Visual Arts summer precollege/intensive - worth it? Cooper Union vs Pratt vs Parsons vs SVA

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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I posted this question on the more general Summer programs subtopic, but I haven’t gotten any responses and wondered if this would be a better place to pose it.

  1. how selective are they? Or all applicants are pretty much accepted?
  2. how helpful are they for building portfolios?

I’m asking because my son was accepted to both Pratt and Cooper Union summer programs. Haven’t heard back from SVA, and has not yet applied to Parsons. He did not get the scholarship for Pratt, and without it, it’s a bit more than we wanted to spend, especially since they encouraged students to stay on campus, with activities for residential students, and I didn’t want him to feel left out if we couldn’t afford the housing, on top of the tuition. We live in NJ, and he would just have to commute or stay with relatives in Queens. Cooper Union is $1K less and is only for commuter students, so housing is not an issue. He has applied to SVA and its scholarship but their announcements of offers will not be out until after Cooper Union’s deadline. So, I started wondering which programs are worth it and how competitive it was in the first place to be accepted. Anyone know someone who was NOT accepted?

I liked that Pratt and Cooper Union offered a more comprehensive program, not just focusing on one media/technique for the entire duration of the summer program. Pratt’s program includes art history, foundation class, portfolio development, and a concentration, with visits to local art museums. Students receive 3 college credits at the end, I think. Cooper Union’s program includes a course on contemporary art issues and creative writing component, a drawing class, and a concentration class, with visits to museum and concentration-specific field trips (like, for graphic design, it might include a visit to a center specific to graphic design). No college credit. SVA and Parsons are a one-course only program, with a portfolio review/presentation at the end, and include some field trips too. I think those two are college credit. I’m not concerned about the college credit thing, because wherever he ends up going, they may not take it or they may take it as elective (and he might want to use elective credit on something else anyway).

I would rather he go to a program that will help him build a portfolio (he is a junior and is fairly new this art-as-a-career thing and has only taken formal art classes starting last summer). If he could list the program on his application and have it seem like it was a big deal (hence, the question of whether these programs are actually selective or just pay-to-play kind of thing), that would be a bonus. And finally, if he can use this summer program to get a taste of college life immersed in art to confirm his desire to do this for the next four years after high school, that would be great, which is why I thought a more comprehensive program like Pratt and Cooper Union would be good.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

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Hi, @Graphitemovermom. I’ve been hesitating to reply because I don’t know much more than you do about these summer pre-college programs, but I’m in a similar situation with my daughter, and I can share the little bit I know with you.

As for selectivity, this is what happened to my daughter. She is now a sophomore, and last year, as a freshman, she applied to the CSSSA (California State Summer School for the Arts) program in animation. We are California residents, so it wouldn’t have cost much compared to these other art school pre-college programs. She has taken art classes in lots of areas, but not in animation, though that’s what she thinks she wants to do. So she taught herself a little bit and put together a little animation video, and she was rejected. That stung, but she, too, is concerned about building a portfolio. This year she decided to apply to Parsons’s pre-college three-week animation studio class. This one is a first come, first serve kind of program. My daughter was guaranteed a spot in the class if she just enrolled soon enough. I was very hesitant (and still am) because it is about three times the cost of the CSSSA program and it’s on the other side of the country, so travel needs to be added in. But after reading everything I could about it and talking to somebody there, I went along with it, and kind of reluctantly paid for it because my daughter feels it will help with the portfolio building that you’re talking about. I’m not concerned about college credit or how anything looks on a transcript as much as my daughter developing the skills that are so important to her. I hope the program is worth it! But as you say, it will also give my daughter a taste of what going to an art college would be like. She’s just a sophomore, but at this point she’s veering away from thinking of going to an art college and instead trying to find a regular college that offers enough classes in animation and film for her to continue developing her skills and building a job portfolio, maybe because we need financial aid and I keep telling her that. We both have a lot to learn about all this. My sister also lives in New Jersey, so she will help with moving my daughter in and out of Parsons housing in July.

Please PM me if you learn more about these summer programs! We might be looking at all of this again next year, too. And good luck to your son in building his portfolio for college applications.

