Visual Art Colleges and Programs

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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<p>tovabat12, for some reason your message was sent to my old email account. Sorry it took awhile to respond. I will try to reply your questions here.</p>

<p>[Q.]love to view ur online portfolio but for some reason im having a hard time doing so ...please lemme know if u have any ideas </p>

<p>[respond]Sorry, I ended up deleting my devianart online gallery portfolio online. I was in the same situation as you were in. I was desperate for ideas.......inspirations!!!!! I too went around college confidential and livejournal forums to get response of ideas for hometest and portfolio. But it hit me after that this whole art school application process is for you and your creativity alone. Be original in the hometest and the portfolio itself. I mean... If I did end up browsing through some member's hometest for cu and their portfolio, I don't think I would've finished at all. I would've probably ended up pressuring myself down more, by comparing myself to the other applicants. And now that I think about it, I might've given up during the process if I saw some amazing art works from an applicant also applying to Cooper union. i am gladly willing to share my portfolio online after I am done with this whole art school college application process. That will be in the beginning of March....(after I finish Parsons) :D</p>

<p>[Q.]wondering if u could just tell me how u thought the cooper union application was. im in middle of my hometest now and am having a pretty hard time with it. i was accepted to parsons already and found that application to be difficult but not quite as focused on creativity. how much do think the creativity aspect is considerred? do u know anything about the parsons applications' demands in comparison? i think i have a lot of good ideas but for some reason am having a hard time getting started. any words of advice would be appreciated. thanx. </p>

<p>[respond]
yeah, i know what you mean when you say 'you have alot of good ideas but having hard time getting started.' I think that goes for everyone who are in midst of starting cu's hometest. What I did was.. I stopped thinking 'how' to get started, but without any thoughts of worry&concern, I just started sketching for ideas in my sketchbooks. </p>

<p>As far as comparing parson's hometest and CU's goes, I definitely think that CU is far the most time-consuming, and perhaps the most conceptual hometest above all the other school's test--(among some other school's hometest: parsons, RISD, FIT) I am applying to Parsons as well, and the reason I am planning to do Parson's hometest the last is because 1. deadline is March 1st, the latest among other schools I am applying to. 2 -their hometest didn't seem to be of that challenging. well they are..but..the topic is given. media is given, and not to mention that only 3drawings&1 essay is required. and, for comparing creativity, I think CU and as well Parsons can stretch it pretty far. </p>

<p>Don't procrastinate, and take your time on each hometest. spread equal amounts of time on every single topic. that's what I regret the most. I did 'self portrait in perspective of animal's view' such a hurry at the very last minute. </p>

<p>Sometimes I came home early from school to work on CU's hometest, since my schedule and teachers were flexible about that. But yeah, if you find yourself behind schedule.. pull some all nighters. :)</p>

<p>Oh, and I read some tragic posts. Some applicant's hometest was never...received by Cooper. Although you're probably aware of this: buy US postal Service Delivery Confirmation to make sure they received it. (...unless you are of course you're dropping CU's hometest in person!)</p>

<p>Alot of things went through my mind when I was doing the hometest. The hometest itself played games with my mind......i think that is somewhat cu's intention. I remember pondering if all that money/time/effort is really worth for one art school. I think that's also CU's intention---to weed out the weak by challenging them to a impossible-to-finish-hometest. </p>

<p>I still have doubts if I will get in, but my hope remainds.
Please keep me updated how things go!!!!!!! I will pray for you</p>

<p>:D</p>

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<p>Oh and tovabat12- please respond to my questions regarding Parson's admission.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>For the Freshmen's admission- Do we have to send in the originals for the hometests? I didn't catch to read that in their catalog. </p></li>
<li><p>What is the size of the paper for hometest? I started back awhile ago, in 18"x24" white paper.. i am wondering if this size big for hometests are not necessary. what exactly is the minimum and maximum paper size Parsons is willing to accept ?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>oh and I forgot to mention, congrat on acceptance to Parsons.
I got into Pratt earlier as well!</p>

