The Ringling Thread [Archive] - Page 2

xHUNTERx

March 3rd, 2004, 03:39 AM

undergroundkd: I think you got some pretty good modeling stuff. But, see the thing with computer animation is. It doesnt matter how well you can use the program. In the end, without a strong foundation you wont be able to produce real quality work. People should remember that 3dsmax, maya, XSI etc, are all just another tool like a brush or a pencil. That's why it is the most important to know your drawing basics, perspectives, observational ability, etc than say.... photoshop and 3d modeling stuff.

Generally, there are a few things that schools really dont like to see in a portfolio:

1. anime/comic style work: This is a super NO! No matter how good you are at drawing comics, no school will accept you if you apply with just these stuff. The reason behind this is that there is only a limited range of styles in this field. Most of the work people make now are just one form or another or someone else's style. With comics, it's quite hard to be original, and colleges want to see YOUR personality in your works, not someone elses. AVOID THESE AT ALL COSTS.

2. Photo referenced pictures: Admissions officers can tell right away if you used photo reference or not. Why? Because when you use reference, you're work turns more "flat". As opposed to transforming a real life 3D object onto paper. Photo referenes loses it's depth and therefore causing the work to lose it's depth also. In addition, colleges want to see your observational skills, not your ability to duplicate a image. I mean, c'mon, a copy machine can do that in a few seconds.

ALL SCHOOLS LOVE STILL LIFE! why? because it shows your real skills, Whether or not you're able to draw, and whether or not you can accurately see a object then transfer it on to a piece of paper and YOUR POTENTIAL. Schools don't really care if you know how to manuver the programs or not. You can always learn that when you're in school. It takes a few weeks to learn all the function in the program. But it takes a few months or even years to learn how to draw something right. Trust me, a 2 hour figure drawing is worth alot more than a 50 hours 3d model to the admissions officers. And when you really become good at still life, you will be able to easily apply it to the 3D softwares.

I've spoken to art students, instructors, professors, admission officers, teachers, porfolio day reviewers, and they all say the same things... over and over again.... STILL LIFE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. (unless you're applying to art center's design majors, which is a whole different matter.)

I probably should have given these advice earlier, but hey! they say it's never too late! Hope this helps ! and good luck to everyone

beechdbum

March 3rd, 2004, 03:56 AM

nicely summed up, we should make a sticky thread at the end of this whole process with the major things we have learned from all this.

just another thought, all animation programs love to see an understanding of motion and how the body works, such as weight displacement and how muscles bend, this is why they all want figure drawings cause no matter how good you are at 3d software to be an animator you have to have an understand of how things move.

velmagog

March 3rd, 2004, 08:45 AM

I'm not sure what number I was, I'm not sure if I was officialy on it, I'd call they'd say, "we don't have the list put together yet" I think the turm they eventually used was that I "cleared" the waiting list. they also accepted too-many people my class.

You guys don't need to worry though. It will all be ok.

I'd post something more inspirational,but I gotta get to class

agentJ

March 3rd, 2004, 10:39 AM

Agreed beechdbum - maybe some folio work to so we can gauge who got in etc? Be a nice little resource I guess :) I'm not calling to find out if I got in or not, I'll just wait patiently :)

undergroundkg

March 3rd, 2004, 11:08 AM

apparently im not even good enough for the waiting list

foolish dreams

Metrini

March 3rd, 2004, 11:16 AM

They said that?? Why not just wait until they are completely finished with the decision process

undergroundkg

March 3rd, 2004, 11:28 PM

i called and talked to the dean of admissions and thats what i was told. i have a few explatives i would like to blurt out on this forum but im sure you can use your imagination for what i wish to say so ill spare you guys the vulgarity

furryspork

March 4th, 2004, 07:34 PM

I talked to the CA department head today. The decisions have been made, and the letters were either sent out yesterday, or are being sent out tomorrow (sorry, I don't remember which). If you call the admissions office tomorrow between 9 AM and 4 PM (EST), they should be able to tell you whether or not you got in.

Good luck everyone!

(Sorry to those of you who are waiting for the letter. I think I just made it a whole lot harder for you.) :p I didn't even get a chance to wait for the letter from Ringling. The lady who interviewed me for admissions called me to let me know I was accepted at least a week before I got my letter.

agentJ

March 4th, 2004, 09:21 PM

I will tell you this now as an adventurer who has been down this lonely path before. It is not a dark one, and by far not the end.

The only end is you. You are your ultimate fate; should you stop is when you will fail. If you didn't get in, move on, try harder become better, push yourself like you never would before. It is not the end.

I bid you all farewell, I'm off to NY for Spring Break and I defintely need a break ;) Good luck to all. I probally didn't even get in so don't worry :)

the good war

March 5th, 2004, 12:46 AM

what an immense sense of anxiety i feel d-day eyh
well if i don't get in i'll work 3x as hard where ever i go so i can steal the awards from the ringling ca majors in sweet bitter revenge on the other hand if i do get in i'll work hard as hell to keep up ringlings good name
either way i have an extreme experience ahead of me
good times

beechdbum

March 5th, 2004, 01:07 AM

lol i think i just found my new back up plan if i get rejected either that or apply again and then go through with it

undergroundkg

March 5th, 2004, 07:16 AM

wqell you guys should be getting your letters soon, i got mine yesterday which said exactly what they told me on the phone but just so u guys know the letters are sent

Eyal

March 5th, 2004, 09:43 AM

yesh
i was accepted
:D

the good war

March 5th, 2004, 11:55 AM

horray i was accepted horray!

Dominie_Dirtch

March 5th, 2004, 11:59 AM

Did you guys call? Or recieve letters?

the good war

March 5th, 2004, 12:09 PM

i just called a few minutes ago she said that not all of the decisicions were in but apparently mine was
i called around 11 oclock

beechdbum

March 5th, 2004, 01:54 PM

I got accepted! :chug:
i couldnt take it anymore and had to call.
The guy said letters acc havent been sent out yet but will be soon

agentJ

March 5th, 2004, 02:11 PM

KICK ASS guys!! awesome the good war, beechdbum and Eyal!! kick ass guys. Your folios were good too so be happy m8s! There is hope!! come on guys :)

I'm debating wether to call. damnit Metrini you got me all anxious ;P

[update]
Ok shit I can't call. Mom's not letting me. I'm going to NYC in about 10 hours for spring break and stuff and my mom says if i found out No then I'd hate it (shoulda seen me last year i wanted to kill everyone ;P)

So shit heh.

AHH
ANXIOUS AHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh

carpal

March 5th, 2004, 02:21 PM

well shit, I haven't been very active in this thread but have been reading everything. Participating would have made me anxious. When I saw you guys were calling I got so pissed, cause it made me more anxious. I got in to my Backup school so I thought I would give it a shot...

and I got in too. I really don't know how I am going to swing the finances but we will see what happens. Perhaps I will be seeing some of you there.

I think I am going to post another thread in the lounge asking for help with places to live there. There is no way I can handle a dorm, I need a place to myself that is QUIET. anyone here really freaking quiet and do nothing but work constantly? except the occasional weekend binge drink? anyone? haha

congrats guys

agentJ

March 5th, 2004, 04:31 PM

I'm anxiously waiting but I cant find out till Wendesday when I get back from nyc AUHgg. PZ Leave so you give me a better chance of getting in:P

And go into dorms m8, specificy you want quietness etc - maybe youll meet up with some peeps and move out in the 2nd sems or next year :)

agentJ

March 5th, 2004, 06:09 PM

I've been in shock for about an hour and a half now.

I got in

^_^

I made a post in the Lounge. Fear reading it.

undergroundkg

March 5th, 2004, 07:42 PM

congrats to everyone, seems im the only 1 who didnt make it.

agentJ

March 5th, 2004, 08:27 PM

omg dude honestly. its not over until you say it is:)

On the other side I'm really wondering about price etc. It is quite steep. We'll wait for the letters I guess.. Mmm

s3614

March 6th, 2004, 04:43 AM

I has been accepted from Ringling-CA as a freshman
This is picture of my portfolios.

http://myhome.naver.com/s3614/

beechdbum

March 6th, 2004, 04:58 AM

really like the what i can see from them, very nice colored pieces, the figures look very good. wish the were larger but o well. congrats again -beech

s3614

March 6th, 2004, 06:45 AM

changed link to Large version of picture

undergroundkg

March 6th, 2004, 07:00 AM

well i guess ill be going to vancouver film school for a year then reapply to ringling next year after i graduate from vfs.

hopefuly i will steal awards away from ringling. im quite bitter at the moment, with those words still echoing in my head ,
"we dont think you have what it takes"

ill show them all :/

emcguire

March 6th, 2004, 10:05 AM

Everyone who has been accepted:

Have you submitted your FAFSA by March 1st? Apparently to even be considered for the Presidential Scholarship (full tuition) and the few other scholarships they offer, you have to have completed the form by then. (page 163 in the catalog)

Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted! I look forward to getting to meet you guys in the fall.

-Erin

carpal

March 6th, 2004, 11:03 AM

Originally posted by undergroundkg
well i guess ill be going to vancouver film school for a year then reapply to ringling next year after i graduate from vfs.

hopefuly i will steal awards away from ringling. im quite bitter at the moment, with those words still echoing in my head ,
"we dont think you have what it takes"

ill show them all :/

well, if you step back and think about it. I guarantee that whoever said that to you did NOT have your portfolio in front of them, just a computer with names that say admitted or not. so when they said what they did, it really didn't have any reflection on your actual work, it was just a generic statement that they used to say you didn't get in. A shitty statement at that but definitely not directed towards your actual work.

not sure if that helps at all but yeah...

and shit, about the FAFSA, we had some trouble with ours and didn't get it in before the first. That is like the only chance I have to be able to go too. FARK guess I just wait now...

beechdbum

March 6th, 2004, 01:43 PM

Originally posted by emcguire
Everyone who has been accepted:

Have you submitted your FAFSA by March 1st? Apparently to even be considered for the Presidential Scholarship (full tuition) and the few other scholarships they offer, you have to have completed the form by then. (page 163 in the catalog)

Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted! I look forward to getting to meet you guys in the fall.

-Erin
well since the CA acceptance letters havent even been sent out and the award goes to one student in each major, i guess theyll make an acception in our case.

Jane Radstrom

March 6th, 2004, 01:46 PM

Congrats you guys! Watching this thread has been very educational & I hope you guys continue to post about your experiences there as school starts in the fall. I'm really curious about what kind of living situations you all end up in, and then what you think of the teachers and such. :) Ringling is top on my list of schools, I will be applying next year, so all of this information is gold. :) Thanks very much and congratulations again!

Metrini

March 6th, 2004, 01:54 PM

Congrats to all that got accepted!!!

I am still in the dark about my application..

I called Friday evening and there was no decision made yet about me.

They arent finished with all the applicants as yet so the waiting continues for some. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Aerlinn

March 6th, 2004, 02:24 PM

hey everyone! I'm new to the forum, just got directed here from a link in the RSAD livejournal community.

Currently I'm waiting to hear from Ringling about my application to the Computer Animation department... it's torture to wait, especially when you know many people have gotten responses already!

I'm working on getting my portfolio online, but for now I only have a few posted up in the RSAD community. You can check them out here (http://www.livejournal.com/community/rsad/25681.html). When I get the rest of my stuff online, you can be sure I'll post here to get a critique. I'm ready for some blunt honesty!

the good war

March 7th, 2004, 04:23 PM

heyo i have a question is kevin llewellyn puddnhead?
i just saw a link on a forum suggesting they are one

carpal

March 7th, 2004, 05:27 PM

Originally posted by the good war
heyo i have a question is kevin llewellyn puddnhead?

indeed

the good war

March 7th, 2004, 07:48 PM

indeed

ahh all this time and i never knew
the funny thing is that i always considered them to be at 2 differnt skill levels funny sheaut

i think it would be great to get together with some ringling people next year and move out into an apartment constitinally pushing each other perhaps i am jumping the gun but by sophmore year i hope to be in that situation

you could even live like immigrants and keep like 20 people in a house and live super cheaply that would be awesome
we could even start our own club like a boxing club or something and if we run out of soap i would know how to make some it would be grand fun tons of acedemic activities raids violence and tourture
maybe some popcorn or something too
excellent.:)

beechdbum

March 7th, 2004, 08:40 PM

haha half the CA major under one roof..... can you imagine the electricity bill, i bet thered be damn good IT support though

WeirdAl

March 8th, 2004, 04:52 PM

Wow I'm on the waiting list for CA, so I sort of made it kind of :P

sparky | emily

March 8th, 2004, 06:40 PM

I'm in.

