Can studio art or design majors have work/life balance and find success at an LAC?

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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Hi all, this is mostly a “how to build a college list” question. I’ve read through most threads in this subtopic and still have doubts.

D26 is a junior and mostly interested in design – unsure whether graphic, industrial, UX/UI – but she thinks something along those lines. She doesn’t have an art background because she’s always been focused on symphonic band, jazz band, marching band in school. This year she’s managed to take a semester of Digital Design and a year of Honors Architecture/Engineering and is really enjoying both.

She’s a hugely imaginative person – always creating something. She LOVES building models in architecture, crocheting, sewing doll clothes. She made an entire dress out of duct tape for Duck brand’s Stuck at Prom contest.

But she’s less interested in traditional drawing and painting – she’s not an “artist” in the lofty sense. I think if she pursues design, it will need to be for a commercial application.

She’s very bright and got a 1560 on the SAT this summer. 4.0 UW GPA. She’s at a small private school which limits to six APs, but she’ll have six by graduation (APUSH, Physics 1, Calc AB, Calc BC, Lit, Bio). She got a 5 on APUSH this past spring. Several gold medals on the National Latin Exam.

Okay ECs – marching band since 7th grade including two years of section captain, and in the running for drum major next year. Lots of costumes created for theatre, and one show so far in which she acted. Some volunteering for an organization that donates artwork to hospitals. Part of a group that brings music/band to lower school classrooms. Handful of other small things.

She very definitely does NOT want to go to art school, as she wants a traditional college experience. She wants to do marching band in college, but not a huge marching band that requires a huge time commitment. She’s drawn to small supportive and cozy schools – Furman, Elon, Miami of Ohio, Lehigh, maybe Wake? have interested her so far. And not gonna lie, I started looking into Tulsa when I read about their national merit package (she has a very good shot at getting NMF) – and it may appeal to her as well. She is really hoping for a single dorm room as she tends to be socially anxious and needs a lot of down time. Warm weather is preferable but not a deal breaker (we’re in the south). Name/prestige/rank mean nothing to her.

Most of these schools only have a couple of design classes, although they offer studio art degrees that you can kind of tailor toward design. Barely. But this is a kid that isn’t interested in the high-pressure grind of a top-ranked design program. She wants to go to college, hang out with fun people, pursue the 101 things that interest her, work on creative projects, and graduate with a degree. (Her older sister has taken a Tolkien class so far in college, a stage combat class, and one about the history of maps. This kid wants that kind of experience.) She isn’t worried about being in a career that’s lucrative or one that she’s passionate about – she wants to comfortably pay the rent and have time to pursue her passions outside of work.

So, my question is multi-fold. Does it sound like a design career is the right path for her? And if so, is it possible to get enough training at this type of small school that offers a very basic studio art degree? Will she graduate and find a job if this is her path, or will she be out of luck because companies will be hiring from Pratt or Parsons or NC State?

Couple more things – I’ve hired an art teacher at her school to work with her after school on Mondays (the only day there is no marching band!) to build some portfolio pieces. So, the teacher has come up with a list of projects for her to work on this year, and she’s giving her instruction as well as feedback as she works on stuff.

And, this past summer she went to a design camp at NC State and loved it – they did a lot of fun projects throughout the week. She was hoping to narrow down which aspect of design most appealed to her, but alas, she still likes all of it, lol.

(Finances are not a huge concern, but I really don’t want to pay $91,000 a year for Wake if she could get good merit elsewhere. But chasing merit is not a must.)

Any thoughts/feedback welcome – thank you!

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Pure design that is in a traditional 4 university is hard to find. My daughter studied design at UC Davis which was the perfect balance for her and sounds like what you are looking for. She was able to take many studio classes in different areas of design to tailer it to her interests. But it is out of state for you, so pretty expensive (not $91,000 thought). She was a 4.0 34 ACT instate (they don’t look at test scores anymore) and she did not get any merit aid.

