LaurieM62

OK, here is my question. My daughter was accepted to RISD, Chicago and SCAD. Others as well but these are the three contenders. I like Lyme for the fine art I saw on tour but the school is too small for her. We went up to RISD and was horrified at the art I saw on the tour and in the seniors work spaces. I felt like that at many of the art school we toured. We have yet to visit SAIC, that next week. However we did go see SCAD and I was blown away by the quality of the fine art and displays of the students work. I however do not see them on any of the fine art school rankings. My daughter seemed happier here than at RISD that was not much as far as atmosphere. Why is SCAD not rated as a fine art school? What do these sites like US News base their ranking on? I would just think if a school like Yale is number 3 and my daughter has gone there for a summer session and found it just ok as far as the students art work and she was accepted to the number one and three and not the number 2 after attending and getting two A’s and has a 4.3 GPA in HS.Well, what are they basing it on? I just don’t get it. By the work I see on the tours, most of the work looks as if it is done by high school students. I know there are exercises but one would expect more. My daughter is looking to go into art restoration and like realism and fine art as opposed to modern art so she wants a school to give her a good shot at the best Grad School. This is such a hard decision for her

Bowman

@LaurieM62: The US News rankings are for graduate schools, not undergraduate. RISD is still well known for their undergrad fine arts program though. But if you daughter enjoyed the work and feel of SCAD more, than maybe that is the school for her. Your school is all what you make of it. I'd talk to the admissions counselors from the schools you mentioned and ask to talk to faculty or ask of their opinion. They can give you a good idea of what each school has to offer specifically for your daughter.

LaurieM62

Thank you Bowman. We will speak to them and she still has SAIC yet to see. Her fear is that she will have a harder time getting into a Grad school with a lesser ranked Fine arts school. But I feel as you do and think she should go where she thinks she will enjoy it more. she has worked so hard to get the grades she has that she now worries that she has done this for nothing. Since RISD does not accept any of the college credits she has already gotten and or her AP scores, she would actually only have three years to complete at SCAD.
I was actually so surprised to find RISD so dirty, the dorms so lacking for a art school and the food terrible. I don't know how they can charge so much and give so little to the students.

Bowman

No problem. And don't worry about grad school. If you going to art school for grad they'll be looking more at your portfolio, not where you went for undergrad. You portfolio will show what you really have learned. Kara Walker went to ACA (now SCAD) for undergrad and RISD for grad. If she likes SCAD and sees herself there, then that's where she wants to go. And if she wants to go to RISD for grad you have better chances coming from another school.

And I was told when I was at RISD that they do take AP scores for liberal arts courses if it's a 4 or 5. AP Art not at all. Is that really what they told you? Maybe I heard wrong. Its been a while.

And I can't be but a little surprised that your daughter didn't like the food or dorms. I took precollege there during the summer and I liked the rooms. They were about the same size as the honors dorms USC though I can agree that there bathrooms left more to be desired. And I honestly thought the food wasn't bad when I was over there. Different taste I guess.

Good luck to your daughter!

ethomasnj

Everyone is forgetting tiny MCAD, which wins a ton of illustration awards for its size, Ringling which wins even more and dominates animation. Daughter got in, but felt it was too "macho" would be a good term. If we do this we should go by society of illustrators awards, animation awards, and design awards, divided by number of students in the programs. additionally payscale ranks ROI on undergrad art schools and in the last two years only RISD and Pratt have scored decently, though they flipflopped positions by year. That takes it out of opinion and into math. I ranked the schools using the awards, tuition, reputation(yes that opens doors), and ROI. Pratt, RISD, Ringling, MICA and due to its tiny size and large number of awards MCAD and KCAD did very well. Daughter just chose RISD After visiting all but KCAD, mostly because she was most impressed with student work in two departments. She was not impressed with the furniture work at RISD, and neither of us felt capable of judging architecture. However Cooper while she was impressed with the idea of going there, she didn't love the emphasis on non-figurative art in the professors CV's, nor was she happy with the output from a Saturday class there. SVA she loved some of the work, but has 6 friends who go there, with common interests "she helps run some kind of fan club for some odd comic" when she introduced them, they didn't know each other, even though they were in the same major and many were quite a bit older than her, additionally the dorms were ranked by her as a 1 on a scale of 1-10 and she wants a "college" experience, she felt she got that a lot more taking classes at Parsons, and she wasn't thrilled with that. So quality of life has to come into play just as quality of art comes in, while Dad was thrilled with idea of applying to Cooper, she was actually bitterly opposed and wouldn't do it due to her research on the faculty and experience with installation art there. SCAD lost out not because of its accreditation, but because they accept kids without portfolio if they can

redbug119

By KCAD, do you mean Kansas City or Kendall?

redbug119

Another thing to be taken into consideration is the internship and job networking availability. Is it better to be at a small school (MCAD, KCAI) in a large city with plenty of opportunities and less competition for those spots or at a large school (RISD) in a small city? My D at MCAD has already had the art director at a major company in Minneapolis look at her work (thru a connection with a professor who showed the director my D's portfolio) and they are talking about her doing some illustration work, and she is only a sophomore. Everyone is right - it is your portfolio that makes the difference in either jobs or grad school, not the size/prestige of the school.

