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School of the Art Institute of Chicago the
Rating Details »
Categories: Museums, Colleges & Universities [Edit]
Neighborhood: The Loop37 S Wabash Ave Fl 8
Chicago, IL 60603
(312) 899-5100
- Nearest Transit:
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Madison/Wabash (Orange, Brown, Purple Express, Green, Pink)
Monroe (Blue, Red)
- Good for Kids:
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14 reviews for School of the Art Institute of Chicago the
As far as pricing goes: RIDICULOUS.
Education: Average.
Atmosphere/being able to name drop: 150-200K+
my experience at SAIC is as close to hell as I can possibly get. I bet hell would probably be more fun, and less irritable. If there is one thing I learned its that art school is not a 4 year thing, it might be a year thing but its not a 4 year thing. On top of that I have never seen a bigger group of slackers in my entire life, and thanks to art being so subjective (thank you warhol and duchamp for breaking the walls down) any slack ass fuck could say whatever the fuck they want and pass with flying bullshits. Best bullshit I ever heard in my life was this shitbrick who showed up at the end of the year with a bunch of canvases with shit on it, literally gray and brown clumps of acrylic. He didn't tell us what the paintings were about and challenged us to figure it out on our own. After wasting 40 minutes of classtime the asshole reveals to us that the paintings were actually his palletes to his actual paintings that he threw away....Ok, FUCK YOU. go the fuck back to small town nowhere, that shit isnt' gonna fly here man, you are not an artstar yet. To think you spend all hours of the fucking day thinking that one up. I can't explain to you hard it wass going to this shit storm. I remember one day a friend and I roamed the school trying, literally trying to find a non white/korean student. I counted maybe 12 black kids in the 6 years I went there, not even a joke. (yeah 6, the counselors are absolute idiots when it come to letting you know HOW to graduate, quickest way out my ass) I can vaguely remember my senior year consisting of going to class drunk and shitting on canvases and bullshitting the students like I was bulshitted for 4 years. Making drunk video projects and answering question with more questions during the critique. Oh those fucking critques, you know what the best was? the idiot who always tied in the artwork with a non descriptive moment of their child hood (oh that painting reminded me of this time in summer, I forget how long ago it was, but I was like on a swing or something, and there were leaves...yeah this painting reminds of that for some reason, maybe its the blue)
Now if I could even get a statistic on the poor population...I bet you less than 10 percent of this school are from anything less than upper middleclass. Diversity is a long lost cause. All the teachers are white and all the security guards are black, and the only color mixing you do is on your fucking pallette. If you want to make art, dont go to college for it, its like being in a band, you just fucking do it man....
It's okay. If, like me, you get a good scholarship, it's a fantastic place to go. If you're paying for your education in full, look elsewhere.
I can't say much for what it's like as a full time student. I took one class in high school for college credit which I believe they offer to students attending private or magnet public schools in the Chicagoland area. I took introduction to Graphic Design. We met at 10 am on sundays, which I think prepared me for waking up at a decent hour (prior to I was a fan of sleeping in til 3 pm). Michael Coleman taught the class: he is very patient, detailed, great with visual resources besides Power Point and let us bring in our own music to listen to. He also has great taste in music and is hot; or at least my 17 year old self thought so. This may change if I see him again (which isn't likely).
Their computer labs are also very good. I may come here for my master's but still deciding.
Ok, I am tired of this angry BS that everyone has towards SAIC. I spent 4 of the most valuable years of my short life here at SAIC and all I have to say is that it delivered. If you have a problem with this school then its not for you and maybe you should go somewhere else. I transferred to art school after freshman year as a pre-med student and my instinct told me SAIC over other schools even when some of them had given me more scholarship. I work for the school now and even behind the scenes I still think highly of it despite its flaws. This is a CONCEPTUAL school with no majors or grades. There are only a few other schools in the COUNTRY that do this and we're the largest and one of the most well known for it.
