College Advice?

[Aimee]

Alright.
I am a freshman at Columbus College of Art and Design.
All my life I always knew I wanted to do art. Its the only thing I'm good at.
I never even considered any other options. That was my plan and I was sticking to it no matter what. And now I'm at an art school and I don't like it here. Ugh. Why? It seems like wherever I go I can't just be happy.

Coming to CCAD was the biggest mistake of my life.
I hate it here!
I don't know what I want to do.
I love art so much ... but I can't love it if I'm not happy where I'm at. I like the idea of CCAD, but the reality of it is just not for me. I'm not into anime .. I don't like to be labeled and being put into groups ... CCAD is not as diverse as everyone thinks.

Pros:
-Good, solid art education
-Well known school
-Small campus which means easier to talk to professors
-Focused on art and art only [no math or science ... ever!]

Cons:
-Expensive ... really expensive
-Small campus which means ... nothing to do
-Really "clicky" ...
-Small school which means not much of a chance to meet many new people
-4th floor lobby ... ahh ...
-Anime ... lots of anime... yeah I hate it.
-Won't be well - rounded

I need some help with this. This is a really big choice in my life right now .. and I can't afford to make another mistake by choosing the wrong college.

My mom suggested I take a year off. I think thats what I am going to end up doing. I know for a fact I will not be attending CCAD next year.

It scares me not knowing where I will be. I feel so lost and utterly confused.
Help???

 

[BellaRisa]

I'm going to hook you up with Jhoti, my best friend I've been telling you about. She's an AMAZING artist and she went to CCAD, and I'm sure she'd be good for you to talk to about all this. Meanwhile, if you have any idea what you do want to focus on (obviously not anime ) I'd start looking into schools that are stronger in those subjects. That might mean not going to school in Columbus, which you've told me scares you and your mom, but part of growing up is leaving home and I know you want to meet new people and have new experiences...

 

[penny lane]

Hi Mamms,

I would listen to your mom and take a year off. There's no sense in spending any more money on an education that you're bored with, or unsure about. School will always be there if and when you decide to go back.

However, I will say that it can be hard, or maybe I should say, unmotivating (that's a word, right?), to go back to school once you've been out. At least for me it was...it has taken me forever to get my masters, and I wish I had done it when I was younger and more motivated. But I digress, listen to your gut feeling. That's usually your best bet.

Hope that helps. Lets us know what you decide.

 

[gluestick]

If this school makes you miserable while also being expensive then its obviously not worth it. On the other hand they say once you leave its tough to go back. i would suggest you go part time and take some art courses at the local community college or state school just to keep you on track. Its cheaper and may be more what you're looking for both academically and socially. I have no idea what art school is like, but in my experience cliques aren't such a big deal in the academic side of college. Maybe your area of interest just concentrates cliquishness. I dunno. I've heard good things about art institute of pittsburgh but again, that might just be another expensive mistake. if you're dead set on going back to an art school just make sure that they have a strong program in the area you want to be involved in.

Also if you're good at art you should showcase some of your talent here, whether its kink or not. I'm sure others on the forum would enjoy it.

 

[sean901]

It scares me not knowing where I will be. I feel so lost and utterly confused.
Help???

One must lose them self to truly ever find them self.
Try not to stress on it mate. You dont look much over 18, which means you've got plenty of time to work it out. Go and work on a bar for a few months in Ibiza or something. (though i'm not saying thats the best idea i ever had, but it worked for me).

 

[Flatfoot]

Contrary to what may have been forced down your throat by guidance counselors when you were younger, at your age you don't have to know exactly what you wanna do for the rest of your life. It's okay to be scared, but at 19, you've got plenty of time to change your mind/major/career choices.

Your college does sound very specialized/specific, which may limit your opportunities for growth. A nice thing about having standard curriculum requirements is that you get to take electives that let you explore things you may have never considered studying. Perhaps you should take your mother's advice and take a year off. Like Penny Lane stated, no sense in spending money if you're not getting your money's worth. However, DURING that year off, I'd look around at other school choices, or potential majors that you may find interesting to study.

Also, on a side note, you shouldn't say that "It's the ONLY things you're good at." When you tell yourself that, you can end up putting that art degree on a pedestal that will pressure you into worrying that your success in life will be completely dependent upon that piece of paper. I don't know if I've worded that in a way that makes any sense, but basically, there's more to you as a person then an art degree. I don't know you, so I'm not saying that to kiss your backside or anything, but as people, we are more than the sum of our accomplishments. That's the best way I can word it.

 

[Musicroxmysox]

Good for you admitting that you are still unsure. I think that taking a year off will be good for you and you will find someplace you will really love.

