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Sort By: [Date] [Major] [Rating] Music - Performance  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Bright CalArts is a great school if you value creativity and innovation in art. However, it is not a place that anyone should go to receive their Bachelors degree. It does not stress artistic foundations. It is more concerned with finding your own voice. However, you will see that many undergrads at CalArts neglect technical proficency and are searching for their "voice" but do not have an artistic vocabulary that is ample for such a journey. Also, it is a very loose atmosphere and does not stress the importance and practice and study. You have students who are there to work and excel in their field and you have an abundance of students who spend their time skating by and consuming mass amounts of mind altering substances. Also, do not be fooled. CalArts does not have a great reputation in Los Angeles by artists and non-artists alike. Most people that I have talked to about CalArts alway raise an eyebrow when they hear that I attend this school. People think that everyone at CalArts excessively smokes weed and engages regularly engage in activities that are against social normalities. This perception of CalArts is not one that lends itself to ample job opportunities. Most people that I know who have graduated from CalArts work in very low paying jobs such as at Trader Joes, Vons, Ralphs, or any other minimum wage job. However, if you come from a family that can support you for the rest of your life, or you don't mind being dirt poor for the rest of your days and you have a passion for modern art, then CalArts is the right place for you. Faculty Accessibility: A+, Education Quality: C- Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  May 23 2008 2nd Year Male -- Class 2010    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=47370&uid=123'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save   Music - Performance  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Quite Bright CalArts, to me, seemed like some sort of nucleus for artists and thinkers, sadly though, it was quite different. I was unsure as to whether or not I wanted to study at a regular liberal arts college or an art school so I applied to several different schools across the nation from both categories. At the time I was already living in So. Cal. so, upon acceptance, I decided to attend, that is, at least for one year. I was accepted at every other college/university to which I applied so making my decision was rather hard. The teachers here are great however they do seem quite busy with their own lives and yes, I must admit, a bit arrogant. They have that same mentality that a lot of other people seem to have who are working in more contemporary styles. Which is, basically, don't question, if you don't understand you just don't 'get it'. I felt that way a lot and I consider myself and my work avant-garde. I approached one teacher and complimented him on a performance I had seen (of his) the night before. His answer was so... snooty I couldn't believe I had wasted the air required to tell him how I truly enjoyed it! As mentioned the teachers seemed to be rather busy. For one course I was required to hand in two reports/essays... I am still awaiting those! I received a good grade ("high pass") but would rather see the teachers comments about my thoughts and work than a final grade over-all. the students are your typical art school type. they dress the way an 'artist' should and barely smile. they look like they could use a dose of reality and some protein. try as I might I NEVER felt as though I belonged to any group there. Granted I am the 'non-traditional' student - being quite older than the average BFA-1 (Freshmen) but with a music school as small as CalArt's and students from all levels intermingling... I still felt as though I couldn't strike up a conversation with anyone. The campus is located in the WORST possible spot. Valencia is a 'planned' community and feels very alien - to me at least. Its basically a town full of restaurants, shopping centers, soccer moms and SUVs. If that sounds good to - you will like it here very much! Scholastic Success: B+, Surrounding City: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  May 20 2008 1st Year Male -- Class 2011    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=47137&uid=123'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save   Fine Arts - Painting/Sculpture/Photography/etc  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Quite Bright Calarts is a crock. Fine art student don't do anything. nothing is expected of us and we gain no technical support what so ever. Teachers are too busy with their own lives to be helpful. I've gained nothing but the promise of a reputation it doesn't deserve. This school might have been great in the 70's but that was 30 years ago and now the school just lives off its success from being great then. You get your own studio, which is great, but if you’re not extremely rich forget about affording the art supplies to work in it. The school doesn't help you in any way to try to help you afford any materials expect maybe for a grant where you get a 100 dollars if your lucky enough to be picked. Besides the fact that Valencia is awful. It is the most