:)

Now I have a dilemma though... USC or Ringling...

beechdbum

March 8th, 2004, 10:25 PM

hey weirdal, did they tell you what spot you were on the waiting list

WeirdAl

March 8th, 2004, 10:50 PM

Nope, they said they're still going through applications and havent really determined where i stand in line because they still have so many to go through, but they said they'd let me know

the good war

March 9th, 2004, 12:49 AM

its funny sad and worring at the same time the first tuition type bill came in today in the mail and already my mom and i are discussing who should pay the 400$ i don't think we planned for actually having to pay the entire massive tuition.
i am really curious as to how you guys plan on paying it
i don't really like the idea of a ton of loans but that might be the route i will have to take
MonEy^%

sparky | emily

March 9th, 2004, 08:45 PM

not many people really know about this, but there are a lot of 1000-3000 dollar scholarships out there just from companies. If you search the net, you can probably find some of them. I've heard that you can combine them, and it can really help out. I think random companies like Target or whatever do stuff like this.

Dominie_Dirtch

March 9th, 2004, 08:53 PM

For the most part, every major company has a scholarship. Double-Mint gum, Taco Bell... Doesn't matter. I think it's a good tax right-off or something. I have some book about a guy that piled them all on to pay his entire way through Harvard, like 130 grand (about the same as 4 years at RSAD will be.)

Never let the money thing hold you back... There are tons of grants, scholarships, and contests. And if all else fails... Sweet wonderful loans and years of debt.

the good war

March 10th, 2004, 12:15 AM

i'm going to search for those tomorrow
i was using a scholarship search engine and it only found 13 i could apply for then of those 13 about eight i could actually apply for seeing as i am no longer a senior, and then i only stood some kind of chance for about 4 of the 8
i have a question though one sholarship required that i had the signature of a financial aid officer you would only have one of those if you were already in college right? or would that be the same as a counseler in high school
i dunno
i think it is goo d i got this bill now it really made start putting down the projects i've been working on and focus more on how i am actually going to get through this
how many scholarships have you guys applied for yet

agentJ

March 10th, 2004, 07:22 PM

Congrats to all that got in etc ;D I jsut got back from NY so I'm a bit pooped and I'm reading all your post and such. Ok can everyone who got in IM me please? : agentJ64 or ICQ: 15014977 and say something like ringling labhablha or whatever:)

I just want to get a group of us together and maybe share cell numbers or housing buddies etc? just some thoughts.

or more importantly: how we're all gonna pay for it ^_^. Scholars are great guys but theyre fairly far and distant but it IS possible I guess. *starts the long scholarship process again* sigh.. :)

agentJ

March 10th, 2004, 10:49 PM

..

9430 for class, 1900 for art suipplies + 200 for crap, 500 for CORE program, 1100 for CAs, 275 bs fee, 60 bs fee, 2135 housing, 1962.50 board, 137.38 tax, 400 bs deposit on housing

= $ 18099.88 for one semster

HOLY CRAP

agentJ

March 10th, 2004, 10:55 PM

Our Grand Total ladies and gentlemen?

32020.76

*works up plans to rob a local bank*

Dominie_Dirtch

March 10th, 2004, 11:00 PM

I would have thought you realized this long before you applied... I've been robbing banks since last May.

the good war

March 10th, 2004, 11:11 PM

18099x2=36198= holy shit
36198x6000445668=217204132290264 WTF

thats like an entire education or two
1,500 a semester for local tech college
er i dont feel so well
darnnit hey

agentJ

March 10th, 2004, 11:12 PM

Heh damn :) Share Z wealth!

the good war

March 10th, 2004, 11:21 PM

art related

canon is holding a nice scholarship competition
kellog due the 19th i think
L. Ron Hubbard'S ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST is due at the end of the month
robbery...
always

The Genesis

March 10th, 2004, 11:29 PM

Originally posted by agentJ
..

9430 for class, 1900 for art suipplies + 200 for crap, 500 for CORE program, 1100 for CAs, 275 bs fee, 60 bs fee, 2135 housing, 1962.50 board, 137.38 tax, 400 bs deposit on housing

= $ 18099.88 for one semster

HOLY CRAP

1900 for art supplies? thats a little much I'm an art student now and I spend no more than $500 a year.

agentJ

March 10th, 2004, 11:40 PM

Out of the book :) That tuition (32000) doesnt factor in the 1900 lol

winjer

March 11th, 2004, 09:59 AM

you guys better work harder than youve ever worked before so you can pay that giant debt off. Im with manley in that all you really need is tons of figure drawing time and itll teach you everything you could want. Is it really worth so much money to go and learn some 3d programs? Im sure you could just teach yourself most of the how tos about that from books. If I had 150K to spend, thats enough money for me to do like all the figure drawing/painting i want all day for a considerable number of years. You will have to pay that much just for 4 years of your life, and youll have to waste some of each day taking liberal arts classes. Although its good to know about art history and things like that.Lemme stop rambling and get to my point . What do you guys hope to get out of this uber expensive education that you couldnt get from just drawing?

ps: sorry im just pissed off about college too. have to take out some giant loans and im not feeling so good about it.

agentJ

March 11th, 2004, 10:07 AM

Originally posted by winjer
What do you guys hope to get out of this uber expensive education that you couldnt get from just drawing?

ps: sorry im just pissed off about college too. have to take out some giant loans and im not feeling so good about it.

A name :) Just a name. Ringling has a huge name among studios etc. Possibly great teaching, an enviroment, most definetely any "secretive" or well refined technique teaching and experience. Maybe knowledge into the current business atmosphere and ability to meet with top grads, former grads etc who know a lot about the industry.

Essentially just a name. Then second piece from Possibly and on is just crap we can do on our owns. But networking at Ringling with its connection to so many studios.

mind you ANYONE can do this from anywhere with the right amount of push etc etc. Why Ringling so much for me? Well cause I failed the first time and got pissed ^_^

the good war

March 11th, 2004, 01:36 PM

same as agentj
i am worried that the name isn't worth the price though
i am starting to have my doubts

haha

March 11th, 2004, 02:26 PM

i gotta tell you guys, im going to Memphis Collrge of Art for
$15k a year, and i'm getting a great edu. i honestly couldn't justify that kind of money for school...

pibb991

March 11th, 2004, 02:31 PM

its more than just a name.

haha

March 11th, 2004, 02:49 PM

oh, and i lucked out cuz im poor >;-}

the good war

March 11th, 2004, 04:59 PM

pibb991

you should have a better idea than anyone on what your getting for that tuition
please share your thoughts

furryspork

March 11th, 2004, 07:34 PM

First of all, since I haven't been here for awhile, congrats to all those who got in!

It's interesting that everyone is saying that they're coming to Ringling for a name, because when I applied here, I had no idea Ringling had a name in the industry. In fact, out of everyone's "best schools for animation" lists, Ringling was seldom included. I decided to come here because when I was at precollege, I talked to the head of the CA program, and he told me some things about the program that I really agreed with. I liked how there was a lot of emphasis placed on story and on how to develop your own film from the ground up. Most animation schools only teach you about animation, or worse, about software, but Ringling teaches you everything you need to know to put together a good film. Since I've been here, I've used the notes from several concept development teachers' websites to start generating a concept for my personal film that I've started working on. It's amazing how much useful information I've gotten out of those notes, and most of what is taught in the classes isn't even on the teachers' websites.

(edit-I just realized that I said something here that could get me in trouble if the right people read it. Hopefully none of those people read it before I took it off :P )

Now I know that the school does have a name in the industry, but it's certainly not the most important reason I would give for coming here.

WeirdAl

March 11th, 2004, 08:45 PM

I think I have to disagree with it just being about the name, I knew it was a big name from the start but I wasnt at all enthusiastic about it until I went to visit it, and exponentially more so after precollege. I just like the school, the faculty, the students, the labs etc. and imo itll be worth it. And where tuition is concerned im not too worried about paying off the debt or anything, I dont plan on having to support anyone but myself for quite a while after college so as long as I get a good job afterward I think ill do ok with monthly payments and such.

agentJ

March 11th, 2004, 08:54 PM

It' all food for thought really just throwing out ideas here.

The cost is high, but also factor a few more things: will 3D animation be there in a few years? I mean a lot of us are going for the four years (I'm yelling about it:| I know I said I'd take freshman if anything but with nearly 50 credits right now in college I am a bit disturbed I didn't get anything more than first year.. who knows I'll talk to them on transfer classes). But in four years, will there be room? The market is already saturated by amazing artist and animators - what makes us, the class of 2008, any different?

Hmm. How do you RSAD students deal with the price tag?

carpal

March 11th, 2004, 10:29 PM

Originally posted by agentJ

Hmm. How do you RSAD students deal with the price tag?

yes, please explain.

I am screwed for tuition. BUT...

animation will not die. period.

about your credits, your liberal arts classes will transter easily and you will be taking all kinds of cool anatomy and landscape painting or illustration classes while the rest of us are sitting in lame math for animator losers class. I really wish I had more transfer credits. You aren't going to have to repeat much if anything I would doubt. you just won't be bogged down with liberal arts...

ok about the tuition versus what you get...

I only started drawing 3 years ago, I really only have 2 years of hardcore "nose to the grindstone draw every day no matter what" study behind me. I just opened up a sketchbook from 2 years ago and almost died from laughter. Having 4 years of good quality instruction and being pushed by faculty and other students I have NO DOUBT that I (or anyone) can get to the level needed to be not only hire-able, but good enough to not have to worry about whether or not you are hire-able. 4 YEARS of study. I think my mom could do it.

besides, everyone (or most) that do get accepted to this program are passionate about it. I want to be in that atmosphere, its the greatest feeling in the world. I plan on sacrificing a lot to be able to go, and I will do everything I can to be one of the best. I think if we all have that mindset we will not have much to worry about.

umm yeah, I have been doing a lot of thinking and still have a lot more to go. good luck with everything...

-Matt

Bammer

March 12th, 2004, 12:08 PM

Hey cool. This thread had a good ending for most of you.
I applied to Ringling a while back. Got that end of the month letter thing. It's the 12th and they havn't given me any letter.
Called em the other day. They called back later and gave the weirdest answer.
Said the process is taking long, but they really want to talk to me about what this means to me.
I don't know how to interpret that. I just want to talk to them. But I called them almost every hour yesterday and they never answered the phone. Calling them today with similar results.
I donno... I got into Savannah so I won't be heartbroken if I get rejected. Just wanna know what the deal is.

beechdbum

March 12th, 2004, 05:43 PM

they're on spring break... thats why there not asnwering

agentJ

March 12th, 2004, 05:53 PM

On Room and Board

I did not come this far to be imtidated by a fucking price tag ;)!

Now off with the emotional appeal this is a posing to all of you: Apartments do NOT cost that much in Florida please realize this. You could easily cut the cost of housing and just buy meals as you fairly easily. Work at the Hollywood 20 isn't bad either, working nights and all.. Or whatever. I'm seriously thinking about getting an apartment and just moving out and paying for food as I go. Sorry but I don't eat 2000$ worth of stuff in 3 months. Maybe in like half a year.. but.

So if anyone on here whose on the waitlist or already got accepted and is thinking to alternatives of room and board email/icq/aim me. Gonna try and pick up some apartment catalogs on Monday or whatever and do a little researching - so if anyones interested send me an im!

Or hell if your just curious of what I find please icq/email me and ill tell you. Just to get some ideas.

Or I could just end up living on campus and stuck in 1000000000$ debt. -_O

Who knows.

But cost can be split and smart decisions can be made here.

Good luck to you all :D

furryspork

March 12th, 2004, 06:49 PM

AgentJ, It's actually very difficult to live off campus as a Ringling CA. Maybe not freshman year, but when you're practically living in the lab, it sucks to have to drive all the way back to your appartment to sleep. There will be times (so I've heard) that the only time you will get to sleep in a week will possibly be between 1 and 3PM on Thursday, and if you have to fight Sarasota traffic for two hours to get home, you might as well forget about sleeping altogether. There are very few appartments within walking distance of campus, and most of them are in areas where you wouldn't want to walk, especially after dark. Driving takes forever, regardless of whether you live 5 miles away from school or 20 miles away. Sarasota is a town full of retired old people who have nothing better to do all day than drive around...slowly.

You don't have to have a meal plan to live on-campus after freshman year. They only force you to have it freshman year because you don't have a kitchen in the freshman dorms.

carpal

March 12th, 2004, 10:27 PM

furryspork- I sent you a pm a few days ago, dunno if you ever got it or not...

so you live on campus I am guessing. the thing about being on campus is, I have been out of high school for a few years now including one in Canada with some REALLY SHITTY room-mates and I don't feel like being in a dorm with a bunch of just-out-of-highschoolers. No offense to them but its just a different look on life. I wouldn't mind if I had a single room. bleh, I dunno.

Agent- I sent you a pm a couple days ago too. I don't even remember what it said, but if you are serious about finding a place close by get back to me. Hell, with CORE year, I plan on working weekends and working on 3d stuff in my spare time, plus lots of FEWS. I am going to Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario right now and get about 15 hours of extra life drawing a week. I wouldn't mind having people around who are as motivated as I am.

