A Student's Perspective of The Art Institute of Colorado

There are many talented artists in the world, and many of them want a college degree. Colleges abound with different programs for these individuals. One of these colleges is known as the Art Institute of Colorado. In this article, I will discuss what this college is like.

The Art Institute of Colorado(also known as AIC) is a private college that teaches people about art, animation, multimedia, culinary; etc. The college is located within walking distance of downtown Denver, and the college itself is primarily made up of a ten story building. There are also other buildings that hold classes a few blocks away, but the majority of students(with the exception of the culinary classes) work in the ten story building.

The schedule is different than many colleges. The Art Institute of Colorado does not have classes on a semester basis. Instead, AIC uses a quarterly schedule. This means that instead of classes lasting fifteen to eighteen weeks per year; they only last twelve weeks per year. Thus, people graduate sooner.

You can receive a Bachelor's degree in about three years with this type of schedule. Unfortunately, the drawback to this type of schedule is that each class is four hours long. This doesn't bother everyone, but it can be taxing.

Most of the professors give the students breaks about every hour or two but not all of them. Another disadvantage to it is that if holidays coincide with your class schedule, you will have less class time. And this means you will not have as much time to interact with your professors and other classmates; thus, you may learn less.

What about on campus housing? Well, there really isn't a campus with this school. However, they do have decent housing now. In the past it wasn't so great because they were leasing out run down buildings to the students. Elevators would not work, students would destroy stuff, the fire alarms were always being pulled by pranksters; etc.

The only real advantage to staying at the old campus housing was the fact that it was only about two blocks from the school. However, the newest campus housing is fairly nice. It's much farther away from the college, but you do receive a free bus pass. But the students still loved to pull the fire alarms. Sigh.

Now for the expenses. The Art Institute of Colorado is a very expensive college. When I went, tuition was around twelve to thirteen thousand dollars per year. I'm sure it's much higher now. And don't forget, you still have to pay for housing, groceries, insurance; etc. If you're rich or are loaded up with scholarships, then the expenses will not be a problem for you. However, if you're not rich or lack scholarship funding then you will have to depend on student loans and a part time job. It can be very stressful.

And after you have laid down all of this money for school, you'll have a great job right? Maybe. It just depends. Some kids receive great gigs and some end up working at malls for twelve fifty an hour. It's mostly about who you know, and being talented at your craft. Attend the meetings for whatever your major is, get to know your fellow students and teachers, do internships, freelance; etc. Even if you do all of this, you are still not guaranteed a job. But you can always freelance.

The Art Institute of Colorado is a private art college that offers majors that appeal to artists of different backgrounds. If you decide to attend this college be prepared to work hard in a fast paced environment. Good luck!