Choosing the Best Art Schools: Questions to Ask Yourself

Getting into the best art schools may be tough if for no other reason than there are too many applicants and not enough space to accommodate them all. Admission requirements at some of the best art schools are also so strict that even the most prolific paid artists might end up with a rejection letter. You can certainly shoot for the stars and try to gain entry into the nation's best art schools; but for every top art school, there are dozens of other high quality art schools that offer an excellent art education, but without the 'prestigious' name. To choose the best art school, you should consider several things:

What do you want to accomplish?
Is flexibility important?
What area would you like to study?
Do the instructors work in the industry?
How much will this cost?

As you can see, the best art school is usually nothing more than the best art school for you. If flexibility is high on your list, consider a blended art program or an online art program. A blended art program utilizes technology such as the Internet to complete part of the degree from home and an online program offers instruction in an online format, meaning classroom attendance is not required - on-campus, that is.

Most traditional art schools, and art & design schools offer blended programs. Depending on the program, you may have the opportunity to complete your degree totally online. This is usually the case with digital art, multimedia art, and video game design degrees.

To begin your search for the best art school for you, whether online, blended, or traditional, check out college review sites such as the Princetonreview.com or U.S. News & World Reports Top Fine Arts Program rankings. This way, you can review listings for all types of art schools and formats, read peer reviews, and review rankings, and tuition rates.

Once you have located several of the best art schools for you, all you have to do is review the curriculum, accreditation status, and admission requirements. A high quality art school will offer a number of concentration areas such as ceramics, dance, drama, drawing, film, music, and photography. Next, the curriculum for a high quality art school (fine arts degree) should be similar the curriculum listed below. The traditional curriculum listed below is the standard for quality art schools.

• Art History
• Contemporary Culture
• Drawing
• Fine Art Core
• Fine Art Seminar
• Humanities
• Introduction to Printmaking
• Introduction to Sculpture
• Modern Art
• Process & Generation
• Resources
• Senior Thesis
• Visual Concepts
• Writing

Electives may include courses such as ceramic studio, communication design, digital art I & II, digital photo, optical culture/light studies, and tools & fabrication, to name just a few. Other art school courses will depend on the concentration area. Good luck!

Resources:

Find the best art schools and read about various art schools programs, including everything from animation to visual communications - best-art-schools.com.

Visit The United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics - http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos092.htm