It’s official!
My daughter is transferring to an arts college in Southern Ireland that has a very strong, very well regarded, hands-on, career focused photography program. Since it is such a small school and small cohort, I’d rather not specify the name, but if you DM me, I’ll be happy to share it with you. She received a small scholarship that is just the icing on the cake.
She was also accepted to a large regional college with a dedicated photography major in the Southwestern U.S., and a rather globally prestigious very large research university in Ireland for an art adjacent major.
The deciding factors:
• a dedicated photography major (NOT “visual arts”) that also expands into other media
• a third year work placement and study abroad
• hands on, practical, project based…no exams and no general ed classes
• from what we can tell, a collaborative and supportive culture, rather than hyper competitive
• should give her time to explore her style and unlike some programs does not require her to choose her focus from day one
• not overly theoretical and “art for arts sake”, but artistic development that leads to careers. She has never been the super artsy kid.
• not on a traditional university campus, but in a thriving, charming city with lots of students—it is very walkable, has a lot of things she enjoys, and access to so many other wonderful places
• not American campus culture. No Greek life. No American politics.
• she was somewhat limited by the time crunch…if she/we had thought of this earlier, she would have had more choices on where to apply, which also could have been overwhelming.
She did not choose the biggest brand name or the “safest” choice. She chose something that is a bit risky, but something that feels authentic to her goals, her values, and all of the things she has been talking to us about for the last year. Yes, we are throwing her into the deep end, but she is also choosing to jump in! She will have to swim! She is scared but EXCITED! And if it’s a bust? The U.S. colleges will still be here.
So many of you contributed to this decision, even if you aren’t aware of it. From all the people who DM’d me offering support and encouragement, to the person who said “stop choosing schools like her last school”, to the one particular contributor who gave us this idea in the first place and who has generously answered a million questions and patiently listened to all my crazy thoughts (you know who you are)… THANK YOU.
