So you want to go to art school. I’ve written a number of posts here, geared to prospective art students, but I really only had one tip: choose carefully.
The best art schools are all public. The worst art schools are all private. But private schools have no obligation to the public; they can be as bad as they wish. Public schools have to compete for students and thus must provide a quality education, or people will vote with their feet and take their tuition elsewhere. In this sense, private colleges are the worst colleges (Adelphi) and public community colleges are the best (Santa Monica College).
Writing about this subject is tricky because most of your readers won’t have had experience in both kinds of institutions, so it’s hard to get a common frame of reference for discussion. Everything will appear like personal opinion, even though that may not be the case. So I’m going to try something different here.
I’ll give you three tips on how to choose an art school, then tell you how I chose SCI-Arc, one of the best art schools in the country. And after that I’ll tell you how I chose my first year at SCI-Arc and what choices I made that might have been better or worse than
You should talk to as many people as you can that have gone to the art school you’re thinking of attending. Ask them what they thought of it, ask them if they’d go back and why, ask their advice on anything else related to going to art school.
How many people? As many as you can. At least five is probably a good number, but the more the better. And try to talk to several different people with different experiences (especially at different schools), so that you get a rounded picture.
It’s also a good idea to talk to your teachers about it; they might have some insight into your particular situation that you’re not aware of yet.
Lastly, but probably most importantly: trust your gut feeling. You will know in your heart if a school is right for you or if it’s not. Listen to yourself first and foremost above anyone else because you will be the one spending all your time there, not the other way around.
Choosing an art college or school can be a difficult process. It’s important to find one that you feel comfortable with, and will pay for itself in the long run. The below article should help in doing just that.
How to Choose a School
1) Look at the school’s website and see what their style is. If you’re interested in realistic art, then it would be a good idea to look for a school whose teachers are realistic artists themselves.
2) Check out the faculty directory on the school’s site. See if there are any teachers whose work you admire, or who share similar interests as yourself.
3) See if the school has any awards or recognitions it has received in the past. This is especially important if you plan on going to grad school after your undergraduate experience is over. Look at the individual’s bios on the site, see where they went after undergrad, and see if they’re still painting/making art today.
If you want to know more about Grayson’s Art Club, check out our website at graysonsartclub.com!
What should you look for in an art school? There are many things to consider: its location, its reputation, the size of its alumni community — the list goes on and on. But to my mind, the three most important factors are its student body, its faculty, and what it expects from you.
Students: diversity is best. Look for a school with students from different backgrounds and ages — not just a bunch of twenty-year-old white guys with beards and tattoos. A school’s vibe can be difficult to put into words, but if you’re looking at a school’s website or walking around campus, ask yourself if you feel like this place is right for you. Faculty: groups of teachers with different perspectives are best. The more opinions you hear about the arts at one place, the better your chances of finding the right approach for you! Expectations: give them some leeway on your first year or two. Look at what a school expects from its students in terms of their work and how they behave — do they put a high value on work that challenges conventional assumptions? Are they flexible about what constitutes “good enough” work? Do they encourage risk-taking? Once you find a place that meets these criteria, make sure it’s also affordable
Whether you’re currently enrolled in a degree program or just thinking about going to art school, here are some things to consider as you begin to research your options.
1. Do you prefer urban or rural settings?
Art schools with a large population of students, faculty and staff provide more opportunities for interaction and engagement with the surrounding community. But, living in a city can also be expensive. Art programs at smaller schools might allow for more one-on-one interaction with professors — a plus for students who want to receive individualized instruction — but students may feel isolated from the larger community where they might have to travel to participate in class events or gallery shows.
2. What kind of student environment do you prefer?
Art schools vary greatly in terms of size and the number of students they accept each year. Art programs at larger universities may be more competitive and saturated with applicants than smaller art schools, which may offer a slower pace and greater diversity among their student body. Some schools have active clubs that bring together art majors and minors across departments while others are strictly departmentalized (students majoring or minoring in one subject cannot take classes outside their department). Size also influences whether courses will be offered as lectures or seminars; small schools tend to offer a higher percentage
Hi everyone, Grayson here. I’m a writer and illustrator who is currently attending SCAD in Atlanta, GA. I’ll be blogging about the whole experience for students who are considering art school or who are already there and want to get some tips on how to get the most out of it.
I’ve picked SCAD because I can’t speak to the experience of other schools firsthand and am not trying to promote any particular school. SCAD is just where I happened to go and has been great so far!
I hope you find my posts interesting, feel free to comment or email me with your own advice or experiences. Good luck with art school!
Because art schools are all different, you need to carefully research any one you are considering attending. You may have a good time at an art school that isn’t right for you and get nothing useful out of it. But unless you’re one of those people who knows exactly what they want to do, research is the only way to ensure that your hard-earned money will be well spent.
