<p>M&sdad notes, "It's all about trade offs"</p>
<p>Response: Exactly: Every school that my daughter considered has its pros and cons</p>
<ol>
<li><p>RISD is a stand alone art school,which she really doesn't want,but it is considered the "Harvard" among art schools and has that nice Brown Connection. It probably also has strong connections with employers.</p></li>
<li><p>SVA is very reasonable and supposedly has high quality instruction,but has no campus and far walk from dorms and no student spirit.</p></li>
<li><p>Pratt has great reputation and a campus. However, it is a stand alone art school with a number of buildings in extreme disrepair.</p></li>
<li><p>Syracuse University has a strong art reputation. They also have a lot of different majors to choose from in art.They also have very good school spirit and good sports teams.
The downside is that they are expensive.Even worse,design kids are going to be bused to downtown Syracuse, albeit a nice, funky area of Syracuse. Thus, she won't be that much a part of the student life. In addition, my daughter didn't feel that safe there when she attended the pre-college program. Weather can be very cold. Finally, they have a fairly high liberal arts requirement.</p></li>
<li><p>RIT has supposedly a strong program with a very decent new media program that my daughter really liked, but on- campus housing can be a problem in sophomore year and thereafter, which is Dependant on a lottery! In addition, there is a lot of liberal arts and art history courses required for design. Also, like Syracuse, it is VERY cold.</p></li>
<li><p>Cincinnati DAAP school has a very strong reputation and is very reasonably priced. They even have strong coop program and have strong school spirit with decent teams. The downside is that the coops can be in areas that are unsafe for my daughter at a young age. Kids have to grow up fast at that school. Aslo, I don't think that Cincinnati is that safe a place to be in.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In addition, there is no portfolio requirement, which means that the foundation courses may not be that tough, and consequently, may not be that challenging for my daughter. Finally, the arts and science school there is rather mediocre; thus, her liberal arts education may suffer.</p>
<p>7.MICA has a very strong reputation,but we didn't like the area of Baltimore where it is located. In addition, it is a stand alone art school</p>
<ol>
<li>CMU: Fabulous school with great reputation and great academics. However, it isn't as new media oriented as we wanted, and it is one of the most expensive schools in the US. Although they are known to give both merit and need based aid, we won't get anything.Thus, I would get the "pleasure" of subsidizing other students. GRRR</li>
</ol>
<p>As you can see, there are pros and cons to all of these schools, which is driving me CRAZY.</p>