RISD, Pratt, SAIC, CMU. Where for design?

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

So I’m at that stage where I have to choose where the heck I have to go for the next 4 years, and I have no idea how to proceed. My family does not have an artistic background at all and my guidance counselor has not been much help since im pursuing a more specialized field. I hope go pursue a degree in communications design or illustration. Preferably I’d like to attend CMU or RISD, but finances are an issue.

Pratt and SAIC gave me very good merit scholarships. Pratt gave me $26,000/yr (or $104,000 for all 4 years) and SAIC $84,000 for all 4 years. I am also a Scholastic Art and Writing national gold medalist, so I have been offered a small amount of additional scholarship money too for these schools, but not enough to make much of a difference (Pratt $500/yr and SAIC $2,000/yr) and I also have a small amount of federal aid. I have visited both schools and favor Chicago over Brooklyn… but I was 90% sure my tour guide at Pratt was high on some sort of drug during the tour. The school seemed somewhat dingy compared to the more modern facilities at SAIC, which were very nice. However, I’ve heard SAIC is more of a fine arts school, which I am not very interested in, also, Chicago’s winter would be unbearable for me since I’m from Florida. My grandparents live 7 miles away from Pratt so I might possibly be commuting which would save me even more money on housing. SAIC doesn’t negotiate with aid unless I appeal and I have not contacted Pratt yet for more money.

RISD gave me very little aid… Around $10,300 and half of those are loans. However, they have a very strong illustration program which I’d love to pursue. Also, the reputation of the school is held in high regard (#1 design school in the country) and a very high job placement rate to boot, but I’d have to take out over $200k in loans. Their financial aid office was not helpful at all and seemed like they just wanted to hang up the entire time when I called. They do not negotiate. I have not visited RISD, but I’d prefer a more suburban setting rather than a city and the lower acceptance rate would weed out a lot of less dedicated people, so I’d assume the composition of the student body is better which is hugely important to me.

CMU… I actually got waitlisted at their design school which was pretty frustrating since they literally only waitlist 10 people. I have visited the campus and LOVE the surrounding area and the school itself, especially the student body and atmosphere which was very diverse as opposed to being made up of just artsy types. I have not received my aid package yet, and I can’t really predict what it will be. Like RISD, job placement rate is high and the median starting salary for undergrads is significantly higher also, so I’d be more leniant in taking out more loans for this school. If I get off the waitlist, I do plan on attending if the financial situation is manageable but from what I’ve heard it’s very difficult to do so… So for now I’d have to choose between the previous 3 schools.

We’re a typical middle class family and I live with my father who makes around $50k/yr. My mother makes around $60k/yr but I have conflict with her and am not sure if she’d be 100% willing to help pay for my education, but it’s not a lost cause. Finances are obviously an issue but I would also like to place job outlook and quality of education into account.

2

No specific advice but more sympathy re RISD. My daughter also was accepted and got some aid but they’re still her most expensive school out of her top picks. We’re waiting on MICA’s final aid package to make a decision since she also really likes that school and got a great aid package from Syracuse.

While RISD is obviously a great school, both Pratt and SAIC are also very highly regarded. I adjunct in a BFA department at a small local college and want to emphasize that you can get a great foundation in arts anywhere by applying yourself and being smart and proactive about networking.

Good luck with your decision - we feel your pain! :\

3

Ok, trying not to be too scold-y with these comments/questions because congratulations, you got into 3 great schools. And being waitlisted at CMU Design is impressive also- you must be very talented (but they probably understand that you won’t be able to attend for financial reasons).

Do not personally spend $200K to get a degree in ComD/Illustration. Unless you have some career plan that I’m not aware of being a possibility, it will take you a VERY long time to pay that off. Even if you are able to get a job in interaction/web design (is it an interest?) after graduation, it takes a while to start making real $ in these positions.

RISD (and CMU, if you get in) are notoriously stingy with financial aid, apparently even loans. RISD in particular seems like it sees a lot of full-pay students and doesn’t care much to accommodate students with moderate need.