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<p>loveofGod,
congratulations to u on pratt! first of all thanx soooo much for taking the time to respond. u were definitely encouraging but im still feeling sooo overwhelmed and , i knnow i shouldnt say this, but im on the verge of giving up...but my friends and family are giving me a hard time with that, and i know i really dont want to, but i dont see this working for me.
in response to ur questions on parsons admissions:
1. u should NOT send in ur original artwork for the hometest. i remember clearly that we were instructed to send in slides and possibly CD roms and that they would take no responsibility for orig. work. make sure to finish the test in time to have the slides developed. do u have a teacher who can help u with that? mine was very helpful and found me a developing place that did it in 2 days.
2. i dont recall them having a size limit (ive heard that cooper is more concerned with size) and i think its of particular insignificance because theyll be seeing it in slides anyway. my pieces for the hometest itself were at most 11' by 16', which i know iis not all that big but they dont seem to care much about that, but do vary ur sizes a bit. for my portfolio (also viewed by them in slides) idid some bigger pieces.
o and by the way id love to hear what u do for ur hometest for parsons...what r u thinking of for the 6 step process? interior spacwe collage?</p>

<p>Anyways, about cooper's hometest, im studying abroad for the year in a non-college credit program, and have not been able to take any art courses b/c the program keeps us very busy and art courses're hard to find here. i was accepted to parsons last year, and was reaccepted this year with the same applicationj. do u think its possible that im too out of practice to succeed on the cooper hometest, being that all ive done this year is sketching, w/o any formal classes, not to mention without the quidance of my art teacher? last year, the bulk of my time was spent on artwork, and i felt it was sooo productive aand growthful, but this year i feel i may have lost some of that creativity and ease at artwork.. leme know if u have any advice on this matter...thanx sooo much again</p>

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<p>tovabat12 , I'm not in the right position to say whether you are out of practice because you haven't participated in a formal art class in the last year or so. I would assume that if anyone got accepted to Parson's two years in a row would definitely posess some, if not the least, amount of talent. please please please --don't give up! I know how hard it is without anyone's help/encouragement/tips/-to push you to get through this.( I think the key to do this is to chatise yourself in times when you feel lethargic or uninspired.......) If you do end up giving up though, it will only result in regrets. </p>

<p>I come from a normal -your typical HS- in the northwest where basically, there is not much art to discover. Didn't find my art teachers to be of that helpful, until I met some when attending community college classes in the evening. I found the CU's test challenging, but not all that impossible, since I was used to having no one around to guide me through it. ED's applicant's hometest were given out during the winter holidays, so there was no way to contact any indivisuals for help anyways. </p>

<p>There is one entry I also remember from when I was searching for tips on completing CU's hometest: "Lock yourself in a room and don't come out until you finish"</p>

<p>I think that also relates to.. not having any distractions, such as : computer, friends, Tv, any social activities etc etc. I went out once during CU's hometest era.. it was on Christmas Day. The other plans I canceled, and even blocked all my friends from calling me.haha. It wasn't that I wasn't able to do anything besides the hometest-but I didn't want to loose my focus on it since I found that some of the drawing ideas for hometest were only achieved by 100% focus and concentration.
If you think about it, even this forum, the college confidential forums itself can distract you. haha. (although I'm not trying to discourage any members from utilizing this site) I hope you won't give up during this process, but rather, renew your strength and gain motivation to complete it. </p>

<p>thank you for the reply on Parson's Admission.!</p>

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<p>Hey everyone, I applied early decision for the cooper union school of art and wanted to share some information i have on it. a few of my friends who graduated from my arts high school last year are currently students and say that they thoroughly enjoy it although it is a demanding schedule. from what they tell me, it is completely worth the hard work. i find this art school and risd to be top notch (as far as what i'm looking for in an arts education, this may not apply to others). </p>

<p>this is also the place to make many great connections into the art world. most students who attend CU intern for the teachers, which to me is invaluable. i know there are doubts about CU because it is a small school, coming from a high school with only 500 students, 150 of them in my grade and only 30 in my department (visual arts) i find the environment very stimulating in the sense that you have very close friends to relate with and compete with. it becomes more of a family instead of seeing a person one day and then possibly never again on a large campus.</p>