There HAS to be some apartment situation close by that is reasonable and not deadly. So far this year I have spent less than 600 bucks EASY on food per semester. If I can cook for myself I do damn well. I am like a miillion miles away now, but plan on taking a trip down there this summer.

umm I think thats it for now but I look forward to seeing you guys if everything works out.

agentJ

March 13th, 2004, 02:04 AM

Mm I cant remember what I said either PZ ill check on it :D I just ate like 50 wings in a race with old HS friends and yeah im like about to die. My mom is going to grab me an apartment guide and Im gonna check it out. Furryspork: well damn ;)

PZ if I find somethign fiarly close and maybe if i can get a check o nthe area then hell we'll just room if you wnat. Please give me a week though as I want to discuss the whole of Ringlgin with some other people too :D I'm not going to make a decision so fast :\ - But yeah I'm a bit of an insominac, 2am sleeping minimum most nights but im not that loud either - and yeah FEWS basically every night I can do.

Get back to you on more stuff m8 Im about to implode ^_^

the good war

March 13th, 2004, 03:27 AM

hey i am interested in this whole off campus shindig i want to see what type of places are available of course... i can't stand it i seroiusly can't decide whiether or not i should go to ringling i don't want to be in seroius dept the rest of my life

ah this if messed up how much doEs a computer animator make a year anyway? can i even justify this enormous price tag with what ill be makking later what alternatives do i have... i could buy a couple houses for the price of this education and link them together with a cardboard tunnel and pretend i created my own studio for that price
i could probally do if i got the presedential scholarship at least one year or something because i would have time to dedicate to getting scholarships but then how much of the experience am i going to be able to absorb if i am constintally looking for money to continue my education
fudge

out of place but ill post anyway
ahh just got back from a midnight viewing of an animation festival cool stuff you should check out spike and mikes animation festival if you get a chance it is really good this year some inspiring stuff but mostly just hilarious

carpal

March 13th, 2004, 08:49 AM

When you get out of school, if you get a job, you should be starting above 40k a year. You should be at a level where you don't have to sell yourself short.

It is a shitload of debt, and scares the shit out of me. I would almost rather work a crappy job and have a crappy apartment, save up money as I go and just be comfortable. But then 20 years from now I have a midlife crisis and wonder what I could have done with my life. I don't spend money and anything really, so I don't think I will have a problem with other debt. School is an investment and you can think about all the things you can buy with the money you would spend on education but really it would never happen.

no one will give you a loan for $120,000 for anything but school right now. School is considered "good debt".

Ringling is an opportunity I don't think I can pass up, besides, isn't a meteor going to hit the earth soon, or other catachlysmic event? I am almost counting on it, cause we won't be worried so much about our debt then....

ok thats bleak...

agentj- going to bed late isn't a problem, I am living with 5 guys in a house right now and 2 of them think leaving a the biggest mess around the house is something to be proud of and drink whiskey until 8 in the morning yelling at the tv about some random sports event. There is plenty of time to see about a place to stay, I want to hear back from Ringling to see what residence hall I get put in first and whatnot.

thats it for now...

-Matt

furryspork

March 13th, 2004, 12:57 PM

Sorry, I don't check my PM's very often. I think that considering your situation, you should definately not live in freshman dorms. Even Keating, where there are mostly single rooms, is crazy. In fact this year a lot of people (myself included) think Keating is worse than some of the other freshman halls in terms of crazy straight-out-of-high-school partiers. I think the first thing you should do is find out about the dorm called "family housing." Very few families ever live on campus, so sometimes these dorms are rented out to people who need an alternative to other places on campus.

Another thing you could do is to sign up to live in freshman dorms, then on about the second week of school, tell the housing staff you're older and more serious, you can't deal with all the freshman craziness. This year there were plenty of rooms in the Bayou and a few in the Quad, and most of the older freshman who complained got moved. After a huge amount of effort on my part (because I was straight-out-of-HS and they only wanted to move older people) I was finally moved out of freshman dorms. In the Bayou or the Quad you will have your own small bedroom, a bathroom you only have to share with one person, and kitchen to share with four people (or one person if you're lucky). They're changing the housing rules this year to try to fill the dorms more than they did last year, so this may not be an option anymore. I really don't know, but I think that there are always people who sign up for housing and then decide to leave the school so if you get there early enough you can probably still get moved.

The third, and probably the best option for you, especially if you have a car, is to go to here (http://webspace.ringling.edu/~jmorley/) and look at the appartments that are available off campus. Don't make any agreements until you have visited the appartment you're thinking about renting, because most of the places close to the school are pretty disgusting (moldy and falling apart).

agentJ

March 13th, 2004, 03:47 PM

Originally posted by keithlango
I'm very familiar with the Ringling program. I know the faculty and have been involved as a visiting artist and guest lecturer on several occasions over the last several years.

In my opinion, the quality of the education in the Ringling Computer Animation department is top notch. There's a strong emphasis on traditional art throughout, as well as for developing the ability to tell a story. The faculty are constantly inviting working professional artists to review and critique student work in progress. Every year the faculty also hires working pros to come and do faculty training so that they stay current with the industry. Not to mention that the faculty also do a fair amount of actual professional freelance work during the off months of the year. So there's no basis for implying the Ringling program is not among the best in the world from a quality of education standpoint.

Having said that, going to Ringling is not a guarantee that you'll get a high paying job in the CG industry right out of school. I'd say a good 50% of each graduating class isn't ready for the job market upon graduation. They need more work on their own time after graduation to get up to par. I make that judgement based on a simple question: Would I hire this person right now as a junior artist in my studio? To more than half the graduates I'd say that answer would be "No, not yet."

Is that a fault of the program? I don't think it is. Those are actually pretty good averages for hire-able people from a given pool of graduates. I've seen entire classes of students coming from other programs that I wouldn't hire if you held a gun to my head.

Every year there's 1 or 2 Ringling graduates who are so good they have multiple offers awaiting them upon graduaton. Then there's the next level, perhaps the top 5-8 graduates who will get a job offer within 2 months of graduation. There's the next level of students (perhaps 10-15 of the 35 or so who graduate) will need to work on their reels on their own time for a period of 6-12 months after graduation, occasionally getting a spot assignment here or there until they can catch on with more consistent work. They have training and ability, they just need to get more practice and grow in their skills. Even so, that's not bad. Again I've seen whole classes of graduates from other schools that I would say would need years of additional work on their own in order to be good enough to get in as a junior level artist.

Sadly, just as every graduating class from Ringling produces some super stars, it also produces it's share of duds. People who never took the program seriously, rebelled against the faculty's instruction because they thought they knew it all already or were so talented that they didn't need to listen, folks who goofed off or didn't feel a burning need to improve their craft and take advantage of the opportunities they'd been given. Almost universally the people who fall into this category have their schooling paid for by their parents. Such folks likely will never work in the CG industry without a significant change of attitude, but they won't have any loans either. They'll just have taken their parents for a $100,000 joy ride on the sunny beaches along the Gulf Coast of Florida.

When calculating the costs of the education, you need to weigh what it's worth to you to have access to knowledgeable, well trained faculty, industry pro reviews and a competitive class environment which will push you artistically. The typical pay for a graduating Cg artist from Ringling may be a bit higher than from your usual Art Institute, but not much. After all this is a merit driven business that judges the artist by their work, not by their class ring. The hire-able Ringling graduates have offers that are typically in the $30-40,000 range. Maybe $45k if it's the right studio or game company. But not typically. Still, $30-40k is quite good for a first job right out of school. The top guys will get a bit more (maybe $50-65k, but VERY rarely). The folks who have to work on their reels for a few months will get less to start because they won't be walking into the top studios right away. Overall the payoff is not bad for a typical graduate. But you'd better not be dreaming for a 6 figure income right out of school because that just doesn't happen anymore. That pay scale is reserved for high end TD's, senior level artists with many years of experience and supervisors. The occasional production artist may hit that mark in a very few select studios if they work a ton of paid overtime (key word here is "paid"). But fresh graduates won't get a sniff of anything near 6 figures, not even superstar Ringling graduates.

The way to ensure that you get an offer for employment when graduating from Ringling is to be in that top 5-10 students in your class. Those are the folks who will get work. The rest have to do it the way the rest of us mere mortals do and work their way up from the bottom over a longer period of time. You need to HONESTLY assess your abilities right now. If you cannot say with confidence that you are capable of producing work that is on par with the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater or Animation Theater shorts coming out of Ringling each year, then you're best served not spending your money to go there. You're better served keeping your overall debt load low and taking the longer, slower path to a job in this business because that's the way you'll have to go if you can't do stuff that is on the same level as something like Poor Bogo.
http://www.animwatch.com/Spotlight-PoorBogo.shtml

That's just my opinion.

-k

Originally posted by danistheman
Kieth is dead on, that should be required reading if you even think of going.

6 months after I graduated and after I started getting bills for my huge loan I finally found a 3 month contract doing very tedious stuff making $13 an hour. I wasn't at the top of my class but I wasn't at the bottom either.

But the education there is topnotch.

the good war

March 14th, 2004, 12:52 AM

i have just decided i am going to go
logically i probally shouldn't attend and i have been thinking about it all week but on the other hand i love computer animation and ringling is my dream school not because of the name but other reasons like the fact that most other schools student portfolios lack the qualtity of ca majors from ringling, story telling is extremely important to me as well as keeping a traditional taste to art and i have been eager to attend ringling since i first saw them on port day in sophmore year

the rest of this is just rambling so don't read if you don't want to waste your time

i wiil try to hurl myself onto this path because if i think about it anymore i probally won't go so i will have to rely on faith, i think faith is a lack of understanding which brings you to a place were either path is equally daring in your mind so perhaps by frustration or lack of courage you become seseptable to other's suggestions

on one hand my mom encourages me to proceed and tells me everything will turn out fine which could obviosly be a blattent feel good lie, just uninciteful wishful thinking, or just a legacy parenting skill which would be used if an injury were to occur and it was said simply to give confort to the child without knowledge of the severity of the damage... but due to my frustration with the options i have becom sesepatble to perhaps ill founded trust in my ablity to succeed and repay my dept
i have become fet up with logic and have decided to rely on purely emotional urges and my urning to study ca at ringling seems to be stronger than the dread that seeps through me ever time i think of tuition compared to future wages
so as as i was told i will rely on "everything working out just fine"

agentJ

March 14th, 2004, 02:22 AM

This battle will be an interesting one ;) Good times the good war. Ill give you all my decision the endo f this week :)

There's no need to fight it though. My decision has already been made. This is just me thinking about life. Escoozi me for thinking about it so much and heavily but it IS my life ;) *and yes Eurotrip DOES rock!*

Hett15

March 14th, 2004, 02:45 PM

Hey congrats to all of you that got in. I have been following this thread for awhile now hoping to get some pointers on what I need to work on when I apply.

I hope that most of you that got in will still come back to this forum and help out aspiring Ringlingers like myself.

I made the decision to try my hardest to get into Ringling awhile ago and I am not looking back. The expense is huge, but the absolute worst thing that could happen to you is after you get out when you can't pay off the loans you can delare bankruptcy. Then no one can take anymore money from you. It will completely trash your credit, but you will have an education and a skill. This probably won't happen to you and most likely you will just be paying off loans the better part of your adult life, but you'll never regret learning what you did. Think of how you will feel when you make your final check out to your loan company and you officially paid off the loan. You will think "that wasn't so bad" now look at all this money I ill save monthly! It will be a much better feeling then the guy who is working a dead end job in his 50's that just calculated he would have paid off his loan if he would have followed his dream instead of working the dump he's in. So don't worry about the money, I haven't heard of many (any) art students that have been put in jail because of loans.

Just cut out the frills you are accustomed to now and you'll be amazed at how much money you can save. Just don't sacrifice food. I've done it before and it sucks. Cut out the cable tv, learn to cook at home, go see only one movie every two months, DON'T BUY ALCOHOL it's so expensive and a waste of time! No more new video games, if you must date, date a fellow art student that knows why you are so "frugal" cause dating is very EXPENSIVE. buy the genric cereal and the store brands (they are edible) be happy with the clothes you have now, eat at your parents as much as possible, heck live with them if they are close to the school, most of all remember being cool is expensive so don't be trendy.

Sorry for being so long. I've been in college and I have learned many tricks and seen many people flunk out and have their parents bail them out financially. I'm 22 but I feel so much smarter then my friends. I am about to graduate absolutely debt free with a business degree and I enjoyed college just as much as they did. :chug: enjoy college though it only happens once (or twice in my case:D )

agentJ

March 15th, 2004, 12:43 AM

AWesome post Hett15! Yes its true and I'm glad to see your going to try :) I'll be here as long as I can. I'm sending out my confirmation at the end of this week and all. Just gonna take some time to talk it over with professors etc. ANd your advice, spot on man. Its the way to go :)

danteort

March 15th, 2004, 08:51 AM

The expense is huge, but the absolute worst thing that could happen to you is after you get out when you can't pay off the loans you can delare bankruptcy. Then no one can take anymore money from you.
Just so you know, bankruptcy no longer eliminates federal student loans. Only death will eliminate them.