Heck even after four years I am still unsure about my life and what I have chosen to do. It takes a long time, and a little bit of faith. Anything in life is like that I think.

 

[Strider]

Speaking from my own experience, going to college before you're absolutely sure that you're ready is one of the biggest mistakes you can possibly make.

So, I echo the take time off recommendation. I know this is a cliche, but you're extremely young, and taking a year (or even a few years) off to figure stuff out is not at all unreasonable.

 

[LD_Tickler]

Come to Canada, go to Sheridan. I know a couple of people there who were amazing artists when they started, and are now absolutely fantastic. They have guaranteed job options lined up - that is, those who aren't already working as concept artists for major media studios.

 

[asutickler]

My girlfriend (who seems to read more of the forum than I do lately) suggested that you consider a graphic design program at a larger campus. That way you can get the large campus feeling and you can use your interest in art in a way that is a little more diverse. A degree in graphic design can give you a lot of options. ASU actually has a pretty good program (girlfriend lived with 2 different graphic majors).

 

[KrazieDog]

Speaking from my own experience, going to college before you're absolutely sure that you're ready is one of the biggest mistakes you can possibly make.

So, I echo the take time off recommendation. I know this is a cliche, but you're extremely young, and taking a year (or even a few years) off to figure stuff out is not at all unreasonable.

I can not stress what Strider said enough. I did the same thing as you. With parents offering to help pay for school, I went for a while, realized I didn't want to be there and doing what I was doing, so I left. The down side was that my dad said "well, that was our offer to help, so next time you make a go of it, it's all you", but I understood totally. I took the time, worked and got some real world experience that in every job since, has served me more than the degree on my wall, and when "I" was was ready to go back, I did. I had a blast and graduated with honors, I think due in most part because I wanted to do what I was doing, and because I wanted to be there.

So I'd agree and tell you, take some time off and clear your head. Research and think about things you'd like to do, then go back when you are ready. Good luck to ya.

 

[steph]

I dropped out for a year and a half, with 2 classes left. People tried to talk me out of it, said I was making a huge mistake and that I'd never return.

They were wrong. I went back and got my degree.

XOXO

PS~My brother attended Parsons and loved it. He's internationally famous and living his dream in Turkey these days. You're not that far away from that university. I can maybe pick his brain if you like for suggestions. Just say the word.

 

[manic971]

It sounds to me like you've already made up your mind to at the very least take a year off, and from how you describe your experience at the school, it sounds like that's the best decision for you.

I'd recommend looking into a community college for next year where you can go and get some of your gen-eds out of the way for cheap. Plus, even if you only take a few classes it will still keep you in school mode, so you won't loose your motivation.

The small school thing isn't necessarily bad, they offer some major advantages that you won't get at a larger campus. However they do come at the price of being closed off from the world around them and being clicky. I would recommend giving some liberal arts schools a look, many of them have very strong fine arts programs and offer a more well rounded education but won't cram science and math down your throat...but you would still be required to have a few credits there.

 

[BlackestLily]

Well, I teach this stuff. So I'd like to think I have some voice that matters here.

Art can be a lot of things. What in art interests you? Fine art? Designing? Animation? Product design? Digital Production? Etc.

ALL 'purely' art schools are very expensive. We're talking 40 grand and upward a year. The point of college is to give yourself the opportunity to learn the 'know how' for your dream job, or what have you. This in turn pays back what you borrowed to pay for college plus more. If you don't know where you're going, how are you going to get there? In Mapquest you actually have to type in a destination to get directions.

Fortunately, a lot of art can be self taught. Which means if you're damn good at what you do, you can go to even non-specialty art schools and still get a great education. You'll get out of college what you put into it.

Consider going to a community college for a year. It's inexpensive and you can experiment with many classes to find what's right for you if it's not art. Some community colleges even offer art programs that transfer to 4 year universities.

But you must understand you will find a lot of that cliqish behavior in an art college. They don't usually require you to take math, science, etc classes. Most don't even require ACT scores. So in that, it's very much having 'the art attitude' (and it's very annoying).

Odd statement, but it sounds like you're where you should be in your life.

 

[Bohemianne]

Ugh. Why? It seems like wherever I go I can't just be happy.

^ Hello mammers, please do change this attitude. You seem to be lucky enough.

 

[Redmage]

A year off is a good idea, but make it a productive year - one that will keep you moving, even if it's not in a specific direction. A year of exploring options is a good possibility.

One of the best options might be to find ways to talk and work with people who do what you want to do. You can find out from them where they went to school, what they studied, what they liked/didn't like about it, what they would do differently, and what's really required to do that sort of work.

There are lots of ways to get that kind of contact. Some possibilities...

