<p>I know I want to be in NYC and I want to go to somewhere thats highly selective. Parsons and Pratt I think are decent schools, but I've seen some extremely average or even below average impromptu artists get accepted. Basically you can sum me up as a NYU type of girl - thats the school I'd want to go to but its a darn shame that they don't have a strong art department. Also, I've visited RISD and the snootiness that I've read about holds true, our tour guide didn't know where the building for Painting was, so he just pointed to a general direction of where he thought it was left us in the rain.
(I'm interested in a Fine Arts Major)</p>
<p>Don't worry about other people (whose art seem less than stellar), worry about yourself and making the most out of your education. Besides Admission is such a tricky thing, someone could have a really average portfolio but a great academic record, show passion about improving, a great essay + letters of rec, etc.</p>
<p>You can accomplish a great deal at any of those schools in NYC.</p>
<p>From what I've seen Parsons is a much more design oriented school than Fine arts (hence being The New School for Design :P ).
SVA seems to have the widest selection of courses, and Pratt is really focused on academics, fine arts, etc.</p>
<p>Personally I'd just really examine each schools course selection, the student artwork, and try to visit the schools if you get a chance.</p>
<p>It's very selective, in NYC, and has an interdiscplinary fine arts approach with concentrations but no majors. Only "the best" get accepted. </p>
<p>Worth a try.</p>
<p>Also, Columbia University has a great painting dept. </p>
<p>Limiting yourself to one city really cuts down on your college choices, i'd reccomend breaking out of the "NYC or bust" mentality. You might be surprised with what you find :)</p>
<p>I've been looking at Cooper Union, but yeah now that I think of it, New York isn't a must. I just don't want to be stuck in a small town full of cows. I never really liked Chicago (I used to live in Milwaukee, so I would go there every weekend) but its still a possibility. Could you give me a list of other schools with a strong fine arts program?</p>
<p>What do you mean by fine arts? What's your criteria for good art? Because if you're looking for a place that will teach you representational painting, not all fine arts programs will be helpful.</p>
<p>My tour guide at RISD was really nice and helpful, and knew exactly where the painting building was and gave us a full tour of it and even introduced me to the director of painting who was walking out of the building. And he definitely wasn't a painting major.</p>
<p>Anyway, not that that means anything, but I got a totally different vibe. Which kinda sucks that it can be so different with different people.</p>
<p>And MICA? Baltimore out of the question? I always have heard they are the very best for fine arts, esp. painting. And SAIC is supposedly more "conceptual" based.</p>
<p>Most fine artists today look down on representational art. I've tried to get them to explain their art, and they just say it's about the process, not the solution. I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean and I'm not sure exactly what is wrong with the process of creating something that clearly represents something else. Most painting majors create abstract things and installation pieces which may just be a pile of red bull cans or whatever random thing you want it to be.</p>
<p>In some illustration programs, they will also accept random things. One illustration major told me she brought a dead gerbil into class. However in illustration you should be able to learn about color theory, composition, ect if you're interested in it.</p>
<p>Cooper Union is one of the best in NYC for fine arts, but from what I gather they don't emphasize much on building a career from your education. They also don't offer illustration major at all (as I was curtly told by the Cooper rep at National Portfolio Day) so if you end up changing your mind about fine arts, you're out of luck there. But it is highly selective and very prestigious.</p>
<p>Pratt is great, I loved their campus and personally thought their student work quality was amazing. SVA is more commercial than the other two, and puts a lot of energy into career services, which I appreciate. I found Parsons to be rather snooty and rude...</p>
<p>Outside of New York: MICA, RISD, SCAD, Ringling, Otis, SAIC, CalArts, RIT, and of course Yale's great program.</p>
<p>If it's a representational fine arts you're looking for I'd suggest you investigate the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (the suggestion about ateliers is also something you should consider, but in most cases you'll be in with older artists honing their skills.) My daughter and I visited RISD, SMFA Boston, Pratt, MICA, SCAD, Studio Incamminati (an excellent atelier) and Cooper Union. PAFA concentrates on Painting, Drawing, Printmaking and Sculpting from life. The studio space and the student work (from a representational viewpoint) was by far the best we saw (these two factors were my daughter's top criteria.) As a student you have full access to a great collection of American art at the museum. Another plus is the BFA program is from Penn if you so choose (first on Dad's list, last on daughter's alas ;-) There is no campus to speak of, nor housing (unless you consider living on Penn's campus a mile across town,) The size of the freshman class is about 70 students and about 240 in the undergraduate population, divided evenly male and female, The area is in the downtown area and relatively safe. </p>