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Sounds like your D wants a liberal arts college experience. The best bet would be to find LACs that have robust studio art departments. Many have begun to offer digital classes in addition to the traditional (drawing, painting, sculpture) classes - and would allow for cross-pollenization of subjects (data science, social sciences like communications or advertising), but without the niche specialty that an art school would. My D was considering art school and LACs last year and chose an LAC. She’ll probably major in Art but that remains to be seen. You may want to look at Davidson (since it is in the area you’re looking in and I’m familiar with it) - I know they have a few digital design courses and a new minor in media studies that may be of interest. THere are several LACs that have strong studio programs (Williams, Wesleyan, I think Conn College), but not as many in the South that come to mind. Maybe Richmond?

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Or perhaps an LAC that is part of a consortium where she’d have the LAC experience but the ability to take classes she wants at one of the other schools. Smith may have the experience and the single room she wants, but UMass may have the design courses and marching band.

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I have heard good things from other posters about washu in regards to exploration, art and single bedrooms for freshmen.

@BentWookie @NiceUnparticularMan

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RPI, WPI, RIT - you might check Dayton, Denver, Drake, U Miami to see if a fit. All will have merit.

And big but she loved it - NC State. Another big one to see - Purdue and UMN.

Set a budget. Saying I don’t want to pay $91k if she can get merit means you need not spend close to $91k. Because there’s tons of $$ out there.

You have to apply to the right schools. Those are merit schools. You can likely find close to what she wants at many schools. Maybe graphic design programs - UAH as an example - $20k a year.

As for LACs, maybe look at schools with engineering - Randolph Macon, Trinity, Union, etc.

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Denver doesn’t have a marching band but does have a pep band that plays at some athletic events. It does have a very good music program.

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My D24 was in a somewhat similar position except she was interested in visual art and financial aid was very important, the later of which eliminated a lot of options.

Anyhow, my impression is that if you want the option of immediate employability in a design field after college, a BFA is the best option. In most programs, that will equate to 2/3 art/design classes and 1/3 electives, which doesn’t leave a ton of room for intellectual exploration. There are many great options out there, including WashU, which has a strong design program and is noted for having a little more interdisciplinary flexibility than other BFA programs. My D24 really liked WashU and strongly considered it. This should give you a sense of curriculum demands in a more flexible BFA program: https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.wustl.edu/dist/8/2068/files/2024/06/Art_BFA-Sample-Curriculum_2025-2028-1.pdf. CMU is also great, among many others I’m sure.

I know you said you weren’t interested in art schools, but RISD offers a great design program and you can take classes at Brown. I get the sense that RISD takes its non-art education a little more seriously than other art schools. There’s also a dual-degree program in which one can get a BFA from RISD and BA from Brown in five years, but . . . it’s a reputedly tougher admit than Harvard and it’ll probably cost you close to $500k. But people always seem to mention it in such threads.

The other option is to get a BA. Most BA programs are the inverse of BFA programs in that they require only 1/3 art/design classes and 2/3 other classes. But I think there’s a reasonable chance that your kid would need to seek an additional post-graduate degree if they want a design job. But the upside is that they offer maximum flexibility and room for exploration.

In my limited experience, liberal arts colleges can be great for traditional visual art (painting, sculpture, photography). But, AFAIK, they tend to be less great at graphic design or more practical art applications. Few if any offer design degrees, although I few may allow students to specialize in architecture. I think @momrath’s son got an art degree from Williams before getting an MArch from Cornell. But since D24 wasn’t interested in design so much, we didn’t do a deep dive into LAC design offerings.

I know very little about about industrial or product design. I feel like I’ve seen them offered in both art schools and through engineering departments at universities, which is funny. Maybe check out RIT?

Last note: Have you considered checking out summer design programs for your D26? There are a great number out there, including many that specialize in design. I believe WashU and CMU offer three-week summer design programs. RISD offers a spendy 6-week program. And there are many others. My D24 did a 4-week program at BU, which was a great experience.

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Wesleyan has a Design program with a Studio Art track nested within its College of Design and Engineering Studies (CoDES). Scroll down the bottom here and click on “Object Design Track”:
https://www.wesleyan.edu/codes/program/major-tracks.html

(Again, pretty expensive, though.)

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Would she be interested in the Brown/RISD dual degree program? It’s super competitive, but she’s got great stats and sounds like she would thrive at both institutions.

https://www.brown.edu/academics/brown-risd-dual-degree/home

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Some schools your D may want to investigate include:

  • Case Western (OH): About 6k undergrads and has a cross-registration program with the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) which allows students to take one class/semester at the other school. CIA offers a number of design majors (Craft & Design, game design, graphic design, industrial design, plain old “Design,” etc.). Case Western really wants demonstrated interest, but if they think your D is seriously interested in them, they can be very generous with merit aid as well.

