<p>SAVANNAH, Ga.The Savannah College of Art and Design has been named one of Americas hottest colleges by the editors of the 2006 Kaplan/Newsweek Americas Hottest Colleges guide, available on newsstands Aug. 22. A special preview is available now in the Aug. 22 issue of Newsweek and online at <a href=“http://www.msnbc.com%5B/url%5D”>www.msnbc.com</a>. </p>
<p>Of the hundreds of colleges profiled in the annual guide, 25 are selected as Americas Hottest Colleges. While the editors acknowledge that there is no formula for choosing which colleges stand out, they note that all of the schools selected this year are creating buzz among students, school officials and longtime observers of the admissions process. </p>
<p>Each of the 25 colleges is highlighted according to its hottest attribute or feature offered to students. SCAD was selected as the hottest college for studying art. The colleges digital media programs in particular were spotlighted in this years guide. There are more than 3,000 computer workstations with the same high-end software used in the art and design industry, notes the entry. The Hollywood special-effects-company recruiters have SCAD on their speed dials, and graduates are working for Digital Domain, Pixar and Disney Imagineering, as well as more traditional employers of artists like Procter & Gamble and the TV networks.</p>
<p>…Other colleges highlighted in the 2006 Americas Hottest Colleges guide include Harvard University, the College of William and Mary, the University of California at San Diego and the University of Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>Kaplan Inc. is a leading provider of educational and career services for individuals, schools and businesses. Newsweek is a weekly news magazine that provides coverage of national and international affairs, business, society, science and technology, and arts and entertainment. Both are subsidiaries of The Washington Post Company.</p>
<p>I don’t know what you were on,but I read the article from the URL that you posed and didn’t see Savannah College of Art and Design mentioned. I even counted up the 25 hotest colleges to make sure that I didn’t miss any. They did have a category for “hotest school for the arts” but that was won by Juliard. Can you be more specific as to where SCAD was mentioned? It wasn’t in the article “the 25 hottest schools.” I also didn’t see it in any of the related school stories because I scanned or read them all. I also didn’t see any category for the "hottest school for studying art."Are you just being cute?</p>
<p>\My parents are both in the arts and we were talking about this the other day…they said Savannah has no reputation whatsoever in the arts.</p>
<p>Hmmm…SCAD opened for business in 1979ish. Compared to the other major art schools it’s a newbie. The other schools, with long histories in major metropolitan areas, have graduated tens of thousands of more graduates than SCAD. SCAD is still a new kid on the block. And it was a small school for at least ten years. Graduates are making their way through the system and slowly gaining notoriety. You are not going to find any senior art directors with 30 years of professional experience because thirty years ago SCAD didn’t exist! Also, as it is a Southern school, it is still a good deal regional per US applicants and they are more likely to remain in the South. As more students from the NE, MW, and W bypass other schools and come to Savannah, they will likely return to their roots and continue to establish the school’s reputation in these places. Your parents have simply not encountered as many SCAD grads as they have from schools that are likely to be in major cities and have much longer histories.</p>
<p>It’s a very good school and it’s becoming an excellent school I believe. You only have to look at the kinds of positions recent graduates are accepting to understand this.</p>
<p>//I just heard that the only acquaintance of mine who went to Savannah has transferred to the University of Georgia or something like that. :eeks//</p>
<p>Maybe they couldn’t hack it because they were lame?</p>
<p>You tell us NOTHING about the reason, so this means nothing. I guess no one ever transferred out of RISD, or Cooper Union? After a year at SCAD I transferred to a state school in NJ because it was cheaper. After 1 quarter, I went back to SCAD because you get what you pay for.</p>
<p>First, both I and someone else didn’t find it on the url that you posted.
However, I did find it in another site posted by someone else. Thus,“ok, that’s cool.” How’s that?</p>
<p>In comparing art schools yes I would look at the alumni and what they are doing but I’d also also examine the qualifications, reputation and the work of the faculty. I just checked the web site and that “Hottest School” graphic is right on the main page. The About SCAD page features the how it was founded by a philanthropist, the campus settings, the facility and the bright colors of the interiors of some buildings. The SCAD web site has a rundown of the faculty for each major.</p>
<p>//I’d also also examine the qualifications, reputation and the work of the faculty.//</p>
<p>And if the faculty are graduates of heralded programs such as…SVA, Pratt, RISD, RIT, Art Inst. of Chicago, Art Center, SMFA, Syracuse, AFI, Bard, Cranbrook, Parsons, Yale, CMU, Cal Inst, would not their pedagogical models be the courses they took at the above schools? Would they not be perpetuating the same philosophies and classroom activities that they experienced perhaps?</p>
<p>RainingAgain, I didn’t mean to insult you. If I did, let me first apologize.</p>
<p>Also, I am not knocking SCAD. They are new, and I think the article on them noted that they have come a long way academically since they started. My only concern about SCAD is that they are NOT NASAD accredited.</p>
<p>Most of the top, well known art programs ranging from from RISD, Pratt, MICA , SAIC, Cal Arts, Syracuse, Carnegie Mellon , Cincinnati,RIT etc are NASAD accredited in addition to their local accreditation with the exception of SCAD. I just wish that they got this NASAD accreditation and be done with it.</p>
<p>//Also, I am not knocking SCAD. They are new, and I think the article on them noted that they have come a long way academically since they started. My only concern about SCAD is that they are NOT NASAD accredited.//</p>
<p>They are accredited by SACS. Having observed the SACS review in 1999 while on staff, I can tell you that their standards are stringent. Just because SCAD does not have NASAD accreditation does NOT mean that the school does not follow and abide by very strict standards. </p>
<p>//I just wish that they got this NASAD accreditation and be done with it.//</p>
<p>I have zero idea why SCAD chose SACS, and I agree it makes sense to have NASAD instead because folk like you get uppity, but I can also tell you that while I was there the President (now gone) was going to start an Aerospace Engineering program. Perhaps he had a vision for the college that exceeded a stand alone art college, and that SACS was the better choice. Do you think aerospace engineers would want their college to be NASAD accredited or SACS accredited?</p>
<p>And you can’t just be done with it. It’s an exhaustive process that requires tremendous documentation. You don’t just suddenly switch, and be done with it.</p>
<p>So…why don’t you tell us what the differences between SACS and NASAD accreditation are? And why you presume that one is necessarilly “better” than the other per academic standards. Perhaps NASAD has less strict academic standards than SACS, and that’s why “art colleges” seek its approval?</p>