Anyone preparing w/the child an art school application? Portfolio prep?

[LibraryLover]

Are we alone?

[Laurel-in-CA]

I have a dd applying to art schools this year. What we've done: last year she took a portfolio class, which produced two different portfolios (one focused on art school apps/job apps and one focused on illustration), both hardcopy and digital. She's able to update the portfolios herself, too, and we've done that with more recent work. We've gone to Natioanl Portfolio Day (back in October) and are planning a visit to another one in Jan. where a college she's interested in is attending. We've toured two schools--one art school and one public university with the major she's interested in--and asked the art school to review her portfolio. She's applied on line to three schools - but is having trouble uploading the portfolio, so next week she'll be on the phone to them to straighten out problems.

I feel like we're a bit behind, but the art schools have later deadlines (early Feb.) and rolling admission, which gives us a bit more flexibility. Our fallback plan is a year at a local community college for general ed and then transfer to art school, OR two years at the CC and then transfer to the local state school that has her major (lots more affordable).

The portfolio has come in handy for job applications, too. It's very nice that she can continue to update it with her current work.

[Chris in VA]

Laurie, I don't know what schools you are looking at, but VCU has a portfolio day where high schoolers come and get an appointment to have their ports reviewed. I'd check to see if that's available where your child wants to go. It may actually be mandatory, also.

[Valerie(TX)]

dd is continuing to work on hers.

Best wishes!

[Chris in VA]

Wanted to add--there's something called National Portfolio Days--google for more info, iyw.

[LibraryLover]

We're on it all, I was curious who else had artists here. There doesn't seem to be much talk from the parents of artists. So it's nice to know there are others. :001_smile:

She is a junior and is currently working with an art tutor. She needs at least 20 pieces she loves. She will be the death of me, this perfectionist child.

She has finally gotten her 3 maths out of the way, and we need one more science. She would also like another art history class. She is doing another portfolio prep class this summer at a local art college, & will be meeting (spring) with a prof from another local college to get feedback on her portfolio so far.

Out SAT/ACT writing prep is slogging along.

[Sandra in NC]

My son was accepted to many fine art schools: School of the Art Institute Chicago, Maryland Institute College of Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, etc.

The problem was: Money. Even though all the schools offered him "Presidential" level merit scholarships, it would still cost $40K/yr to attend. He ended up going to VCU School of Arts for one year (That cost us $30K out of state) but it did not fulfill him. He longs to go to SAIC or Cooper Union and is reapplying in hopes of getting more merit aid (or, in the case of Cooper, acceptance!) this year.

His mistake was not taking academics and the SAT seriously. Some of his peers received full in-state tuition, room and board at VCU because of academics/SAT scores/National merit status. VCU has highest rated art school among public universities. If money is an issue, I'd recommend this route (get the academic scholarships!).

My advice: merit scholarships based on art talent are not enough. Take academics and the SAT seriously.

It has been heartbreaking to tell my son that being accepted to a fine art school is not enough. He needs big merit scholarships.

Sandra

[Laurel-in-CA]

I know. I almost feel we shouldn't apply to these schools when I look at the price tags. But then I tell dd that this is a way of finding out what *might* be out there for her. If she doesn't try knocking, she'll never know if doors will open. She has a good GPA but an average SAT; OTOH, she has a good portfolio. We shall see.

[Sandra in NC]

If possible, encourage her to boost her SATs ...the Honors dorm at VCU has private rooms w/private bathrooms! Honors housing is included in the nice scholarship packages my son's friends received.

My son, on the other hand, received $3000 per year from the School of Art for his portfolio. Period.

He would have gotten that, plus free instate tuition, Honors housing, and meal plan if he had had better SAT scores/grades.

SATs and grades won't matter to all art schools, but they do to some like MICA and RISD

[LibraryLover]

Scores do matter for scholarships.

Sadly, in MA, SAT scores needed to be National Merits Scholars of any kind are the highest in the nation. I keep telling people in MA with teens to go live in the lowest scoring SAT states (Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Utah, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming for example) in the US for a year for better than a snowball's chance in hell for any Merit scholarship. Don't take SATs in MA, Maryland or New Jersery. ;) BUt don't get me started on SAT rankings by state. It's crazy in many ways.

[LibraryLover]

For most of us, it is about money. Acceptance is the least of it. My ds did receive about 15-17k based on grades and scores. But private colleges average about 45k (with room & board). That's a lot for even an upper middle class family to make up for 4 years.

Harvard, fi, considers 60k low income and will provide free tution, plus room and board --if you can get in.

Wonder why apps are up? My advice for good financial aid packages (if you are middle class) is to have no house equity, be laid off or take a mim wage job for two years prior to applying, move to a state with low test scores and ace them, get straight A's, and do cancer research for your whole 4 years of home school high school. It's better if you can find a cure for a cancer, of course.

