RISD Class of 2013?

Alia
Thu, 14 May 2009 16:08:55 +0000

And, see, Blade, my child/young adult has been at RISD for four years, and I can’t say enough good about the experience – the studio work, the travel, the community. I’ve visited about twice a year over those years and met lots of students and haven’t yet encountered the arrogant ones I’m reading about here. The kids I’ve met there are dedicated and talented and honestly don’t seem to have a lot of time for anything not interesting to them or their work. (Maybe they don’t suffer fools gladly?) Yet, on every visit, my child’s friends, teachers, and colleagues have been unfailingly welcoming to me. I’ve visited studios and gone out for beers with them and been to potlucks at their apartments, and I’ve been thrilled not just by the abundance of talent at RISD, but by the way they care for each other. I’m sure there are self-absorbed people at RISD just as there are everywhere, but the broad brush (no pun intended) used here to paint RISD students as jerks truly seems like a false impression from my perspective.

As to whether it’s the Harvard of art schools, who really cares about the label? It’s about the experience, the work, the education – and for some, RISD is the best fit.