<p>We are looking at possible schools to investigate. For those of you "veteran school searchers" :) out there, if you have any information on William and Mary's art program, we would love to hear about it. We have looked on their website and it seems they have quite a large department faculty and seemingly a decent sized curriculum, but other than that we are not aware of the department's reputation. Having a brother who went there, we know of the excellence of the school's academics, but as for art?? </p>
<p>I guess one thing we would like to know is, if you go to a strong LAC (but not necessarily a strong art school) and then go on to a get your MFA in a strong art program, would you find yourself to be as marketable as if you say go to a strong undergrad art program (i.e. Pratt, CMU, etc) and then go on to get your MFA? The major dilemma we are going to have is the price of these strong art schools. We are in Virginia and have some strong public universities that are much more affordable for us. Any thoughts on this subject would be so appreciated!</p>
<p>Honestly, the key to any program in art is your portfolio! This is what makes or breaks the job offer. If you attend a school with a strong art program such as CMU or Pratt, you will come out with more art training than with a LAC.</p>
<p>There is a thread that you can search that noted that at LACs usually only 50% of the total courses taken are art related. At universities with strong art programs this number was estimated to be around 60-65% and at stand alone art schools, the art related courses usually are around 70%-75%. To me, more courses in the major generally mean better skills! However, this is my opinion. Certainly there are a number of talented artists who have attended LACs as undergraduates and have gone on for an MFA. I have seen this with some faculty at art schools! However, if faculty background is any indication of the quality of the end product, most of the art school faculty that I have seen didn't attend a LAC unless it was a LAC known for art such as Alfred University or Skidmore. Most attended either a stand alone art school or a university with a strong art program such as Syracuse, Cornell etc.</p>
<p>"if you go to a strong LAC (but not necessarily a strong art school) and then go on to a get your MFA in a strong art program, would you find yourself to be as marketable as if you say go to a strong undergrad art program (i.e. Pratt, CMU, etc) and then go on to get your MFA?"</p>
<p>I think this is a reasonable approach, but a lot depends on what you mean by marketable. What career area is your child thinking about -- design, teaching, some other arts related field?</p>
<p>My experience with W&M goes back several years when I had friends who were on the art department faculty. It was at the time very, very conservative and most of the more creative types -- those who were successful artists vs career teachers -- ended up moving on. My friends are now at VCU, which though nowhere near W&M academically, has an excellent studio art department.</p>
<p>Don't know your financial aid situation. If you qualify for need based aid, you could consider several LACs that offer both topnotch academics and very good studio art departments. I would look at Williams, Skidmore, Wesleyan, Kenyon, Vassar, Conn College to start. BA or BS from any of these would be an excellent combination with an MFA from an arts-specific school, but again it depends on the ultimate goal.</p>
<p>Momrath reminded me of one more point: the studio art program located in almost all LACs are just that: studio art. In my opinion, there are no strong applied art programs in LACS. Thus, if you have a child interested in graphic design, interior design, industrial design, you won't find any decent programs in LACs for these majors.</p>
<p>I would suggest that she consider Alfred University. The School of Art and Design confers a BFA to graduates with a specialized program in design that as Taxguy stated cannot be found at most LAC's. The School of Art and Design is a NY state supported school with tuition in the 16K range for out-of-state students. They, also, offer excellent scholarships.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you who have taken time to reply. Un-soccer mom, actually my s has already contacted Alfred for more info on the school and their swim team. (He is thinking he would like to swim if he can). It seems like a great program, but from here it is almost 9 hours away. Skidmore is about the same distance I am afraid. Right now I am thinking that may be too far, but to get a quality education in the art field? I guess he will have to weigh that factor down the road. </p>
<p>He is still up in the air- as most 15 year olds are-about what type of art he wants to pursue, one day it is illustration, followed by digital media/animation, then he will pop up with architecture. I do feel this field is where he will end up and is what he has shown the most passion and happiness for. I guess time and others will tell whether he has the talent for it! </p>
<p>I have been reading with great interest about all of the schools you all suggested in prior posts- Lafayette is one that has been mentioned that is closer to home and seems like a good option. Taxguy, do you know anything about St. Mary's College of Maryland? Again another LAC, but they have the swim team potential, are pretty close and are not in the $40,000 dollar tuition range. ( We have kind of ruled out CMU- which he thought was "way cool" due to that price tag)</p>
<p>Momrath, I agree about VCU being a solid art school. Although some may love it, I went to VCU for graduate school (though not in art) and I will just say I would encourage him to put it WAY down the on the list. Regarding the financial situation for us, we will definitely fall into that category of families that the schools will feel can afford to pay more than we can actually "afford" and still be able to eat :). We won't qualify for any need based aid, and can only hope for merit aid and scholarships for him.</p>
<p>Thanks again to all of you for your advice and suggestions!</p>
<p>My son wants to major in illustration or drawing but he's also a strong student with a lot of academic interests, so he's looking for universities or colleges with strong or decent academics and strong art departments. Here's his list so far:</p>
