<p>Awhile back, Taxguy and I had a bit of a "heated" discussion on a thread about SVA. Taxguy expressed his concern about SVA as a proprietary school. This is not in anyway to poke Taxguy, but to allay any concerns other parents may have regarding SVA on the issue of its proprietary nature. Recently, SVA was reaccredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Eduacation and the Commission's report is published on the SVA website. Here is a quote from the report; "Although SVA is proprietary in its structure, it operates more like a non-profit educational institution. No dividends have ever been declared and any surpluses are reinvested in the institution in furtherance of the educational mission of the College. It is clear that at the heart of every decision made at the institution is the well-being and quality of education of the SVA student."</p>
<p>I'm catching up on all the art school posts. Good to read this unsoccermom. Is your daughter still at SVA..do I remember that correctly? My daughter (rising junior) did the three week pre-college program this summer and loved it. She feels she really does want an art education and would like to major in illustration. I'm back to my research!</p>
<p>After a semester stint at Smith, she returned to SVA where she is a junior fine arts major in the Honors Program. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer.</p>
<p>What made her return to SVA? My daughter loved being in the city, the drawing on location and being with other students who loved art. She was truly surprised by the amount of HS students possessing fake ID, the amount of time they spent drinking and the fact that these girls were not asked for ID when they ordered at restaurants. After the first few days, she found a new group of friends. Indeed, 10 or so students were sent home from the summer program. She lived in the GW dorm. I would like to know if there are still no dedicated study/studio space for freshman students. She and her friends found it hard to work even in the summer program as they were up until the wee hours working on their projects.</p>
<p>Drinking in NYC is a fairly easy proposition for students attending any of the colleges in NYC. IMHO, it seems that it is somewhat less of an issue because there is so much to do in NYC and drinking is just one thing. At many other schools, drinking appears to be the only thing to do. Suprising one of the reasons she left Smith and returned to SVA was the drinking to excess that seemd to be so prevalent at Smith. In addition, she felt that the atmosphere at Smith was too contrived and not like the real world. At SVA, she feels more a true part of the art world; living and working among people who make their living as artists. She started out at New Residence and moved to G-Dub half way through the year as a freshman. She liked having her own space at the G-Dub, but it was definitely more lonely there. Neither dorm had much room to do art and as far as I know there are no studios for the lower classes. She worked at the studios carrying her work back and forth though she has said she should have gotten a locker. When she came back to SVA, she got an apartment in Brooklyn with enough space to do her work.</p>
<p>How does she find the commute from Brooklyn? My daughter will also look at Pratt this year. She didn't seem to mind the lack of campus atmosphere though she really doesn't know anything else. You make a good point about the amount of things to do in the city. I give your daughter a lot of credit for making the changes she did.</p>
<p>She hasn't complained about the commute so it likely isn't too bad, but Brooklyn is pretty big so there are lots of places one could live that could mean a long commute into the city. She lives in Williamsburg/Greenpoint which puts her about 35 minutes to school. It is considerably cheaper in her case to live in an apartment though there are apartments that are more expensive than the dorms. I would not recommend it for the first year or even two. But after that very few live on "campus".</p>
<p>I am interested in comparing art school departments. Does anyone know a good website to find out which are the "better" departments of each school?</p>