@gouf78 true to all that. No she is not looking into easy. But more of something she prefers to do over something else that doesnt interest her much. Like Art History comes easy to her than US history Not becoz she cannot but becoz she refuses to want to. This is exactly why I am praying she can get accepted and we can afford an actual art school for her. She prefers staying to herself will socialize once in a while but with select people. So the social life really doesnt matter in the cool college sense.
So true about some recognition of the school esp in not so stepped on field.
I am observed that people those who do not understand or are not interested in art says, art is easy! Its not easy!
Thanks for that website I will have her look into it.
Not to get off track but this is something that seems to be overlooked a lot when it comes to portfolios. The student also needs to articulate in writing about their art pieces and why they did them. That is not easy to do, especially if the student did not have very specific art courses in high school where they learn how critique work and develop work out of specific art terms and concepts. I would have any student practice writing about their work as much as concentrating about the actual work itself.
@DBY2017 She has been taking Art Classes in HS since 9th grade. Including AP classes. She took AP art history and also AP Digital Art in the junior year, and got a 5 in her portfolio. I am not sure of how to do these, but it seems like her teachers will work on this with the submitting portfolio. They had to do writing for the AP class for their concentration and breadth pieces. I am hoping she will know how to do it. Thank you for pointing that out though.
@gouf78 and all the other folks with knowledge and experience, Have you heard of PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Art)? or Rocky Mountain College of Art? We were told by an aquaintance that their kid applied to only these two art schools and going to PNCA. I could hardly find much info on these except for their websites. Seemed like one of them needed nothing but portfolio, or maybe both. Any idea where or how these stand as art schools? The no requirement of any academic criteria at all somehow doesnt sound right.
Donāt know these schools, Soma, but the lack of concern about academics is not unique among dedicated art schools. Even at more well-known schools, e.g., SVA, we were told D2ās scores and grades werenāt a serious admissions factor. In our experience, the only schools that seriously focused on academics were RISD and Pratt.
As BrooklynRye says, a lot of art schools donāt have academic requirements. But some standards are desirable. It has been found that kids with higher academic scores do better in art schools than those who donāt probably because they tend to problem solve better and tend to be more goal oriented.
One reason schools donāt dwell on grades and scores is because a lot of art kids have very lopsided scoresāwonderful in writing and horrible in math for example. A good portfolio will trump grades usually.
Iāve always wondered at art schools that donāt require a portfolio. Knowing how much is required of students at Ringling (and other art colleges) I canāt imagine starting out with no real background.
Iām only more familiar with the bigger name schools. I havenāt heard of either of those schools.
One more pointāRingling went from āschoolā to a ācollegeā designation while my D was there. The reason was to make credits transferable to another college if needed. At least gen ed courses would transfer. Just something to consider.
Rocky Mountain is a for-profit school of art. Iād steer away from those.
Several articles say their move towards on-line courses have affected it detrimentally.
Pacific Northwest only has a 28% graduation rateācompare that to RISDās 88% graduation rate. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
@gouf78 thank you for that data. We already removed the RMCAD from the list. I am assuming the child applied to these two only as it didnt ask for any other academic documents. Have been reading some forums on the PNCA and the student reviews dont sound exciting.
I guess we will keep the UNT Fine Arts and UT Fine Arts as backup even though getting in UT is not easy. I was trying to reason with my daughter that it will be better to go to UNT ( am pretty sure she will get in) which in in state for us than spend more and go to PNCA. she had kept that as her very last backup.
Dear DBT2017 other posters rhetoric and personal attacks (not to mention false info on several occasions) aside, I post so positively about VCUARTS simply because our experience has been stellar. Yet I remember while she was considering other schools we were not really aware of VCUARTS and it was only through a well placed working Art Director friend that we started to look into it. It works for our D as a GD major and as a student that was accepted to most of the ātopā art/design schools(Sans RISD which she disliked for her own reasons). I have posted real actual experience our D has had , like selling work, finding employment , interning, invited to participate at NY Art Book fair, earning a grant to attend GD event in Seoul and i could list more still. Surely you can see this enthusiasm as genuine
. So yes i am extremely positive on VCUARTS. I also have stated they have a strong medical science program, but i also have said their standards in other areas are simply not as strong . Then again we are discussing the art/design school and that program (especially undergrad GD ) IS stellar. And before i get trolled yet again by āher who will remain namelessā , i feel the same way about TCNJ business program and for good reasons i wont get into here. Good luck , and should you seriously have any questions about VCUARTS feel free to pm . Also , being so positive on what i know VCUARTS, doesnāt take away that there are in fact many good schools out there .