Or be a stellar athlete and let the school come to you.

:D (This is all tongue-in-cheek. Please do not be offended. Of course I don't want us to be laid off and of course I am grateful dh has a good job!!)

[Laurel-in-CA]

Of course not. And of course, one should have only two children with widely separate ages in order to qualify separately for aid. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Maybe our last child...we'll both be retirement age when she hits college.

[Kareni]

... My advice for good financial aid packages (if you are middle class) is to have no house equity, be laid off or take a mim wage job for two years prior to applying, move to a state with low test scores and ace them, get straight A's, and do cancer research for your whole 4 years of home school high school. It's better if you can find a cure for a cancer, of course.

Or be a stellar athlete and let the school come to you.

:D (This is all tongue-in-cheek. Please do not be offended. Of course I don't want us to be laid off!)

Or better yet, have quadruplets all applying in the same year for maximum financial aid! Or, have your children marry young so that they can apply as independent students (perhaps we can set up a Well-Trained Mind Match Making service) or wait until they are 24!

Regards,
Kareni

[Sandra in NC]

Who came up with that random number and why? What other age-hurdle is 24?

Eighteen and twenty-one, I understand (although I think we should pick one number).

Sandra

[Kareni]

Who came up with that random number and why? What other age-hurdle is 24?



A good question for which I have no answer! I wonder if it's because 24 is past the age of most college students who begin at 18 or 19 years of age.

Regards,
Kareni

[LBS]

Independant status is 24 years old, married, have dependants or having served in military (active or vet), I believe. All these seem to be indicators of the diff between a kid and a grownup (that would be a long debate, but it just jumps out at me.) These will just mean that the parents' income will not be considered when calculating your aid eligibility, I think. The EFC is the kicker for all. These rules are very tight because of the widespread abuse....aid consultant at UNC-CH told me. Still many colleges will give you info about how to gain in-state status, I have heard several parents say...sort of an open secret system?

Even if kid is essentially "divorced" from parents, and parents refuse to give any support at all, their incomes will still be included. Very hard to change that status under appeal. I tried for my nephews...one parent continued to claim them as tax deduction, whilst giving no support, in fact demanding support from them. Weird world.

There are a lot of tips and tricks on college admission out there and when I got exhausted from reading the forums, I started reading bound material, a few years ago. The best book, best tips, best down-to-earth advice, in my humble op, is The All-in-One College Guide by Marty Nemko. Not too long, not too short, and has the answers for parents and kids. Lots of other good ones, though. I heard the FAFSA got a lot easier last year, but it was a bear the year before, the only time we did it. I wish I could say that all the reading and research helped, and made me an expert....well, I'm an expert on just my three kids, and still am nervous. Good luck to you all.

[beth in md]

Hi Sandra, my son is interested in film and I see that VCU has a film program. What kind of SAT/GPA scores do you need to get into the Honors Program and eligible for these types of scholarships?

Thanks,
Beth

If possible, encourage her to boost her SATs ...the Honors dorm at VCU has private rooms w/private bathrooms! Honors housing is included in the nice scholarship packages my son's friends received.

My son, on the other hand, received $3000 per year from the School of Art for his portfolio. Period.

He would have gotten that, plus free instate tuition, Honors housing, and meal plan if he had had better SAT scores/grades.

SATs and grades won't matter to all art schools, but they do to some like MICA and RISD

[Sandra in NC]

Here's a link to the VCU scholarship page (http://www.ugrad.vcu.edu/admissions101/financing/scholarships.html). If you scroll about 1/2 way down, you'll see "typical GPA" and "typical SAT" data for presidential scholars.


Some schools give automatic scholarships based on National Merit status. (see this link http://excelcollegeprep.com/pdf/scholarships.pdf (http://excelcollegeprep.com/pdf/scholarships.pdf))
For these, once you're accepted to the school, you're entitled to the scholarship. For the University of Alabama, it's full tuition, room and board, + some money for books. Usually, it's third-tier schools that offer the most incentive.


HTH,
Sandra

[beth in md]

Thanks Sandra, I appreciate the information!

Beth

Beth in MD
Homeschooling Mom of 4
www.homeschoolfrederick.com

[TerriKY]

I had good-but-not-good-enough-for-a-great-academic-scholarship grades and test scores. What I did was go to our local jr college for the first years of college. I saved so much money! And I lived at home. But not only this. The art department at our jr. college was terrific!! I got a extremely SOLID grounding in drawing and design and in art history. I then went on to graduate from a private Christian college. The program there was comparable with the jr. college one. At that time the department at the large/private had only small scholarships, but I got one. So I got the degree and college experience that I wanted at half the price.

