i was curious to see if anyone knew the quality of the animation program over there. i'm enrolled in a cal state school, and im switching my major. unfortunately i think the school im at is a little low in their animation resources, so im looking for something new. any help would be appreciated.
art institute of california
By pickleweed | Monday, April 18, 2005 at 11:25am
#1
art institute of california
thanks guys. unfortunately i already wasted two hours of my life touring the campus to find that out. all the student work was shoddy, at best. terrible demos, poor manips, and every class we passed was on break for some reason. all the chick kept telling me was, "look at how many computers we have!" yet i only saw one room with about 5 light tables. bah.
when i see student works, i'd like to be blown away. not leave thinking that i can already do that. what a rip.
Please please please don't go here. I went to the one in IL and it was the quickest, biggest stinkin' freakin' ripoff. I've sent a letter to the Attorney General of IL for the entire chain to be investigated. Instructors are not qualified, have no industry experience, classes are overprices(The amount of money you pay for AI, you can go to an ivy league school, that's how expensive it). They lie about their placement rates and don't include the instructors they hired on as "career placement," or the students who work at Blockbuster as a Video Game major placement. And the starting salaries: you're going to spend 40-50K (Assuming your stuff from your current school transfers) but you probably won't even make 1/2 at a job they will find you, if at all (more like the 8/9 dollar an hour job that you could have found without their help)!
I promise you, you will be better off at a community college or ANY regular university. If I would have found this forum before I went, I wouldn't have wasted all of that money :-( Please e-mail me directly if you have any any more questions. Art Institute is all about making money, they don't give a darn about students. If you have the admissions fee, you're in, doesn't matter if you can draw a stick figure! They're just gonna take your money!
I have a few friends who go the Art Institute of Portland, and while they don't say it's as terrible as Comp says, they still say it's pretty average. Of all the people enrolled, they say about 45% actually have talent, the rest are just hacks. That's even less than some Universities who aren't known for their art education. For an art specific school, that's not good. Ideally, you'd want 100% of your student body to have talent, which is why people submit portfolios. A portfolio is not required to attend any art institute, so just from that, I wouldn't attend. Look into other art schools in California like Acadamy of Art in San Francisco, Calarts in Valencia, and Art Center in Pasadena, among others. Chances are, if it requires a portfolio to attend, then it has to be at least better than an art institute.
-moot
so.. I went thru hours of touring the school, and going through financial aid Bull shit. After touring at The art Institute i was pretty convinced(psychologically maybe?). i was easily accepted with a quick portfolio that i had just put together the same morning, and because of that it got me to doubt. A good art school is very selective with the whole "portfolio thing"(Art Center) and at AI they were not. Im from LA and i specifically want my career in 2-D animation, and im looking for a Good school to invest in. Any Advice??I would really appreciate it!!!!!!
Thanks!:)