Hi!
I wanted to gather some opinions about what school I should choose to go to before I make a decision so here it goes.
I am an aspiring artist. Money is a bit of an issue and comparing the prices of other colleges I had been accepted into, Boston University is the cheapest because the financial aid and scholarship they gave me exceeds the cost of attendance I found on the schools website (is the COA accurate? On the SVA website I saw that the cost of room, board, and transportation had been calculated as around 10,000 in the COA when I saw that the cheapest room cost 14,000).
BU also only gave me money for a CFA scholarship (based on my portfolio) and no other aid such as need-based aid or loans which I should be qualified for. It is something I had received from every school I had been admitted into. Is this good or did BU calculate wrong? Either way, this is far cheaper than other art schools were I estimated I need to pay between 25-40K per year.
But, for BU I had signed up for the graphic design program when I am more interested in illustration because at first I thought that graphic design had better job opportunities. In the end I switched to illustration because it was my passion, but since I had written the essays and submitted the scores I decided to still apply for the colleges I applied for graphic design.
I also never really heard anything about the graphic design program at BU. How does it compare to schools like Pratt and SVA? Many people that goes to BU for art seems to go there to major in other programs so I don’t know if the school have a good art program.
BU seems also very fine-art oriented which is I suppose a bit like SAIC and Cooper Union all of which I think are a bit more artsy than commercial. Would BU still be fine with my work? Illustration and fine art are a bit different. I also wonder if I do graphic design could I still do illustration like in Tyler school of art in Temple University?
So should I attend BU for graphic design and later attend a graduate program in illustration (if there is one) or should I just attend an undergraduate program in illustration? Is a masters degree even needed for art?
Can’t speak for graphic design at the school’s you’re most focused on. But I can confirm that SAIC is pretty lost in the weeds when it comes to real commercial art. I’m a parent of a student who chose to withdraw. He found they were lost in the weeds. But no the whole range of “fine art”. They are focused on that very narrow part of fine art which is “conceptual art” where the philosophical statement about the art is more important than the physical work.
The lack of design sensibility is evident in that when they created a set of 5-6 shirts for their big anniversary last year, there was only one that was at all interesting. From an art school? Pretty sad. But I think that reflects their conceptual obsession - making something that is simply and visually really great isn’t their focus.
Paid particularly attention to that - because a school with a strong design program would have had great stuff. It’s also a bit surprising because they have a good fashion program. But, who knows exactly what happened.
@kel348 my D was in a similar situation last year deciding between a GD or illustration major. She decided on Tyler because the Graphic/Interactive Design major incorporated illustration. Have you seen the art coming out of the BU art department? That might help to decide whether the school’s focus is more fine art or commerical (or possibly both!)
BU is great for alot of things (especially the sciences) but I’d urge you to tour their art facilities first. We visited alot of art schools with our kids and were not impressed with the general facilities at BU.
First off the art bldgs are far off the main campus. There’s a newer building with a nice new print making lab * gallery, but their other main building is old & poorly laid out (it clearly wasn’t designed to be their art building)…and while we were there students were protesting to get more storage and studio space which was a HUGE red flag. The dorms are far, far away and you’d be taking public transport at all hours (cuz this is art school) schlepping your supplies back and forth on a bus. Ugh.
When myself and other parents asked about this, the student running the tour admitted they do alot of painting etc in their dorm rooms (NOT good safety wise with fumes and flammable objects) - whereas most art schools have community work rooms/studios with good ventilation in the dorm buildings OR you’re housed close by so when you work late in the studio, you have a short walk back to your dorm.
To be fair I don’t really know how their departments stack up against the others, because halfway through the tour my kiddo knew she didn’t want to go there based on how the facilities compared to other schools we toured.
consider one of the top schools in the country VCUARTS ranked #2 behind only Yale for mfa (that’s all they rank per usnwr). They have a tremendous but very competitive GD program.
@kel348 to your question regarding masters degree for art. It’s not like you would need it, however if you want to teach at a college level, it might serve useful. You certainly can find work with a BFA and a good portfolio. Overall, your portfolio will get you work, not the school you from which you graduate. Being ranked only means so much to some people, employers don’t care much about rankings. They want to know you can do the job.