And by the way, if you want to talk tiny, look at Chester College of New England with 166 students, in small rural Chester, NH. We went to visit there and while it was a beautiful setting, it was so rural. The school is well endowed and have a number of scholarships, but it makes me wonder where those kids find work.....

www.chestercollege.edu

ethomasnj

Kendall, had a very impressive number of cites in talking to people and reading info on hiring. MCAD, I really don't know about internships but my D liked it. It made it to top 5 for her but the size and lack of prestige hurt it. Too many folks had never heard of it, too bad. In interviewing recent Pratt and RISD grads, they all had internships every year except for one who took some painting thing in Europe. SCAD, not so much, but their top couple got pushed for all kinds of awards. Ringling and MICA seemed inconsistent for illustration, especially MICA, SVA was hard to judge, a lot of their students were already working or were older, but at least two of the younger ones got great internships, Parsons seemed to do better with Fashion, MCAD seemed to do well locally, but my D wants the internships in NYC. It all depends, but i am surprised by how many people miss great little schools like Alfred, KCAD, MCAD, and base their stuff off of 20 year old lists and lists of grad schools. I tried to find all the awards that students or recent grads got. Animation career review also had good quotes from working directors that helped sort the schools.

LaurieM62

I think our problem is that my daughter is into fine arts. She had wanted to go to Yales as she studies there this past summer and received two A+ but they did not accept her. RISD I wonder how many of the students do actually go for fine arts. Illistration is is a whole seperate area. My daughter wants to go into Art Restoration and for that you need a strong fine arts base and to be truthful, I see very few really talented, even at the best of these schools. My worry with RISD is that first year work is amazing and then it seems to meld into a modern craze of smeared mess they call art. I would think we woudl have our breat taken away from the students work on the tours. They all boast museums but we never see the students work. I agree that the rankings are crazy as they are not even for undergraduate work and most are only ranked in certain areas. My daughter could have gotten a free ride from Cooper but when we toured they considered hair glue to the walls , art. I jut wish for the price tags, these schools woudl have real art departments and fine art majors and dorms with painting work space. The doorms we visited at RISD have not been updated since the 60's and the halls alone with tape for art, disgracefull. I wish we had applied to the dual program with Brown but to late for that now. since they only hake about 12 I doubt her chances woudl have been good, even with a 4.2 GPA. she did not mkae Browns fine arts program

phillyartmom

Laurie, I know this is late, but did you look at a place like PAFA in Philadelphia. It is known for its wonderful fine arts.

colcon2010

LaurieM62, adding to phillyartmom's post, PAFA is in the heart of Center City, really nice area, and has a dual program with The University of Pennsylvania, as well as housing availability at the International House at the U Penn campus, with trolley transportation between PAFA and U Penn in west Philly. Some of the finest American artists attended PAFA, including Mary Cassatt. Also, for restoration did you consider Corcoran in Washington, D.C.? I believe they are the only school affiliated with The Smithsonian with many opportunities for students. Good luck to your daughter in making a decision!

LaurieM62

She has decided on RISD. The school ranking carried much weight with her decision. If she feels it’s not right she can attend SCAD next year. As far as RISD dorm, they were not bad, just not what I was expecting for the high tuition. The one we did see what really outdated and need a major cleaning. Plus, the halls where a horrible mustard yellow. As a fine arts school I would have just liked to see some fine art. All we saw was tape all over the walls used to make art, very strange. The food was ok, I just expect more when our tour glide went on and on about how they hire 4 and 5 star chefs for the culinary school in Providence. But the most important thing is the art, and I called them and they said she can do any type of art she wants, so hopefully it is the right choice. They gave her a nice scholarship, much better than SAIC. What I found so funny is on FB under class of 2016 the bikes drawings students sent in . One was of a snake, no bike and it said, did you see a bike, crazy, just crazy and they got in.
Thank you for all your input on this decision

phillyartmom

Good luck to your dd. My dd's roommate and good friend from her SAIC summer program will also be attending RISD and is very excited!

ArchDad

Laurie - Please keep us all posted on how your daughter likes RISD !
My daughter is a HS Jr and is leaving for SCAD next week to spend 5 weeks at their Rising Star summer program.

As a disclaimer I am a Pratt Grad and was clearly hoping my daughter would follow in my footsteps. We visited Pratt and she LOVED it, SCAD and RISD we next on our trip list, with my firmly yankee daughter seeing SCAD as a distant 3rd. After our visit, I was ready to enroll of another degree in Architecture!!!!!!

We were very impressed by the student work we saw, the adaptive re-use of SCAD's buildings and the overall feeling of the school. SCAD became her #1 and she applied for Rising Star on the spot ! Now let me put this in perspective........ my social butterfly is giving up her summer with friends, to spent it in school???????? YIKES, I knew she was pumped.

Honestly, I'd love her to learn in this amazing place if that is what she really wants, and I'll leave my Pratt preferences behind.

Balthezar

Just saw your post ArchDad. My daughter is down there this week for their Summer Seminar staying on Oglethorpe Hall. Tell her to stop by and say Hi to Erin from Chicago.