<p>of course, go with the art colleges that best suits your needs. attending portfolio days is very helpful. believe it or not, it is an enormous advantage to be able to speak clearly and in-depth about your artwork. many students looking for an art college fall in that category where they cannot speak about their work and show that it was derived from an obsessive conceptual idea. portfolio days are also great because they tell you if you are accepted on the spot.</p>

<p>good luck to all of you applying to art colleges, they really are amazing. if you have any questions feel free to ask me, i might be able to answer them since i have been asking my school's alumni who attend places such as Art Center, Otis, NYU: Tisch, Pratt, Parsons, SVA, FIT, Boston Museum of Art, Chicago Art Institute, MICA, RISD, and Cooper.</p>

<p>Good luck and I hope you all are enjoying yourselves.</p>

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<p>Spoke to my D today. Asked her what she did last night (Fri night), her response,"We went to the new MOMA and then to a poetry jam in SOHO. Had alot of fun." AAHH to be an art student in NYC!!</p>

<p>Cama</p>

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<p>thanx so much for the response. so im willing to put in the effort at this pt., but im not even sure if it is physically possible for me to do the artwork start to finish ( its February 6th and it has to be in the office on the 22nd..) do u think this is possible? if i dont manage to finish it, i can go to parsons for foundation year, (which i view as a great option) and apply for transfer.. do u know anything about that? is it the same odds to get in like that? i know that ill have some regrets and dissapointment with myself, b/c this has been my plan since last yr- to apply this february, but practicAlly its not really working out, and i know that i cant give it my all. feel free to say no but if u can give me ur email address, maybe u could offer me some advice on spec. problems im having with the application. thanx sooo much again. have a good day</p>

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<p>22nd.. hm that is enough time </p>

<p>All I heard was that it is even harder to get in as a transfer student to cooper than it is as a regular. </p>

<p>Good luck on your hometest!</p>

<p>oh my email add is <a href="mailto:seulki_tmfrl@hanmail.net">seulki_tmfrl@hanmail.net</a></p>

<p>feel free to ask questions..</p>

<p>I think I will end up going to Pratt or maybe RISD, just because my interest always has been interior design. :)</p>

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<p>Loveofgod, RISD is NOT FIDER approved, which is the interior design accreditation group.</p>

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<p>oh yeah. I forgot about that. thanks for the reminder, taxguy. </p>

<p>so Pratt IS the school I'm leaning more toward to. Does anyone know how the job offer/opportunities are for Pratt's Interior Design major graduates?</p>

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<p>ah! i'm going through just the same thing as all you regular decision cooper applicants.....i'm having this internal battle about whether or not to give up or press on. It's now the seventh and i have basically one and a half of the six progects done....I LOVE my first.....but i'm not so fond of the way number two is coming out...it's so discouraging because i know i don't have time to waste nit picking about it's details...but i'm an artist for God's sake- i'm not used to giving up before i'm 103 percent safisfied.</p>

<p>what project are all of you up to?</p>

<p>it's horrible because i've been thinking about cooper for so long....and now it's all falling apart! this test is making me insane...i've become nocturnal...i come home from school and sleep for three hours then stay up until (literally) 4 30 a.m. working and then i get up for school at 7.... i don't know how much longer i can go on this way....and like one of you said ....even if i do continue i'd say i have about a 20 percent chance of finishing. and even if i do finish i have a 5 percent chance of being accepted... AND even if hell freezes over and i am accepted i don't know if cooper is right for me!</p>

<p>this is a consipiracy.</p>

<p>michaelangelina</p>

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<p>did any graduates of Pratt's Interior Design program receive 2004's </p>

