SAT Score for Art Colleges
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Anonymous
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DD is a rising senior and plans to apply to several art schools, such as Pratt, RISD, and SCAD. She took SAT only once and scored 1390. Now I wonder whether she needs to give it one more try in case she could improve at least one section for superscoring or whether her score is good enough. If she takes it one more time and reaches a superscore of 1450, would there be any additional benefit to it? Given that she is already above average for an art school and that they will likely pay a much closer attention to her portfolio than SAT, should we bother? Is there an increased chance for a merit scholarship if she scores 1450 vs 1390?
Thank you in advance. |
Anonymous
| Dear OP - this isn't what you asked, but I have seen several students go through RISD and SCAD and would strongly recommend that you try to interest her in a college or university that would give her the arts background she is interested in but also a B.A. or B.S. degree. She may find she can't find a job in the arts or changes her mind. Also, the drop out rate at art colleges is high. If you are in Virginia, look at JMU - it has a strong arts department, as does GMU |
Anonymous
Thank you for your advice. Luckily, she wants to do animation/visual effects and is already quite good at animation and digital art, so hopefully will be able to find a job. She has been so determined in her decision that we can't do anything to make her change her mind - it would break her heart. |
Anonymous
| Slightly off point, but I know you can get merit scholarships at VCU with those scores (no retake) and an intended arts major. They have a strong program for her interests. |
Anonymous
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Pratt’s Net Price Calculator include test scores and GPA and will provide you an estimated merit award. Have you run the numbers?
RISD only gives need-based aid, so a higher SAT score is irrelevant there. SCAD has merit aid for ‘outstanding’ students. Did she attend one of the open portfolio events last year? If so, have her call and discuss with the admissions person she met. They can give an indication of the likelihood of a scholarship as well as how important the test score is. If her portfolio is strong enough, 60 more points may not matter (1390 is a good score). |
Anonymous
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Based on my child’s experience, once a student clears the portfolio hurdle at the dedicated art schools, higher SAT scores do seem to matter for merit aid. His were 1500 with maybe a slightly lower GPA than average for that SAT score, and he got a large merit aid package from several schools, including Pratt. He didn’t apply to RISD. He ended up at a large state univ with both an excellent art/design school and another excellent school for an intended dual major.
I second the idea of considering VCU and Temple for excellent art programs likely to give your child some merit aid as her scores stand now. Also Univ of Michigan and UCLA for probably the highest ranked state universities that have first-rate art programs. No merit aid possible at either place and she would want to bring the SATs up to be admitted. |
Anonymous
| Not really on topic, but RISD has a fantastic animation department. (The others might, too, but I am less familiar with them.) |
Anonymous
VCU is on our list as well, but the problem with it is that they have no animation major, and it's not on the list of top animation schools. We have Rochester Institute of Technology on the list because it has one of the top animation programs. I just called them, and they said that she can major in animation and minor in computer science - which sounds like a good option. |
Anonymous
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1390 is good and more will not likely add benefits for private art schools, but may add benefit for broader tech schools/university art depts. If mainly wanting art schools, then focus on portfolio and looking for scholarship opportunities via art. If wanting broader schools, taking one more time to superscore would be a help (though she would need to practice/study between in a systematic way--my own kid never got a higher score than his first time which was 1430--and some were quite lower--despite doing the Khan academy practice).
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Anonymous
Agree it isn't on the 'top school' list, but I think animation is pursued through the Kinetic Imaging major https://arts.vcu.edu/kineticimaging/. Anyway, it sounds like she's done her research. Good luck to your daughter. |
Anonymous
| I know a bit about this field, of your choices--I would recommend RISD if she's hell-bent on animation--it's a top program and they have good career supports. I would not recommend SCAD above in state university art departments. If she's in-state VA, I would recommend in this order: VCU, JMU if she's interested in pure animation, GMU if she's interested in animation for game design. VCU is building out programs and much of animation training is just being in a good art school. I'm not as sure about RIT--it sounds good on paper, but arts students seem to leave there quite a bit. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thank you, all. The information is very helpful!
Our complete list of colleges that she wants to apply to so far is as follows: 1. VCU (yes, we are in VA) 2. CalArts (reach school) 3. Pratt 4. Ringling 5. RISD 6. SVA 7. SCAD 8. RIT If you are an expert in the field, which one or two of those would you choose? |
Anonymous
I work with experts in the digital animation/interactive media rather than being an animation expert myself, but I also have an arts background and my work does put me in touch with various art departments/schools. If cost is a factor, I would go VCU. It has a strong reputation in the arts broadly and is taking an integrative approach to digital/interactive arts that is forward thinking. Private schools, CalArts, RISD and Pratt would be the strongest in my view. If you want to throw in more reaches I would put in Carnegie Mellon if she got her SATs up (they can be a bit lower for art side than engineering--but not much). But that would leave her with no art school safeties--I am familiar with all the schools on your list, but I couldn't make an informed recommendation about which is better. I've known art students (not in animation) from both RIT and SCAD who were decidedly unhappy with their schools so that may bias me unfairly against those since there are many reasons why students will be unhappy. |
Anonymous
I considered Carnegie Mellon, but thought that DD's chances of being admitted aren't that great. She isn't even going to take any math classes in 12th grade (stopped at pre-Calc in 11th with the only B+ among the As and A-). What kind of a career could she have if she graduates from VCU? I'd certainly prefer if she could stay in the DC area after graduation rather than go to CalArts and stay on the West Coast - but I also realize that maybe most of the animation careers are on the West Coast? It's all so foreign to me, since I don't know anybody who studied animation and has a career in it. |
Anonymous
OP I would search on job boards to get an idea of career options for someone with a degree in animation. The schools above will have information on career paths and outcomes on their websites as well. Off the top of my head - television, movie production (more than ever because of streaming services getting into the content game), news organizations that use animations and other digital media to explain complex issues, advertising and communications firms that produce digital content for clients to use on their websites, advertisements and marketing. These jobs are not at all limited to California, although if she wants a career in entertainment that would be the obvious destination. But at the risk of being called a strident anti=helicopter poster (I'm not really) I would put the onus on your child to do some research and demonstrate the potential pathways, salary potential and hubs for the industry to you. Tell her you want to learn more about the field and ask her to show you the options. Hopefully, it would include internship and mentoring options. Taking it a step further, she could create a grid showing the opportunities available at each school, and comparing them on a number of factors. And, of course, if you remain concerned about future job and earning prospects, that's all the more reason to spend some serious time visiting the Kinetic Design program at VCU where you are likely to invest the least on an undergraduate degree. Even with a merit scholarship at one of the private schools, you are going to pay significantly more than you would at VCU, especially if you are a family that would not qualify for any need-based aid. |