Hmm, another lost student

[Adam Nowak]

Hi everyone, recently been looking at different possibilities for what I can do after I graduate high school which will be June of this year. I live right next to Aurora, about an hour away from Chicago. I don't even know what I want to do exactly. I'm looking into Illustration, specifically a concept artist. This sub forum has greatly helped me to look at my choices. I guess I'm just overwhelmed. Here's some of the roads I could take, and some I would like to (but they might be extremely hard, those are marked with a *)

-Go to my local community college for a year or so and get rid of my core classes just so I could save more money when I decide to go somewhere else.

-Go to a place like the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

-Go to a cheaper place, like Northern Illinois University. It has an art department but that's not it's main focus.

*-Travel to California and look for more opportunities there. (I have no relatives or contacts there, it would be going somewhere with no one to back me up on anything)

I also wanted to know, people were saying the difference between the "School of the Art Institute of Chicago" and the "Art Institute of Chicago".

Is this the real one - http://www.saic.edu/
and this the fake one - http://www.artinstitutes.edu/chicago/

I just don't know. Should I bother with going to a school built specifically for art and pay $15,000 more per year compared to $5,000 at NIU? And if I did graduate from either, I just see more and more opportunities on the West Coast. I know what most people say, your portfolio is your most important tool. If you guys could give me some advice, if you're in the same spot as I am or even if you live near Chicago and have some success finding work as an artist. I'd appreciate it.

[Maxine Schacker]

You have lots of potential! May I suggest that you check out Max the Mutt Animation School in Toronto, www.maxthemutt.com. We are listed with SLM so US students can get low interest loans to attend. We offer an outstanding program for a third the cost of equivalent programs in the USA. Just take a look.

[Matsign]

15,000 a year for SAIC? You might want to look that over again. Its more like 39,000 a year. I had planned on going but It could get all zee monies taken care of without taking out a personal loan. If your looking for concept art and illustration, I'm not sure if they have solid foundations there. It is a prestigious school, but I've heard its prestigious because its a leading force for whats "new" in art.

artinstitutes are different from the school of the art institute. Some are better than others, so I've heard.

[gunnz]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/arts/brief/art_brief.php

It's a top ranked school...for the graduate program in fine arts. For concept art, it's definitely not the school for you.

[Storyboard Dave]

I would start off with getting as much information about ANY of the schools you really want to attend. Ask as many questions as you need to and based upon all of that, go visit the place. See the institution, talk to the students there, sit in on a class, see the facilities, housing, etc.. Look at the stuff on the walls and see if it's challenging to you.

Once you decide on a place, see what it goes for and if you can- take some of your liberal arts classes at the local community college to save some cash. Just make sure they transfer over and you're good!

But don't think that visiting the actual campus can't make a huge difference. When it comes right down to it, you've got to feel right there.

[Maxine Schacker]

Good advice ,Storyboard Dave!