MurkyDreams

March 15th, 2004, 08:37 PM

Well... if you don't think you're that good and if there's even a slight chance that you think you won't make it in the industry, then bail out now. Go to another school. Don't fuck up your life. If you enroll and get in, then work your ass off. College is not for screw offs. If you want to do that, then go to a party school, and get drunk off your ass.

sparky | emily

March 15th, 2004, 11:02 PM

heck, don't even go to a school. Just get drunk off your ass on the street.

agentJ

March 16th, 2004, 01:30 AM

ok damnit ill stop bitching about it and romanticizing it:P just gimme a week for gawd sakes!

the good war

March 16th, 2004, 04:18 PM

yeah even i still have doubts like in order to pay it off in a little more than two years you would have to pay 1000$ a week=)
i haven't sent anything in yet my brother suggested one way of actually being able to pay this off would be if i started my own company after a few years in the biz
lets hope the have nice business oriented classes also

MurkyDreams

March 16th, 2004, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by sparky | emily
heck, don't even go to a school. Just get drunk off your ass on the street.

Well... you've got to rememeber that college girls are easy ;)

Bammer

March 17th, 2004, 03:27 PM

What an interesting way to string me along further...
So today is what? The 17th? And Ringling told me I should be getting a response a month ago? Well woo. I finally was able to contact the elusive Eric Caster (a man who may or may not be a very well developed recording). I'm all set for the official response, straight from the man himself. And the verdict is, after a month of suspense...
I might, might have gotten in.
Yes you heard me correct. He didn't just give me a maybe. He gave me a maybe on the maybe. He said I've PROBABLY been WAITING LISTED. He won't be SURE about the MAYBE until what he's PRETTY SURE will be a week.
...
Dear god, the vague of these people.
Oh and when I finally do get my official response of who knows, it will not tell me what place in line I'm in. Eric had NO idea when they'd be able to tell me that. But I won't receive a definative rejection letter until... May 1st.
This'll be a thrilling wait. For christ's sakes I could be 255th on the waiting list and have my dumbass fingers crossed for another god damn month. A boat load of people aren't going to get into Ringling and decline. This is retarted.
But hey, maybe I'll get in.

AnarchyAo2

March 17th, 2004, 09:53 PM

Originally posted by danteort

Just so you know, bankruptcy no longer eliminates federal student loans. Only death will eliminate them.

You can always fake your own death.

the good war

March 17th, 2004, 11:22 PM

hello a new pic from the movie i've been working on lately hop you guys like it :D

new image (http://home.earthlink.net/~neo8josh/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/irspace.jpg)

furryspork

March 18th, 2004, 12:00 AM

Good News for you guys, bad news for me:

I talked to the dean of students today and he says I'm being kicked out of the Quad because so many freshman transfer students requested to be moved to the quad that he must now provide 7 suites for them in the Quad. This means that if you are entering Ringling as a freshman, but you have transfer credits, and are older than a traditional freshman, you can ask to be placed in the Quad.

The rooms will be 2 bed 2 bath triples, which means that one person will get a small private room and a private bathroom, and the other 2 people will share a large bedroom and bathroom. All three will share a kitchen and living room. Theses are the nicest appartments on campus. You get free cable in every room, and best of all, they're CHEAPER than freshman halls! A 2 bed 2 bath triple is $1,785 per person, and since you have a kitchen, you probably won't be required to have a meal plan.

If I were one of you, I would contact student life about this now, because probably no other students know about it yet.

Hope you guys have fun taking over my room. I'll be over in the Bayou not sleeping...:P

beechdbum

March 18th, 2004, 12:34 AM

furryspork- look at the upside, all this lack of sleep will prepare you for your next 3 years at ringling. :D when i sent in my housing form i acc asked for a single at cove cause i heard it quieter. although i heard the major drawback is the nice walk accros campus to get to classes.

carpal

March 18th, 2004, 10:11 AM

I talked to student life today too, they said that older students coming in as freshman are having space set aside for them in the cove. They hope by putting all of them in one area that it will make the cove a quieter living area. Heres to hoping.

agentJ

March 18th, 2004, 10:11 PM

Hey! anyone in here looking for a roomie who sleeps kinda lateish (2am) and doesnt smoke/drink etc, plays games and whatever msg me! ^_^

sparky | emily

March 18th, 2004, 11:06 PM

How fast does the good housing go? I had to ask for an extension, and I'm afraid I'm gonna end up in a horrible, loud dorm. :(

the good war

March 19th, 2004, 01:33 AM

hey agentj i would be interested email me

agentJ

March 19th, 2004, 02:16 PM

Alright did a little calling myself

Bayou doesnt have as much room as they would hope for, but Cove is open to many freshmen transfer students. I asked what they would define as "older" students and she says roughly 21 and higher. Mmm damn I'm 18 almost 19ish

Now as far as transfer goes:

Im a sophmore >_< But there is no room in the sophmore class so I go in as Freshman:D And having met all my liberal arts classes im litterarly going to be sitting there, on my ass, doing nothing, UNLESS i start taking some other prereqs - ilike i dont have any science or art history mm...
*checks catalog* hehe i met so man y requirements ;Z so yeah for those "two liberal arts courses" im going to be taking something like.. underwater basket weaving.

which really bothers me because i got tp ay to take BS classes.

I could go part time the first semster and just pay 900$ a credit (JESUS!!!!!!!, its 45$ for community, like 100$ for uni and like 175$ for priv uni wherei go)..

^_> shit shit ill figure something out:D

pibb991

March 19th, 2004, 03:12 PM

agentJ- dont bank on anything till you get audit sheet. i was in school full time for 4 years before here and i still have a few liberal arts classes to take.

i live in the cove and its not bad at all. a little bit of a walk to campus though. life is much easier living on campus

agentJ

March 21st, 2004, 12:45 PM

the good war please email/call/im/snail mail me please! im sending my housing ina few days so.. Ill call you if i have to :P

carpal

March 21st, 2004, 03:39 PM

Another question to toss out there...

Can anyone explain the CORE year a bit more in depth? The course descriptions are really vague. like the one for time and light -"investigates issues of color and light, and of sequence and seriality in designing time" HUH? From what I have heard CORE is just an overview of arts with lots of drawing and painting. But what exactly are the classes. Any really lame ones? Just want to know what I am jumping in to for first year.

also I heard a rumor that CA majors don't have to take some of the CORE program. They take some other classes instead. Any truth to that?

So whats the dilly on CORE?

agentJ

March 21st, 2004, 06:29 PM

Here's another one too ^_^ : what does ringling give to you in return? Not education, im talking at 32,000$ do we get anytthing else? Lectures, presentations, etc? My school cost 17,000$ a year and they give us presentations, lectures, free ettiquette dinners (teaches you how to eat "properly" :P), they sent us to cirque du soleil nearly for free.. we have visiting artist every other week more or less, we get puppeteers and other cool people to entertain us sometimes (we had a lepricon with face painting for example on st pat's day)

just asking - what does RSAD do for student life etc? I mean at 32,000$ SOME of that has to go to something other that computers, lecturers, and professors?

emcguire

March 21st, 2004, 06:48 PM

I know over the summer we had a few of guest speakers and we went to local artist's studios, but that's a whole different thing. I know Kevin Llewellyn was at Ringling a few weeks ago, and I bet they have visiting artists regularly.

But honestly, I'm not going to Ringling for the puppet shows and etiquette dinners.

the good war

March 21st, 2004, 10:44 PM

i was really hoping for puppeteers and lepricons

agentJ

March 22nd, 2004, 12:13 AM

yeah seriously wtf:P i demand a refund ^_^

No i'm just asking about student life. Thats all. If any exist outside labs that is :p

beechdbum

March 22nd, 2004, 12:28 AM

yes of course students have a life.... just not the CA majors ;)

agentJ

March 22nd, 2004, 12:34 AM

:eek:

WeirdAl

March 22nd, 2004, 04:57 PM

Blargh omg dont even mention the lectures. Every friday of precollege they coralled us all like cattle into the lecture hall and turned the lights down just enough to make you drowsey, and then theyd bring in a speaker with the most monotone voice youve ever heard. I wanted to stay awake for some of them but I couldnt for the life of me accomplish such a feat. We even had a few that would lie down on the floor, lets hope the lectures during the regular school year are a bit less sleep inducing.

sparky | emily

March 22nd, 2004, 06:33 PM

I didn't really enjoy that lecturer. But some lectures seem really interesting.

Jane Radstrom

March 22nd, 2004, 08:00 PM

I went down to Ringling with a friend on Friday and had a tour. I learned a few interesting things.. The most interesting was that they are planning to open up some concept development, traditional animation and/or storyboarding type courses that are part of the CA major to other majors as electives very soon (the impression I got was it is in the works currently, so should be available in the next few semesters). That excited me, since I'm mostly interested in 2-d design and I am leaning towards illustration. :)

As for CA majors having no life.. the tour guide said that they actually close "the cave" (CA computer lab) at midnight because of health reasons... they want to encourage CA majors to spend some time sleeping. :eek: lol

beechdbum

March 22nd, 2004, 08:01 PM

umn yes that was a lecture but it wasnt the kind of lecture agentj is talking about, that was art history class.... they were trying to give a feel for the more academic side of ringling :rolleyes: but the guy lets you draw while he talks so not all bad... and acc he may have a monotone voice but it was acc some interesting stuff, and im not a big fan of history class

and yes there are good lectures...i remeber when i visited i missed a lecture from ILM by 1 day, and i think that kinda of thing isnt to uncommon

edit: velo beat me to posting by one minite..... yeah but allot CA majors work on there own computers... and allot of people work at home completly.. the advantage of the labs is your have your classmates for tech support... yeah, i was half way kidding about the no life thing btw

the good war

March 22nd, 2004, 11:24 PM

"the cave":rofl: i think i have already created my own"cave" at home

agentJ

March 23rd, 2004, 02:01 PM

I call it my own hobbit hole ^_^

agentJ

March 23rd, 2004, 03:21 PM

Ok let me paint this for you: we
are
poor

So I called RSAD again today and asked if their grants etc can cover room and board, if any of the loans can do anything to help.

Nadda

>_<

April 1st the scholarships are mailed out. I decided NOT to send my confirmation. I'm waiting to see what aid I am offered if any. If I can't get anything and nothing can work out with the loans well damn I might not go.

Sorry :| Here's me being hopeful I get something tho!!

carpal

March 23rd, 2004, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by agentJ

If I get accepted. I'm going.

If I don't. I won't get mad. I'll just work harder. Unless I'm physically impeded I will draw every day and damnit I will be an animator, story teller, someone something somehow. And that's final.

AGENTJ!!!!!

I want people in this financial mess with me, safety in numbers. If we all go and make sure we all do our best we are going to be fiiiiinnnnnnne... right?

agentJ

March 23rd, 2004, 08:00 PM

shit man you hit on the nail, your right..

^_> Alright! Well I just sent off my extentsion. Doesn't mean I have denied anything, just waiting and seeing what I get in financial aid. Cides I need a break from all this for a day or two ^_^

Shit though, couldn't have come this far to fail now right? Here's me waiting and seeing what the future brings ^_^

I dont got money. Thats all. Time to raid fastweb.com...

agentJ

March 23rd, 2004, 08:41 PM

You know what.. you are right.

So how are we all paying for it? My plan is to get a Sallie Mae Signature Loan and go from there... Gonna try and room up with the good war, got him already selected and stuff. Just anxiously awaiting what aid they give me.. Loans don't usually cover room and board and I might have to take out another private one on my own...

My brother's friend offered a room for me, he lives about 30minutes north of campus. I might take him up on it if I cna't pay for my housing :| SOorry the good war, just matters on how im paying for it ^_^ Solutions will be found!

the good war

March 23rd, 2004, 11:41 PM

hey i understand i would do the same if i could get free room and board. how do you get an extension, did you just right a letter?

agentJ

March 24th, 2004, 12:59 AM

yeah, ill email yo ute letter i wrote if you want,

DO IT NOW
OEN DAY DELIVERY with return reciept (ask how if you dont know) so that it GETS THERE before the 30th

the good war

March 24th, 2004, 12:41 PM

wouldn't an email do?

the good war

March 24th, 2004, 12:52 PM

actually i am planning to go through school by throwing myself in the situation and clawing my way out so i am just going to send my confirmation on thursday and an email saying it will be late today
thanks

agentJ

March 24th, 2004, 08:25 PM

yeah basically im doing the same
dont erase my name tho - just waiting to see what aid they offer ^_^

Jane Radstrom

March 27th, 2004, 07:27 PM

Well, at the last minute I am applying! :p Illustration major. Things just seem to be working out in my life and leaning towards going this fall instead of waiting as I had planned... Honestly, I still don't know if I can make it. However, after talking it over with someone in admissions, I've decided I should apply now so that I can know if I get in and what kind of financial aid I qualify for, which is a big factor in deciding if I can go this year or wait for next (or go at all, come to think of it!).

