What I Learned From Touring SAIC, SVA, Parsons, and Pratt

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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Hi guys! Since many people do not have the means to tour these schools and get an honest feel for the campus/programs, I thought I would give my take. I intend on pursuing a major in illustration or 2D animation and possibly creative writing, so my tours were geared mostly towards these areas, but I did see other facilities/hear about other majors & will discuss those! For reference, I visited SAIC in July 2016, and I saw Pratt, SVA, and Parsons in June 2017. Here goes:

SAIC:
LOCATION/STUDENT LIFE: I quite like the Chicago area. To me, it has that gritty city vibe that NYC has, but it is slightly smaller and mixed in with an almost Californian vibe with the beach and Navy Pier being right by the school. Students have lots to do, places to go, and easy access to public transport. Not to mention the museum of contemporary art and several others just a short walk from campus.
CAMPUS: They have an urban campus. Really nice buildings, unlike SVA (which I will get into later) they are embedded into the city and have their own buildings/common areas for students rather than being crammed into various random buildings.
DORMS: One of the biggest pros I have to say right away was the housing. The dorms they typically give undergrad students are doubles, each with a private bathroom. They were spacious, clean, and had their OWN bathroom with a toilet/shower/all that. Huge window in every dorm giving a nice view of the city. For all you parents, don’t worry! There is a security guard posted at the lobby of the dorms who will not let anyone up unless they scan a valid SAIC ID. I felt that the dorms were a safe haven tucked in the heart of the city.
CURRICULUM: I attended a figure drawing class, and it was quite interesting and fast-paced. There were other courses such as Experimental Drawing and Art for Change that also seemed really interesting. Of course, figure drawing was geared towards realism and craftsmanship, but the overall sentiment of the profs was to push our ideas to the limits and dream big. Past work from the program looked awesome+unique.
FACILITIES:
SAIC has nice studios for students inside each dorm building- in mine it was on the top floor and was well-ventilated, had spaces for students to set up adn work, open all night…etc. Their academic buildings had tons of nice facilities ranging from a woodworking studio to glass blowing machinery that I have NO IDEA how to even describe.
REP: Lots of people have hinted to me that SAIC is very much geared towards that “fine art” vibe, perhaps pushing its students to go in the direction of cutting-edge modern art. I did not get this vibe when I was there, but looking back I can see what they mean by that. Ultimately, all of the profs I met (both then and at portfolio day events) have been supportive of my art and encouraged my ideas.

SVA:
LOCATION/STUDENT LIFE: While Parsons is located right in the heart of Greenwich Village, SVA is kinda just…somewhere. Although cosmetically they are not located in a spot as picturesque as Greenwich Village, students will still get just as authentic an experience in New York City.
CAMPUS: I kind of hate the campus. I don’t HATE it, except that during the tour they were leading us to different random buildings, one of which seemed like it belonged to some other business, where SVA had just set up house in a couple of the floors? Some of the areas are stuffy and have narrow, blank hallways leading to sort of crummy theaters/halls. I will admit that they have some good electronics for animators/digital artists like giant Mac computers that you can work on. Also, the one thing i did LOVE was the senior spaces. I was shown the cartooning and illustration departments’ spaces for seniors to work on their final projects, and the cartooning ones were small desks with computers in a sort of cramped area, but the illustration area…WOW. Stall after stall of spaces on the top floor with giant windows overlooking the city, roomy private spaces for each artist to set up their work.
HOUSING: Did not get to tour housing
FACILITIES: While this is not my major, they had a ton of cool equipment for film students like pre-made sets and tons of cameras and tech for students to rent out. Their theater where they screen final projects and host various events is located in a nice spot in Chelsea. I would not go to SVA for a more traditional major because facilities like woodworking studios will not be available to you.
REP: SVA, as far as I’m concerned, is on the map for their animation dept because of alumnus and creator of Steven Universe, Rebecca Sugar. However, their illustration dept actually seems to be stronger than the animation department, at least at the moment.