<p>CMU
NYU
U of Michigan - Ann Arbor
U of Wisconsin - Madison
Washington University - St. Louis
Syracuse
University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>All of the above with the exception of Penn have BFA programs. </p>
<p>He's also researched LACs and has found very little. He's looked at the colleges listed on this thread - Williams, Skidmore, Wesleyan, Kenyon, Vassar, Lafeyette, and Conn College - and a bunch of others - Bard, Oberlin, Sarah Lawrence, Brandeis - based on their reputations and frankly, found the art department offerings listed on-line and in the catalogs pretty skimpy.</p>
<p>So, two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>When he researched the LACs, did he miss something?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there other LACs or universities that he should take a look at?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>kandKSmom asks,"Taxguy, do you know anything about St. Mary's College of Maryland? Again another LAC, but they have the swim team potential, are pretty close and are not in the $40,000 dollar tuition range. ( We have kind of ruled out CMU- which he thought was "way cool" due to that price tag)"</p>
<p>Response: St Marys is Maryland's public LAC and is considered quite good and reasonably priced too. Most of the kids that we know who attend there really like the school. Sports also seems big there. In fact, one of my son's friends went to St Marys because he wanted to play on the baseball team.</p>
<p>However, I think that they have the same problem with most LACs: just has a decent program in studio art. However, I don't know this for sure. Thus, you need to investigate.</p>
<p>Amptron2x, has your son considered RISD? True, it is a stand alone art school but has a very strong illustration program, and your son can take his liberal arts courses at Brown! In fact, RISD kids have a formal relationship with Brown and can use all of Brown's facilities and participate in almost all of Brown's extracurricular activities such as concerts, teams etc. It is almost like they are one school.</p>
<p>My son did look at RISD and so did a good friend of his. What they found out is this: RISD is a darn good art school, but it's very difficult to coordinate classes at RISD with classes at Brown. Although both schools are on semester schedules, the academic calendars really don't mesh. For example, classes in the fall start a week earlier at Brown than RISD. So, while the idea of going to RISD and taking classes at Brown is a nice idea, it just doesn't seem workable. (Though going to Brown and taking classes at RISD does seem workable. Of course, getting into Brown is another story entirely.)</p>
<ol>
<li>When he researched the LACs, did he miss something?</li>
</ol>
<p>No, he did not miss anything. When comparing offerings at LACs to university art schools or free-standing art schools, you will find the actual course offerings to be quite sparce.</p>
<ol>
<li>Are there other LACs or universities that he should take a look at?</li>
</ol>
<p>One that I have mentioned several times is Alfred University which is really more of an LAC. They have an excellent art and design school and good though not great academics. My daughter is a freshman at SVA in NYC in their honors program which is in its second year. She is quite favorably impressed with the program they have put together.</p>
<p>BTW, I can't think of any LACs including Alfred that your son would actually be able to major in illustration. You might, also, find an actual illustration major difficult at most of the university programs. For instance neither Wash Stl U or CMU have illustration as an actual major.</p>
<ol>
<li>When he researched the LACs, did he miss something?</li>
</ol>
<p>No, he did not miss anything. When comparing offerings at LACs to university art school or free-standing art schools, you will find the actual course offerings to be quite sparce.</p>
<ol>
<li>Are there other LACs or universities that he should take a look at?</li>
</ol>
<p>One that I have mentioned several times is Alfred University which is really more of an LAC. They have an excellent art and design school and good though not great academics. My daughter is a freshman at SVA in NYC in their honors program which is in its second year. She is quite favorably impressed with the program they have put together. BTW, I can't think of any LACs including Alfred that your son would actually be able to major in illustration. You might, also, find an actual illustration major difficult at most of the university programs. For instance neither Wash Stl U or CMU have illustration as an actual major.</p>
<p>amptron, Most of the LACs you listed have distribution requirements which means that even art majors only take one or a maximum of two studio courses each semester. Thus even though there are only 10 or so courses offered each term, there are (generally speaking) enough choices to keep academically inclined artists satisfied. For kids who want to live and breathe art 24/7 this may not be intensive enough, but for kids who want a balance of art with other disciplines it works out well. </p>
<p>Williams is the school that I’m most familiar with but I think most of the LACs operate along similar. They may not offer illustration per se, but will have several drawing courses. They also encourage art majors to experiment in different media and techniques. A typical schedule would be something like: two studio classes in a mix of drawing, sculpture, printmaking, painting, photography and two from other areas like history, science, philosophy, English, language, etc., etc. My son’s halfway through now and is already fretting that he’ll never get to take a fraction of the courses he’s interested in, so don’t be discouraged by the limited offerings.</p>
<p>First, thanks to all for the information. Second, are there any other LACs or universities that haven't been mentioned yet that, at least by reputation, have good art departments or good art schools and good academics? I apologize for being a bit of a Johnny-One-Note, but trying to find schools that have the right mix of art and academics is like searching for a few golden pins in a haystack the size of North America.</p>