<p>International interior Design Association Award?</p>

<p>Here are the names of the top ten honorees are..</p>

<p>Viveca Bissonnette, Carrier Johnson, San Diego, CA
Mark Bryant, Gensler, Los Angeles, CA
Amy Hursh Lopez, IIDA, WHR Architects, Houston, TX
William Lyons, IIDA, Perkins & Will, Minneapolis, MN
Melissa Mizell, Gensler, San Francisco, CA
Angela Peterson, IIDA, Susman Tisdale Gayle, Austin, TX
James Pollet, Richard Pollack & Associates, San Francisco, CA
Jason Rosenblatt, Perkins & Will, Chicago, IL
Kimberly Sacramone, IIDA, ASID, HLW, New York, NY
Peter Wang, AIA, Gensler, New York, NY</p>

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<p>Taxguy is asking what's so great about Cooper beyond the tuition. I visted the school last fall and I want to tell you what I thought of it.</p>

<p>first.. I can't deny that there was hubris in the air.. the guy talking to all the prospective students before the tours was somewhat arrogant. (not that I didn't agree with what he was saying sometimes - it was usually his tone and wording.) I didn't know what to think until I saw the facilities - but holy crap, the facilities. the building is small, true, but when I got inside I was surprised by how much space there was. This is partially because it's not crowded. the building is so small because there's so few students, so that works out fine. each floor was a different department, and there were five or six. one was a bunch of galleries, then there was a woodworking/metalsmithing room, a printmaking floor, a floor of painting classrooms and studios, and I forget what else.</p>

<p>but what I liked was the cleanliness, the quality of the facilities and materials, and the general feeling of productivity. in the printmaking room were seven of these old-fashioned printing machines that they don't make any more, all of them looking old but clean and smoothly functioning (just aesthetically, they were really appealing..) it was a friday night so there weren't hoards of people cramming to get stuff done, and the printing room was empty. it' the kind of place you can imagine people coming and going to in groups of threes and fours.. someplace never too crowded where you always get a machine when you want one. the wood/metals room: we walked in it and I was struck by the happy working atmosphere. the lighting and temperature were perfect. being in the room made me want to start working on stuff. it was clean too (I mean, compared to every other art room I've ever seen before) and the radio was on. I still remember this guy and girl cheerily feeding a board through a cutter and a guy sitting silently with a guitar, watching.</p>

<p>I think you need to be very self-motivated. there'sa lot of independant working, and it's that deal where you 'get out what you put in.' you've got everything you need to get things done, you just have to do it. </p>

<p>I think another major perk of the school is simply the reputation. I've heard that it's very easy to get work once you graduate from Cooper. they try to weed people out with a very tough foundations program (heard this from the tour guides and from a girl from my town that I met with when I visted the school) so employers know you have a good work ethic if you stuck it out through that first year. After that, you supposedly get a lot more free reign as far as creativity goes.</p>

<p>I applied to MICA and RISD also. (actually got the acceptance envelope from MICA today). I would like to get scholarships from them, but that's unlikely.. I'm probably going to end up not getting into Cooper and not getting scholarships and then paying huge amounts. I mean, if I got a big scholarship to RISD and I also got into Cooper, I'd choose RISD. but if I got into Cooper but didn't get a scholarship, I'd g to Cooper.. sadly, it all seems to come down to the money.. but they're so expernsive..</p>

<p>also I want to ask.. has anyone else had really weird mixed responses from the Cooper admissions people? when I was at the school, doing a portfolio review, the guy was kind of nasty and sarcastic and seemed to think my work was very unspectacular. (negative response is better than no response, and he gave me nothing..) He didn't give me the early decision envelope, at any rate. however I returned to Chicago the next day, and the day after that went to the Portfolio day at the art institute of chicago. The Cooper guy THERE said that my portfolio was 'very competitive,' but that if I took the time to do more pieces and sent it regular decision rather than early, as I'd been planning, I would have an even better chance. he made sure I knew that not getting the ED envelope didn't mean he didn't think I could get in. (so in short, the envelope thing isn't really indicative of your chances. it's the sort of thing people get uppity about though.)</p>

<p>so after those two encounters, I have no idea what my chances are! I always hear.. 'it's a crapshoot!' and 'it's all subjective!' from art teachers and parents. I guess they're right..</p>

