UChicago Art Major Hoping/Interested in Transferring to T25 With Good Art Program

Chance Me / Match Me
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Before I start I want to say I know it often looks crazy to want to transfer from an already top institution to another.

However, I think focusing on the fact that the school was already a top institution is a major reason as to why I ended up in this predicament. TLDR: I am a low income freshman that went to a somewhat rural public school in the south where most ppl go to our state school (which is of course perfectly fine!!!) So when I got into UChicago EA I felt obligated to go because they gave me so much money, they were an amazing school, I was essentially beating odds, and i thought it wouldn’t be humble of me to want to strive for more.

I realize this was such a terrible mindset as I have encountered students who absolutely love this school when I just decided to go because I felt obligated.

Because of this I have found many qualms such as:

  • Not a strong or really even existent art program. Arts are often overlooked and put into the back burner unless one is a grad student (I’m a visual arts and media major)
  • Not really liking the campus and how it isn’t integrated into the city and so detached from the surrounding community
  • Lack of sports culture, always wanted to go to a school where I could go to games and like actually enjoy it lmao(not a big deal tho)
  • School is heavily STEM/Econ focused which is the opposite of what I wanted, always wanted to go to a super artsy school that wasn’t a purely art college (extremely ironic I know) which makes me feel discounted from the student body
  • among other reasons!

I know Chicago is a city with huge opportunities but aside from how inconvenient it is to get into the heart of Chicago, this is just not the environment I wanted from a school and I regret every day for having such low self esteem’s that made me feel like I had to go.

I really want to transfer to another top institution with a strong and respected art program. I love academic rigor and the fact another top institution could afford me more aid compared to other schools (because in a perfect world I’d apply to RISD :sob:)

The schools I’ve been heavily leaning towards are Yale, Brown, UPenn.

I understand these schools have a lot of the same issues with UChicago, but I’ve found their art programs are more satisfactory and I think I’d be willing to over look some issues for that.

I guess my main reason for making this post is to say I have a GPA of 3.575(just finished my first quarter), I know GPA’s only matter so much but I still want to be competitive and was wondering if any other art people would know if a strong portfolio could compensate for that?

Honestly any general advice from other people involved in the college arts world would be great(but if this doesn’t apply to you I’d also love to hear!)

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A GPA of 3.75 at Chicago (or MIT or Caltech) is not the same thing as a 3.75 from your local public university, or from most other colleges or universities.

Chicago is a “fit” school. To me it sounds like it is not a good fit for you. It is also an exceptionally academically challenging school for someone who wants to study a subject that Chicago is not known for.

So I think that your reasons for wanting to transfer are sound.

Unfortunately art is not an area where I know much. I would however strongly recommend that you ignore the overall ranking of a school, and instead focus on how good it is for your particular major. You are also wise to consider the cost – art is not an area where you are likely to generate enough income to pay off significant student loans.

I do wonder whether your art professors at U.Chicago can give you good advice in this area.

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In the case of U Chicago, this is a good thing.

My D attends Brown and, while not an art student or really interested in it all that much, I would say that Brown does not have a lot of the same issues you listed. Arguably, it doesn’t have any of those issues. And in particular, I certainly find College Hill to be a much better location than Hyde Park. But they are very different schools as far as I can tell.

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I know someone who was in a similar situation, although some of the details are different. This student attended a top university (ranked in top 5) planning to be an art major, but then realized that the art program there was really weak, and that the vibe/culture of the schools wasn’t art-y. This student probably could have transferred to another top school (in their case because they were a nationally ranked athlete) but they wanted to continue their sport at the highest level (and this school was often in contention for national championships.) This student decided to major in something else entirely, and then after graduation went and did 2-3 semesters at an affordable art school, taking all the classes they needed to develop the skills they wanted. This person now works as a successful commercial artist. In their case they do not regret staying with their top school, and say they believe they have gotten job opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise had due to having the initial school’s name on their resume.

In terms of your question about transfer possibilities, I can’t comment on that, I really don’t know.

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