  • Cedarville (OH): About 4500 undergrads at this school with a reputation for being religiously conservative. But its degree in Industrial and Innovative Design might be of great interest to your D while still being at a smaller school with other liberal arts fields.

  • Emmanuel (MA): About 1900 undergrads at this member of the Colleges of the Fenway, a particularly close collaboration of area colleges. Students can cross-register at the other schools which include Wentworth and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, both of which might have a number of design classes of interest to your D.

  • Emory (about 7100 undergrads) or Agnes Scott (women’s college with about 1k undergrads): Both schools are in Atlanta and participate in the ARCHE consortium which allows students to take classes at other area schools, including Georgia Tech which provides numerous product design, architecture, etc, classes.

  • Five Colleges Consortium (MA): This was already mentioned above with Smith and UMass, but probably the physically easiest combination is Amherst with UMass, followed by Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke. But four of the five schools in the consortium are liberal arts colleges, so she can visit and see what works for her.

  • Kalamazoo (MI): About 1200 undergrads at this Colleges That Change Lives’ member that has cross-registration opportunities with Western Michigan. WMU has programs in product design, interior architecture and design, etc.

  • Macalester (MN): About 2200 undergrads at this Twin Cities school. I know it used to have cross-registration with the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD), ETA, but it no longer appears to be in place.

  • Marquette (WI): This Jesuit school in Milwaukee has about 7500 undergrads and tends to give some generous merit aid. It has a cross-registration program with the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD, about 900 students), so your D could get a more traditional education while still being able to investigate other options. MIAD offers majors in product design, interior architecture and design, fashion and apparel design, etc. On MIAD’s cross-registration page, it indicates that students can take up to six credit hours/semester at Marquette, which might mean the reverse is true.

  • Swarthmore (PA ): About 1600 undergrads at this college just outside of Philly that is also a part of the Tri-College Consortium with Haverford and Bryn Mawr, and students can also take classes at UPenn, though I don’t think many end up doing so. But it is starting up an architectural studies “studio” major in addition to its regular art major. It also has an engineering program, should your D’s interests veer that way.

  • The New School (NY): About 7k undergrads. It includes Parsons School of Design but also has the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and other colleges within it. I’m not sure what kind of opportunities exist to cross-register across the colleges, but I think it’s worth investigating.

Amherst does not offer any merit aid, but all of the other schools do, though for some (like Swarthmore), it is extremely difficult to get.

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The Mac-MCAD cross-registration option is no longer available per my D24.

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Also, is she interested in a possible intersection between design and engineering? If so, packaging engineering or its related fields might be of interest.

I think @eyemgh has posted about this in the past as being an off-the-radar engineering discipline with relatively easier entry to academic programs and a good career path. (I hope I have that right!)

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I think her and my daughter would be fast friends, same hobbies aside from band.

She was originally thinking art school, loves creative side also but got cold feet in last year and not being completely sure and fear of having a year with no transferrable credits. She also prefers a traditional college campus and experience.

Interests include graphic design, visual strategy, animation, creative writing and advertising/marketing.

She really loved the vibe at Furman and that was over summer so not ideal timing either. They have a create your own major with a visual strategy minor.

She also really likes the Communication Design program at Elon and it is one of their top programs.

We toured RISD, it is very technical side focused with lots of drawing. I remember we toured a 3 hour long drawing class, it seemed like a major focus at beginning of their program as I recall.

Adding, you probably already know but NC state has a phenomenal and very competitive design program. I think it admits earlier than other majors if I recall correctly, it is highly regarded.

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I really appreciate all of these suggestions – thank you so much! I can’t respond to all of them, but a couple things I wanted to address:

Davidson might be a good option, and the digital studies minor does look appealing. My daughter will just to have determine if the tiny pep band is sufficient for her.

Richmond seems to have more of a conceptual art degree – nothing design-related.

Interesting idea about the LAC that’s part of a consortium where she can do band elsewhere – I’ll have to see what she thinks.

