Laura'sDad

Anyone have any experience with WUSTL's Visual Communications program? In particular, how do you think the quality compares to a leading art school like RISD or MICA?

NorthEastMom2

My d is going into ViCom in Sept - so I can't tell you much about the program yet.

RISD & MICA are totally different from WUSTL. RISD is considered the best for Graphic Design. MICA is good also. But these are dedicated art schools. At WUSTL my d was also accepted into the Engineering program. She is very interested in computers and wants to get a minor or second degree in Comp Sci. She just took the AP Comp Sci exam yesterday. You definitely can't do that at RISD or MICA !!

amptron2x

My son is sophomore in the ViCom program, majoring in illustration. I have seen his work. I have seen some of the work of his classmates. All of it is first class. Whether it is comparable to the work produced by RISD or MICA sophomores I have no idea. Here, however, is what I can tell you about WashU:

1. WashU is an Ivy caliber university, comparable to Cornell, Brown, or Dartmouth. It is academically rigorous, and the kids there are very, very smart. Academically, it beats the pants off of any art school, and offers a range of courses and academic specialties that no art school can match.

2. The new Art School building is only two years old and the facilities are superb. I haven't seen the facilities at either RISD or MICA, but I've seen the facilities at the Syracuse University School of Art and Design, and the facilities at WashU are better.

3. The WashU School of Art is very selective and consequently relatively small. The professors really get to know the kids and the kids, the professors. Better yet, the professors really care about the kids and their work. In general, this is a hallmark of WashU. The professors and the administration really do care about the kids.

4. As NorthEastMom2 implies, kids can pursue most of their major interests at WashU with almost no friction from the administration. My son is majoring in illustration in the School of Art and majoring in English (Creative Writing) in the School of Arts and Sciences, and has been considering a minor in History or Philosophy. This is not uncommon. Lots of kids double major. Lots of kids do a major and a minor, or a major and double minor, or a double major and a minor. Generally, whatever you want to study, the university says go for it.

5. Unlike an art school, WashU is full of kids with very diverse interests. For example, my son's girl friend is a biomedical engineering major. One of his roommates is a film major. The other roommate is a chemical engineering major, and his girl friend is a primatology major.

I'll conclude by saying that my son chose WashU because he was looking for a school that had challenging academics, a high-quality art school, and would let him pursue his interests - no - that would encourage him to pursue his interests, where ever they led. WashU certainly fit the bill.

NUgraduate

My daughter isn't in Vis com, but is in the art school. When we went to her first portfolio day her junior year she initially thought she'd go to a RISD, Univ of Chicago, Cooper Union, etc. type school. She was turned off by the art schools because they were "too arty" and an education seemed secondary. Additionally, my daughter was an A student, social, and the kids in line with her at the art schools were a bit more off-center than she saw herself. If you looked at my daughter, you wouldn't necessarily know she was in the art school. In fact, she is also doing a minor in the Business school. This is, perhaps, a long way of saying that Kate wanted to study art with well-rounded academically-talented students, and that is what Wash U offers... alone. Carnegie-Mellon which is the only other school we found with both art and academic reputation consists of a campus made up very-much of either/or. Engineers are one group, art/performers another.