General Universities?

[decarabia]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone knew about any good general universities that have really nice, modern art programs. I want to get a rounded education but I also want to have a degree in illustration or graphic design or something BESIDES fine/traditional art that all the colleges I find seem to only have. So, any suggestions would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

[Storyboard Dave]

I see that you want a "rounded" education-- does that mean you want to dabble in some of the things like sports, fraternity/ sorority route, play around a little? Don't get me wrong; those things are perfectly acceptable in a college education- BUT realize that once you get out, you have to fight & compete in a VERY competitive creative market.

Realize that all accredited art colleges also insist that you still have the hard core academic classes like English, Art History, and a heap of social science classes as well. There's a difference between an art college and a vocational school. Vocational places still hand out diplomas & such and you can still learn quite a bit there, but doesn't necessarily have the academic requirements of an arts college.

Understand why and what it is you want from your post high school education. Is it to obtain a job? Is it for the self discovery? More importantly- try to figure out what life beyond college is going to be like. Who are you going to be going up against and what it is you'll need in order to compete and make a living at.

Also look at the quality of instruction that regular universities offer- who teaches there compared to the people that teach at art schools? Are they the working professionals you want to be learning from or are they strictly academic/ administrative people who really can't compete in the real world that they profess to have knowledge in? What's the level of competition of your peers? Part of an art education is learned from observation- why not have a larger creative peer support group to draw from?

Probably the most important factor in all of this is you. In essence you can go off to any school or no school at all and still compete in the real world. It can be done, but it's a lot of hard work and dedication on your part. What people care about is not necessarily the degree, but more so about the portfolio that you have. Regardless of what program you choose it's still on your shoulders to produce... and produce at a real world competitive level if you want to make it beyond college.

Best of luck.