For the couple people who suggested the RISD/Brown program – it sounds absolutely amazing for the right student…but my daughter is not that kid, lol. Never mind the miniscule odds of getting in – it sounds way more high-pressure than what she’s seeking. (My older daughter, who is a classic overachiever and now a student at Rice, applied to Brown, and it was the only school from which she was outright rejected.)

WashU would be pretty great in terms of the experience and reputation of the program – again, my kid would have to decide that the tiny pep band is enough. She’s in a small high school with a marching band of 45 kids, and yet they manage to do great shows. I don’t think she’d want college to be a downgrade from that. I know band shouldn’t be her focus over academics, but I don’t expect my 17-year-old to look at this logically through my 51-year-old eyes. So if we can find a school that checks all her boxes, that would be ideal.

We will check out the many merit suggestions – thank you!

Somewhat conservative schools – like Furman and other southern schools – are okay as long as there are all sorts of viewpoints on campus. But no to outright religious schools – Cedarville is a hard no.

Georgia Tech is in-state for us, and their industrial design program is fabulous. My daughter knows many kids from her high school that have gone there, and several who have been in the marching band. It seems to be the norm that people drop out of band after a year or two, because the workload is just too intense. Also, if she decides that she doesn’t want industrial design, there are zero other art or design options at Tech. She’s not interested in architecture. But, Tech is still on the list.

(Not Emory, though, because it doesn’t offer anything she wants – and it’s outrageously expensive.)

Package design is something we’ve looked into and considered. There is a really good program at Clemson – it might be a little business-heavy, but she’s thinking about it.

@isitmayyet Oh, that’s good to know about the visual strategy minor at Furman! We’d missed that. Is your daughter a senior and applying now? Best of luck – my older one applied a couple years ago and was invited to interview for the full-ride scholarship. It’s a great one to get. She was chosen as an alternate (still given a lot of merit aid) but ended up elsewhere. But we’re touring Elon in a couple weeks, and Furman in November. Maybe our girls will end up at the same place, lol!

Thank you again, all – we’ll continue to look and consider various schools.

Oh, and yes, NC State has a great program. My daughter was a little put out because they told her that she would not have time to do marching band if she were in the design school. It’s also tremendously competitive – it’s a direct admit (no portfolio review after sophomore year to get into the major), and they only take a handful of students (like 15) per track every year. But she will likely apply.

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@BentWookie thank you for mentioning the summer programs! I’m looking to see what I can find that works with her schedule. So far there’s one at SAIC (Chicago) that looks to be a good fit. I’ll keep looking, though. Many of them go through early August, and that won’t work for her because a) band camp, and b) our schools start really early here, sometimes the very end of July.

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I think the tricky part here is that it will be tough to find the kind of program variety she wants to explore, in a smaller, more intimate school.

Design-wise, my first thought was Iowa State, where a student in the Design School can start out Undeclared, enroll in the Core Design Program, and then choose among the school’s nine majors: Undergraduate Majors – College of Design The marching band might be in the right “high quality but not excessively intense” zone. https://cyclonemarchingband.iastate.edu/ With around 25K undergrads, Iowa State is hardly intimate, but it’s not huge either, and there are tons of very bright, serious students there. Do you think this sort of environment could work?

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Thank you so much – we’ll take a look! This is exactly the sort of info I was hoping to get. And you’re right – it’s about finding the right balance between the programs, the environment and the marching band. Thanks again!

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Sorry, I’ve been off the grid. Industrial Technology and Packaging is the Cal Poly major.

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Have you looked at UMiami? Warm weather, wonderful marching band, and the Innovation, Technology and Design program might fit.

James Madison’s band might be bigger than she wants, but I’m not sure size correlates with excessive commitment. They have both industrial and graphic design in their Art & Design school, and an Honors College.

Syracuse is definitely not warm, but strong in multiple design fields and does have a marching band.

Speaking of cold, Cornell could be possible with her stats, and the design majors in the College of Human Ecology might work Undergraduate Study|Human Centered Design | Cornell College of Human Ecology… and they have the Big Red Marching Band.

Also, in terms of reachier schools, maybe Notre Dame? Design | Undergraduate | Department of Art, Art History, and Design | University of Notre Dame Surely a very fun place to be in the band https://www.ndband.com/, and she might like their residential system.

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