Congratulations on your acceptance! I’d be more than happy to answer your questions. Though I’d just like you to keep in mind that they’ll be based on my experiences at SCAD and my preferences.
Pros
Teachers really do have a passion for teaching you and seeing you and your talent grow into something amazing.
Granted I might have just been lucky, but the teachers I received this quarter really were amazing. I could feel that they really knew their stuff and were there to help me grow as an artist. They pushed me and assigned me some really intense assignments, but I came out of it a lot more knowledgeable and skilled than I went in.
Assignments actually make sense and challenge you rather than just bore you to tears.
I would highly recommend a tour of the foundation studies buildings. There is a lot of interesting artwork up from current freshmen that are really wonderful. Drawing 1/2 assignments tend to be more traditional (ex, landscapes, portraits, vases.) while 2D/3D Design and Color Theory tends to be a lot more innovative and really creative and breath taking, in some cases anyway.
Everyone, for the most part, is open and accepting.
I mean, if you put yourself out there there’s a high chance you’ll find someone with similar interests in at least one or two of your classes.
The food at the Hive, Jo’s, Bobbie’s, Deli, and Café in Turner house is amazing.
They have Vegan, Vegetarian, and gluten free options. All of which are amazing. I’m not a vegetarian, but I find myself leaning more towards those options more than the normal stuff they serve.
You get a good deal of discounts around town if you mention you’re a SCAD Student.
The grading system.
Well, I suppose it could be either a pro or a con depending on the way you look at it. Basically the way they grade it is by full letter grades. They don’t include +’s or –‘s in final grades. So if you got a 70 it would be a C and if you get a 78.3 it would still be a C. Depending on which side of the spectrum it can be a good or bad thing.
You only have 3 classes per quarter and they last for 2 ½ hours. (excluding Freshman Seminar.)
No School on Fridays!
Come on, you have to admit that is pretty awesome.
Cons
The bus lines. Specifically Red Route and the Shopping bus.
Red route goes to all the freshman classes, but chances are if you have an afternoon class you’ll have to leave an hour earlier because it gets ridiculously crowded and chances are you wont be able to get on the first one or two red route buses because of the sheer amount of people trying to push their way onto it. The Shopping bus only comes on weekends and is a huge hassle since sometimes it comes and hour or two behind schedule. I would definitely recommend either bringing a car or finding a friend who has a car to take you to the mall and back.
The humidity in Savannah.
I’m from Boston MA, so I’m not really used to the humidity in the south. It took some time getting used to, even with a huge dehumidifier in our room. Luckily it got cooler later in the quarter so
Freshman Seminar.
Freshman Seminar is basically a class that all incoming freshman have to take. It only meets for an hour once a week and it’s a Pass or Fail class. Luckily it’s a pretty easy class that only requires you to do a couple of assignments and a resume and have close to perfect attendance. If you manage to fail it you’ll have to take it next quarter and the quarter after that until you final pass it. Though, from what I’ve heard nearly every college has an equivalent class, so it’s not as if you can escape it. At least it gives you valuable information regarding your scholarships and stuff like that.
Homework
The homework load can be pretty tough for the most part, but you have a 3 day weekend so it’s not as if you don’t have enough time to do it all. Just learn to manage your time effectively.
Art Supplies
You’ll have to spend a lot of money, probably over $150, on a foundations kit plus all of of the things you’ll need extra for each of your classes. Exlibris is pretty pricey, so if your looking for art supplies I’d recommend going to Utretch since it’ll be a lootttt cheaper and they usually have some kind of sale going on. Though, if you want SCAD merchandise and books I’d have to recommend Exlibris since it is the School’s store.
Sorry If I rambled a bit, but once I started I just couldn’t stop. I left some things out because it was starting to get a bit too long. I might make another post listing all of my pros and cons for the school later on, but right now this is the best I can come up with. I hoped I helped and if you have any more questions don’t be afraid to ask me.
