<p>Is anyone familiar with the program? Is it a strong/popular major, or is it just something kids take on the side/minor in? My daughter is an artist and has been involved with art all her life. She definitely wants to major in art, but has other interests too, like languages and linguistics. She would like to double major, but art is extremely important to her. Are there any internship opportunities in art (she is particularly interested in communication design and animation)?? Many things are attractive in URochester, but we're not sure if she would get good enough art education. Any advice appreciated.</p>
<p>D’s roommate freshman year was a studio art major (painting). D and the roomie didn’t exactly hit it off (absolutely nothing in common) so I can’t tell much about how the girl perceived her FA education at UR.</p>
<p>The computer science dept offers several courses in animation. (Recreational graphics with no computer programming pre-reqs.)</p>
<p>And there are a number of schools that offer dedicated animation courses. Univ of New Mexico not only had a top notch fine arts program (photography ranked in top 5, printmaking in the top 3); they also have a new $6 million ARTS lab dedicated specifically to digital communications and animation. (They also have 6 new majors associated with the ARTS lab and a brand new fully endowed chair in digital arts to go with it.)</p>
<p>Sorry–just had to mention it. I live in ABQ about 20 minutes from UNM and this new collaborative effort with Sony Studios (which has a 200,000 sq ft digital capture and animation studio in ABQ) is very exciting. </p>
<p>OOS tuition is quite reasonable, and UNM offers OOS scholarships that cover the difference between in-state and OOS tuition cost plus an additional $500/year to students with a GPA of 3.0 and an ACT of 26.</p>
<p>Hi!
To as familiar I am with this program: I am an admitted student and I attended the Spring Open Campus (+I visited the Sage Art Center).</p>
<p>UR offers GREAT internships in all fields! In the studio art program I especially loved the Art New York (students spend a semester in NYC doing an internship & program of study). In addition the Career Center (you can access online) is filled with all sorts of art opportunities.</p>
<p>In regards to the art education: as I am not a student there so I am really no judge.</p>
<p>HOWEVER I did observe/hear:
- I think there are about 11 seniors majoring in art this year (each senior gets a SMALL studio space but since there were so many this year they had to share…)
- In comparison to the other buildings Sage Art center is small and crowded (they really don’t dedicate much space to the creation of art)
- They supply the majority of the material you need/want for your art
- There are allot of opportunities to exhibit work</p>
<p>On another note they gave me a great scholarship for “high academic achievers who possess an outstanding creative capacity” SO, although this is just an assumption, them investing in artists made me think that they wanted to expand their art department.</p>
<p>IRONICMUCH… I think that is a fair assessment. The creation of new scholarships to support students with a creative capacity should improve the life of the artists we have on campus. As you mentioned, I think one of the strengths of the art programs is the number of internships available; between the Memorial Art Gallery, our Campus, local venues, and the semester in NYC, our students really get a chance to explore the potential for an art related profession.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your opinions. IRONICMUCH, I appreciate your enthusiasm and I can understand that UR is trying to strengthen/expand their arts program, hence the new scholarships. 11 seniors majoring in art per year is extremely low number for a school of UR size. I have seen the same numbers at LACs with 2000 students. Looking at some previous posts on this topic, I came across someone’s (presumably, current UR student) comment, in response to you, interestingly:</p>
<p>“BTW, if you want to pursue art professionally, I would seriously consider schools besides UR. While we have an “art program” here, it underfunded, underdeveloped, understaffed, and generally, not well regarded.”</p>
<p>This comment threw a big warning flag to me: it may be not so important if a student wants to explore art as a side interest or a hobby, but it may not be acceptable if the student wants to prepare for a career in art. My D is definitely thinking about going into some sort of art career, and in her case, other academic interests are secondary and art is primary. So, for her, perhaps UR is less than ideal choice. Nothing against UR, I am still convinced it’s a great school, but its focus seems to be much more in the sciences than the arts.</p>
<p>Not sciences versus the arts but ART, meaning studio art. LAC’s will almost always be more into studio art, unless you’re talking about a specific arts college within a university. As in CFA at Boston University or Tisch at NYU.</p>
<p>My oldest daughter will be receiving an MFA in painting and drawing this week from one of the top five art schools in the U.S. She finished her undergraduate degree in 2007 from a different university. She had considered the University of Rochester as a science/art double major but was disappointed because we could never visit the Sage Art Center when we toured campus and one of the art dept faculty never followed up when we emailed about scheduling a visit or a meeting on accepted students day. One of my daughter’s friends who is a double major in art and ?, not certain does feel that there is inadequate gallery display opportunities for student shows. On a more positive note, Art New York semester is a good opportunity.</p>
<p>Ironically enough their “underfunded, underdeveloped, understaffed, and generally, not well regarded” art program is actually attractive to me: I would find a more prominent program stifling. I think your daughter really needs to ask herself if she wants a large art program because even if she had the best teachers and space if she is not comfortable pursing her artistic endeavors none of that really matters. And yes eleven seniors majoring in art is a small number BUT that also means more individual attention. I will be attending U of R next year so if you are still interested you can contact me with any questions.
:)</p>