I want to major in fine art and become an artist in the future. But I don’t know how to choose my college because I really like the small class in LACs but I am also concerned that the art education here isn’t good enough. Can someone share some experiences about art major in LACs or some advice?
I’m not an art major, but a parent of a HS senior who has been considering both paths. In art school, you’ll be taking many more art classes (at least 2/3 of your classes). In a LAC, art majors take about 1/3 of classes in art. It is certainly possible to become an artist by either path. You just have to decide how much you want to specialize in art, and/or how much you want to study other things, which develop other (non-visual) skills (e.g. writing, analytical skills, possibly math or science). My kid is pulled towards both art and other humanities so is focusing more on LACs, but still applying to one art school she likes. Also, there’s a broad range of art schools, and of art in LACs. Depending on your area(s) of interest, that could help narrow your choices.
The ratio of art classes to total undergraduate classes can be significantly greater than this if a student (1) spends a year abroad, such as in Italy, Great Britain, or Ireland, or (2) attends an LAC with an open curriculum, such as Smith College or Hamilton.
One small LAC to consider for this would be Oberlin College. Renowned studio and fine art programs. You could get a phenomenal art education at this well ranked LAC.
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I’ve been digging into this for my son. Some LAC’s require about 1/3 of classes to be in the arts for fine art majors. National Universities seem to be closer to 40 %, but that’s a very small sampling. Just started this research.
I graduated from an art school and I wish I’d gone to a liberal arts college and had more GE classes, then gone on to a master’s maybe. My undergrad liberal arts education was seriously lacking.