<p>I want to double major in psychology and studio art (probably painting or industrial design). I've been looking at the Brown/RISD dual degree program, but since it's the pilot year, they're only accepting 20 students in the nation.
I'm applying to Brown (there is cross-enrollment at RISD) and I was thinking about Tufts as well, since there is cross-enrollment at SMFA. </p>
<p>I don't necessarily need a dual degree program, but what are some schools (universities and LACs) that are known for their fine arts? </p>
<p>Other schools I'm looking at are Amherst, Yale, Rice, maybe Columbia... Swarthmore has a really small art program so I'm little iffy.</p>
<p>Gourman Report rankings for undergrad art:
studio art
NYU
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
UC Berkeley
Columbia
Stanford
Bryn Mawr
U Michigan AA
U penn
U Chicago
Cornell
Johns Hopkins
Brown
UNC Chapel Hill
UCLA
U Pittsburgh
Indiana U Bloomington
U Delaware
UVA
Boston U
U Maryland College Park
Northwestern
U Minnesota
Rutgers
Penn State
U Kansas
U texas Austin
U Iowa
Washington U St Louis
U Wisconsin Madison
Ohio State
U Washington
Case Western
U New Mexico
U Arizona
U Georgia
U Missouri Columbia
USC
Florida State
U Oregon
Ohio U</p>
<p>I would recommend Williams (not Amherst), Smith (if you're female), Barnard (if you're female, has architecture), Skidmore, Sarah Lawrence, Bard, and Bennington.</p>
<p>Bard.
Bates.
Boston University.
Brown.
Bryn Mawr
Carnegie Mellon.
Centre.
Cooper Union.
Cornell University.
Cornish.(WA)
Dallas.
Dartmouth.
Drew.
Florida, University of.
Furman.
Harvard.
Lafayette.
Macalester.
Michigan, University of.
Middlebury.
New Jersey, College of.
New York University.
Pennsylvania, University of.
Rhode Island School of Design.
Rochester, University of.
Scripps.
Skidmore.
Smith.
Southwestern.
St. Olaf
Trinity.
Tulane.
Virginia, University of.
Washington University in St. Louis.
Wellesley.
Wesleyan
Wheaton
Williams.
Wisconsin, University of.
Yale</p>
<p>I was not impressed by the student artwork I saw when I visited Bard... Sarah Lawrence definitely has a nice program, Middlebury too, and Carleton's is supposed to be strong.</p>
<p>It's weird how that list above only has 2 art schools on it--Cooper Union and RISD...</p>
<p>roamose, I'd second Mythmom's suggestion of Williams -- excellent studio art and art history (far stronger than Amherst or Swarthmore) plus of course excellent academics, including psychology. A very active and supportive arts scene and three worldclass museums on or near campus.</p>
<p>Other LACs that I'd look at would be: Wesleyan (for my son #2 after Williams), Conn College, Skidmore, Hamilton, Kenyon. Smith if you are female. He didn't look at Oberlin, Vassar, Bard or Sarah Lawrence (or Smith obviously) but these always come up in the art context.</p>
<p>LACs in general focus on traditional media -- painting, sculpture, photography, print making. For new media, digital media and certainly for industrial design you may need to pursue a "real" art school. I believe that the RISD/Brown interplay would qualify but I doubt that Tufts/MFA would offer much in the way of industrial design. </p>
<p>Aside from that we've heard mixed opinion about the viablility of the shared programs (the old one, that is) so do your research. Brown has a good art department independent of the RISD connection. </p>
<p>I agree that Brown and Yale are the strongest among the ivy league and would also recommend CMU and Johns Hopkins. Most big publics have good art departments. There are many that would qualify, but UMich is a good starting place.</p>
<p>wow thank you so much for all the responses! williams is definitely on my list, but i'm not sure about the rural-middle-of-nowhere setting... i really liked amherst a lot and a good chunk of the students there double major, but i did hear that williams is better for the fine arts. </p>
<p>i kind of want a school in/near a city (hence columbia, yale, brown, rice... amherst is sort of near northampton). i'm applying to dartmouth, but again i'm a little iffy about the setting. michigan, definitely.</p>
<p>momrath, you mentioned brown and yale; can you comment on their art departments specifically? i tried to go online and do some research, but it's hard to gather information about their art programs from their websites...</p>
<p>roamorse, I think you need to visit Williamstown, preferably overnight, spend some time in the museums, with the art department, in order to decide if it's right for you. The Berkshires are a *lot *more sophisticated in the Arts (with a capital A) than you might imagine, and this applies to theater, dance, music of all kinds and creative writing as well as fine art. </p>
<p>Having said that Williams' insular environment isn't for everyone. Those who like it, love it, but if you're driven by a city buzz you're not going to be satisfied by the mountain scenery. [Although personally I think Providence and New Haven offer the worst of both worlds. :)]</p>
<p>Take a look at the websites for the Clark, Williams College Museum and MassMoca. Look at the work of the studio art faculty. Compare the course offerings. This is a small and intimate department but it's extremely well funded as in excellent facilities and well supported on campus and within the community. </p>
<p>Double majoring is very common at Williams as well often in seemingly disparate disciplines like art and physics. </p>
<p>I think Amherst is a wonderful school in a great town and there's a good deal of overlap with Williams applicants, but specifically as it relates to studio art, Amherst is weak. Of course they offer the consortium connection, but I'd rather focus on the strengths of my own school, not on an associate school. </p>
<p>Yale has a world renowned masters program in fine art and my feeling is that it spills over into the undergraduate art department as well. Brown is more theoretical (i.e. talk) -- more intellectual than process driven. I wouldn't have put Dartmouth on the list for fine art at all.</p>
<p>If you're interested in LACs, you should definitely look at Wesleyan. Excellent academics, excellent arts and within shouting distance of New York and Boston.</p>
<p>If you're female and willing to look on the west coast, I'd second Scripps, which was mentioned in the Rugg's rec list above. Studio Art and Psych are two of the school's most popular majors, and are both accordingly strong. The school really values "interdisciplinality" and I'm fairly sure that this degree combo would be quite viable.</p>
<p>Scripps is part of the Claremont Consortium, so students reap the benefits of the tiny size and single-sex atmosphere, but avoid most corresponding downsides (of course, students are also able to benefit academically + socially from the surrounding schools): Welcome</a> to Claremont.EDU</p>
<p>The other schools you're looking at indicate that you might also be competitive for a half-tuition scholarship at Scripps (though I assure you, the education would be more than sufficiently stimulating and challenging). </p>
<p>The last link sends you to the most recent edition of the Scripps Magazine. In the right-hand column, "Dreamcatchers: Sarah Holden" and "Dreamcatchers: Mollie Royer" both profile Studio Art majors of '07, while "Sculpting with Silk" profiles a Studio Art major of '00. In the left-hand column, "Fine Arts Foundation Celebrates Local Arts" is relevant, and the "Fulbright" in "Two Watsons, a Fulbright, and a Newton" was also a Studio Art major (and is doing a related project). Just random reading in case you feel like digging a bit :)</p>