You might want to look into programs at Ringling also. Ringling hasnāt traditionally offered a lot of aid but you never know. They have great programs and now also a great film school. At least look it up.
@gouf78 We did look into it and I cannot remember now why it didnt make it to our list. Its probably that I had read about the lower chance of aid. and also the program as I assumed it was more animation reputed. But they do have other programs, not sure how they are rated.
Anyone knows how the Pratt program works? In the application should one specify a major or do the Undecided (foundation program? If a major is picked do they still start with the two year foundation program?
We toured Pratt last year and Iām pretty sure everyone has the same foundation year EXCEPT the fashion and architecture students. They have their own specialized track.
The student is not held to that major until they declare in the spring. Iām not sure if it helps an application either way or not, but in general at the college I work at it helps a lot if we know in general what department theyāre interested in because then weāll invite them to departmental events, field trips etc to help expose them more to that medium to help make decisionā¦we also have a bit of departmental competition/vying going on too for the really good ones
D is interested in the Communication Design (Graphic Design) but we were wondering if one better than the other while choosing in the application. Also I am assuming if the Foundation years work the way they do she might be able to change her decision if needed?
HUH! Just an application and already thinking of what might
A pain that so many colleges do not use CommonApp or (Apply Texas: we are in Texas) and is needing to be done one at a time
Yep, DS was just filling out Prattās last week and itās a lot of details. Heās pretty set on illustration but angsted a bit about putting down any secondary options. And yes they can change their mind during foundation (and itās a lot of the reason why art schools do themā¦they want to make sure students get an exposure to all the mediums just in case they havenāt been before and it really sparks something).
Also Texas is probably too far to travel, but they recently posted their major specific Fall visit days and the one from Graphic Design is on October 19th and open for reservations on their web site. Pratt was the first school DS visited in his own search and wants to revisit to make sure it still holds up since this is one of his favs, weāve also requested a porfolio review too that day.
She is going for Portfolio day which is Sept 29th here. We wont be travelling now (everything is too far from Texas!!)until we hear from schools and figure out the aid package
@SomaRathore, @ArtAngst is correct that all art/design first years will have the same foundation year except for the two mentioned. So obviously you would have to specify Fashion or Architecture as part of the admissions process.
As to other majors in the Schools of Art and Design, I can only go off my own Dās experience - she will graduate from Pratt class of 2019 and had applied, and was accepted to the Communication Design major (specialty in GD). So she didnāt have to worry about trying to get in later on. With the new provost in place now a couple of years and the new president, they may have tweaked a few things about when you declare your major. Always best to check with Pratt directly.
ComD, Interior, Industrial, film, animation, etc. are all extremely popular majors at Pratt. If you have your heart set on one of these, and they allow you to specify a major during application, then you are best off doing so. If accepted, you will be able to enroll in the major-specific 2nd year courses. Thereās no such guarantee if you go in undeclared. Perhaps youād have less difficulty with something like Fine Arts - not sure.
Thereās also no guarantee that specifying a major means you will be accepted to that specific program of study if you enroll at Pratt. Different majors have different levels of selectivity. My impression was that Arch. is more selective than the ādesignā majors (ID, interior, ComD, fashion) which in turn are more selective than fine arts or art history. Not sure about digital arts (animation) or film/video but Iād imagine those are relatively selective.
And then, I know that at least for ComD they have a very specific and sequential program of study - very hard to switch in w/o having to repeat a portion of your time at Pratt, unless you are lucky enough to get in beginning sophomore year. While I canāt speak for all other majors at Pratt, pretty much every one I looked at it was the same: beginning in year two you hit the foundational concepts of the major itself and those are pre-reqs for upper div. work.
āD is interested in the Communication Design (Graphic Design) but we were wondering if one better than the other while choosing in the application.ā
If you are referring to GD vs. another ComD concentration, I wouldnāt worry so much about that. Within the ComD major itās possible to switch quite easily. You donāt need to, as the ComD major is pretty interdisciplinary among the three specialties (GD, Ill, Ad. Art). But yes - you can switch.
Itās switching from ComD to something OUT of ComD, or switching INTO ComD from something else, that might be more difficult.
Not becoz she cannot but becoz she refuses to want to. This is exactly why I am praying she can get accepted and we can afford an actual art school for her. She prefers staying to herself will socialize once in a while but with select people. So the social life really doesnt matter in the cool college sense.