I'll be sending my portfolio in during the next week, I thought you guys might like to see, I've really found it interesting to see all of yours. I'll leave it up for at least a few weeks, but I am a bit worried about bandwidth so I will take it down at some point. :)

http://www.velondra.com/images/wip/portfolio

(Note: the Acrylic Paintings are missing, I'll add them Monday when I pick them up and take pictures.)

I'm excited, maybe I'll see some of you there! :D

winjer

March 27th, 2004, 07:55 PM

velo: really nice portfolio. i dig those block figures and the contour drawings of the sacrum and shell. I applied for illlustration too.good to know im not the only one. good luck

s3614

March 28th, 2004, 02:37 AM

this is Ringling-CA senior Jason Bennett's website.
Check out his senior thesis 'The pier'...Wow..It's awesome.
http://webspace.ringling.edu/~jbennett/

the good war

March 28th, 2004, 04:40 AM

hey that was pretty sick
but any ways i lost the webpage address that shows the computer animation individual addresses and i have looked for it on the ringling webpage and could not find it
do you know of the page that lists the ca classes individual pages?
by the way i thought the stomache lining and the fish were grand

agentJ

March 28th, 2004, 01:12 PM

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=133873

the good war

March 28th, 2004, 02:41 PM

original style. cool.

carpal

March 28th, 2004, 05:51 PM

these are so !#%@#^% inspiring. jesus, I don't see any way I could make something this gorgeous on my own sitting in my parents house. I really, really don't.

arrgh... soooooo purrrty

agentJ

March 28th, 2004, 09:59 PM

the problem PZ is that i do o_O Mmm. . very coo ltho i luvers it :D

beechdbum

March 29th, 2004, 01:14 AM

AgentJ- after reading the cgtalk thread and a whole lot of other stuff about schooling I guess you can sum it by having to decide whether you want some one else to teach you those tools of the trade or learning them yourself. I think any one can learn to press buttons but yes there is a large amount of talent envolved as well. It doesnt matter how much you try and the teachers try to cram it down your skull, if you dont have the talent you dont, and no school not even ringling can give you talent. Ringling can show you some tricks along the way and help you devolp your talent but so can other schools. Do you think that all those people working at Pixar and PDI would be somewhere else today if they had gotten schooling or vice versa. I seriously doubt it, they all have an enormous amount of talent and would get to were the are one way or another. so maybe the self taught way is the right way for you.... or go to a technical school like gnomon for there 21 month program and just have them teach you the tools as quick as possible and let them leave the art up to. Theres lots of choices and maybe ringling not it.... sorry to be devils advocate but i felt i should just add my 2 cents

the good war

March 30th, 2004, 01:33 PM

the problem PZ is that i do o_O Mmm. . very coo ltho i luvers it
same here, this is quiet a dilema
i believe i could develope to the level or better in 4 years on my own but who would trust me to know what i should

the good war

March 30th, 2004, 01:40 PM

but on the other side of things do you think you could reaach the level of andrew jones or puddnhead on your own? i don't think i could

winjer

March 30th, 2004, 06:02 PM

do you think you could reaach the level of andrew jones or puddnhead on your own? i don't think i could

i think reaching levels like that can only be done on your own thru crazy amounts of dedication and hard work. Even more than just going to college and taking classes and paying way more money than you have.

agentJ

March 30th, 2004, 07:08 PM

I guess we can say anything can be done, just how much are we willing to pay for it ^_<?

MurkyDreams

March 31st, 2004, 10:56 AM

Originally posted by agentJ
So I called RSAD again today and asked if their grants etc can cover room and board, if any of the loans can do anything to help.

Nadda

So... does that mean there aren't any private student loans you can take for room and board? I mean... is there ANY way for you to not have to pay for it right away?

agentJ

March 31st, 2004, 07:57 PM

Private loans yes - in fact Ringling has their own private loan bank (or connection with one or something but they have their own loans if i understood the lady correctly) - so yeah - just nail it with a low APR and pay off the itnerest if you have a job.. what i do now at UT :D but well its a bit much $ to pay back later o_O

Hett15

March 31st, 2004, 11:39 PM

On top of Tuition, fees, and Room & Board, what do you spend money on? First year students...what does your supply list look like and what books and materials are you required to get? How much does this all cost? I just think I could start getting some little things here and there before I end up actually going there, stuff that doesn't get outdated like paints, drawing pads, pencils...

soophen

April 2nd, 2004, 11:28 AM

If 4 yrs college is so expensive, who not go to a community college first then transfer? Is it harder to get in that way?

the good war

April 5th, 2004, 01:49 PM

i have done the deed
or something to that nature i finally sent in my confirmation so no turning back now

agentJ

April 5th, 2004, 08:23 PM

did you keep me on the housing list?

im sending mine tomorrow or wensedasdyay ^_< ive made my decision too

the good war

April 6th, 2004, 12:12 AM

yes i did indeed on
monanadayo the 5th

how are things working out in the housing department for you? do you know if your going to be staying in the dorms yet

undergroundkg

April 6th, 2004, 01:45 AM

ive gotten about 500 emails and calls asking me to attend ringling but choose another major. wtf :( i dont think the people contacting me actualy saw my portfolio and i have to keep telling them , no, this is what i need to do. they just dont get it....

the good war

April 6th, 2004, 11:51 PM

thats kind of sad and funny at the same time sorry
:rolleyes: <-----i think this one means compassion? are you going to attend another school perhaps a cheaper school perhaps you could make off like a bandit and make us feel bad we paid so much more than you

remember what i said before we heard the decisions "well if i don't get in i'll work 3x as hard where ever i go so i can steal the awards from the ringling ca majors in sweet bitter revenge " that would become my motto if i were you:)

agentJ

April 7th, 2004, 12:21 AM

Defintely man.

Fight hard! rwah!! ;) Lol we could scan our notes every day and post them online - ha! freeeducation :P Bleh.. thatll be hard.. hmm

the good war - thanks m8! I'm seindg mine Thursday when me mum gets back and we'll finalize everything on my side. Cool stuff. :D

agentJ

April 7th, 2004, 08:09 PM

Very true i would say, it might easier one your in. But if you go as an illustrator, go to BE an illustrator! Thats my thing. if your going to do it

DO IT

So yeah guys. You knwo what today is ? Class registration day for Univ Tampa. Did I register? Nope. Shit shit lol. Fucked aren't I? You know it. but now theres no turning back, I'm going to Ringling. And if I got to get a Parents LOAN well shit. I will. Lol I'm even wearing my vintage RSAD search lol.

Good luck to all of you. the good war, we're rooming. I think ^_<. BeechDbum, wake up and post in here sometimes :D

Good luck to all again! I'm off to draw and write :D

beechdbum

April 7th, 2004, 08:28 PM

hello.... um yeah ::crawls back in to hole in wall::

carpal

April 7th, 2004, 09:59 PM

I haven't gotten any financial aid stuff in the mail yet, have you guys? I did from another school I applied to...

Anyway, I think I am going to rant a bit. I just got in the biggest yelling fight I have ever been in. The house I am in is hell, really. I have never met 2 messier and inconsiderate people in my entire life, add to the fact they are compulsive liars and don't have a single goal in the world and you have got a mess. If they were to go to college for what they are talented at, they would have to find a school that offered a major in "making the biggest mess ever" and minor in "drink ourselves into a coma while yelling at 3 in the morning and not paying our electricity bills"

They would ace the program.

Please PLEASE give me some peace and quiet next year Ringling. I beg of you. (if finances work out)

aaaaaaahhhh

hi everyone :D

undergroundkg

April 8th, 2004, 03:55 AM

bio, i have talked to them. they said there is absolutley no chance of transfering in to cA for me. the only way i could go about this is to reapply next year. and i would never go into another major because i work on CA 24/7 the way it is. there is absolutley no other option for me
i am deffinatley going to another school. the school is great but a coupel things worry me, 1. no degree, 2. its only a 1 year school. but the student work is amazing and there is no other bullshit gen ed stuff because there is no degree so i will be abel to focus alot more on ca there.
i will be missing out majorly on becoming a better all around artist and story teller, this was the biggest reason i wanted to attend ringling, id also have 4 years to really master everything.
its not like im depressed or giving up, i would say more that im angry i didnt succeed at my goal, i am still as motivated as ever even if my posts dont seem like it.

i will most likely be attending vancouver film school
their website is http://www.vfs.com if anyone is interested...
check out the student work, its right up there with ringling imo. i just wanted more time than a year. a degree wouldnt hurt either :/

AnarchyAo2

April 8th, 2004, 07:41 AM

Hey guys. Since you all have been through the whole application thing. Could you give me a little summary about what you thought about it? For example; Does the school focus more on your academics, or your portfolio and art skills?
Also, could you guys post a link to your online portfolio or maybe even some pictures that you have uploaded, so that those of us wanting to get in next year will kind of know what the standard is. If you feel comfortable, could you post your highschool GPA and SAT scores? This information would be great, because I'm looking to get into an art school (maybe even ringling).

carpal

April 8th, 2004, 09:53 AM

I will go pull up my portfolio for you tonight Anarchy, I am off to class now.

My high school marks were shit. 2.6 GPA but my ACT was 25 (damn that math part I had 29-32's on everything but math) I have been out of school for a couple years though, and since then I went to community college and got like a 3.6 and now at art school with a 3.2.

from what I have heard, there WILL be people accepted that don't have perfect portfolio's but have awesome 3.8 and up GPA's and then the other way around. Those people with the high GPA's have proven that they will work as hard as they need to to get the grade. Most people who get awesome grades won't let themselves do bad.

EllethEowyn

April 8th, 2004, 10:58 PM

hey...i've been reading this thread for awhile but never actually got around to posting. In regards to AnarchyAo2, I think I got accepted to Ca on the basis of two things: PreCollege and my grades. The best thing you can possibly do is go to PreCollege...I wouldn't have known what to do portfolio-wise without it. Plus, if you work REALLY hard, even if you've never done CA before in your life, you can get their CA award, which I think was really helpful to me. So my best advice would be to go to PreCollege (i think you have until May 1st to apply).
And since I think I had that going for me, I can't really predict how I would have done otherwise...I think my portfolio was pretty average, nothing special. But I have a 4.296 GPA and am ranked like, 5th in my class, so that kinda put me ahead...
So basically....PreCollege and Grades. Good luck.

btw...you can view my portfolio at
http://www.geocities.com/elletheowyn/Portfolio/

sparky | emily

April 9th, 2004, 12:16 AM

I second the PreCollege thing. I basically built my entire portfolio there. I don't think I would have gotten into the schools I got into with out it. The environment was great, and it got me to a much higher level of creativity. It was a very good experience. Plus, I've never been around so many people who like animation as much as I do. :)

the good war

April 9th, 2004, 12:45 AM

this is
my port (http://home.earthlink.net/~neo8josh/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/) but there is also some junk in there that wasn't in my portfolio when i sent it ,unfinished stuff sketches crap everyone has already seen
but as for me getting into ringling i base it on a couple of things
1. the major differnce in my application was my essay i showed a humble eagerness to appease the god of art and worshipped the ground that the fantasic educators of future artists walked on. further more i recited a life story told several times before to show my appreciation for the war on drugs or something to that affect...basically last year i said my sense of social responsibilty as an artist became retartded due to the love of the art it self and i spoke of an internal world i was involved in rather than the external world we all know and love... or at least like... to some degree... equal to the love of fresh bananna bread. maybe part of my rejection last year was due to the fact that i said i could teach my self computer animation but would enjoy the company of others during that time period*<--- that could have been a mistake ...er. don't say that if you ever want to leave the house i think(*gross exaggeration of essay but it captures the essence none the less). so eagerness, humility, sense of the society you live in and probally abit of magic called spell check -one more thing say you study all the time which was true in my case
2.my portfolio has life studies which they insist upon and even though i created some concept art that took me hella long to make i kept it out ,Fight the Urge! work endless amounts of time to make something you think is accepable occasionally i learn alot from longer studies but your drawing skills will suffer if you stick only to drawings that could be considered the drawn out beyond all reason
by this time everyone has probally fazed out so to shorten it up a bit
gpa 2.99
no sat or act
the essay is probally the most important then the port? just don't say anything that could easily become misconstude(spelling?)

the good war

April 9th, 2004, 12:55 AM

i imagine us playing a mean air guitar duet together agentj . wait not really:) heres to new beginnings:chug:

beechdbum

April 9th, 2004, 03:38 AM

heres mine www.beechdbum.com also with a few random new things not submitted just look at the dates its easy to figure out which ones

carpal

April 9th, 2004, 10:48 AM

www.accidentalabstract.com/ringling

that is mine, dunno if I showed anyone yet or not. I think I might have a looong time ago. there were some more gestures and some other random drawings that I can't find now.

furryspork

April 9th, 2004, 11:37 PM

AjentJ, it's funny you should mention scanning your notes and putting them on the internet for other people, because I've recently been trying to make a website where people can sorta do that.

