<p>Hello, I am a senior in high school looking for a state college with a solid, respectable art program. I am planning on majoring in Illustration, and completing my undergrad at a state college followed by an actual art college for my grad. </p>
<p>Anyway, I've been looking around and trying to do some research, and am having a bit of difficulty finding the right college. If anyone could point me towards a school or two that have a good program in drawing/illustration, I would be very thankful.</p>
<p>Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston</p>
<p>Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond, Va
Kendall College of Art and Design (part of Ferris U in Grand Rapids, Michigan)</p>
<p>what state are you in? Is cost a factor? Some/many OOS programs are going to be very pricey with no need-based aid for out of staters…tho Virginia Commonwealth and Kendall are both fairly reasonable out of state. Mass Art is good too and is a great deal if you live in Mass, with a discount for New England students.</p>
<p>SUNY purchase is also supposed to be pretty good but don’t know if they have illustration & not sure what out of state costs run.</p>
<p>I live in Illinois, and I know what you mean about pricey OOS programs, haha. I’ll look up Kendall, and have heard excellent things about VCU, although VCU does not offer an illustration program as far as I could see. If I attended, I would probably go into their drawing and painting course though. I will also look into the other schools you mentioned as well. </p>
<p>Cost definitely is a factor, and is why I am doing my undergrad at a (hopefully) less expensive public school than going straight into a 40,000 dollar art school.</p>
<p>At VCU they call their illustration program something like ‘communication arts’ I think. It is illustration, not graphic design–they have a sep graphics program. I think it is pretty competitive to get in–you will need better grades/test scores than the VCU average admit needs.</p>
<p>Kendall might offer you in-state rate if you have a good portfolio and good HS grades, so that might be good? I also would not rule out art schools entirely, if you have good grades and/or a great portfolio. For some of the midwestern ones you may get a nice merit scholarship that could make it a similar cost to an out-of-state school.</p>
<p>If your portfolio is not strong then that would be harder. I don’t know much about Illinois state schools, how are the costs in-state? Would you qualify for needs-based aid? If so, you will be more likely to get that in-state as opposed to out of state.</p>
<p>Ah, alright, thank you for that clarification. I saw the “communication arts” but didn’t realize it meant illustration. Well, although I may not get in to VCU it’s certainly worth applying. My portfolio needs a lot of work but I hope to improve it this year in my AP program. It is not necessarily weak, but I know that as it is I would probably not be able to outperform some other, more proficient students looking for scholarships. I am qualified for financial aid and plan on taking advantage of that.</p>
<p>Kendall is seeming promising, so I will more than likely apply there as well, thank you for that suggestion. </p>
<p>I may apply to some art schools, but it was actually an instructor I had who teaches art at a college who suggested to complete my undergrad at a state college instead. But if scholarships allow me to attend without it being an unreasonable expense, it may be the better choice.</p>
<p>The in-state costs of the more renowned Illinois schools (NIU, U of I, etc) tend to be between 20 and 30.</p>
<p>If in-state for IL is that high, you might look at KCAI (Kansas City) and MCAD (Minneapolis). With scholarships from the latter 2, my D’s tuition was about that. She got scholarship & from both and currently she’s an illustration major at MCAD. Other schools with reasonable tuitions are Northern Michigan University and New Hampshire Institute of Art.</p>
<p>I’ve actually been looking at MCAD, and it seems very promising. Does she enjoy the program and is it helpful? Because, along with cost, I’m looking for a college that can really improve upon my abilities and thinking for a (hopefully) future career. I’ll also give those two a look, thank you!</p>
<p>Has anyone heard anything about the quality of Northern Michigan’s art program (specifically Illustration)?</p>
<p>She loves the program! Here is a link to a post she did after her foundation year.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1005291-mcad-experience-long.html?highlight=mcad[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1005291-mcad-experience-long.html?highlight=mcad</a></p>
<p>Every November, MCAD has an art fair where students can sell their works. She did a children’s book (that is one of her main interests) and had some prints available of illustrations she did and sold most of what she put into the fair. As long as you fulfill your major and liberal arts requirments, you can take classes outside your major. She is also taking some comics classes too, and she finds that helps immensely with character development and such. She plans on taking a paper/book making class as well.
She has had several profs that have brought outside speakers, one of which was interested in some of her designs, and another that recommended her for a paper engineering commission. I feel like she is making plenty of contacts there for a successful career. </p>
<p>I don’t know anything about NMU’s program, other than that they had a brand new stand alone art building. The profs we met were photography profs, so they couldn’t give us much info about the illustration program. There was a store on the first floor where students could sell their works.</p>