APPLYING TO ART SCHOOL

In the past decade, the anxiety surrounding the subject of college and career choices has risen to near frenzy levels. This seems to us entirely unnecessary, for there are more possibilities available to young students today than at any time in history. Perhaps our first piece of advice, then, is to relax! These may be big decisions, but the world will not end if you do not achieve absolute perfection in answering them by the time you enter college. Keeping your mind open to change and to new ideas, and realizing that the only person you really have to satisfy is yourself, will help immeasurably.

What kind of college?
Students really have two types of decisions to make when considering a college education. The kind of degree you select will determine the goals and the content of the curriculum you experience in college, particularly the relationship between liberal arts and studio art and design classes. The kind of college you select will have great affect on the social and environmental aspects of college, such as the nature of the student body and the college campus. For most college-bound students, curriculum content will be the major factor in college choice, particularly for those entering more specialized fields. Nevertheless, some students are concerned mainly with less academic issues, in which case campus style and atmosphere will override curricular concerns.

A major question is whether to pursue a BFA degree at a specialized "art school" or at the art department of a more general college or university. For a majority of students interested in art and design careers, the intensity and concentration of a specialized art school is the only choice.; they feel they can learn more about art and design in this highly focused setting. For other students, a more wide-ranging environment with students majoring in many different subjects is more to their liking. This is a personal as well as an educational choice — and a tough choice as well.

Sound statistical research about whether students do better in their careers after graduating from one kind of college or another is hard to find, but a number of general statements can be made about this choice. One truth about a specialized art school is that its programs do not have to compete with other divisions of a large campus for attention and funding, nor are there layers of campus administration to go through when making changes to the curriculum or facilities. Change can often be implemented more rapidly at art schools, whereas at larger and more complex universities, making changes or obtaining funds can take considerably more time. A college’s ability to quickly change its program and structure in reaction to changes in the art and design fields is a notable asset today.

It is also true that the vast majority of the students at specialized art schools are quite committed to their choice of an art and design career, and thus can be intensely focused on their studio work. It is in the nature of specialized colleges to attract highly motivated art students. At a general liberal arts college, on the other hand, student interests can be quite varied, with some students highly committed to art practice and study while others are only marginally interested. A strength of these general colleges is the variety in disciplines offered, with students taking many different kinds of majors within the same college. This more wide-ranging campus may be exactly what some students are looking for in their college years, but it may not appeal to highly directed art and design students.

Professional art schools have a wider range of art and design courses to choose from, since this is primarily what they teach. On the other hand, such colleges are likely to have a more limited choice of liberal arts classes and non-art electives, without the larger institution on which to draw. General colleges and universities can offer classes in many more departments outside the art and design curriculum, so choice in non-art subjects is increased considerably. And conversely, small art departments in general colleges might have notably fewer art and design classes, especially when it comes to highly specialized subjects.

It is important to remember, however, as noted elsewhere in this web site, that the number of liberal arts classes in a bachelor’s degree program will be determined by the type of degree and not by the type of college in which you are enrolled. A larger, more broadly structured liberal arts college may have a wider choice of liberal arts courses but requires no more of those courses for a four-year BFA than does a specialized art and design school. A BFA degree must have a certain ratio of liberal arts courses to studio courses, no matter what kind of college offers it.

There is also the issue of campus size to consider, whether you are looking at an art school or a liberal arts college. On average, larger colleges tend to have larger classes and higher student/faculty ratios. Conversely, smaller colleges tend to have smaller classes and lower student/faculty ratios. Smaller campuses — whether art and design or liberal arts colleges — will almost always provide a more intimate setting and more personal attention. And larger schools often can be impersonal places, where a student can be “lost in the crowd.”

However, larger colleges will also usually have a wider variety of activities and support services, which many students desire. If this interests you, you should also be aware that many small or specialized colleges have formal exchange programs or cooperative arrangements with larger nearby colleges. This affords students the possibility of attending a smaller college while simultaneously gaining some of the services available at larger institutions. These arrangements often involve academic exchanges as well, so students may be able to get a wider range of liberal arts courses at the same time.

In the end, these are all personal issues; there are trade-offs, which only you can measure for yourself. A significant number of highly motivated art and design students feel that only an intense, professional, focused setting like an independent art school has the best combination of students, faculty and curriculum for success in their chosen career. Other art students manage to fit in well in the art departments of universities or liberal arts colleges.

The Admissions Process
While there are almost as many admissions procedures as there are colleges, a few generalities can be presented here that will cover the majority of situations. But first, we’d like to repeat the advice we gave at the start of this book: relax and don’t worry. College admissions competition has escalated lately to the point that it creates needless anxiety for everyone involved, especially the students. The reality is that there is a college — indeed a right college — for everyone who wants to attend. Of course, it is important to attend as good a college as possible, but the qualitative differences among the colleges most students apply to are not terribly large. Attending your second choice instead of your first choice college will not ruin your life. Attending the wrong college for you, however, may be costly.

The most important thing is that you look for the college that matches your needs and goals, not someone else’s idea of what is important. This means being candid about what you care about in a college, what kind of campus environment you wish to spend four years in, and what you think you want to do with your life. In-person campus tours, sitting in on classes, even spending a night in the dorm, can provide invaluable insight into the nature of the colleges you are considering. We recommend that this phase of the admissions process — thinking about what you want and learning as much as possible about your colleges — receive your primary attention.

Specialized art and design colleges will invariably require you to submit your cumulative academic record and a portfolio of your art work. Many will also require an essay and your recent SAT/ACT scores. Most will advise a personal interview, if at all possible, and a few will require it for those within a certain distance from campus. In general, the same applies to art and design programs within liberal arts colleges and universities. However, for some colleges the student applies to the college first and then to the art program later on, so a portfolio may not be necessary at the first-year entry level. Read their catalogs carefully for these details.

The portfolio, like college admissions in general, causes great anxiety for applicants as well. And, like admissions anxiety, most of this stress is unnecessary. Your “portfolio” is simply a small collection of your recent work. There is no magic threshold that qualifies it as a portfolio; if you have work you have a portfolio. The primary purpose of a portfolio is to show your skills, creativity, interests, ambition, and commitment.

There is no simple prescription for content that will assure your acceptability, however, and showing a high level of motivation can easily overcome a limited art background. Schools rarely have a formulaic approach to the portfolio; rather, they want to see generally how you have developed thus far and what you may be capable of in the future. A few colleges (check the catalogs) may also require a small, formal “home test” to get specific kinds of work they are interested in and to overcome the wide variances they see in applicant portfolios and educational backgrounds.

Most schools are keen to see drawing, since it is a basic form of visual communication. You are almost always better off drawing directly from life (observation) than from a photograph. Beyond that, your portfolio should contain some breadth of artworks which show that you have worked in several different media or subjects. It should also reflect your own personal direction to the extent you have developed one. If you are very interested in one aspect of art or design, then you should have more of that in your portfolio. And conversely, if your interests range widely, then a more general presentation is appropriate. It is not necessary to show “one of everything” in your portfolio, but it is important to show general art ability and to reflect your own personal interests. Also, for those schools where there is no common first-year Foundation program or for students entering above the first-year level, a more focused portfolio is expected.