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Parsons:
LOCATION/STUDENT LIFE: Unlike SVA, Parsons is right in the heart of Greenwich Village, which is in my opinion one of the prettiest parts of New York City. There are actual trees, a six-story Barnes and Noble, food trucks, and neighboring schools like NYU. Students at this school will be located in a nice spot with lots of places to eat and spend their time outside of class, and there is likely a large community of young people in that area because of the several colleges in that area.
CAMPUS: I can only describe this campus in one word: FANCY. Not only are they located right in Greenwich Village next to the likes of NYU, all of their buildings are so unnecessarily fancy, it’s kind of ridiculous. They have theaters where they frequently host TED Talks, and their main building that appears on their website has a sleek style to it. The hallways in their academic building are weirdly color-coded, like one hall will be red ALL OVER, lockers and walls and everything, and the next will be green or something. It was like a creepy Ikea vibe. Classrooms were fine, more space than SVA and about the same as SAIC.
HOUSING: wasn’t able to tour housing
FACILITIES: There was a ton of space for students to get work done. I’m talking rows and rows of desks that seem to go endlessly. There were some cool things they kind of showed off during the tour like electric looms and 3D printers and all that. Like every school on this post besides SVA has all of that, IDK why these colleges think it’s some feat. Anyway, they also had A LOT A LOT of industrial equipment for the more hands-on majors. There was an entire section of the building dedicated to power tools, various saws, and other hardcore stuff like that that any student was able to receive training for and then use. I’d argue that their biggest program is fashion, and they rightfully had tons of fashion studios with mannequins and sewing stuff strewn about, students working inside even as we toured.
REP: Parsons is known as a huge fashion school, in my opinion. One of the cool parts about Parsons is that they are super sophisticated and part of a bigger school called the New School, and students at Parsons can take courses as they please at any of the other schools, like Eugene Lang, the liberal arts branch. Anyway, I ended up not applying here, actually, because I think I would do better as a visual artist at a school not so fashion-centered. Plus it is SO EXPENSIVE.

Pratt:
LOCATION/STUDENT LIFE: Pratt, unlike other NY art schools, is in Brooklyn. It’s just a 20min train ride outside of NYC, which is either a nice thing or a loss depending on what kind of student life you like. Pratt students say that there are plenty of places to eat and just hang out in Brooklyn, but if you wanted you could easily get to the city.
CAMPUS: of these four schools, Pratt is the anomaly. Its campus is traditional and not urban like the others, meaning that it’s a closed-off space with its academic facilities and housing all in one area. I personally love the campus because it doesn’t feel like you are in the city: there are trees and greenery everywhere you turn, with the old buildings of the campus giving off a traditional college USC-esque vibe to me. One con of this was the lack of air conditioning in some areas. I will say that it could be because most of these buildings were not in use during summer, but still.
HOUSING: Housing was bleh. Not exactly awesome spaces. There are several different buildings with housing, but they are all mostly the same deal. We went into one designated for freshmen. It was a kind of typical, dank area with a gross-looking common area and blank white halls. There were doubles and a communal bathroom at the end of the hall. Some dorms are two doubles connected by a shared bathroom, which imo is better than a communal one, but you have to clean it yourself. Like some other colleges, there are neat themed floors, which is nice for me because I am trans and would definitely live on the LGBT floor.
FACILITIES: While SVA had mostly digital, and Parsons had a mix of digital and traditional, Pratt had mostly traditional facilities. They had a TON of cool spaces with materials to help students with metal sculpture, printmaking, woodwork- you name it, they had it. While they teach animation and digital arts, I did not see many spaces related to that.
REP: Some criticize Pratt for not having as structured a curriculum as students would like and for not “teaching anything”. However, some students are also in love with Pratt. Maybe it depends on which program of study you are enrolled in? Generally, Pratt is held in high esteem.

That’s it lads. If you have any questions, feel free to comment or send me a message. If there is something I got totally wrong about one of these schools, PLEASE tell me haha because I have to choose one to attend before May 1st!

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This was super helpful, thank you!!

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@aquawoman no problem!! :smiley:

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Which college did you decide to attend? These schools are all top choices for my daughter, same major. Thanks!