in length as opposed to 2.5 hours. However, most other studios, including animation which my D2 is interested in, are 2.5 hours. Twice a week, that equates to 5 hours total which is a bit shorter than the 6-7 hour studio of a RISD or a Pratt or a MICA (but then the quarter system means more studios . . . ). My perspective is for the BFA so there may be other considerations you are bringing up that pertain to the MFA.
The quarter system is intense, no doubt about it. I did undergrad under the semester system and graduate school (4 years, two degrees) under a quarter system at a top graduate institution so I totally agree that it can be grueling.
There is also no doubt that anyone entering an art/design program is going to have at least 2X the class time of a “typical” college major. As a social sciences major, I, too, had 50 minute classes 3X per week or 1.5 hours 2X per week or about 12 hours total per week (assuming 4 classes) or about 24-25 hours per year. My D1, who is in her first year at Pratt (semester system), has about 24 hours of studio/class time currently (48 hours over the course of the year). If D2 attends SCAD she will have about 15 hours of studio and class time a week per quarter (assuming a non-architecture or interior design major) so 45 hours total assuming three quarters (full time status). Architecture is higher - not sure if that’s over a 4 year or 5 year program (SCAD offers the BFA in architecture compared to the 5 year B Arch offered by other art/design schools). In any case, that’s the stroke of the paint brush in an art/design program - it’s hard work. Anyone choosing that path needs to be aware of the differences between the BFA and a more “traditional” major.
Honestly, that’s on the professor, not the system. If they can’t fill 2.5 hours twenty times per quarter – there is something lacking in them. Though to be fair, if they have 4 different course preps it could be exhausting, versus 2 course preps and a total of four sections/classes. There are a lot of factors at play here, not just the quarter system itself.
And that is why it was completely inappropriate for the faculty to do that. I hope you spoke to the Chair of the department.
I have two art/design degrees from schools with quarter systems and teach in a semester system. The semester system is a little easier on everyone, but as a student I did not find the quarter system to be a problem for me. For classes I did not like as much, I was happier to be done with them sooner. 
My D1 is at Pratt in her foundation year and once or twice an instructor would dismiss class early because everyone had PLENTY to do already - they were welcome to remain in the classroom and work there - or go off and work elsewhere. But they all worked and they all appreciated the opportunity to spread out a bit and work on other things as needed. It certainly wasn’t the case that the instructor was cancelling the assignment or anything! I think she stuck around to give help where needed. The point was that you didn’t need to stay if you didn’t want to - if you understood the rubrics of the assignment and had a deadline on something else - you had the freedom to do that.
Edit/Update: Pratt is on the semester system but the overall hours seem to be the same as as SCAD (45 for a nine month academic “year”).
This is college, not high school, - “face time” isn’t really applicable. Furthermore a studio class doesn’t need to have the instructor there every second “lecturing”. Either you turn in the work or you don’t (and end up leaving). Really haven’t heard that treating the students like the adults they are is a waste of money.
With respect quarter2004, I think you’re confusing quarter system issues with art school issues. I am about to get my associates at an art school and each semester we take 6 classes. 4 of those classes are at least 4 hours long if not 6. That’s just the pain of going to an art school. I don’t think it has to do with the quarter system. I actually look forward to only having to take 3 classes a quarter, I feel that it will help me to focus better.