Time to make lemonade... :E

[placetohide]

I went to go look at students of my top choice in schools in hopes that it would keep me motivated and working hard, but it unexpectedly had the opposite effect. >_A year ago, most of the students at this school were worse at art than I am now when they started at the school. I was feeling cautiously optimistic about getting good enough to get in

Comments

[lantairvlea]

I would wager it is more of a reflection of the current economy rather than an increase in admission requirements. While art is one of those things that doesn't necessarily need a degree in order to display your skillset to an employer, just send in your portfolio, in this job market between two artists with awesome portfolios and a similar job history that college degree may just be the edge that lands the job.

I'm sure they're still taking in the more raw students, but perhaps fewer than they did a year ago since they're getting more polished applicants as well.

I think you still have a good shot and your work ethic is going to make all the difference, especially once you get in those doors no matter where you end up.

[placetohide]

I'd agree with your assessment that it's just the economy if I weren't looking into trade schools. There's no degree involved in any of them! In fact, some of the students already have a degree from traditional art colleges.

[tatoeba_tadayou]

Forgive my ignorance, but if it's not an accredited degree institution, what do you get at the end? A certificate?

[placetohide]

Nope. You get skills and industry connections. And the schools' names still mean something to those in the industry, degree or not, so seeing the name of that school will tell prospective employers a lot about your education. In the art part of the entertainment industry, the portfolio rules over all, and like any other business, connections count for almost as much. These trade schools are run by working industry professionals, usually with guest lectures/workshops by other top industry pros. There is no degree because they don't exist to give you a piece of paper. They exist to get you the skills necessary to seriously bump up the level of quality of your portfolio. There's no reason for them to be accredited or offer degrees when they're generally very small schools that focus on tailoring instruction/choice of classes to be very individual-specific. These are schools geared towards a very small group of the population, and what that group is depends on the school's goals.