Obviously people couldn't copy teachers' notes and post them, because the teachers wouldn't be too happy about that. However, I've seen several people post stuff from visiting artist lectures at their school on their personal sites, and I thought it would be pretty cool if there was a central place for people to post this kind of stuff, so I tried to create one.

The site is at

*edit*- oops! Ihad to take that site down. I got in trouble for it. Grrr. Everything I try to do to help people ends up getting me in trouble.

the good war

April 10th, 2004, 12:04 AM

i'll be interested to see where this goes i am a member now, i think it is a great idea and it's perfectly timed

agentJ

April 10th, 2004, 08:08 PM

Ringling offers me no $ :)

2,000$ florida access grant, no mention of my bright futures, and something about Parent and Stafford loan that I will both deny since they don't cover the costs.

Lol this shits looking harder and harder every dya. I might endu p giving up my spot if I can't afford it guys. sorry.

Beltash

April 10th, 2004, 08:38 PM

Sorry if this has already been asked, I do not have time to read through this thread.

What is the cost of living for one person around Ringling? Including electric and water.

Thanks.

AnarchyAo2

April 11th, 2004, 04:01 PM

Not to sound cocky or anything but I think I have the art skills needed for Ringling. My grades are a thing to worry about. I think I have about a 2.9 or something. And what if you were never in things like the national art honors society? Would that count against me? Because I didn't want to join it, no one in the stupid thing was even good at art. It was just a bunch of people who wanted to add another name to their resume. Ya know, its nothing that I wanted to apart of.

And when you guys say precollege. Does that mean you take classes at the college during highschool? Or is it like going to a community college, then transfering? And, according to the first definition of precollege, could I take a coarse at another college and have it count for anything when applying to Ringling?

beechdbum

April 11th, 2004, 04:26 PM

dont think it should be to much of a problem prob not a positive or a negative when they look at you. I had a 3.0 through out high school except my freshman year when i had some trouble and so my overall gpa is like a 2.8. , but a 3.1 if you dont include freshman year. i am not any kind of honor society havent even heard of the national art honors society acc.

Precollege is summer program at ringling where you take classes live in the dorums and get a small glimpse at what life at ringling is like. its a great thing to do and it does add an extra peg to your resume and well they do notice if you went or not. so i highly recommened it for all aspects of the program.

post some of your art btw, sometimes people can have bad habbits that art schools look for, its very easy to miss flaws in your own art after looking at it for so long, everone has this problem i think. people on here might be able to catch things you should or should not do and give you the chance to fix them. if you need some where to host it, send me the files at beechdbum@aol.com and ill host them for a while

sula_nebouxi

April 11th, 2004, 09:10 PM

First post :)

Hey agentJ...it really sucks that Ringling won't give you any financial aid :( ...I would suggest some...underhanded ways to "exaggerate" on the FAFSA...but they say they do audits every now and then...

I feel so bad...seeing this post evolve, hearing how you worked your ass off to get into Ringling, seeing you get in, and now...facing the possiblity that you might not go :( ...

Isn't there some kind of program where you get a full scholarship but would have to teach there for 5 years? I remember hearing about this somewhere...I can't remember if it's an actual existing program though...it could have been just an idea when i heard about it...

Anyways...good luck in any path you choose:chug:

PS oh yeah...I sent you a PM over on cgtalk(I didn't realize I had one:()

PPS...just wondering...should we open up a Ringling thread part 2? you know...for us 2005 hopefuls? (points to self) :D

Dominie_Dirtch

April 11th, 2004, 10:00 PM

I think it might be wise to take down the most valid, repeated points of this massive, massive thread, and start a new one for 2005 hopefuls.

As for finances... Steal, kill, cheat, lie, cry, die. In other words... Do whatever it takes, and never regret it.

I hear the black market pays well for human kidneys.

Oh, and take as many transferable courses as you can. My english course I'm taking at community college cost me 80 dollars, as opposed to 900 at RSAD. General Edu. is a waste of time at RSAD, or so I heard from every student I talked to while in PreCollege... Plus, you'll be able to spend more time working on shit like In Context Self-Portraits and your massive 3D Form and Space project; rather than spending time writing friggin essays, or whatever.

danteort

April 11th, 2004, 11:57 PM

Originally posted by agentJ
Ringling offers me no $ :)

2,000$ florida access grant, no mention of my bright futures, and something about Parent and Stafford loan that I will both deny since they don't cover the costs.

Lol this shits looking harder and harder every dya. I might endu p giving up my spot if I can't afford it guys. sorry.
I'm just curious, but why are you declining the federal aid? Borrow what they offer you with those, then if you have to suppliment it with a private student loan (check out www.salliemae.com).

Now, if your parents aren't willing to take out the loans or even cosign for one, then that's another story. However, as far as I understand it the parent PLUS loans allow your parents to borrow up to the cost of education (as determined by the school), and they won't get declined unless they've declared bankruptcy. The only downside to the PLUS loans is that they must be repaid starting immediately.

agentJ

April 12th, 2004, 12:30 AM

lol thats the problem, we can't pay immediately, we litterarly have no money. Dont mind cosigning or anything, just we cant pay ^_^ I dont pay for my college now, its all by Scholarships (more or less a full ride, which helps out a LOT) Sallie Mae will let me borrow up to 100k if i want but can I a) repay that with the oversaturated market now of animators and/or b) apparently ringling wont offer it or we're very unclear. Im not happy about RSAD"s financial department.. Gonna talk to to em on munday so :D

AnarchyAo2

April 12th, 2004, 01:04 PM

beechdbum: Give me a few days with draw some good and I'll use my mom's digital camera to post it. I hope you guys don't mind camera shots but I don't have a scanner.

And I used to have bad habbits, like drawing anime. Ugh, its bad shit. I dunno if this is a problem, but I think I've carried some of those old anime techniques with me, even when I went from anime to fine arts. You mainly see them when I draw straight from my brain. It isn't anything bad really, like my characters don't have HUGE eyes, and boobs larger then most recking balls. Maybe its just my style.

geoffd

April 12th, 2004, 01:07 PM

I applied for ringling last year and got in for the fall (august 2003) but I couldn't make it in time to attend, they offered me (RSAD) the stafford loan (both unsub and sub) at the full amount as well as the federal pell grant. so basically i had roughly $5000 of my education paid for. now there are TONS of other ways to get money for school, you just have to look and bust your ass applying for them. Lock yourself ina room and for 24 hours non stop apply for any and all loans and grants and scholaships that you can find. eventually you'll find that most of the schooling costs will be paid for. also, sarasota is VERY artsy, you can make a killing with whatever talents you may have, painting portraits and murals, doing sketches of people and such. the bottom line is, if you want it bad enough you will make it happen. don't worry about the costs until after you graduate. work closely with the student careers dept. also check out Student Central (http://www.studentcentral.com) register with them and you can see what jobs are available right now for ringling students and grads. last i checked EA Tiburon was hiring. Disney had something posted there as well. All I can say is Good Luck to all who are going, have fun and work your asses off!!!!! the money will take care of itself at a later point, worry more about what you are going to get out of Ringling first and foremost.

If you guys and gals have any questions about sarasota in general feel free to send me a PM

winjer

April 12th, 2004, 08:37 PM

I got in to illustration anyone else here going for that? Can I hang out with you CA people if I go or is there inter-department rivalry?

haha

April 16th, 2004, 01:57 PM

i hope you guys are ready to have your asses kicked. i talked to a friend of mine who went to ringling from our college on mobility, and he had some horror stories. he said that one student was having his work crit'd, and the prof said"that's a nice mat-job, at least." he(the prof) then proceeded to tear the work off of the mat, rip it in two and hand the guy a McDonald's application. this, by the way, was in the illustration dept. i can only imagine the others.

Dominie_Dirtch

April 16th, 2004, 02:05 PM

That would probably have been Joseph Teal. Reputed for tearing things off the wall and growling "IT'S GERRBAGE! UNNG IT'S CRAP!" then throwing them in the trash.

Man, I hope I get him for a teacher. :D

Jeff Schwartz is also very hardcore, I had him for a teacher at pre-college, and he was my absolute favorite... He was the only one there I noticed really ripping into people. But hey, that pushes you to be better... This is why we're going to the school...

I'm Illustration winjer... And I think there is a tiny bit of inter-department rivalry between CA and every other department, because the CA major tend to get a bit more benefits than everyone else...
But who the hell cares about rivalry? Base who you hang out with off the individual person...

the good war

April 16th, 2004, 03:20 PM

i am going to spit on everyone i see that is not a ca major!

haha

April 16th, 2004, 04:04 PM

Dominie: yeh man!
Having a difficult teacher like that would definintely spawn some creativity. We have a guy like that at MCA too. He usually makes at least 3 or 4 people cry at review time. I just wanted to see if there was any truth to that story, and apparently there was. I hope to actually go to Ringling on mobility my junior year, and would love to have my ass kicked.

agentJ

April 16th, 2004, 11:45 PM

Lol that's awesome. I hope I get him, ell even if I'm not a Illu major still Id love to talk to him.

The Rivalry? Alright guys its cool but please dont let it go to your heads. Honestly we dont need that shit, but yeah its fun to mess around :P

mmm

Bammer

April 18th, 2004, 08:39 PM

Oh groovy I just learned I got accepted to Ringling CA. I'll see you guys there.

agentJ

April 18th, 2004, 11:00 PM

Yeay! More people the better :D I wonder why last ears no one droppped

agentJ

April 21st, 2004, 11:13 AM

IF anyone by the name of Zollo is here, last name, ad got the Congressional Art Award and lives in Tampa : CONGRATS! Sorry reading article real fast and heading out. Congrats m8!

For those that don't know, the congressional art award (i dont know the exact name :\ again rushing out of here :D) gives you a scholarship to any art school of your choice, well between two of them, SCAD and University of Tampa (DOH! again with UT, I go to UT :P)

But he also got into RSAD! and hes thinking abuot going there. So shit man lol

so here's to whoever won - he goes to Blake hs. im thinking abuot s tyopping by and saying hi.

alright peace im out.

im still thinking about going. just waitingo n ne particular phonecall that may never come

:chug:

sparky | emily

April 21st, 2004, 11:29 PM

well, I'm not going. I'm going to USC - I got a full tution scholarship there.

agentJ

April 22nd, 2004, 12:49 AM

Ah oh well! Congrats for getting in any way m8! And thanks for hanging out here. You may have helped soemone else's carear? Who knows. Thanks a ton. and IM me sometime ;) agentj64 on aim

Hett15

April 27th, 2004, 11:40 AM

So I have a question about how to structure an illustration degree to lean mostly in the animation direction. Anyone know if there are classes you can take to get more character design, layout, and story drawing in the illustration major? Is there a focus ike technical or interpretive? If I get into illustration I don't want to take a bunch of bulls#!t classes learning to draw with macaroni and found objects. I want hands on drawing drawing drawing with pencil, pen, and ink! Ultimately I want CA, but illustration done the right way will work just fine too. ANy thoughts or knowledge out there?:confused:

Jane Radstrom

May 6th, 2004, 12:11 AM

Hett, I also want to take Illustration with a focus on concept art, story boards, etc, so I have been asking alot of related questions. As far as I have found out, right now you basically can't take any CA classes as another major - not even ones relating to concept development and not modeling. But, apparently it's a big issue on the campus right now because there are quite a few students looking to take those classes, and they are working on restructuring some things so that they will soon be available to other majors. How soon? No one would commit, but they gave me the impression that it would be reasonable to look for those classes in the next few semesters.

By the way, I heard back about my application last week and I was accepted. :) ( I applied for Illustration.) But it's still pretty up in the air if I can get the money together and arrange the rest of my life to make it this fall.

Dominie_Dirtch

May 6th, 2004, 12:23 AM

Dooooo it... Your work is already excellent, Ringling will make you Godlike.

I get the impression that there are a large majority of Illustrators at RSAD who's focus is a career in childrens books and the like.
That's not going to cut it for me. I'm looking to be doing concept art for games like Silent Hill 3, not drawing cartoon teddy bears. I think it will be fine, though. They are pretty good about catering to the needs of the student body.

On the note of learning concept art,story boards, etc... Anyone else going to the Austin workshop?

agentJ

May 6th, 2004, 02:09 AM

I am! Going to tyr at least. Drive up there if I have to. 400$ bleh!

On another note I guess its official now;) I decided against goign to Ringling because I just couldn't afford it this year with all the expenses and the promising (PROMISING) hope that UT can grow. So hurrah! Here's hoping something works out.

So now I'll be learning on my own. It shall be hard but I chose this path because I believed I could do it. God help?