• Is there any possibility of an internship anywhere near you? Look around for a design or art shop (that is, a place where people do it, not a place where they sell it) and ask if they have a need for an intern.
  
• Join LinkedIn. It's never too early to start networking, but this could be an especially useful option for you. In addition to giving you professional contacts that could be very helpful later, LinkedIn offers discussion groups that could give you all sorts of good info. For example there's the Graphic Designers Professional Group. You can join a few groups like that and talk with people all over the country who are doing what you want to do. Find out where they went to school and why they chose those places. Get a real feel for the business from people who are doing it. You might even find someone near you that you can sit down with over coffee.
  
• Is there a professor at your current school that you especially admire, or with whom you have a good rapport? Talk to him or her. Where did that teacher go to school? Why there? Was there anything that he or she would do differently in retrospect?

Also, as some others have pointed out, you don't have to choose your life goal right now. When I started college I was going to be a medical doctor. I ended up with a double major in Chemistry and Philosophy, worked as a chemist for several years, and these days I'm a writer. What you end up doing may have nothing to do with what you set out thinking you'll do.

With that in mind, consider a few options that are as far from where you are now as you can get. Heck, you might consider enlisting in the military for a few years, then coming back to college. There are all sorts of possibilities.

 

[love feet]

Come to Canada, go to Sheridan. I know a couple of people there who were amazing artists when they started, and are now absolutely fantastic. They have guaranteed job options lined up - that is, those who aren't already working as concept artists for major media studios.

I second that Sheridan is really good at art &
multicultural as is Canada so you will meet a lot of people ... its small too
so you will love that it is also world famous for art no SAT that's a +!!
OK this now ends my Canada plug!

 

[EcEu]

wow amy, i had no idea you thought this way about your school.

I'll admit, the conversations we had about your school did give me the impression things seemed kind of... stiff for an art school.

It's good that you came out about this, Bella's suggestion with her friend may be a good one if you're really not sure about wanting to stay.

I find that i'm in a very happy place here at the local university. It certainly feels more open ended then what you told me about your classes. Besides the art classes, i'm also taking some general education classes like writing/prose and physics to balance them out. Sometimes, even all art classes is too much. Plus these all work toward a bachelor or arts degree.

Amy if you were fortunate enough to get into CCAD I'm very sure you should be able to make it into a UC school in your area. Even if the university isn't devoted strictly to art, they do have a good art program, just like they do their other departments.

The biggest mistake i've seen some of my friends do is take a year off, then go back to school, and quit the very next semester because they couldn't readjust. I wouldn't want to see you fall into that.

Your school right now does give me the feeling of a technical school, i think if you changed your school to a university it would then feel more open and more free than it currently is.

 

[subterfuge]

This is just my opinion:

If you want to go to college, great. It's a good idea to get a degree in something, just for the greater lifetime earning potential if nothing else.

If you want to be an artist, that's great too. But don't go to college to become an artist. It's not necessary. To be an artist, all you need to do is create - and it's also a good idea to hang around with other artists. That's where going to art school comes in, it gives people a chance to become part of a creative community. But there are other ways to do that which don't involve going into a scary amount of debt.

If you liked your school and your program, that would be different, and I'd say more power to you. But don't make the mistake of thinking you can't be an artist without a B.F.A., or whatever degree you're working toward. If it's important to you that you finish college, but you don't like your program, then study something else, just for the hell of it. You can still be an artist, even if your degree is in something totally unrelated.

But if the degree is not that important to you (and I recommend you consider this carefully, because it is worth something once you're out in the working world) then maybe formal higher education just isn't for you. Good luck figuring all this out!

 

[Adam]

Hon, the last thing I think it would be wise for me to do would be to offer you advice. I hardly had a college career to begin with, and besides, everyone's situation is different. I just want to wish you the best in whatever decision you end up making. If it feels right to you, then it is the right one for you. I hope that makes sense.

 

[MrMacphisto]

All I gotta say is... If you're in the art field right now... good luck.

With the economy being as screwed as it currently is, finding a job in art is pretty hard. Things might turn around by the time you're out of college, but that's definitely not a certainty by any means.

You may want to consider moving into something more practical like business.

 

[Redmage]

If you want to be an artist, that's great too. But don't go to college to become an artist. It's not necessary. To be an artist, all you need to do is create - and it's also a good idea to hang around with other artists.

With the economy being as screwed as it currently is, finding a job in art is pretty hard. Things might turn around by the time you're out of college, but that's definitely not a certainty by any means.

Subterfuge, and Mac, I think both of you are working from the same misconception about art. Commercial artists generally aren't sitting in a studio with an easel, making something that will end up on the wall of a gallery. Sure, some do that in their spare time, but it's not what makes them commercial artists.