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@CAClover I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling a little bit in the dark about all this. It is so interesting that these top art/design schools don’t seem to want to say anything about whether their summer programs are a competitive or how many attend, etc. I can’t seem to find anyone who has taken the Cooper Union one, though I know it is a small program, so I guess the likelihood of finding someone is slim. Btw, CU also has an Animation concentration for their summer program (concentration means they spend 3 hours a day for 3 days a week on that course, but then also 3 hours a day for 3 days a week on drawing, and 6 hours a week on Contemporary Issues in Art and a creative writing segment), and overall program is pretty reasonably priced, considering that is for 4 weeks. Might be something to consider for your daughter for the future. But no housing for summer. I did suggest to my son to look at universities that might have art/design majors, but he said, “That’s like taking art in my high school. That’s not their specialty.” So I guess, I understand why he would rather go to standalone art schools, but he agreed that a standalone art school that requires coursework that includes other areas (like writing, history, maybe science/math) would be important. There are a lot of standalone art schools that don’t seem to list any coursework beyond the art courses, and that scares me.

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@Graphitemovermom Again, I’m no expert about art colleges vs. art majors at regular colleges, but I think I disagree with your son’s dismissal of the expertise in the art or film departments of regular colleges. I’ve looked at lots of rankings and descriptions, and I’ve done some nerdy rankings based on combining other rankings. There are a number of colleges that keep coming up as strong contenders for animation, at least, and from reading this part of College Confidential, in other areas of art like graphic design and illustration. For example, this summer, before the pre-college program in July, we are going to visit NYU, U Penn, Carnegie Mellon, and Bennington College (Rochester Institute of Technology seems to be well respected in animation, but my daughter thinks it’s in the middle of nowhere and doesn’t want to visit!), and when we get back to CA, UCLA and USC. We might even squeeze in a visit to Sheridan College in Ontario (and I’d love to check out the University of Edinburgh, which has a bachelor’s degree in animation, some day!). So just because art colleges exist doesn’t mean that there aren’t strong art programs at regular colleges and universities that prepare students well for careers.

By the way, when I talked on the phone to someone who helps run the pre-college programs at Parsons, he said up front that there was no competition in admission, that there is open enrollment starting I think in early February, and when the class fills up, that’s it. That made me wonder about the quality of the program, but I guess we’ll see.

As for Cooper Union, I’ve read good things about their programs. However, my daughter attends an arts boarding school (on a very generous scholarship, or it would be impossible), so because she is getting lots of exposure to drawing and painting and even some digital illustration classes, she doesn’t feel she needs that broad variety of classes. She gets a lot of that during the school year. What she wants is just training in animation, but I should take a look at what Cooper Union offers in terms of their animation offerings.

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@CAClover I feel the same as you about the bigger universities, so I actually snuck them in to his Naviance college portal and also went to their websites to request for brochures. He is definitely visually-stimulated, so I’m hoping some of those brochures will catch his interest.

Our high school only has one art teacher and one graphic design teacher, and one photography teacher, and that is the extent of the art program, and the kids in his elective art classes don’t take it anywhere near serious and tend to goof around. He has told me that the teacher has had to move him to a table by himself sometimes (or to a quieter table) because his tablemates were messing around too much, and she felt he could benefit from a quieter table, since he was the only one taking the projects seriously. I think he’s afraid an all-inclusive college might feel like that, where the kids in the class aren’t as serious (I know that’s not necessarily true, but that’s his experience telling him that.)
This spring, he was able to take a precollege class at School of Visual Arts and at FIT, and I think he likes the vibe in those classes. He especially liked the cartooning class at SVA and connected with all the students because they were all planning to apply or had already been accepted to an art program for undergrad next year.

I had a feeling some pre-college programs are first come, first serve until it’s filled up. But some have deadlines pretty early, so I’m wondering if they get so much interest that they want to be selective, especially because they have a “notifcation” date a week or two after the deadline, as if they need time to review who they want to take in. CU, for example, is not a big school, and I think they can only take about 75-100 students total. But curious how many students actually apply to it. I didn’t even know about it until I read an old “Best 50 Arts Summer program” webpage recently that was a couple of years old and happened to have read it little over a week before CU’s deadline, and son had already prepared some stuff from his other applications so it was easy to submit. But the letter of acceptance was, like, “your spot may be awarded to the next deserving applicant if we don’t received your signed agreement and deposit by May 1”. Scare tactic? Pratt’s letter stated that he may not get the concentration or housing that he wants if payment was not made by a certain date, and they do continue to accept applications past the deadline until the spots are filled.

