About the Academy of Art University

Kizmet asked about my alma mater in other thread. As I think this information would be useful for others, I'm posting the answer here.

I have experience with it, I'm pursuing my MFA in Motion Pictures and TV in the Academy of Art University, but on campus here in San Francisco.

The school is top notch, has state of art facilities and top instructors that are industry professionals. I had classes with people from ILM, Pixar, Zoetrope, etc...

The school IS EXPENSIVE, but it's actually cheaper than other specialized schools in the same level (live SVA in NY, for example).

I took only one online class in my MFA, "Crossing Borders" (it's a anthropology class about multiculturalism and art). It was a really good class with a mix of on campus and online students.

I can't really tell how good the Studio classes (the practice classes) are, because I'm taking all the studio classes on campus. But I think some majors are more fit for online learning than others (Computer Animation would be better than sculpture, I'd say)

Some departments are more prestigious than others - the Animation & Visual Effects, the Advertising and the Fashion are the most prestigious here (I made an arrangement with my department director and I'm taking half of my classes in the Animation department, although I'm a Motion Pictures student).

It's worthy to note that the online and on campus degrees are the same - you can begin online and then transfer on campus or begin on campus and then finish online. There's no difference in the transcript or diploma.

Some people don't like the Academy of Art because they basically accept everyone and most art schools in the USA only accept students with a good portfolio.

But this criticism is silly, because the "we accept everyone" thing is part of the mission statement of the school and they have balanced that with a very tough grading system and, in the case of graduate programs, with a midpoint review to weed out people without skills.

The result is that the students that do graduate have the same level of skills (that you can check by their reels on the site) of the students from schools that ask for a portfolio.

Oh, and they are RA if you're all wondering.

 

I've considered their MFA in Photography for a possible future degree. They are a good school but like you said, they are expensive! That might be the reason I don't go with them if I ever decide to pursue that degree.