<p>My daughter has been accepted at RISD and Syracuse. Any recommendations on which to choose? esp. in regard to:
1) quality of training in art
2) reputation of degree in art when she gets out
3) diversity of academic and extracurricular options (for instance, she wants to keep going with classical music on the side)</p>
<p>(Her major interests are fashion design and illustration)</p>
<p>My D just got accepted to Risdi. We are in shock! We knew it was a long shot and approached it that way. But the big envelope came last week and now I have to figure out how to pay for it. We are just middle class people with another kid in college. I really want her to have this experience, but really the money it cost to go is so depressing. I ask you??? Do only rich people get to send their kids to these colleges? Is that what this country has become? I?m in tears.</p>
<p>Risd for art and design. She should go to Syracuse if she is even considering other options, unless of course you're rich and have time to waste. </p>
<p>Osage no... but most of them are rich. My guess is it's like this</p>
<p>-You're rich and talented or
-You're rich or
-You're talented or
-You're in debt</p>
<p>I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for Parsons... even with the COA cut more than in half I'm and being able to enter as a sophomore I'm like... How is this possible? How much? My parents aren't contributing anything!!! You're in tears?!?!? :D </p>
<p>RISD is the most costly I've seen so far though, not just for art school... for any school... ever. Of course most of what I've looked at is art schools. I didn't even apply.</p>
<p>Osage, we were in the same position a couple of years ago, with the added confusion of having a nearly full scholarship offered from Syracuse and Cornell. My daughter really wanted RISD and was heartsick. After an appeal, RISD did come through with a respectable scholarship and an aid package that, while nowhere near as attractive as the other schools, made it possible to think that we might swing it. My daughter went into high gear and applied for a slew of local scholarships. She ended up with over $12,000 the first year, with several of those scholarships renewable. RISD came back with more scholarship money after her first year. We go to work and send RISD our paychecks. My daughter does have loans, but they aren't overwhelming. If we're lucky and scholarships continue, she'll graduate with less than $6,000 of debt. </p>
<p>It's been worth it to us because she is insanely happy at RISD. I think she would have been fine anywhere, but the level of connection is much stronger than I would ever have imagined possible. She is fully engaged in her education, her art, her friendships, and her vision of life. It's kind of thrilling.</p>
<p>All that said, RISD is obscenely expensive, and many kids there struggle financially to be there. My daughter has had at least two friends who've had to leave because the financial strain was too great. On the other hand, she has many friends who have transferred into RISD, and this seems to be a way that students pare down the RISD cost -- do a year (or two) at a less expensive place, then transfer in and pay the big bucks only for the last two years. There are extraordinarily rich kids there, but the majority aren't rich at all, and most of them work like crazy.</p>
<p>It's a hard decision, but I know -- after having three other kids go through college -- that, for the most part, college is what you make of it. RISD has many charms, but so do other schools and programs. Best of wishes and good luck.</p>
<p>I would like to go back to RISDI and see if they will offer us any money. How do you go about doing this? Any hints? I have to do it very soon. Thanks all</p>
<p>There was a thread on this somewhere last year. Other parents/students were in the same boat. Some were successful. Some weren't. All you can do is explain your circumstances and ask -- no special hints. You have nothing to lose.</p>
<p>Oh, and Taxguy started an interesting thread about the value of going into debt for art school. You might want to check that out.</p>
<p>osage77,
you have to understand that it is completely normal to negotiate your tuition with a college. They look at it absolutely normal. As Alia mentioned, it may work, and may not. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>I really am undecided between parsons or sva. I was really interested in illustration, but I'm not totally sure. My mom thinks I won't be able to get a job in illustration so I thought I should possibly major in graphic design. But then I decided to possibly major with illustration and just take graphic design classes so I could do both. I'm mainly interested in illustration, but I've also been interested in graphic design and interior design. Parsons gave me about an 8k scholarship. Money is a major issue, however I won't have to dorm because I live just an hour subway ride away. I was all set to go to sva since its about 4k cheaper for me then parsons, but now I'm having second thoughts.</p>
<p>Again, you can call Parsons and say: look, SVA is currently 4K cheaper for me, can you match? It is absolutely normal to do so, and it may work, especially for the comparable colleges. Give it a try.</p>
<p>sue28
If you choose Parsons, the freshman year is foundation (except for photography) and you choose your major for the second year.</p>
<p>I really liked the fact that parsons would let me float around a little bit. Although SVA wasn't very flexible I found out that their foundation programs for graphic design and illustration were the same so I could switch over if I wanted to in my second year. However, I wouldn't be able to for interior design. Although interior design isn't on the top of my list. I did like the majors that they had at parsons, but I haven't been really introduced to most of those fields so I couldn't say if I was particularly interested. Parsons seemed to have a bigger selection. SVA had a lot of the computer graphics, cartooning, and animation that I am not interested in. Like I said before though I am strongly interested in illustration. I thought that the illustration and graphic design fields seemed to cross so often it would work really well together, so that if I wasn't getting jobs in one field I could always get them from the other or even combine the two. But since I'm really interested in illustration. I have to wonder whether which school, Parsons or SVA, has the stronger program in illustration. Parsons illustration is quite small, and when I visited parsons they weren't much help in making my decision, although I saw that their work didn't seem to be as good as SVA's. However, they seemed to have more innovating ideas on incorporating illustration in other ways other than the traditional way illustration is generally used, whereas, SVA seemed to be focused on traditional illustration. I feel that SVA seemed to have attracted the more talented people in illustration than parsons has, which also makes me curious. I also am curious which school seems to help you get jobs and internships more. They kind of seemed to be around the same, but I'm not sure which one helps you to market yourself since illustration is basically freelance and you have to know how to sell your work.