As a conceptual school with no majors or grades, you can make or break your career here. You are empowered as the student to get what you need out of the school unlike other schools where they feed it to you. Start a student group for similar interests. Find an internship if you don't like the 2,000 that we already have. Travel somewhere else on your own if you don't want our study trips. If you don't know what class to take, talk to your classmates, read the class evaluations and see if the faculty is awesome or sucks. Its a big school, there are going to be people sub par, but we're not the number 3 overall best graduate program without reason. Our faculty is by far some of the best in the country.
It is also a NON-PROFIT institution.Yeah, its expensive, but is a private school. Go look at Harvard and Yale, its not cheap either. If there was more money out there for SAIC, they'd give it to the students, but there isn't and it's not cheap running a school in DOWNTOWN Chicago for 18 departments and 3,000 students. Part of how we lost our funding is because our students take risks... and some of it has caused enough controversy to have a lasting effect on our funding.
You won't find another school that is as contemporary and cutting edge as SAIC. That's how we became one of the most influential schools in the world. But its not for everyone by any means. Especially if you get flustered by any remote challenge to your ideas and techniques and if you're worried about what other people are doing. Most of its problems are typical of most schools with large student populations. Try being a conceptual school in a business institution framework isn't easy.
Ouch. Some of these reviews sound like they come from unemployed graduates who didn't research their financial aid and loans before signing things. And it sounds like Erisa doesn't understand the basic concept of financial aid: it's their for people who can't pay out of pocket, so the financial aid office wouldn't have the opportunity to "give a damn unless your mother and father are paying for you out of pocket. " And unfortunately, financial aid is a sad situation across this country. I can't really think of a college praised for it's efficient, pleasant, and professional financial aid office, can you?
True, it is a really expensive private art school, but they offer up a lot more scholarships and grants than comparable (IE top accredited) art schools in this country. That's why I chose this school over SMFA, SVA, Art Center, and Parsons (my entire tuition was paid for).
Also some perspective... Tisch (NYU) $40,000, U of C $50,000, Oberlin $38,000... Private universities across the country are expensive and this is a top-accredited school often beating out Yale, SVA, SMFA, Parsons, etc.
The school is very much about your ambition and efforts. There's very little hand-holding and there aren't grades either. The academics are based off a pass/fail system which is intended to allow students the freedom to grow and develop without fear or need to please a teacher. It also fosters independence because you won't have an academic crutch or measure to base your own opinion of accomplishment.
The facilities are incredible and since the school is non-disciplinary, every student has access to every department (though photography is another story).
I doubled in print media and visual communication. It was great to be able to use an offset press (there is a smaller one for student use in addition to a larger Heidelberg). The feedback from professors was always thorough and engaging. If there was a problem, I felt like I could talk to someone whether it was the department chair (a rotating position among full-time faculty) or even the dean of students.
The teachers are really amazing too. If you put in the effort, most of them will match it. The teachers that were awful that I heard of, were fired. I'm still in contact with teachers that had the most impact on me. The teaching staff is also incredibly diverse coming from different disciplines, philosophies, and backgrounds. I've had teachers who never went to college and ones with PhDs.
AND there is a kickball team.
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I'll admit it: I LOVED going to school here.
First of all, duh, it's expensive, and double duh, you ARE getting a degree in art, so don't expect your degree to go off and find you a job all by itself. These are things you should know going into the school, so you don't drop out angry and in debt with no skillz. It's multidisciplinary and you don't have to declare a major, so you can explore everything, and you can graduate without being very good at anything. Mostly, it's for self-motivated progressive minded people who approach art in a conceptual rather than, uh, more craft oriented way. And are suckers enough to pay for it!
The best part is the teachers, because they are mostly all very intelligent and successful in their fields. Also, they are super helpful and want to help you develop your own vision. Seriously. I really loved 99% of them. The facilities are also awesome. Especially in the printmedia department.
I find the people most unsatisfied expected their school to do the work for them, rather than the other way around. There's a lot of room to slack off here, if you want (I did more than I should've), but you shouldn't!
In a lot of classes there's a tendency to not teach enough actual technical skills, and instead spending too much class time having individual meetings and critiques on your concept. But some classes you get a perfect balance, especially in the printmaking department, I feel.
