Gov. School or CMU precollege (art)? dilemma...

krndnl
Tue, 10 May 2011 15:28:42 +0000

So I got accepted to my state’s Governor’s School for Visual Arts and also Carnegie Mellon’s Art & Design program with a full scholarship through Summer Programs for Diversity.

I am at a loss as to which one to take…

Pros of Gov. School are:

Very good reputation

Looks good to colleges

Prestigious at a state level

A lot of my friends are going
Cons:

the faculty was replaced with Radford faculty last year so they’re a little new at the program

not much portfolio work, consists of pointless classes like metalsmithing and jewelry making…

Not to mention that my art teacher and my school faculty and counselor expect me to go to Gov. School to represent my school in the art department (I was the only one accepted for art)

Pros of CMU Art & Design:

Prestigious at a national level

CMU is my dream school and might raise the chances of me getting in

classes consist of animation, industrial design, etc… which Gov. School seems to lack.

an in depth critique on portfolios during the last week of school
Cons:

I’m not sure how I got my scholarship. You normally have to show them your portfolio but I didn’t show them anything at all. It might be because I applied through the Diversity program & my essay was good.

I didn’t work as hard on my application…

To be honest, Gov. school took an essay, recs, all this preparation and support from teachers, an portfolio audition and an interview, whereas CMU just took a transcript, essay, and some recs without viewing any of my artwork.

Originally CMU was going to be my back up in case I didn’t get into Gov. School… (imagine if I hadn’t gotten into both. oh geez)

I really can’t pick…