I'm also curious which school would be considered best overall.</p>
<p>thanks, I did email back some new facts and asked for some more money, like all suggested. Gosh, just trying to get a "human" on the phone is fun. (I didn't) I feel like we were behind the eight ball, getting the acceptance letters so late. What is the deal with that? Some people got letters 2 to 3 weeks earlier than we did. Sigh! Thinking good thoughts right now.</p>
<p>You guys gave Pixar's list of schools for computer animation/graphic design, but are there any official rankings on this matter? Is there any sort of consensus on which programs are best in computer animation?</p>
<p>D is finishing up her Junior year at Pratt and will have a double portfolio in illustration and art direction /advertising (Com D dept.). Since you cannot have a doublemajor she chose a double portfolio. She had some great illustration profs and did an internship at the NYC Society of Illustrators. This summer she has gotten a couple of internship offers and is in the process of deciding which one she wants to take.</p>
<p>//You guys gave Pixar's list of schools for computer animation/graphic design, but are there any official rankings on this matter? Is there any sort of consensus on which programs are best in computer animation?//</p>
<p>Not sure, but see if you can check out SCAD's student demo reel. I think some students have interned at Pixar or are presently employed. </p>
<p>Here is an article about a student that worked on "Cars".
<a href="http://www.thecampuschronicle.com/features/articles/050304c.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.thecampuschronicle.com/features/articles/050304c.cfm</a></p>
<p>Here's another, per The Incredibles.
<a href="http://www.scad.edu/about/news/magazine/2005/fall/superjob.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.scad.edu/about/news/magazine/2005/fall/superjob.cfm</a></p>
<p>Top Stories</p>
<p>"...The animation program in the Savannah College of Art and Design’s School of Film and Digital Media is ranked in the top three in the United States and Canada by 3D World magazine, an international publication for 3-D and animation artists printed in the United Kingdom. In a supplement to their March issue titled "3D Training the Complete Guide," the magazine looked at more than 300 programs, or courses as the magazine called it, in the U.S. and Canada. SCAD’s B.F.A., M.A. and M.F.A. animation programs were ranked in the top three in North America...."</p>
<p>Here is an interesting thread:
<a href="http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91949%5B/url%5D">http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91949</a></p>
<p>Here is a site by a SCAD grad and a link to one of his projects.
<a href="http://www.benjaminwillis.net/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.benjaminwillis.net/index.html</a>
<a href="http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ejburto21/potter/The_Potter_480x270.mov%5B/url%5D">http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ejburto21/potter/The_Potter_480x270.mov</a></p>
<p>I was recently found eligible for independent status with federal grants over 40k ... but they cut my institutional grant and my federal plus stuff is now switched to private loans which I'm sure has higher interest. </p>
<p>What would be the point of me hunting for outside scholarship/grant money if they only plan to cut my institutional grant money down more when I report it? </p>
<p>I feel like I'm being hustled. I'm not even sure if I'm going to apply for indie status at the other schools anymore. </p>
<p>I don't have credit. Do I even stand a chance of getting a private student loan without my parents co-signing.</p>
<p>You are right, it is disappointing when you work hard to receive outside scholarships, etc. But institutions will only give you grants/scholarships up to the amount of your "need". Your need was reduced by the private scholarships.</p>
<p>Good luck getting a loan without a co-signor.</p>
<p>It is actually an interesting question - is it true that it makes sense to look for private scholarships only if the college does not give you any money?</p>
<p>Sounds strange, but...?</p>
<p>It is usually too late for private scholarship by the time you find out if you are getting any aid from the college. If you look at it as a fairness issue, you can understand why a college will not give you more aid than you need.</p>