The finances are in a kinda crisis here though, and it gets more and more expensive every year. The dorms are also now OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive and have pretty strict no underage drinking policy (which, honestly, sucks if you just moved from high school hoping to get away from parent types). I found SAIC to be a bit more conservative than I had originally imagined it to be, for an art school.
At first you'll probably get sick of being around so many self-indulgent, insecure artists, but after awhile it's mostly funny. I met my best friends here and they are all unique and creative interesting people, as well as the love of my life!
Is it worth the price? Only you can decide!
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I'm giving it five stars because the quality of the teaching I've had is totally worth it. You should go here for James Yood's freshmen art history classes alone. SAIC gives you plenty of connections and opportunities -- rape babies for each and every one of them.
However, most of the comments about the financial aid department are true. My counselor, for example, while a nice and well-intentioned woman who has let me cry in her little plastic chairs, often doesn't remember my name, let alone the fine details of the FAFSA. My advice is to either be very, very rich so you don't have to go in there, or to read everything printed in triplicate before you enter the office. It might also help if you had parents that are willing to fight for you. I don't, but apparently that makes it easier.
It's not a school for kids who don't want it, which is one of the things I like about it. Look, prospective student, I went to art high school, a fact I constantly bring up because 9/10ths of my class is working at Fashion Hut right now in Las Vegas -- what makes you think paying 45,000 dollars a year is going to give you a better chance at it? If you're not tenacious, you won't make it.
If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't, but I also wouldn't know how to bend neon tubing or have finished my first comic last semester. YMMV.
I wish I could just review the cost of going to this school and the financial aid department. If I could, I would say that their financial aid department has no idea what it's doing, and they don't mind telling you to calm down even though the entire semester is over and you still haven't received your financial aid for said semester, and they're not sure, but it looks like your student loans were cancelled, and isn't that weird? You might have to come up with nineteen hundred dollars as soon as possible, if you want to continue going to school, but there isn't anything we can do for you today, because your financial aid officer is out of the office, and can you come in tomorrow morning? I'm sure everything will be fine.
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Okay, so I'm a pretty smart gal, or I'd like to think so. And with my extensive experience dodging various punishments throughout my life in school, despite what my roommate might say, I think it's safe to say I know my way around a bureaucracy (man oh man, the things I got away with...). That said, the SAIC administration is one of the most ill-managed organizations I've had the pleasure of trying to manipulate.
And yeah, I get it. The school is ridiculously expensive. Especially for an art school. That said, they're trying to train starving artists, most of the incoming freshmen are trust-fund babies. The only way these kids are gonna live off of top ramen and spam is if you bleed 'em (or rather their parents,) of, oh, say, a good 150 grand.
However, if you can get a halfway decent financial aid offer (read: are a broke-ass creative genius like myself), it can definitely be beneficial. These kids are of the age where they're completely convinced of their superiority, and face a fork in the road: they can either keep practicing and pushing themselves, get one of those new-fangled "jobs" and try their damn hardest to make & sell work on their days off, or get their hands on as many illicit substances in as short a period as possible to "broaden their artistic perspective" (direct quote). Having a pretty understanding gage on where I am now and where I want to be going, I'll take door A.
No, it's not for everybody. Yes, a lot of parts suck. And yes, believe it or not, if approached correctly it can possibly not be a (total) waste of your time. What do you expect?
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As of this review I am a first year undegraduate here at SAIC having completed a semster. Whe I was getting ready to go to SAIC I was stoked. When I got here (Chicago) I patiently waited to be blown off my feet. It never happened. If anything I've come to more or less hate many things of Chicago.
I understood tuition was going to be expensive- I took out loans. I knew it was hard- I've coped and still can. What I cant say is that Im happy here. I feel I am learning quite a bit, but now Im going to be transferring to the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. Why? They cost 1/3 or less than SAIC and have better opportunities for a career in Fashion. SAIC is not good for fashion. Don't believe the hype. While they make wonderful pieces from the department they, and I quote " Tech yu to use fashion as a tool for your art making, not a career". What the hell, I get that conceptualism is important and all, but I do need a fucking job if I'm supposed to pay you assholes back, right?