Rather, commercial artists do things like technical illustration, graphic design and illustration for magazines, photo editing, marketing art, and animation. These tend to be cubicle jobs for mainstream companies, and those companies do like to see people with degrees in art from recognized universities. In fact they'll often insist on that degree before they'll even look at an artist's portfolio.

I work as a writer, and you'd think you wouldn't need a college degree for that either - and you don't, if you're Stephen King (though in fact King has a BS in English). Freelancers writing for magazines don't need a degree - their writing is what they're judged by. But if you want to get a staff job writing for a magazine, or to become a technical writer (which is what I do) or a copywriter in marketing, then you pretty much have to have a degree these days. Most professional writers have degrees in English or Journalism. Mine are in Chemistry and Philosophy.

It's a sad thing, but even the creative fields usually expect a sheepskin for commercial success these days.

 

[MrMacphisto]

Subterfuge, and Mac, I think both of you are working from the same misconception about art. Commercial artists generally aren't sitting in a studio with an easel, making something that will end up on the wall of a gallery. Sure, some do that in their spare time, but it's not what makes them commercial artists.

Rather, commercial artists do things like technical illustration, graphic design and illustration for magazines, photo editing, marketing art, and animation. These tend to be cubicle jobs for mainstream companies, and those companies do like to see people with degrees in art from recognized universities. In fact they'll often insist on that degree before they'll even look at an artist's portfolio.

I work as a writer, and you'd think you wouldn't need a college degree for that either - and you don't, if you're Stephen King (though in fact King has a BS in English). Freelancers writing for magazines don't need a degree - their writing is what they're judged by. But if you want to get a staff job writing for a magazine, or to become a technical writer (which is what I do) or a copywriter in marketing, then you pretty much have to have a degree these days. Most professional writers have degrees in English or Journalism. Mine are in Chemistry and Philosophy.

It's a sad thing, but even the creative fields usually expect a sheepskin for commercial success these days.

Oh, I understand what you're saying. My father is a commercial artist, but he didn't enter that field until years after working other jobs. The fact that he's an artist now is primarily because of luck. He happened to be friends with a guy that started up his own graphic arts company. If it weren't for that connection, my dad would probably still be a metallurgist working in a lab. Granted, there's obviously nothing wrong with that. I tend to share my dad's ability in science, but I guess I didn't really inherit much of his creative talent.

The point is... while jobs do exist in the art field, they are very limited compared to the possibilities in things like business. There are only so many artistic job openings out there, and the labor force for art is pretty flooded already. Why? Because art is fun. I think a lot of us would love to make a living off of one art form or another, but most of us aren't going to be able to do that.

In effect, by going into art, you're fighting the odds.

 

[subterfuge]

Subterfuge, and Mac, I think both of you are working from the same misconception about art. Commercial artists generally aren't sitting in a studio with an easel, making something that will end up on the wall of a gallery. Sure, some do that in their spare time, but it's not what makes them commercial artists.

Rather, commercial artists do things like technical illustration, graphic design and illustration for magazines, photo editing, marketing art, and animation. These tend to be cubicle jobs for mainstream companies, and those companies do like to see people with degrees in art from recognized universities. In fact they'll often insist on that degree before they'll even look at an artist's portfolio.

I might have misunderstood mammers' situation. My experience with people who want to study art is a little different. A lot of times they're people who are into it for the pure joy of creating something, and it bothers them to have to worry about the mundane "commercial" aspect of their trade. In other words, they would like nothing more than to sit in a studio with an easel, making something that will end up on the wall of a gallery.

But I'm speaking as a person who studied a humanities discipline and now does something successfully that has nothing whatsoever to do with that field, leaving me with the impression that it does not matter what one majors in at college, so you might as well pick something you think is fun and run with it.

So, mammers, if you're trying to become a commercial artist, listen to Redmage, not me, because I don't know anything about your goals or what you need to do to achieve them. My revised advice is: Try not to stress too much, it'll all turn out okay.

 

[WorkInProgress]

Speaking for myself, I'm a fan of large campuses and I'm also a fan of state campuses. In my view, for all the hype about small colleges meaning extra attention and intimate atmosphere, the main thing small colleges represent for me is limited offerings and limited opportunity to meet people. At a big university, it's comforting to know that there are still hundreds of people you haven't yet met. What's more, more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better. If you want to transfer, and if you have some idea of where you'd like to transfer to, you may not even have to take that year off if you don't want to; the key is, if you want to be somewhere else next fall, check deadlines and get transfer applications in pronto. Good luck, and feel free to PM me any time. (I teach college, and I remember my undergraduate years vividly.)