closed minded community I’ve ever had the misfortune of being part of. LA might be vapid and shallow but Valencia are those things plus being boring. Forget being inspired by where you live. The school is also very expensive for what reason? I don't know because there are no sculpture facilities except if you want to cut wood. Painting is a joke too. Perhaps photography is okay but I wouldn't know because I’m not in that program. Using other dept. facilities is also a difficult task too. Everything is so inaccessible. There also isn't much of a community unless you count the gallery openings, which is giant excuse to get drunk for free (if you get there early enough). Academics are a big joke as well. I’m learning high school type art history b.s. and I’m not challenged in any way…No wonder you have to be a fool not to get a high pass. Most of the great artists that went here were smart enough to get out be for they graduated from this hellhole (Tim Burton, Sofia Coppola). I've been here for two years thinking it was going to get better and now in my 3rd year all I want is to transfer for my finial year. If you want to go a good art college go to RISD. Campus Aesthetics: A, Education Quality: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Nov 17 2007 2nd Year Male -- Class 2009    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=42251&uid=123'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save   Design Arts - Industrial Design/Graphic Design/etc  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Quite Bright Anyone who is thinking of applying to CalArts should know that even though this school was once considered a fine institution, nowadays, CalArts' main priority is taking students' money and screwing them over. Here is the story of how CalArts screwed over two whole classes of students in the Graphic Design program: At CalArts, there is a policy that all students must work "in residence," meaning that students are REQUIRED to work in the provided studio spaces. For Graphic Designers, that means having your computer and all your expensive art supplies in the studio at all times. Each one of us gets a desk and a large wooden box that locks with our own combination lock. Since the room gets used over the summer by a high school art program, we are supposed to clean off our desks and put everything away in our wooden boxes and lock them. This is what we have all been told, and what I've been doing since my first year. This year, without telling us that we aren't allowed to keep things in our lockers this year, the school just decided to cut all our locks and throw all our valuable and irreplaceable art and art supplies IN THE GARBAGE. When students returned to their lockboxes the following fall, and found them empty, we wanted to know what the hell happened. We talked to the Dean of the school. He did not even PRETEND to care. He said it was our fault for leaving it there. "But," we say, "we have been doing it this way for years, and no one has told us the policy is changing." He said that just because we did it in the past that we can't expect to every year. "But we were told that we could!" Well, he said, you were told wrong. Oh my God. That is such bullsh*t. If they wanted to "teach us a lesson," they could have fined us $25 or some other reasonable "punishment." But they just tossed our valuables into a dumpster. Thom Lawson, Dean of the Art School, ROLLED HIS EYES at me when I said it was a slap in the face that they didn't even try to contact us to remove our stuff ourselves. I lost my large leather-bound zip-up portfolio of everything I've ever worked on, expensive large pads of art paper, all my art supplies. Others lost thousands of dollars in art and design books. IN the GARBAGE!!! Can you believe that? There was a storage room that is assigned to our department that could have easily housed all our stuff, if they did, in fact, REALLY NEED the space. But they really didn't. This was a deliberate act to send the message, "we don't give a f*ck about you students" while at the same time demanding another 32,000 dollars for a new school year. This is just one incident. I am sure other students can share many stories of being f*cked over by an administration that cares only collecting about our money. If I had known that this is the kind of disregard they show for students, I would have NEVER chosen to attend CalArts. It is a huge investment that is going to impact the rest of my life, and it just has not been worth it. Please, do not fall into the same trap I did. You don't even want to know how much student loan debt I am in now because of the high tuition and high cost of living in Valencia for four years. Really look into a school and talk to its students before you jump in. Do not believe the fantasy that the Admissions department sells. They are just like used car salesmen who hide the flaws and make everything sound grand. This is just too big of a decision to mess it up and come to someplace like CalArts. Perceived Campus Safety: A, Individual Value: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Sep 06 2007 2nd Year Female -- Class 2009    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=41110&uid=123'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save      Prev    Select Page:  1    Next

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