The Ringling College of Art and Design
StudentsReview ::
The Ringling College of Art and Design - Extra Detail about the Comment | |||||||||||||||||||
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Educational Quality | A+ | Faculty Accessibility | A+ |
Useful Schoolwork | A+ | Excess Competition | C |
Academic Success | A+ | Creativity/ Innovation | A- |
Individual Value | A- | University Resource Use | A |
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty | C | Friendliness | A |
Campus Maintenance | A | Social Life | C |
Surrounding City | C | Extra Curriculars | C |
Safety | D | ||
Describes the student body as: Friendly, ApproachableDescribes the faculty as: Friendly, Helpful |
Lowest Rating Safety | D |
Highest Rating Educational Quality | A+ |
Major: Art & Design Department (This Major's Salary over time)
I attended PreCollege at Ringling and ultimately decided not to apply there for college. Although I found the education quality great and the professors very knowledgeable and helpful, there were some factors that lead me to choose other schools. One is the campus, while the extremely small and centrally located main campus buildings are mostly new and well laid out/landscaped, the rest of the classrooms are spread out a block or two and right up on the edge of a rough part of town. Sarasota, from what I know, is a mostly rich white community but Ringling seems to be placed right beside one of the seedier areas. I was honked and yelled at a few times just walking to class, and I would not feel safe at night by myself. To their credit, there are always security in golf carts driving around but it still does not much help the atmosphere. There is absolutely nothing to do nearby, so any sort of recreation excursions would require taking a car or bus downtown. We didn't really get to leave the campus much so I can't speak for what's in the cities.I stayed in the new Student Center building, and the dorms were pristine. However some of the other dorms I went in weren't as nice, which can be expected. They're still a lot better than the majority of college dorms out there.I was surprised that some of the student's work wasn't as great as I would have expected it to be… apparently the school is really easy to get accepted to (excluding the Computer Animation program). Of course with art schools its almost always subjective and you get out what amount of effort you put in.In summary, I found my time at Ringling invaluable to my portfolio and future success and I'm extremely glad I spent my money to go there for precollege. But the location of campus and the small town's lack of resources as compared to one of the big city schools (NY, Chicago, etc.) forced me top consider other options. Maybe if you're really serious about Animation this would be a great option for you, but as a fine arts/illustration student I decided to opt for one of the more loosely structured schools like SAIC or MICA.If you go in with a positive attitude and a good work ethic, I don't see why you wouldn't benefit from time spent at Ringling. But at $40,000 its a lot to consider.