Searching for College w\ excellent Art and Design and Education

[OrpheusSM]

l'm in the middle of college searching. lm not sure of my career plans, but
what l do know is that l love art and design, but l still want to get a really
good education. It seems as though schools that provide a great education lack
in design and vice versa. l'm currently looking at Brown, Columbia, NYU, RISD,
Parsons, and Pratt. Please E-mail me if you can assist me with your knowledge.
Thank you.
Farrah

[William O. Barrett]

OrpheusSM wrote:

I think you need to think more about what you really mean and really want. I do
not believe the "quality" of the liberal arts classes (assuming that's what you
mean by "good education") will be terribly different at say NYU or Parsons, or
Brown or RISD - just to pick pairs in the same city. What differs is the
quantity.

The first three colleges you name all offer (if my recollection is correct) BA
degrees, in which liberal arts are roughly two-thirds of the course work. The
latter three above all offer the BFA degree, in which studio classes (art &
design) are roughly two-thirds of the course work. A BA is intended as a liberal
arts program with some art. A BFA is intended as an art & design degree, with
some liberal arts. The difference is mainly in the quantity of the liberal arts;
one is purposely general in focus and one is purposely specialized in focus. But
looking at the faculty bios would tell me that the teaching capabilities of the
faculty are not very different at any of these schools, specialized or
otherwise. I would match the liberal arts courses at Cooper Union or Chicago Art
Institute or Maryland Institute against most liberal arts faculty at general
colleges.

So I would suggest getting off the question of quality of the general education
(which is not terribly differrent at most good colleges in the US anyhow) and
focus on whether you want a specialized BFA or a general BA. And realize that
BFA's are not avilable only at specialized art schools. Syracuse,
Carnegie-Mellon, Univ. of Michigan, etc., all offer BFA degrees.

[Dave]

> l'm in the middle of college searching. lm not sure of my career plans, but
> what l do know is that l love art and design, but l still want to get a really
> good education. It seems as though schools that provide a great education lack
> in design and vice versa. l'm currently looking at Brown, Columbia, NYU, RISD,
> Parsons, and Pratt. Please E-mail me if you can assist me with your knowledge.

> Thank you.
> Farrah

Have you ever considered the San Francisco Academy of Art?

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