osage77

We would love to hear how the year is going for freshman art students. Could the student or parents tell us? This might be helpful for the Senior high school students trying to make up their mind on where to go next year. I think people would generally like to hear about: which School, Dorm living, homework amounts, city or town issues, expenses for everyday living, Friends and really good friends, grades, how you spend your time. You know the drill. The real lowdown on art school. You are the experts. Tell us what you think. It would be nice to have it on one thread instead of strung out all over.

taxguy

I can speak for my daughter last year who was a freshmen at University of
Cincinnati school of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning and majoring in Digital Design.

First Year is a foundation year for most kids. This means that they teach basic skills for most majors in basic drawing, 2D drawing, 3D drawing and color plus you get art history plus your gen eds. My daughter and everyone she knows worked like dogs! She was attending class 35 hours a week and easily worked outside of class another 35 hours or more. I should note that they did cover some basic software such as Illustrator, Power Point, and Photoshop. There may have been some other software applications that she had to know as well. I am sure that she had to know the whole adobe suite well. She even got some HTML introduced too. You should learn how to use these programs well before you get into school. It will reduce the leaning curve for you and significantly cut back in the time demands.

I should note that some specialty majors such as animation do start geting into their major in foundation year,but this isn't really the case for most design majors.

She was also in Marching Band,which took up most of her free time ,but she loved it. In fact, most of her best friends came from marching band, and she will be living with them next year.

Although I can't speak for other art schools, there is no grade inflation at DAAP. An "A" means that the teacher can't do it any better. That is a pretty high standard. Even a "B" is darn good. Most kids get B- and below and that assumes that they hand in their work on time. It is essential that work be turned in on time, or that you get an extension in advance. This is critical. I can tell you that the lower grades combined with the extremely high time demands of the work made a few kids drop out.

She did get some terrific skills and now really like drawing. It also has raised her confidence level as to her drawing ability especially since she did reasonably well.

Dorm life was a bit tough since she had a quad,but she liked the girls in her room. She also had some of the smartest girls on the honors floor in her room so that everyone was very motivated and motivating.

I don't know what else to add. If you want more info, just mention what you want to know in this thread.

patois

i have an entire thread on MICA, it might be under the pile...

osage77

Taxguy-thanks! As always a great reply from you.
Patois-I know what you mean "Under the pile". Which is the very reason I started this thread. This great info gets dumped into all different threads and places. I was hoping to capture this in one place. I really want to help the next year kids make a critical thought process just a little easier. Plus, I love to hear the stories of these great kids and their very interesting lives.

vahevala

I can speak for my D who is now a freshmen at SUNY New Paltz. She came in the beginning of the year thinking of doing a dual degree, BFA in painting and BA in English. First semester, she did not like her drawing teacher and was thinking she had made a big mistake, maybe just English for her,but kept plugging away. This semester, loves both her drawing and design teachers and is feeling like she is really growing as an artist. We hear stories of hours and hours in Smiley art building. The design class is alot of scuplture this semester, which she loves. Both design and drawing are using reference to art history is creating work. She is also taking art history and loves it as well. The school has sponsored atleast 2 free bus trips to NYC each semester, drop off at the MET or Whitney and spend the day which is great inspiration. Also, they have visiting professional artists lecture once a week on how you can actually earn a livining art. She is now leaning toward a BS in Art, along with the English after finding a professor who has been a great mentor to talk out her plans for the future.

So I guess this is a success story so far...last year at this time we were dealing with the dilema that so many of you are dealing with now...dream school(for her it was CMU) vs school you can afford (NP). She will graduate prettty much debt free., be able to study abroad...maybe CMU for grad school

Those from NY interested in art I highly recommend looking at New Paltz.

osage77

I'm also glad to read your story. I had encouraged my daughter to look at SUNY. I read so many great things about it. I hope some more kids will look at that school.