Universities with Art and Design School/Department?

My D is a junior. She took a couple of art courses in our local university’s art school in the fall. The art professors encouraged her to going into art and design. However, she is not sure about it. She is very afraid of job insecurity in creative professions probably because I am a new immigrant and worry about my kids’ financial security ALL THE TIME.
My D’s profile:
White/Asian middleclass, both parents with doctoral degrees
Class 2023
GPA: 4 unweighted (Her school does not have weighted GPA.)
Aps: 4/5s
PSAT: low 1400s
Class Rank: 1/50 (small rural private school)
Community service: volunteering in a local art non-profit since freshman; tutoring.
Extracurricular: student council, music and art (won a couple of state awards in both); no sports due to disability
Teachers: She is very much loved because she is really a very nice child. As far as we can tell, her teachers have gone above and beyond to take care of her for years and are very proud of her.
We went to U-M Stamp school’s open house. She is sold on the idea of going to a university with an art and design school/major so that she could go into another field if she decides not to continue with art and design. We live in Michigan. So, U-M is her first choice. However, she is not sure if her art is good enough for the Stamp school. Her school has consistently sent one or two kids to Ivy level schools every year. So, her counselor is encouraging her to go for Columbia. Our concern is that she might lose the chance in Stamp if she applies Columbia’s early action, which we believe is a long shot.
We are looking for other options and would appreciate any advice or information or suggestions.

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A university with internships is important for that field and most students benefit from them even if she changes her major.

Look at

Northeastern - Boston has lots of internship opportunities in the field and they certainly go beyond that.

RIT has an amazing art and design program along with a digital media investment that is pretty amazing. Internships are encouraged and they go all over the world.

For Ivy level - Brown has a course agreement with RISD next door. Brown has their own interesting design and digital media course work, too (Pixar alum).

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I would highly recommend you see about participating in a National Portfolio Day sooner rather than later. Many art/design programs require a portfolio as part of the admissions process. It may give you a feel for how your daughter’s portfolio will be evaluated. The fact that many look to be virtual may work to your advantage.

We weren’t even aware of the process until fall of my D’s senior year. She raced at the last minute to pull together a portfolio and went to the closest one. I wish she had gone to one in her junior year as it may have given her time to put together a different portfolio. As it turned out, she essentially got admitted to her first choice program, and knew at the time she submitted her application, based on the comments and feedback at that review.

Good luck to your daughter.

Tufts in Boston is excellent and would be at the top of my list. If you were visiting Boston, I’d suggest looking at Boston University, which is also very good.

Parsons School of Design in New York City is superb. It is part of The New School University. I’d also look at NYU in New York, which is very good. Upstate from the city a couple of hours is Bard College, excellent for Art as is Williams College which is not too far from there in Massachusetts.

In addition to Michigan/Stamps, in the Midwest Washington U/St Louis and Northwestern are both very strong. After Michigan, I’d look at Maryland and Virginia among public universities. Nearby Maryland is George Washington (not public) and could be toured on the same visit.

Among the Ivies, Yale is next best after Brown + RISD. Nearby Yale is Wesleyan, which is also very good. Also strong among the Ivies is Cornell in central New York State. In that same region, Syracuse University is also very good.

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Your daughter may want to research undergraduate-focussed colleges with strong art departments, such as Williams, Hamilton, Smith, Vassar, Kenyon, Scripps, Skidmore, Lake Forest and Wheaton (MA). Beyond their strong art departments, most of these schools offer balance across the major academic disciplines. Selectivity varies.

My friend, @Bill_Marsh above reminds me that Wesleyan will have a major in Design and Engineering by this time next year. It is currently a minor, but it sounds like a great way to bridge the left and right hemispheres of the brain:
Integrated Design, Engineering & Applied Science Minor < Wesleyan University

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Thank you! D signed up for the National Portfolio day. Hope she will get some feedback that can help her decide how to approach her college applications.

I am also worried that she would miss out U-M if she applies Brown or Columbia’s early action. Stamp emphasized in their open house presentation that they admit most of their students through early action. Our oldest was deferred and wait-listed and then rejected by her first choice, which messed up her application with her second choice. Fortunately, she got into her safety school. We really hope to avoid the same mistake.

You may want to double-check the specific differences between Early Action (EA) and Early Decision (ED). My understanding is that unless the school specifies that it is single-choice EA or restrictive EA, you can apply to another college via EA and even if the second college only offers ED, you can apply through that so long as you withdraw all other applications upon receiving positive news.

Brown appears not to have EA at this time, only ED. Michigan appears only to have EA and not ED. So, there may be some wiggle room there.