Cogswell a good college?

[ConCrete]

So I finally track down what I see as a decent program for an aspiring Concept artist. Unluckily for me its expensive and on the other side of the U.S. Please ANY ANY ANY insight into this before I start really making decisions would be awesome....

Heres the program, sounds cool eh?

http://www.cogswell.edu/entertainment.html

Oh and I know all about how art schools and degrees for concept artists are unecessary, I just want to know whether this is a decent school, or not.

[ConCrete]

...I guess its a bad thing no one has heard about this school...

[Eisbar]

I was about to ask the same thing, but perhaps I'll just bump a thread :x
I'm on a quest to find the best art school for myself in the Bay/Valley area, and while CCA, AAU and SJSU popped up quickest, I tripped over Cogswell as well, and, am basically ragingly turned on by their program descriptions alone.
Quote from the site (http://www.cogswell.edu/digitalArts1.html)

The Entertainment Design concentration integrates a strong traditional art background with skills in digital imagery. The course of study includes drawing, painting, illustration, character design, and concept art. It is designed for students interested in digital matte and texture painting as well as concept design. Issues of presentation and delivery are addressed. The ability to transform verbal and written directions into visual representations of characters and scenes is emphasized.

Now THAT sounds like one sexy bitch, eh?
Unfortunately, I only know of one person who has attended there, Stephanie Lostimolo (http://www.nethersphere.com/), or "Bonegoddess". The things about the school that raise bells though:

-It has under three hundred undergrad kids a year.
-It also has an acceptance rate of 81%, for such a small school.
-No one seems to know about it but it's a century old?

Cogswell is a Polytechnical school in Sunnyvale, CA. That, I believe, may explain it. It my experience -- with following up on high school friends -- independent technical colleges are usually much more competitive and up-to-date on their teaching topics and techniques. But eeeek it's not an art school!11 I can see a polytechnical school being skipped over by most college advisors' school search queries for the best place for little Jimmy McJean to go to. Perhaps it can only give out BAs instead of BFAs as well, not that I believe that really means anything but who knows. Also-- it's not in the most major of cities, like Los Angeles or San Francisco. Mhmm.

So that's all I can offer, to you and to anyone else who may trip over this thread again and want to research it moar in depth for us.
Which would be extremely appreciated.



... Under 300 kids though, still, my mind reels.

[Maxine Schacker]

Why don't you contact the school? Do they have a gallery of student work? Can they put you in email contact with a couple of current students and a couple of graduates? Who are the instructors? Are they working professionals? Can you see their work? Is the curriculum posted? How many students are in a class? How long is the program? Do you get enough traditional fine arts training? Do they help you with portfolio development and interviewing skills? Do they provide a serious, professional environment or is it a place where students can rub their egos ? Do they give honest criticism and hold you to a professional standard of attitude and behaviour? Are they preparing you for the real world?

The point is, you are the consumer and you have to do research. You should short list and look into at least 3 or 4 programs in depth.

Good luck!