Good luck to all of you that got accepted! I'll visit if I can so you can all sporadically kick me in the nuts for not going ;) And good luck to all of you who may be going in 05! I wish you al lthe best and have fun!

On my side, I installed Maya today. Time to start learning ^_< My last exam was today and I'm happy to say I feel kind free now.

SO here's me trying to get an internship, begging for a job, and learning.

Good luck to all of you!

I'll surely visit. Laters!

the good war

May 8th, 2004, 11:54 AM

brave step agent j
i have been off for nearly a year now and my word of advice for success while out of college: moniter your time spent, and set goals that have tight deadlines. perhaps the worst thing i have done while home was to get a cable modem... it consumed my life for a while, whether it be viewing others art downloading tutorials, videos or nonscrupilous material it eventually degrades you to level of an inactive viewer which is an extremly hard state to crawl out of . but i have faith in you i am sure you'll grow tremendous amounts during your off time
good luck!
by the way ill be going to the austin workshop too so hopefully ill see you guys there

geoffd

May 8th, 2004, 07:16 PM

Originally posted by Dominie_Dirtch
I get the impression that there are a large majority of Illustrators at RSAD who's focus is a career in childrens books and the like.
That's not going to cut it for me. I'm looking to be doing concept art for games like Silent Hill 3, not drawing cartoon teddy bears. I think it will be fine, though. They are pretty good about catering to the needs of the student body.

now i know you are a puddnhead fanboy right? just a note you may or may not have know about the boy. he was in ringling, he took fine arts. during that time he devoted himself to developing and honing his skills by painting life sized portraits and such. and now look at what he is doing, concept art for some of the best RPGs on the PC, concept art for 'dreamcatcher' 'pirates of the carribean', etc etc etc. YOU will be the only one limiting you career choices by what you put into your education. if you think all you will get out of the illustration dept. at ringling is a job drawing books for kids, then that is what you'll get. use your time WISELY while you are there. oh, manley went through the illustration dept. at ringling as well, look at him and where he is today. he's NOT drawing kids books!!!!! :D and to be honest, the best thing you'll get from ringling is CONNECTIONS, connections to the different art studios, game companies, movies studios, etc. etc. and the freindf you make there will hopefully become your friends for life, those that will help you continue learning and growning as an artist. like android, kevin and manley, etc.
just my 2cents.
thanks for listening.

wassermelone

May 10th, 2004, 04:28 AM

Actually as a student at Ringling... I think the proportions are more like this:

50% of illustration students want to do Editorials.
I am curious as to why... because although there is good money in editorials sometimes, it doesn't seem all that stable for a job to earn your bread on. Plus... apparently it is hard to break into.

25% want to do children's books or cards.
Curious about why this too. Sure a lot of it is nice art... but only so many children's book titles come out each year... and also a lot of repeat "star" artists. Plus... how many sell in great numbers? From my child hood... I seem to remember getting a newer book everynow and then... but mostly returning to the classics. So from what I can guess... good money but hard to break into.

15% want to do concept art for something. Personally this is what category I would fall into if I was in Illustration (I am CA) so maybe it is my bias, but this seems more stable despite the ammount of start ups and failures in both gaming and film.

And then the other 10% don't know what the hell they want to do exactly other than just paint a lot...

But the thing is... the Illustration department here doesn't seem to focus on specifically one illustrative career path (well maybe they pander a little more towards editorial) so you can do really well with any such inclination. I mean... as Capt. Harlock said... look at the really good graduates.

-toasty =)

Dominie_Dirtch

May 10th, 2004, 10:54 AM

I'm just going to learn freaking everything and meet freaking everybody.

I'm such a Puddnhead fanboy... His ability to be Kevin Llewellyn and do fine arts in galleries, then go straight to nightmarish freak creatures, and his sketchbook dedication is just... Exactly where I want to be.

I think what I desire out of Illustration is the fact that I will be learning a very strong base in drawing/painting/traditional fine art methods... Which is something I can use for ANY field.

PlutoInLove

May 24th, 2004, 11:02 PM

Hi there... I'm interested in Ringling for Interior Design and Photography. I'd be interested to know whatever information anyone has about those areas.
Also, while I would always have considered myself an artist, I focused more on my writing and a traditional academic path during HS-- lots of APs, Honors-- and I've sort of come to art late in life. I'm just now considering that it may be what I want to do. I've taken art classes where I'm at school now, but I don't have the huge history in art like many others do. Is that a disadvantage, like I figure, or is it true that there are those who come to Ringling as total neophytes? Has anyone actually been admitted by submitting the Portfolio Substitute thingie?

agentJ

May 25th, 2004, 11:53 AM

This girl got into photography:
http://kome.deviantart.com/

as for portfolio exchange? not that i know of. I know one person created a wooden box machine where you would "feed" the slides and it would show them (some strange contraption) but i dont think he got in.

While yes + points for thinking outside the box, i'll take one o f their qoutes:

We're loooking for potential, not picasso

Just do a portfolio man, not hard at all. take pictures with slide film in a decently lit area (check rsad.edu or scad.edu for a good tut on lighting etc) i did mine in a patio with decently white walls and moderate overcast (GOOD!) sunlight

then find a place that develops photographs and find a slide sheet and your all set ;)

Use the yellowpages..

and as far as skill is concerned? Beech got in and he has no skill whatsoever, in fact i think they hired him as a janitor for rsad and not as an actual student but no one is telling him yet...

:PP jk ^_^

beechdbum

May 26th, 2004, 03:36 PM

::PlutoInLove:: well im just taking a guess at what you mean by portfolio substitute,

::quoted from ringlings website::
"If you haven't had formal art training
Don't worry-many of our incoming freshman each year haven't had studio classes.

If you don't have samples of artwork to submit, you can complete the following exercises. We understand that applicants have varying skill levels. We've designed these exercises to uncover your artistic potential in the areas of drawing, color, composition, and creativity.

Complete each of the following exercises on a separate sheet of white 8 1/2" x 11" unmatted paper. Print your full name and the number of the exercise on the back of each sheet.

If you don't complete these exercises exactly as requested, your application processing will be delayed. We won't be able to return your work, so be sure to keep copies for yourself.

The Five exercises
1. Select three to five objects that are familiar to you. Arrange them together, then draw them using line and tone.

2. Make a free-hand drawing of one corner of a room in your home. Include at least three pieces of furniture.

3. Create a self-portrait in any medium. Do not refer to a photograph.

4. Using "nature" as a theme, create a collage by tearing images from a magazine and pasting them on a sheet of paper.

5. Visually interpret and express the word "connection" in a drawing of any medium."

personally i dont know any one admitted on just those along but i do know people who used those as well as a few other pieces to be admitted. About agents comment while i wouldnt consider my self to have no skills at all like agent j seems to think i was in your same shoes at this point in time, i went to ringlings precollege and was embarased to show others my artwork because i really had no training and had no idea what they were looking for. so what i did is went to portfolio day and visited the school to make sure they knew i was interested and to have them review my portfolio and make suggestions, which really do help. for art i took every art class i could at my school, weekly private classes and went to 3 hours of figure drawing each week. so basically i put myself through 12 hours of art classes a week and countless hours drawing on my own. unfortuntly i dont know anything about the two majors your interested in and what kind of classes you should be taking to get admitted. You can check out my portfolio at www.Beechdbum.com if youd like the early dated stuff is my portfolio while theres some newer stuff floating around at the bottom of the page.

::AgentJ:: mind telling me which one of us is going to ringling again? i keep forgetting..... :D

RefrigeratorCo

May 27th, 2004, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by agentJ

Just do a portfolio man, not hard at all. take pictures with slide film in a decently lit area (check rsad.edu or scad.edu for a good tut on lighting etc) i did mine in a patio with decently white walls and moderate overcast (GOOD!) sunlight

then find a place that develops photographs and find a slide sheet and your all set ;)

Use the yellowpages..

[/B]

It's easier to just scan them at kinkos, save the files as jpegs, and then burn them on to a CD.

If your work is too big for the scanner use a digital camera.

Kinkos being the place to be if you don't have that stuff at home or you cant find a friend who does.

Shin_Iori

May 31st, 2004, 05:52 PM

Hello all, just wanted to drop in that I've applied and been accepted to the RSAD school in FL. I'll be undertaking the Graphic and Interactive Communications degree, but butsing my hump at a chance to get into the animation program. I know, I know, I've been told how rediculously hard it is to do that, but I'm going to put my best efforts towards it anyhow.

sula_nebouxi

May 31st, 2004, 07:40 PM

Congrats Shin, but I don't know if it's a question of how hard you're willing to work. I'm sure you'll do that. But, transferring into the computer animation program, as far as I know, is going to be near impossible because someone has to drop out of that class before they let someone transfer programs. I assume that you will be trying to get into the computer animation program as a sophomore, in which case you will need someone who is also going to be a CA sophomore to drop out. Some might, but it's a crapshoot. There's no way of knowing if someone will drop out, if any do at all.

Shin_Iori

June 1st, 2004, 12:10 AM

Well thats the only thing thats keeping me out at the moment, so as far as I know, I'm just going to apply myself as much as possible in the hopes that a spot will open. I just want to make the best impression that I can and prove my devotion to the craft so that if/when a spot is available in the sophmore CA degree that I'll be the first candidate considered.

In either case I'll win because I already have a CA degree from another school, but that was more of a tech school and I didn't really learn as much about actual animation so much as the technology and programs behind it. I'd love the chance to combine my animation skills with web/CD-ROM design, so thats why I chose the GIC major as opposed to Ill major.

carpal

June 11th, 2004, 07:09 PM

I am having some trouble...

I live in Minnesota right now and am trying to find a place to live in Sarasota. Without being down there it is EXTREMELY hard to find a place to live. so can anyone it me with some help? Good apartments? Anyone looking for a room-mate? I would like to be near enough to school to walk, and preferably in an ok neighborhood. Being without a rodent or insect problem would be awesome too.

I don't really want to live in the dorms. It is too expensive and I want to buy food and cook for myself. If anyone has ANY tips it would be awesome.

Thanks

Daissan

June 15th, 2004, 08:53 AM

Huh, for some reason I missed this thread. I got into ringling a few months ago, Illustration. I'm also looking to go into concept art, character design, storyboarding, etc and somesuch. It may be that we just happen to be a crowd interesting in this sort of thing, but using the posts in this thread as a sampling, most people headed into the illustration program are interested in the same careers.

As for whether or not we'll be able to, I think that that's really what Ringling gets its reputation from. They do provide an excellent education in the arts, but more than that they provide opportunities for students to get real jobs, where they will learn from those around them after school and progress into true professionals. Perhaps the reason so many amazing artists come out of Ringling is that they get right into visual arts work, without a break in their education, not getting coffee for guys who do it.

the good war

June 15th, 2004, 11:49 AM

Shin_Iori

youll probaly have a chance at my spot i am going for a year to gain access to the job center then i am going to head out unless i could gain some insane fin aid
right now i am doubting that will do me any good anyway
if i can't get a job when i leave ringling i will probally go to a local tech school
???
i am simply stating there will probally be an opening sophmore year

sula_nebouxi

June 15th, 2004, 06:12 PM

Quick question to those who got in...

I'm just wondering what all of your GPA's were from high school and college(if you went). I remember hearing that some people actually got into Ringling based pretty much on GPA alone. Just seeing what kind of GPA I would need to have a good chance of getting in.

Thanks in advance.

carpal

June 15th, 2004, 06:44 PM

I have had high school and two years of college so far...

High school GPA: 2.65

GPA averaged for both colleges: 3.45

High school and I didn't get along very well.

Jane Radstrom

June 17th, 2004, 07:56 AM

I have a 4.0 in Highschool and Community College (above that if it's weighted), but I hope that isn't the reason I got in! :(

AnarchyAo2

June 17th, 2004, 10:20 AM

I don't think they accept people purely on GPA. They probably accept people largely on art, but it is also good to have a high GPA. It won't hurt you. They shouldn't accept people purely on GPA, because there have been many great artists who didn't have terrific academic standings. Like Chuck Close, he had some LD's and he was still a great artist. Even after his stroke (I think thats what he had), he still paints well, even in a wheel chair.

winjer

June 17th, 2004, 11:13 AM

I have terrible grades and i got in here and sva. I think like a 2.0 for highschool and a little better for college.

AnarchyAo2

June 17th, 2004, 11:44 AM

I found this very informitive article about college admissions and portfolios.
http://www.artschools.com/articles/admission/best/

sula_nebouxi

June 17th, 2004, 05:48 PM

True, I don't think they accept people based solely on GPA, even if they have a crap portfolio. But I do think it shows that a person will work hard to improve. And as long as that person has a portfolio that shows *some* potential, they might have a good chance.

winjer, you must have had a godly portfolio. I have a fairly low GPA right now at college (2.65) and had a pretty good GPA in high school (3.3something). I'm not taking any chances though...I need to bulk up my GPA as much as possible and get a kickass portfolio together...