That being said, I dont give the school 1 star or even two because while they arent great for fashion, they are good for people who can afford to B.S. their way to a degree. Yeah you learn skills here for art making, but many you could learn elsewhere for a lot less and have better opportunity.
As far as the offices go, Its fairly unorganized in practices, but certainly not the worst I've encountered. What makes it somewhat unforgivable here, however is that you pay them so much, they should be a practical concierge service of information.
In regards to being interdisciplinary, its only partly true. Sure you can take many different types of classes, but there are rules and exceptions. A perfect example is the fashion program. You really only get one elective course per semester in this program limiting you ability to experiment. Further you must be accepted into this program which is bullshit too. If you want to learn to sew you're pretty much S.o.L. Further many departments require you are either in a course or program to use the facilities for their department. You get mild authorizations as a first ear, but they only will apply to one "media center" or wood shop meaning you have you waste time getting authorized everywhere for everything even if you can prove you've had experience with the equipment or that you've been authorized elsewhere in the school. They also have pitfalls; in the woodshops you must buy their wood, or prove you purchased wood from an authorized retailer- no found wood. I'm sorry but I'm broke from your tuition. How the fuck am I to do my projects?
You are required to buy their laptop when you come her- fine, it seems like a decent deal. You pay approx 2k for their macbook pro and they give you 1500 dollars worth of software right? Well its more complicated than that. You have to sign in to the "key server" for every application which is a trouble when you cant access the internet. Further this sometimes bugs out and will not perform properly. Another issue is that while the school offers free computer technicians on campus, they generally don't know what they are talking about. I'm serious here, they always just wipe your computer off instead of trying to fix it because they don't know how.
Campus wise its fair. The security can be friendly. There are lockers in most buildings. Its generally close to transit- speaking of....
The transit here has been really going to shit. Its a very sleazy system and is getting worse all the time. I lie out of the dorm and it began fairly easy to get to the camps, but not as things get worse, it becomes extremely tasking as many times it required planning from overcrowding which can be a problem when you have to carry a project.
The dorms. The are decent- nicer than most dorms I've seen. They come at a cost too. It is much more effective and affordable to get an apartment in the city. The dorms are approximately 900- 1k a month for 10 months. Thats right, no staying over summer- you gotta move all your shit out. then back. Where will you stay? Good question.
Overall I think the school is good for some, but for m, it isn't worth it.
Oh, the TUTE. I spent five years at this fine institution, and it is definitely a school I recommend if you are interested in pursuing a degree in art, fashion, architecture, or any related fields. I had some of the best experiences there and the professors are just amazing. I've never heard of anyone raving about how much their professors cared about them as much as I experienced it here at the SAIC. The only reason they don't get five stars is because after graduation (or even while you're in school), they don't help you with finding a job at all. I went to career counseling right before I graduated and it was a joke.
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Great school in downtown Chicago area. Their modern art program is particularly innovative; it balances liberal arts courses concerning drawing and painting wtih courses about architecture and film. The MA degrees should also be of interest to you. Art therapy and arts administration are among them.
SAIC has a lot of the problems that every school has, and is breathtakingly expensive, but the quality of education is good, and its great reputation is mostly justified. I spent a year and a half here as a transfer, and very much enjoyed myself. I have to say I'm glad that I went to a liberal arts school first (UC Santa Cruz) because I feel like I would know very little about anything but art if I had been at SAIC for my full undergrad degree. Its strength is definitely in its multidisciplinary approach (reliably taking in boring painters and turning out avant-video performance artists; yes that is a good thing) but it's so multidisciplinary that sometimes overall course loads don't create a whole lot of cohesion. If you take the right studios you'll work your ass off and get a whole lot out of it, but in the wrong ones you'll do almost nothing. The serious academic side is a bit lacking, but there are some great individual instructors. The visiting artist/theorist lectures are fantastic and world-class (I ended up interning for one of them - Vito Acconci). Go if you have the cash or don't mind paying off the loans (as I'm starting to do this week... yikes).
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