<p>Hi,
I'm a high school junior from Irvine. Recently I've been thinking a lot about which colleges to apply to this fall. I want to major in art, and perhaps music too. My choices, though I'd very much like to go to either Rhode Islande School of Design or the Pasadena Art Center, are limited to UC's..due to my parents' concerns over problems like long distance and expensive tuition.</p>
<p>After a longg time of research, I finally decided to send my SAT score to Cal State Long Beach, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, and UCI. Cal State Long Beach I heard has great programs for graphic design, but is any of the UC's that I've selected prestigious or good enough in studio art/graphic designing? Or do you recommend the other ones?</p>
<p>Thanks..!</p>
<p>I attended UC Santa Cruz for a year but know nothing about thier art program. However, it is a very "artsy" community which is also close to other well known "artsy" communities. Its close proximity to Monterey and the SF bay area for example.</p>
<p>cal poly san luis obispo would come seecond to ucla. ucdavis also has a good program, as does csulb.</p>
<p>i'd put
1. ucla
2. cal poly san luis obispo
3. csulb</p>
<p>if you're family is needy financially and qualify for cal grant, a lot of the tuition money that california art schools would cost for you would come down just because if you can get up to 8,500 per year for a private school in cali, and you can use that towards art center. at Otis College of Art & Design, whatever you get on your cal grant, they match it with institutional grant. so if you get the maximum cal grant, they would then give you a minimum of 8,500 otis grant per year that you don't have to pay back, so in the end it's like otis tuition would be $17K less than the pricetag.</p>
<p>Could you tell me more about how liked UC Santa Cruz? What's it like? Thanks</p>
<p>I know someone who majored in art at UCLA. She said the lectures are too heavy on theory. Are all the UC's like that in art?.. I just wish there's a UC where I could learn lots practical skills for a future career in design/studio art. Thnks..</p>
<p>That is a great question! I was wondering about the US's art programs for a while. Are there any someone could recommend?
What about UCSB? UCSD? UCSC? UCR?
Any information would be appretiated</p>
<p>I'm not necessarily sure what kind of programs the other UC's have because I've never heard anything about them when I was researching schools for being known for their programs.</p>
<p>I just know that UCLA, CSULB, San Luis Obispo, and maybe even DAVIS all had strong programs.</p>
<p>I think when you're looking to major in general studio art or fine art, does it really matter where you attend? in the end you would have graduated with a major in art. It's not like you'll have an employer hunting you to give you a job. I think in general if you want studio art or fine art just pick the location you want to be in, because in the end nothing guarantees you a job or even opportunity. YOu take the same risk being at any other school, as if you were to go to a top school</p>
<p>HOwever if you got more specific in terms of a design major you may have more chance to see what school isbetter for what design major.</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz sits on a hill overlooking the Monterey Bay. The views are gorgeous. Santa Cruz has been described as the quintessential California beach town and in many ways it is. It is a major tourist destination so the locals tend to avoid the beach boardwalk and wharf areas unless family is visiting and what not. The town is eclectic with lots of good ethnic restaurants. However it is a magnet for runaways and street people so there is a drug problem off campus.</p>
<p>The school is nestled into a forest of redwood, fir and pine trees, very pretty. The campus is divided into nine separate colleges. Each with its own dorms and life in an attempt to give it a very small college feel which it is relatively small to begin with. When I attended about 8,000 students, maybe 12k now, just guessing. </p>
<p>When I attended there were no letter grades. Written evaluations were received by all students every class. While it was kind of a pass/fail environment you could certainly tell most of the time what the letter grade would have been from the evaluations. I did not have an overly great experience attending but that is more of who I am and what I wanted to study. I accepted admission for the wrong reasons, namely financial. I met some good kids and talented educators. I also met some kids who clearly were only attending cause their grades were not good enough to get into Cal.</p>
<p>In terms of setting I would rate it second best of the UC System. With UCSB first (where I transfered to) and UCSD third. But then how can you compete with palm trees on campus and a school that has two miles of its own Pacific Ocean beach as UCSB. There are lots worse place to go than UCSC though.</p>
<p>If there is anyone who studied art at one of the UC's or CSU's please post your comments here. A thread like this is missing and is certainly helpful for many of us.</p>
<p>honestly you will rarely find someone who has studied art at one of the uc's or csu's because if they were seriously interested in art, they'd probably hit up an art school before hitting up a UC, with the exception of UCLA and maybe san luis obispo. But it's very rare to find someone in general who'd attend a UC for studio art education.</p>
<p>If they can get into UCLA art, it's most likely they can get into any art school in the nation, so there's no reason to settle for UCLA unless you're short on cash, or like UCLA></p>
<p>UCSB has something called the College of Creative Studies, which is basically you and a studio and freedom. and this crazy advisor man who is, well, crazy, but very nice. the student work i saw there was AMAZING. apparently though it's more free reign than anything so if you're looking for intense technical instruction i might recommend somewhere else. i think any art program at a top university assumes intense prior experience, and that you're on your way to mastering techniques.
and btw, liek, UCLA is, along with yale, among the top universities in the country WITH the strongest university art programs in the country. if you're serious about being an artist and making a strong impact, not just selling a piece here and there, UCLA would be the place to be.
ok why did i turn them down? i kick myself now.</p>
<p>and having been to ucla's art department, seen the students' work and consulted the faculty, i can say that the level of technique i saw, at least in drawing, painting, and photography, was on par with risd, a school i highly respect, and the level of intellectual discourse, which you should be prepared to participate in if you want to be a serious artist instead of just painting pretty pictures, surpassed risd's by miles.</p>
If you think its artsy yet you haven’t taken the art program there or know anything about it then I think your opinion is not good. Take it from an actual undergraduate art student ; if it looks artsy in your definition of just canvases and sculptures then that to me is not so artsy. Art today is more conceptual so it is hard to define what’s “artsy”.
Its not just making pretty pictures or to make a perfect portrait. There’s thousands of artists who can paint a Leonardo did Vinci piece exactly like it but they ain’t popular. Its about conceptual ideas not what you see in reality.
Please, xchihirox, if you want to find a good UC for art schools just GO to the campuses you were accepted to and visit their art programs and talk to them in person. By the way good way of thinking to go to a U.C and NOT an art school solely on art because those are rip offs and so expensive and U.C profesora in art are just as the same as those art schools some even teach both and they give the same lessons its all about your development as a learner in art, andtake it from a guy who is not only currently an art graduate but has seen multiple art programs and have seen many artists fail and succeed and learned from my own faults and successes too.
Nerdnirvana EVERY art program in all colleges have free studio work places and the idea of college students having their own studio space like their solely own is for graduate
Everyone here who is NOT a undergrad art student , yet you ONLY seen the rograns outside shell need to shut up. No offense but you guys are ridvulous giving her answers that you guys aren’t aware of. I am an actual undergrad csu based art student I have worked with csu artists and uc artists so I know how some are. My recommendation is go to your colleges you got accepted and visit each of their programs so you can see if you like them. Its more of how they can teach you but how their enviorment can help you develop as an artist or how their work can reflect your own so you want have difficulty cooping with their style.
Art students learn differently than any other program because there is no direct path for everyone to take in art programs its solely on you. Go out there and visit them be social get out of your house visit galleries museums go explore doubt stay in a rut because like that you want succeed. This is real and its serious since art is gonna be competitive and challenging believe it or not.