The Art Institute of Seattle

When looking at the schools metrics you will notice a high drop out rate. This I attributed to the school being the prestigious and expensive art school it is made out to be. Where the classes were so demanding that the incompetent and lazy would not be able to survive. After one year at my first college experience I came to a much different conclusion. The only people that try to graduate from this joke of an institution are the absolute morons, there is an incredibly high concentration of them due to Ai's policy to basically accept anyone who is willing to sign the parent plus loan agreement. During the entire year I made only a handful of friends, not because I was shy or an unlikable person, but because the number of Goons was in an astronomical proportion. The school turned me off to my desired career simply because I could not imagine having to work with these people or simply be associated with them in a similar career.

The school did not live up to how much I was paying for it. When I did drop out I told the school director that it felt as though I was being scammed, because I honestly did feel that way. The teachers were terrible and uninspiring, one of which, was teaching her first class ever. yes, they hired a teacher to teach web design on the credentials that she made a website for Indian reletaves to find each other on. We followed the steps on w3schools.com. no joke. and charged ridiculous amounts of tuition for it.

Also if you fit the qualifications for enjoying this school (that you are a mongoloid idiot) I would not suggest not to stay in the school housing. I was one of the lucky ones, i had the only other sane person attending as a roommate, but i could not imagine what an unlucky roll of the dice some of the other bastards got. Security guards in the lobby (cranky and old) were required by the school to check everyone's ID or they were not allowed in the elevator, so anyone who was not a student had to be checked in by a resident, if they did not have ID on them they were not allowed up, special permission was required for a non resident to stay more than overnight. I basically payed 1000 dollars a month (and so did my roommate) to live in a prison. constant noise complaints, no events in the building geared towards community other than some classes on womens self defense taught by one of the teachers, all the rest that comes from having delusional and depressed neighbors. Not ideal for any creativity whatsoever.All in all it was time and money wasted that I honestly regret, please if you are reading this do your research before going to this school, I wish I had not been so eager to believe what they told me on the campus visiting days.

1st Year Male -- Class 1950

Useful Schoolwork: B, Education Quality: F

When I first went to take a tour of the Art Institute during my senior year of high school, I was impressed. The staff and faculty were all very helpful and nice to me and really made the school sound like it was just perfect for me.

I was there two quarters. My first quarter was fantastic. I was in classes that didn't challenge me, but I assumed that it was because I had had extensive artistic training in the past.

My second quarter, things in my housing situation got hairy to the point where my room mates were leaving threatening notes when I was away (I only stayed there 2 nights a week and never said a word to them. The girl who perpetrated the situation seemed to have some sort of bipolar as she would be nice to my face then nasty to my back). After failed attempts to work it out with her in private, I was forced to go to school administration. They didn't do a damn thing about my situation. My student housing cost me 950/mo and I was appalled that I would have to pay so much for a dinky two bedroom which I shared with 3 other girls.

In my second quarter, they also put me into classes that I did not hold prereqs for. One thing about this school is that they don't allow you to choose your own schedule or pick a class based on who is teaching. At any other school I have since attended, I have been able to do this.

Upon moving out, I was told by multiple housing staff that a breaking of lease fee is 500 dollars. So I dropped out of school. I wasn't going to spend 30k a year to be treated the way I had. But a month later, we received a bill for 1800 dollars. It was not itemized so we had no idea what the bill was for. It took us two months to finally receive information regarding the cause of the charges. It was my breaking of lease fee. They had lied to me all along about how much it would cost. I highly recommend you stay far far away from this school. There are many other schools in the Seattle area, many of which have better art programs.

1st Year Female -- Class 2016

Surrounding City: A+, Collaboration/Competitive: F

Long story short, I spent 10 thousand dollars on a school that has the money to provide the top notch equipment, and yet all of my classes I had to switch to different classrooms that supported my theory they were 'unorganized'. After that most of the computers were older, and in one of my classes after switching classrooms 3 times (yes, 3) I was given a room with small desks that were falling apart and missing screws. It's a very low quality school that is extremely overpriced. Really think about what you want to do with your life, and if you do decide to do something artistic, you don't need to attend a school that charges 8 thousand dollars a quarter (that's correct, 7200 a quarter not a year) but instead go for a bachelors at a real university. You'll save money, get a better education, get REAL parking (I had to pay 8 dollars a day to park in the parking garage next to the school, with no options for a school parking pass or anything like that). It's downtown Seattle so getting too and fro in a car is nearly impossible after school and a real hassle. You'll also get a team of highly trained and respectful staff to teach and help you along the way at a university, as opposed to one of my teachers with a masters in Fine Arts and owned an art museum tried to tell me," You don't understand or appreciate art, and if you don't conform to the reality of art and design you'll never improve." This school was the biggest waste of money, and a huge sink of time. They will not work with you on scheduling, and pay very little attention to each student.

Of course, if this was a community college, it would be neutral. Mostly because I'm paying a community college 1/8th of what I'm paying them, so shouldn't I have expected to get better treatment for that kind of money?If you are set on going, please by all means do and perhaps even prove me wrong on this review. Just make sure to check your options and check the pricing of your options first, just to make sure you know what you are getting into.

1st Year Male -- Class 2013

Individual Value: A+, University Resource Use/ spending: F