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<p>want to add that I'm also working on the hometest and that it is.. hm.. the12th and I have NONE of them done. I spent last week working on the RISD drawings, so that took up time..</p>

<p>hahahahah! god! any of you feel better now about your progress because I'm apparently a bigger procrastinator..? Look what I'm doing! I'm sitting at the COMPUTER! (the weather today is slight delirium with occasional bouts of panic.)</p>

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<p>I just got accepted into MICA. I'm also applying to RISD (currently finishing those three drawings!) and Vassar College. I can't choose between art school or a LAC. I see the pros and cons of each.</p>

<p>Which would you consider better? MICA or RISD? I've heard that the academics at MICA are great for an art school and I really like the encouragement of interdisciplinary work. I've heard that RISD isn't very flexible -- once you've declared your major that's it and you're stuck with it. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do in the art world yet -- I'd like to explore a little before I concentrate on one area -- so I don't know if RISD would be the best place for me. And I might be interested in the 5-year Masters program for teaching that MICA offers. </p>

<p>And I like Vassar a lot too. I hear that they're big on the arts. </p>

<p>I JUST DON'T KNOW!!</p>

<p>I considered applying to Cooper Union, but I don't think I'd be able to pay for an apartment in Manhattan! Plus, I had heard some negative things about a decline in the quality of the faculty and facilities. </p>

<p>I'm visiting MICA in two weeks, on Feb 21. so if anyone is interested, I'd be glad to post a little bit about what I learn!</p>

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<p>We looked at both MICA and RISD. I can give you an overview of the pros and cons of each:</p>

<p>a. you can take liberal arts courses at Brown. This certainly competes with anything that MICA offers. However, MICA's liberal arts are integrated with their art curriculum, which is not necessarily the case with RISD.</p>

<p>I should note at this juncture that MICA is known to have ( and they themselves will tell you this) a strong academic focus compared to other stand alone art programs. One of the vice presidents of MICA is on the board of advisors for the "National Assocation of Schools of Art and Design," which is the accediting agency for art schools. They also take their liberal arts courses very seriously,unlike other art schoos that simply give lip service to them for accreditation purposes. Thus, if you want strong liberal arts plus a strong art education, you probably won't go wrong at either school. However, if strong liberal arts courses is not a goal for you, you probably won't like MICA.
b. I found that Providence is MUCH more charming and liveable than the location of MICA in Baltimore.
c. RISD had 43 buildings compared to MICA's 7 or 8
d. RISD is pretty inflexible on taking courses outside of your department other than winter session.They do, however, have an unusual 6 week winter session that you are required to participate in and encourged to take courses outside your department. This gives all students some greater outside exposure. </p>

<p>Interdisciplary studies is not really available at RISD. You can, however, change your major and take longer to graduate as a result.
e. MICA prides itself on interdisciplinary studies. You can take courses in many departments and basically design your major and "sculpt "your own education. Flexibility is definitely encouraged at MICA.
f. RISD is in some ways the antithesis of MICA. You specialize after your foundation year in one department. Although you can theoretically take courses outside of your department, it is very tough to do for several reasons: lack of room and many courses have a form of "guild like" system of prerequisites; thus, stopping kids from taking a number of upper level courses because they won't have the prerequisites. However, when you graduate from RISD in an area, you will be very skilled in that area. I guess the question is, "whether you want to be a master of one area or have some good broad training in a number of areas but not necessarily mastery in any one area?"</p>

<p>g. Although MICA has both a worldwide reputation and statewide reputation, RISD is probably more world reknown, if that means anything. </p>

<p>h. MICA does have a BFA/MFA combination in some areas such as education that you can acheive in 5 years instead of the usual 6 or 7 years at other art schools. This saves a lot of money if you are planning on achieving a MFA. However, it is not available in many areas of study. You, thus, need to inquire about it.I can say that if you are going into art education, I believe that MICA is the stronger of the two institutions. It has a strong placement area in education and strongly emphasizes it in many ways such as BFA/MFA etc.</p>

