Visited the Art Institute of Philadelphia

[xanis]

I visited the Art Institute of Philadelphia today as yet another stop on my college search tour. I went in to the visit not expecting a whole lot, but boy was a surprised.

Not only was it good, it exceeded my expectations. All of the staff was very helpful and made me feel like they actually cared about my future. Even though this was an open house and there were quite a few people there, all of the presenters made it a point to introduce themselves to each of the students and accompaning adults.

The academic program was second to none out of all of the schools I visited, but that came as no surprise seeing as it was an art institute. The facilited and equipment were top-notch and in excellent condition. All labs were equipped with either HP workstations, PowerMacs or both. The whole campus is wireless and there were network hookups in every room. There are two buildings, one for admissions and interactive/graphic design and another for the rest of the programs.

The campus itself is right in the middle of center city Philly and in a great location, with tons of restraunts, drug stores and other stuff within less than 5 minutes' walking distance. I live only 45 minutes north of Philly so I can take the train right in to near my town when I decide to come home.

All in all, I give the Art Institute a big thumb up. Great school, great staff, great location, great programs, great everything.

 

[aswedc]

Two things you should know:

The Philadelphia location is nationally accredited. This means about 70-80% of traditional colleges and universities will reject the credit. They will also refuse to honor any degree earned for graduate study. Some Art Institute locations are moving to regional accreditation. This is the gold standard for other schools to consider your coursework legitimate. You may want to ask the management in Philadelphia about their plans.

Art Institute locations are run by a publicly traded, for-profit corporation. This makes priorities a bit different than regular schools. Stockholders > students.

 

[Brentx]

If you are ever looking to move away from Philly, I know the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design is a really good school. We also have the Milwaukee art museum about a mile away from it, which attracts exhibitors from all around the world. Our art musuem here in Milwaukee blows the crap out of Chicago's

Here are some links if you are interseted in it at all:

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

Milwaukee Art Museum

The art musuem was just featured in a commercial for some heart medicine... I can't remember the name of it though off hand

MIAD is located in Milwaukee's beautiful 3rd Ward, which is one of the neatest areas of Milwaukee. Most of the school is located where factories once were 40 years ago, but have now turned into million dollar condos. Milwaukee is an awesome city.

But of course, this come from me completely unbiased

 

[BrokenVisage]

I've been to Art Vandalay Industries as much as I've been to the Art Institute of Philadelphia.. and I live in Philly! Maybe it's time I see what all the fuss is about.