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• Giovanna Coutinho

  

  • 8 posts
   

  May 31, 2012 7:27:05 PM PDT

  So.. here's the deal.

   

  I was waitlisted for Ringling Animation, and accepted by SCAD.  I have enrolled, and am relatively far along with the whole process.

  I recieved, however, a letter from Ringling informing me that they are offering me a spot in their Motion Design course.

   

  I have been thinking of all the pros and cons, but I'm still not sure what choice to make - so I'd like to hear the opinion of others too.

   

  I am much more into animation than design, so I think going for animation in SCAD would be better for me - but at the same time, I wonder how good their animation department is, and also think that maybe having a chance to work with other things as well as that may be a good experience. So I ask - is the SCAD animation course worth it?

   

  I understand Ringling is more recognized, and has a more well-known "name", so employment could be easier.  But I still wouldn't be focusing on what I REALLY want to.

   

  My head is a mess. Please help.

• Sandy Botkin

  

  • 6 posts
   

  June 3, 2012 5:58:00 AM PDT

  Have you seen SCAD? The area is HORRIBLE. Other than this issue, I don't think you can go wrong with either school.
• Elizabeth McMahill

  

  • 36 posts
   

  June 3, 2012 6:12:37 AM PDT

  I've met a few graduates of SCAD and it's definitely raised my opinion of the school. Ringling is more rigorous though, in workload, quality demands, and grading. If your work doesn't cut it or you miss too much class you fail. They've got higher standards and they will hold to them. That said, SCAD still has a good program and good teachers and a lot of the resources you need. The students that succeed there (as with any school...) must be self motivated and push beyond what they do in class. I've also got to attest to Ringling's hire rate... most of my friends had jobs/internships lined up before we even graduated, and people are still getting them. A big reason for that is that Ringling runs such a tight ship. You don't get as much freedom to explore and work outside of the parameters of assignments - but you get the experience and skills to enter the industry pretty immediately. I can't tell you what to choose, but how I see things.
  
  ...Another option, if your heart is really set on Ringling's Computer Animation department, would be to wait. You could wait and see if you get in. You could wait a year, take community college class in art and knock some of your liberal arts credits out all the while hauling butt to push your drawing skills to make sure you make it in next year. People with weaker drawing/observation skills are more likely to struggle in the program than others. I've seen a lot of people fail and leave, repeat a year, or switch to another major - it's not uncommon at all. Failing sucks, but it's not like game over, it just means a person wasn't ready to move on and people who repeat classes have better work to show for it. You can also accept motion design and try to switch in animation around the end of freshman year (may or may not happen, it's still portfolio based) - but you will have to repeat your freshman year if that happens (which might not be a financially viable option and the whole thing is a gamble anyway.)
  
  I've heard good things about the motion design department, but I haven't seen much of the work. It's a newer major and the first class will graduate next year. It seems like a really cool major, but is very different than computer animation. Motion design tends toward a greater variety of methods and emphasizes commercial work while computer animation is strictly computer animation and emphasizes work for film.
  
  by the way, what is is exactly that you REALLY want to do?