Thanks for the link Anarchy, it was pretty interesting. I'm just hoping and hoping that I'll be good enough when the deadline for Ringling comes in 6 months.

Daissan

June 24th, 2004, 12:48 AM

I had a GPA of 84 or so, on the 1-100 scale. Not sure exactly what that is on the 1-4 scale... something in the range of 3.2 to 3.4, I think. My portfolio wasn't that impressive, and my grades were probably "meh" compared to some of the applications they probably get. I think my SAT and SATII scores might have had a strong bearing on my getting in. I've always tested well, so standardized schtuff like that is my friend. I think I had a 1390 on the SAT's, then a 770 for writing, 690 for math IIC, and 670 for Chemistry on my SATII's. Anyone else think that their SAT/ACT (or your respective nation's equivalent test) scores had a big impact on their acceptance?

the good war

June 24th, 2004, 01:54 AM

i talked with lemen and i am most probaly going to become converted into a Watts Atelier student this year instead of spending a year at ringling that school sounds so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! lemen seems like a really nice guy and he truly knows his stuff. the discipline is definately something i need also
this should be great

the good war

June 24th, 2004, 01:58 AM

by the way the austin trip was excellent , i have never met a better group of people i have to start posting new work now!

moosie39

July 17th, 2004, 05:55 PM

Hey all----
I've been going to CA for a while now, but I just found this forum----WOw! What a intense drama I see people shared with me while hoping to get into this school!!! But I'll be there on August 18 for Orientation and I was wondering who everyone is so we could meet up and chill as a big CA posse----- My name's Robb if anyone's still out there and I'll see everyone around!!! Later----

Daissan

July 18th, 2004, 12:51 AM

I think someone should just draw a cool sign that says "CA PARTY OVER HERE!" on it, and put it on a tall stick at orientation. Volunteers? :huh: :bs: (pretend that flag says "CA". Dun feel like making a custom image for this... well shit. I just got a cool idea. Maybe I'll post it later if I do it.)

carpal

July 22nd, 2004, 11:52 AM

kind of exciting... I just found out I will be staying in the apartments this next year. So I went from Cove single housing to a 2 bedroom 2 bath triple. That cuts down on the loan a bit!

So furryspork or anyone else... what do the apartments come with furnished? Anything? Or am I going to have to plan on getting a bed and whatnot down there?

I am having a hard time at work and really doing ANYTHING because I am getting so antsy to get moving. see you guys in a few weeks

Daissan

July 22nd, 2004, 11:12 PM

You know where you're staying already? I can't find it anywhere on the welcome .edu website... Is it hidden somewhere else?

Bammer

July 26th, 2004, 08:31 PM

I'm down in the Cove which I hear is a cool place to live. So I will see you guys there.

So what's the final number of ConceptArt.org folks who will be heading down to Florida in August?

By the way my last names Bahm for when we are all down there and have no way of knowing our web forum personas.

furryspork

July 27th, 2004, 01:35 PM

PZ- You get an adjustable bed (can be raised or lowered, which will be helpful if you end up in the double room and you need the storage space under the bed) with a really heavy and rather uncomfortable matress, so you might want to bring a matress pad or something. You get a dresser, a drawing board, and an office chair. In the living room you get a couch and 2 chairs, and a little coffee table thing, so if you bring a TV and you don't want to sit it on the coffee table, you should bring a TV stand, or, a lot of people get some of those plastic shelves from Wal-Mart to stack books and DVDs and their TV on. In the kitchen, you get a full size fridge, but you don't get a microwave (at least not in the 2bed 1bath rooms, you might want to call and see if the 2bed 2bath comes with a microwave) You get a stove, and I think you get a dishwasher, although I'm not sure. 2bed 1baths don't have a dishwasher, but Bayou rooms do, and I'm not sure about the 2bed 2baths.

So, the rooms are pretty well furnished when you get there. Most people, if they bring furniture will bring a small computer desk (you can take the drawing board apart and put it in your closet if it takes up too much space and you bring your own small desk). Some people will also bring a chair, although it isn't really necessary because the rolling chair they give you is pretty nice.

*Note- If you get there and find out that you have a bunk bed, it's actually just 2 beds that have been stacked one on top of the other, so you can take it apart and have separate beds if you want.

You're really lucky that you got a Quad room. They're much nicer than the freshman rooms.

See you in August!

Edit- Almost forgot, You only get one phone for all 3 people in the suite, which is probably because you only get one phone number that you share, but you might want to bring your own phone in case you want to have one in your room.

moosie39

July 27th, 2004, 10:31 PM

Hey all------
Furryspork------or anyone, I just got a triple in Appleton which I hear kind of sucks, but I don't really mind! Any idea what I'm working with here? I'm all ready to rock and I wanna know what my room's got going on. Can't wait to get down there and see everyone-----
Robb Gibbs

furryspork

July 31st, 2004, 10:59 PM

Hi Robb,

A triple room in Appleton? I've never heard of anyone actually getting a triple in the freshman halls before. I heard there are a lot more freshman this year even though they aren't finished with the new freshman dorms, so I guess they have to put some people in triples. By the way, the new freshman dorms/student life center is being built right in front of Appleton, so you may be in for construction noise all year long. :S Lets hope your room is on the back side of the building.

I lived in a room that was set up to be a triple in Harmon during precollege. It had a bunk bed and a separate bed. You'd probably have to get there pretty early to claim the separate bed if you wanted it. The room is only 15x16 feet, so they only give you an extra bed and an extra dresser, but not an extra wardrobe because there wouldn't be room for it. This means you would be sharing a relatively small amount of closet space with one or both of your roomates. The bathrooms are public, so everyone on each half of your hall will have to share a bathroom, which is good in that you don't need to bring any bathroom supplies other than stuff for the shower because soap, paper towels, and toilet paper are supplied. There isn't any kind of kitchen anywhere for people who live in the freshman halls, so if you need a fridge or a microwave, you better bring one or see if one of your roommates has one. The freshman halls especially suck this year because you don't even get a lounge. There used to be a room called the fishbowl where they had a big screen TV and games and stuff that was right in front of Appleton, but they just tore it down.

This is a pretty depressing message, isn't it? Seriously, Appleton isn't that bad. I dunno about having 3 people in a 15x16 room, but there's always a chance that someone won't show up. Last year several people had double rooms to themselves after the first week of class. If it turns out that you don't like the triple, you might be able to move into a double. The best thing about the freshman halls is getting to go to various activities for cheap or for free. Freshman RA's are allowed to have all kinds of activities that the school helps pay for, like trips to the movies, or even going to swim with the manatees for a discounted rate at this really beautiful spring that looks kinda surreal like those travel brochures you see for exotic places. Now I'm really rambling. :) I better get back to work.

Good luck!

Eyal

August 3rd, 2004, 02:51 PM

yup, im also gonna join u peeps this year
just a couple of weeks away, i rather not think about it

im gonna be staying @ the quadrangle, in a triple room
is that whats been discussed above? has anyone got any details about the quadrangle?
id really aprreciate it

Daissan

August 7th, 2004, 09:40 PM

Looks like I'll be joining you guys as well. Looks like I'm in a double in Harmon. Dunno if that's a good thing or not, I never got to tour all the residence halls when I stopped by the school. Anyone been in harmon who can give me an idea what I'm in for?

O, yeah. Something else I've been wondering about is the balance between digital/traditional media for core students (I'm illustration, but it didn't look like there was much difference between disciplines the first year) Like, should I be bringing lots my markers and pastels and paints and paper and such, or will most of my stuff be on computer? Thanks to anyone who can help. ^^

furryspork

August 8th, 2004, 02:27 PM

Eyal, my post from July 27 is about a Quad triple room. That should tell you most of what you need to know about your room. :)

Daissan, Harmon is basically exactly the same as Appleton, only since you have a double, you'll probably only have 2 beds and 2 dressers, and you and your roommate will have separate wardrobe/closet things (maybe it's called an armoire?). If you get there and you have a bunk bed and want separate beds, remember that you can take the beds apart (at least most of the beds do that, but there could be some old ones that don't).

There is now a Ringling welcome site for new freshman. It's at http://welcome.rsad.edu. They should have notified everyone about that site, but I'm posting the address just in case they didn't. Under housing, it lists what you have in your room, what you should bring, and even shows a picture of the left side of a room in Harmon or Appleton or Idleson.

There's a list of the supplies you will need for CORE on the welcome page under "your 1st year->supplies" You will be doing mostly traditional work during your first year.

*side note- if anyone's going to be in Keating this coming year, that room in the lower left-hand corner of the welcome site, that shows people bringing clothes and stuff into a room, that's what an average Keating room looks like.

Daissan

August 8th, 2004, 08:54 PM

Cool, thanks for the info. I knew about the welcome site already, I just really wanted to get a student's take on the whole digital/traditional affair. After all, can't believe everything you read on a website, eh? ^^

Anyways, thanks again for the help, looks like I can pack up my ancient drawing supplies (think parent's college days here) along with everything else.

fae

August 14th, 2004, 12:05 PM

I'll have to read through this whole thread when I get a chance, but I plan on visiting Ringling this fall and hopefully applying too - is that too late for spring semester? And how early should I plan this road trip down?
Transfer credits --- do they go over well?
What should I have in my portfolio?
Yeh so hopefully I can visit sometime - would be cool to run into one of you all there hehe.

sohix

August 19th, 2004, 12:13 AM

I was just wondering if any of you new Ringling students would be willing to share some financial aid info?

I'm only elgible for around 18k or so of financial aid from the government... and that's with an EFC of 0. Ringling costs 20k per year, not including room and board... is everyone rich but me? :( Has anyone here been able to attend Ringling on a 100% financial aid package?

I may end up going to the University of Central Florida for animation if I can't swing this tuition :^^;: Please, someone get my hopes up :x

fae

August 19th, 2004, 11:29 AM

it's a time in our life that we must sit down and decide... whether it's worth going in debt for forever for...

that's my situation. and i'll work to get scholarships like crazy this semester... =\

sula_nebouxi

August 21st, 2004, 08:24 PM

Wow...that's a lot of money even with an EFC of 0. I have the same EFC and I'm only able to get around 5k from the federal govt...and about 7k from the state govt. Anyone would be lucky to get $18k financial aid every single year. Paying only 12k per year for such an excellent school is a great opportunity.

I doubt there are many students with a free ride. But every year the best incoming freshman from each program gets a full scholarship, all expenses paid.

There's lots of scholarships available so don't worry too much. If you're going for the computer animation program I know that there's an animation scholarship available. Actually it's more of a contest...and it's held every few months. Go to animoids.com and make a short animation with their Animoids program and if it's the best of the bunch you get $1000. And there's plenty more scholarships if you know where to look. I use fastweb.com to search for them.

Of course there's always loans. I'm betting almost every student in Ringling has some loan, big or small. And with you getting 18k per year in financial aid, paying back loans are going to much less stressful. Oh, and sohix, where do you live cause that is one hell of a financial aid package...One last word, don't worry about not being able to pay for the tuition out of pocket cause there's always loans. Just know what you're getting into ahead of time.

sohix

August 23rd, 2004, 02:56 AM

Thanks for the replies Sula. I live in Florida.

When I say 18k, it's only and estimate from adding up the max on everything I was elgible for as far as state and government grants and loans. I could be a few thousand off. Being a Florida resident I get more money to stay in state to go to school. I guess I should just shut up and be happy I'm getting anything at all...

Guess you'll see me working in the library or something if I get in :^^;:

sula_nebouxi

August 23rd, 2004, 12:57 PM

Heh, you won't be alone sohix. If I ever get into Ringling, I'll have to find some place to work. A job is a job, there's no shame in it even if you have to be a garbageman or work the counter at McDonald's. Someone's gotta do it and they have to feed their families. And besides, usually someone will post up jobs around campus that are less "demeaning", maybe even art related. I recently saw an ad at the local art school asking for photography students to shoot their wedding. And you could even try parking yourself in the streets of Sarasota and do portraits :P

On loans, you'll most likely need a private loan. I'd stay away from banks...interest rate is usually kinda high. I know Sallie Mae will be able to give you oodles of money(I think up to $100k) at something like 4% interest. There's lots of lenders out there...I'm pretty sure there are more with better interest rates.

Personally, I think you should shoot for Ringling. If you're spending all that money on a school, you should be going to the best out there, in regards to computer animation. No point in spending all that money on a second rate school when there's a better choice. And yet another cliche: Never settle for second best. My guess is that you would be in about $50-60,000 in debt when you're out. I think that's doable in 10 years...live off your parents for a while and save up, no sense in rushing out to be on your own. It just means more expenses ;). And you can pay it off a little earlier instead of just making the minimum monthly payments.

There's a lot to think about...like moving to another state for a job, food, bills, car payments, the job market and whatnot. Hmm...don't mean to scare ya off...You've got a dream, follow it :)