Art program without the "all-nighter" culture

JBStillFlying
Mon, 17 Sep 2018 13:51:59 +0000

Any art program that focuses primarily on studio, ie a BFA program, is going to be intense. That goes for stand-alone schools of art/design, or schools that are housed within a larger university. I’m sure exceptions exist, but generally the better the reputation of the program, the more intense it is and the more likely you are to find all-nighters. Of course, many regular college kids pull all nighters too so it’s not just art/design kids!

The BA (art major) might be less studio-intensive but will also provide fewer contact hours and may not offer a foundation year.

Degree of intensity can also vary across specific specializations or by year of study. Anecdotally, it seems that the design fields (graphic, industrial, arch, etc.) and animation are particularly competitive and intense. The fine arts or art history kids just seem more calm!

Whatever your daughter decides to specialize in, she might benefit from a smaller, more personalized program with a high freshman retention and low transfer-out rate. MCAD in Minneapolis comes to mind because it’s a smaller, intimate campus and the faculty/student ratio is really good, but there are probably lots of others.

Given the medical issues, you also want to make sure that the school has decent services in the area of student health and/or easy access to area healthcare providers. And is near a good hospital system! If she takes prescription meds it will require a little bit of planning up front to ensure she doesn’t run out; states can differ on things like whether a prescription is accepted from out-of-state or whether a 90-day refill is allowed. And some prescriptions are just easier to refill than others; controlled substances, for instance, might have more restrictions than other meds due to individual state law and/or pharmacy policy.

Finally, assuming your daughter is not a current senior, she should consider a multi-week, in-residence pre-college program for next summer in order to test the waters on doing a studio program. There are many options for this and other posters will probably chime in with recommendations. Among other benefits, it would help her build a great portfolio for submission to art school.