In regards to Parsons, I think they will be a very good pre-college program. I don’t have personal experience but have read some pretty good things on here and son saw them at National Portfolio Day. I wanted him to take a class there this spring, but almost all these precollege classes are only on Saturdays during the school year, so we had to pick and choose which schools he was going to try out, and I gotta be honest, FIT was the most affordable and SVA had the interesting “Cartooning” class he wanted, so we did those two first. If we can somehow swing the cost, we may try to enroll him in the two-week Parsons Pre-College Academy for portfolio prep in August. Maybe you can tell me what your daughter thinks of it after her intensive there in July. =)

Btw, I’d PM you, but I don’t think I have enough “points” or something to do that. LOL

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@Graphitemovermom Oh, to be living in proximity to NYC, where there are so many options for education and everything else, instead of in a backwater 'burb in Northern California, which has made my daughter allergic to even considering any somewhat rural college. Oh well, I get it. I’ve just got to stay harnessed up and plowing our rural field for a few more years and live vicariously while DD gets to experience life in more civilized parts! I’m at the stage where I’m looking back and shaking my head at some of my life’s decisions. Anyway, I think there is a difference in focus between high school students taking an art elective and college students taking classes in their art major. But I can see why your son might be concerned that college might just be an extension of high school for some people.

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In case anyone finds this thread and was interested in the Cooper Union Summer Art Intensve for future summers, I did call up CU this morning to ask them some questions, so I could help prepare my son for this program. I spoke to a nice young gentleman, and based on his answers to my questions, this is what I found out. They get about 150-200 applications for the summer program. The maximum number of students for each group is 18 students, except for the Contemporary Issues/Writing class which combines two groups (so max is 36 for that). (The website lists 5 “groups”, one for each concentration, except for Drawing Intensive-which has two groups, so I think that means that they only take up to 90 students for the summer program). They do not accept applications after their deadline. Tuition covers the cost of the field trips, so I don’t need to purchase extra Metrocard for that. When they have field trips, it will be during the Contemporary Issues class. It is possible to change concentration, once accepted, prior to start of program, if there is still room in the other concentration’s group, and we would have to let them know asap. Program ends at 4pm. Students’ work stays at the studio rooms, and there is no open studio time after 4pm, so everyone leaves/goes home at 4pm.

Extra information he offered: A month may seem like a long time, but they are very fast-paced and it will go by quickly. Also, they have an Outreach program during the school year (on Saturdays), which is more selective because they only accept 34 students, but it is full-tuition scholarship, so it’s basically free.

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My D attended Ringling precollege program years ago. It still appears to be basically the same experience today (although perhaps with a few more immersion offerings). It is a 4 week, residential only experience. It was expensive but was very valuable on many levels.

As a parent I wanted to know if D was ready for a 24/7 art school. Was this a hobby for her or a real vocation? Ringling’s precollege program is very close to the real experience including open studio time to continue working on projects. It was a lot of work (but also fun for her). You could choose two immersions (ranked–important to apply early to get what you wanted). She did CA and majored in it ultimately but her friend discovered she did NOT like CA which is a great thing to know! Art school is an expensive proposition so knowing what you want/don’t want is pretty valuable.

The second thing was portfolio building. I think almost every piece D had in her final portfolio dated from precollege–her art skill just exploded during those few weeks and as a parent I realized how great instruction could make such a huge difference.

Ringling is the only precollege experience I know much about but having read of others on CC they seem to range all over the place from “summer camp fun time” to a real college experience.

I don’t believe there is any real “competition” for getting into the program. Ringling app requires an essay as to why you want to go but that’s about it. The cost to apply and program cost probably keeps most from applying too quick. They do have scholarships for precollege.

A side note: Portfolios for animation are still based heavily on figure drawing and “quick sketch” action. Drawings of action should be a focus. Real life drawing. Actual animations are not required for a portfolio. It’s nice to learn computers and some techniques to familiarize yourself but concentrate on drawing action.

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Thank you for starting this topic! My daughter also got rejected from CSSSA (California Summer School for the Arts) so now we are scrambling with the hopes that we can find something similar, although all programs seem to cost at least twice as much as CSSSA. Does anyone have any info or experience with California College of the Arts (in Oakland)? I understand that the undergraduate program is strong, taught by working professionals. But, I’m wondering about the staff for the summer program. Thanks!

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@Cdrp16 My daughter attended California College of the Art (CCA) pre-college program about 3 years ago. If you live locally, you can either commute daily from home, or live in the dorms. (We live locally.) My daughter had a great time and learned a lot. She took a 2-D animation class taught by an ex-Disney animator, taught the old-fashioned way with pencil and paper. The teacher shared lots of industry-related stories so students gained insight. That experience taught her that animation was too tedius for her, but she learned she wanted to be in the industry for concept art. She then spent weekends of her junior and senior high school years taking figure drawing classes at CCA through their high school and extension programs (very reasonably priced), and even took a character design class taught by a concept artist in the industry. The following summer CCA didn’t offer the pre-college classes she wanted, so she took pre-college classes at Otis College of Design (in LA) and lived in their dorms. That experience was amazing, and just like gouf78 mentioned, most of her portfolio came from those Otis classes. My daughter is now happily in art school, and it just so happens that one of her Otis pre-college buddies is now a classmate.