Just an anecdote to suggest that you might look into your local jr. college. There are so many art graduates and not so many related jobs, I bet there are some good teachers/artists there.

[Teachin'Mine]

I checked out the link for the statistics on those who received scholarships, and while the SAT's were what I had expected, I was shocked to see the GPA's. 4.37 to 4.67 !!! So this means that their schools are awarding grades higher than 4.0 - I'm guessing for honors courses or AP classes. Our school doesn't offer anything higher than 4.0 and any independent classes are listed on the transcript for credit, but scores aren't factored into the GPA. Most kids have a really hard time getting near a 4.0.

How did or are you awarding grades? Is anyone awarding 5's for A's in honors or AP classes? This was an eye opener ... :confused: Or have grades become so overinflated that they're meaningless?

[Merry]

My ds started going to the local state university here in Missouri as a premed student but when he took a drawing class in his freshman year for fun, he discovered his love for art and that he had the talent for it. Now a junior: he is preparing a portfolio with the intention of applying to the top art graduate schools. The art professors seem to be quite excited about him. But the odd thing is that two of the professors that recently started working there are from excellent art schools. One is from the Chicago Art Institute and the other is from the Columbia University. So, you never know what kind of professors might be teaching at the local schools unless you check there. His ACT score was pretty low, 22, so he wouldn't have qualified for any art school scholarships but attending the local school seems to have worked out for him. We just hope that the art professors will have prepared him well enough to qualify for the schools he wants to go to. He is looking at the Parsons School of Design or the New York Art Institute. I know almost nothing about them. What do you think? Or are there better schools like maybe Yale or Columbia?

[Sagesandra]

I checked out the link for the statistics on those who received scholarships, and while the SAT's were what I had expected, I was shocked to see the GPA's. 4.37 to 4.67 !!! So this means that their schools are awarding grades higher than 4.0 - I'm guessing for honors courses or AP classes. Our school doesn't offer anything higher than 4.0 and any independent classes are listed on the transcript for credit, but scores aren't factored into the GPA. Most kids have a really hard time getting near a 4.0.

How did or are you awarding grades? Is anyone awarding 5's for A's in honors or AP classes? This was an eye opener ... :confused: Or have grades become so overinflated that they're meaningless?



We gave our son a 3.95, unweighted GPA. When you write your transcript narrative, you will explain your grade scale on a small chart. That way schools can compare accurately.

Most colleges take the weighted GPA and turn it into an unweighted GPA in the admissions office. The weight, as you suggest, is applied in high schools for AP classes. They do this to discern their Valedictorian. This does not apply to the homeschool, so we use unweighted GPAs. Admissions offices are aware of these differences and do a good job of comparing accurately.

[Sagesandra]

For most of us, it is about money. Acceptance is the least of it. My ds did receive about 15-17k based on grades and scores. But private colleges average about 45k (with room & board). That's a lot for even an upper middle class family to make up for 4 years.


Yes, it is about the money. We are working on college admissions for our second child this year. He tried for two full rides, and lost, and was given just about half tuition at both schools. They are very pricey though, and in a few cases we are still looking at a lot of money to send him to either one. It is very, very difficult to win the full ride.

*And arts departments have very very little to offer*. With this son, I am talking about music awards, for our next son, in 8th grade now, it will be art department awards we will seek.

We are learning that for all but .001 of the applicants in music and art, there just isn't a lot of money available from the departments themselves.

So as has been said, *SATs, GPA, community service/leadership*, these are the ways to the big money. And even then, depending on the tuition, it may not add up to enough to allow them to go. Four of our seven colleges are at the 38-50K tuition level.

We prepped ds17 to win music money, leadership/service money, academic money. He did honors, college and AP classes, tested very high (1500 Base SAT) and aced regional and county piano competitions. He has had excellent auditions and was/is in the running for three full rides - two academic and one leadership/service.

But so far, the money offers from selective private schools hover around $20-25K total, not enough for him to go. We really thought music would "pay off" more. But, it doesn't. I'd counsel all of you to check the schools you apply to for how much they will give from the art department itself. And then get busy on grades, test scores, service/leadership.

Just our experience,

[Sagesandra]

Our state has a running start program. Kids can attend community college free their last two years of high school in a dual enrollment arrangement. Here kids don't lose their homeschool status, either.

One of ours, Spokane Falls Community College, has an excellent graphic arts program, so by enrolling a junior/senior in it, they end up with AA, high school diploma a nice portfolio and an excellent foundation in graphic art.

We plan to do this for ds14. We will add to it to create a more rigorous humanities experience for him but I am thankful for the art instruction it will provide, for free. We got the recommendation from his art teacher who recommended the CC as equal to her selective private college art program in graphic arts. I am thinking the CCs in general may be a good place to look for this.