You should know at this point whether and how much both of your parents will contribute to your education. I know it can be a painful and certainly awkward discussion, but unfortunately most schools will not take a “conflicted” parental relationship into account when determining financial need. That 70K your mother makes puts you solidly in the “donut hole” of middle class families that get kind of screwed with finaid. It sucks, but it’s reality.

Also, did you know that you can’t personally take out enough in loans to pay for these schools? One of your parents will need to co-sign, and at this point your mother would probably have an easier time qualifying.

The key is not how much you got in aid, it is your total cost of attendance. I’m guessing however that all of these schools are around $60k/yr so in this case it’s an even playing field. But if you have a local state school option, it doesn’t matter how much aid you received, because it’s probably still less than Pratt.

Do you have any other options? A state school with a good Graphic Design/ComD program might be the way to go here depending on cost.

But, to answer your question, Pratt sounds like the way to go to me- a very good reputation, good aid, and close to family. Art school kids will be on drugs wherever you go. NYC is a great place to be in art school.

But do figure out how much your parents can and will contribute- $100-120k in college loans can take 20 years to pay off when the first 3-5 years out of school are generally pretty low earning years.

4

Congratulations on your acceptances!

I don’t want to be a downer, but you need to think about what kind of debt you want to take on. All of the schools you listed are excellent, but the biggest predictor of your success is you, not so much which school you graduate from.

The other thing you may want to think about is that many art school students transfer. If you commit to one school and find it isn’t meeting your needs, then you can always transfer to another one. 2 years of RISD is much less expensive than 4.

Finally, there is this post from a couple of years ago. It isn’t to malign any one school but to broaden your scope.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rhode-island-school-design/1656203-risd-graduate-faces-hundreds-of-thousands-of-student-loans-he-cannot-pay-off.html

FWIW, my D was in almost the same situation as you a couple of years ago. Admitted to RISD, big merit at Pratt and SAIC, nice h.s. national awards (she didn’t apply to CMU). We didn’t rule out any of them. But what helped to make up her mind was writing the professors at these schools and learning more about their programs. What also helped was attending the Accepted Students Days.

Best of luck to you.

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Aid package came from CMU. $53k/yr in grants, very affordable. And it’s the only school I got waitlisted at. This really sucks.

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Congrats, that is amazing! It is a small school, I wonder if it would be a good idea to give them a call to demonstrate your interest. At the very least a letter is in order.

The Design school must be different than other schools at CMU- I know a recruited diver in Engineering who’s finaid actually was worse (and almost nonexistent) than the estimate they got prior to ED.

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Thanks! I’ll probably be giving them a call soon about that. Not too sure about emailing a letter since they seem to be swarmed due to the timing.

It seems to be the general consensus that CMU either gives out near full rides to their top pick students or barely any money at all to the rest, with very little middle ground… but this makes absolutely no sense to me at all since I was waitlisted rather than accepted. I’m still scratching my head at why they’d be so generous with aid if I wasn’t one of their first pick students, especially being in that weird middle-class niche where we’re too poor for college but too rich for substantial aid. I guess the applicant pool was just really strong this year since they got a record amount of applications. Although it’s great news, I’m kind of concerned about my huge aid package though; their waitlist decisions aren’t need-blind due to limited FA resources.

I’m not really sure how they do aid, but I’m assuming it’s done by the admissions office rather by then school. I’ve emailed School of Design directly before regarding a situation and they told me they weren’t in charge of that and forwarded it to the admissions/finaid office.

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@youmus if you have a good relationship with your college advisor, you could ask them to call and try to clarify what’s going on here. CMU’s waitlist is ranked, and last year they stopped releasing rank to advisors “by request”, now it just says “No”.

https://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/pdf/cds_2013_14/c_firsttimefirstyearadmission.pdf

https://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/pdf/cds_2014-15/c-first-time-first-year-admission.pdf

I agree it is baffling. Certainly CMU is your best shot financially if you could get in off the waitlist, and from my limited perspective, it is an amazing school. I think it’s worth calling and pushing them for some feedback/explanation.