I believe you can look up who is teaching the classes, as staff may change year to year - not sure about that though. I do think classes taught by industry professionals is a big bonus.

These pre-college classes are not cheap, but they do offer financial aid for those in need. My daughter made friends with a student at Otis who was given free tuition for pre-college. If price is a concern at any of these programs, definitely inquire. Registration is first-come-first-served, with no barriers to entry. I could be wrong, but I think these schools use these pre-college programs as a way to entice kids to attend their school after graduating high school. CCA offered an admissions overview seminar at the end of the program, in case students wanted to apply after graduating high school, and also gave a huge scholarship to one of the pre-college students if she chose to go there for college.

As gouf78 said, these programs are a fantastic way for your daughter to see if an art school environment is for her, to boost her skills exponentially, to get material for a portfolio, and to gain insight into the industry. If you can find a way to make it work financially, I highly recommend it.

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@gouf78 I thought the same thing the other day…about using this summer program as a way for him to figure out if he really wants to go to school for graphic design. He loves to draw and mainly draws comic/manga. I thought, for sure, he would prefer animation, but he feels graphic design is a more viable future (even though I reminded him that graphic design often use words to convey a message, and he is not such a good person with words. ha ha). So for the summer intensive, he chose graphic design. He said that Drawing Intensive would have been his second choice for concentration, and then finally, Animation would be his third choice. I tried to steer him to one of other two, thinking I didn’t want him to waste four weeks on something he’d decide he didn’t want to really do…but like you said, I realized I would rather him waste four weeks than a whole first year at college. He did like the idea that this program includes a separate drawing class as part of the program, so that he could continue developing his skills in that area.

I hope he gets a chance to talk to the Animation instructor while he’s there to see if he might change his mind about that…but I think, like @animal1096 's daughter, he feels animation is too tedious. When he was in 4th grade, he used a movie studio program to make a stop-animation with his lego blocks. It was really cute, and I thought he’d continue doing that, but having to take all those pictures on a camera with a tri-pod and only making small adjustments in-between and then putting them together and rendering them (and initially having problems with filenames and the pictures being out of place and having to rename, etc) made it seem like too much tedious and frustrated work. He made two tiny movies and never did it again. But I told him that animation programs have changed since then and are probably much easier to use, so maybe he could give it a chance. I just think it may be more of a match for him than graphic design (not that there’s anything wrong with graphic design, but like I said, he’s not big on “words”…he’s not happy that there is a creative writing component in the CU summer intensive, too).

@Cdrp16 Unfortunately, I can’t offer any suggestions or help regarding the California programs. Wouldn’t have been able to afford sending him across the country for the summer. His first choice for college is CalArts, though, so I wish he could have done something out there.

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@Graphitemovermom —. Good luck to your son. It’s tough to really know what you want before actually having a taste.
As a side note—-anime and manga as much fun as It is to draw is the last thing you want in a portfolio. It’s a highly stylized form and art schools don’t want to see it in any form. Focus on figure drawing and drawing from life

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@gouf78 We went to National Portfolio Day in Nov to get an idea of what he would have to do for his portfolio, and he only had his sketches of manga and a couple of pieces from his high school art class and a couple pieces from a class outside of high school. FIT and one other school (can’t remember which) flat out told him not to include any of his manga sketches, but Pratt, SVA, and Parsons said to turn the sketches into a story with a background and draw his characters using everyday poses or actions. Pratt rep went so far as to actually draw my son (leaning over to listen to the rep over the noise of the crowd, with one hand on the table to stabilize himself) in his position and turn him into Spiderman, and even gave him a list of graphic novel artists to look up. I guess they were telling him that comic drawings were okay as long as he made them look like real people in real poses and had a story to tell. Needless to say my son was super impressed by Pratt.

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The main point is that anime is highly stylized. Everything looks the same.
It’s great to create comic characters but the important thing is to create your own individual style of art that shines through.

That was excellent advice to look at various graphic novel artists and see the differences in style. They are not “anime”.

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My D is going to the UPENN summer art program for animation and figure drawing. It’s actually run by an outside party but the actual classes are run by Penn faculty on campus. It had an early admission that required a lot of paperwork and letter of recommendation. They only select 75 students for the program but there is no college credit given. Since my D goes to a Philly music public magnet with no art program, we thought this would be a good opportunity for her. She also takes classes at Uarts and also plans to take their summer program next year which gives college credit.