<p>i. In Maryland, MICA has a very strong reputation in fine arts, notably painting and in art education. They are not, however, as well known in the design arts. This may change, however, with a new facility solely for the design arts, which is primarily in communcation design, industrial design and animation and new media. MICA is definitely trying hard to beef up their design programs. I should also note that there is no new media or digital design program in RISD. RISD has it as a graduate school option but not in the undergraduate school. MICA does offer this major.</p>

<p>j. MICA is a stand alone art school that will iimit your interactions to other art students, period. At least at RISD, which admittedly is also a stand alone art school, there is a lot of interaction with Brown kids at restaurants, meeting places, dances, jobs, religious institutions etc. I guess you will have to decide whether this is an important factor.</p>

<p>k. MICA does NOT accept any advanced placement credit. Yes, you heard me correctly.Even if you get "5's" on your AP exams, it won't be accepted. The reason given is that MICA has an integrated liberal arts program where there is very little comparability with AP courses. RISD does accept AP credits.</p>

<p>l. MICA will tell you that you can also take courses at Hopkins. However, Hopkins is 3 miles away and is not, in my opinion, conducive for this. </p>

<p>MICA students have a bit of a different feel than that of RISD kids. Although I do know that this is subjective, RISD students were very artsy, maybe too much so. Many had colored hair and quirky jewelry. MICA students hit me as a bit more conservative ,but certainly you have the artsy crowd there too.</p>

<p>As for food, I liked the RISD cafeteria food better. In fact, RISD might have served the best food that I have ever had when compared to any other college cafeteria. However, I have to say that my family also liked the MICA food a lot. It was certainly one of the better cafeterias that we had experienced, just not better than that of RISD.</p>

<p>m. RISD has a higher endowment than that of MICA. In fact, RISD is the highest endowned art school in the nation. They had over 200 million as of last year. This means more money for scholarships, endowed chairs for education etc.</p>

<p>n. Although I feel that both institutions are excellent, RISD is probably harder to get into. They have about 50 points higher in SAT and about a .3 higher average in GPA. I can't speak for portfolio work since I haven't seen the portfolio submissions for each school.</p>

<p>Hopefully, this will give you a good grounding to ask questions and to further investigate each school.</p>

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<p>Wow, taxguy, thank you for that detailed response! I appreciate your honesty. I definitely know what types of things to look for and what questions to ask when I visit!</p>

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<p>Just another point on RISD, which I've made before to correct a misimpression. (See the RISD alphabetic listing elsewhere in College Confidential -- <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=8269%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=8269&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p>

<p>It is NOT hard to take courses outside your major at RISD. My daughter, who graduated from RISD last year, took many courses outside of her industrial design major. She also took several courses at Brown. What IS hard is to take <em>several</em> ADVANCED courses in a field that is not your major. In other words, you can't design your own double major or equivalent program at RISD. But you certainly can take many courses outside your major, just as my daughter did in photography, graphic design, illustration, ceramics, metal casting, jewelry and other subjects.</p>

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<p>I want to elaborate a bit. I did say, as Machinaw pointed out,"it is very tough to do for several reasons: lack of room and many courses have a form of "guild like" system of prerequisites; thus, stopping kids from taking a number of upper level courses because they won't have the prerequisites"</p>

<p>Thus, I did note that this stops kids from taking the upper level courses; however, you can take basic courses in other departments, as Machanaw notes.</p>

<p>Don't get me wrong: I like RISD and prefer my daughter to go there for some of the reasons given above. However, I do feel that they aren't as flexible in curriculum design and course availability as that of MICA. MICA's "unique selling propostion" is to have very strong academics and to provide a very flexible approach to their education and to provide a combined 5 year BFA/MFA in several areas, especially for art education. If these strengths are not specifically what you are looking for, you should certainly consider looking elsewhere.</p>

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<p>What I've heard about MICA is that they have a very good painting program. Since painting is what I want to do, would you recommend MICA over RISD? Exactly how comparable are their painting programs?</p>