The Academy of Art University

Date: Dec 27 2009
Major: Unknown (This Major's Salary over time)
Firstly, I am an online student in the Fashion Design Dept. and this is my second semester attending AAU. I graduated with an associates in business administration two months prior with a 3.89 and thought that I would do the same in this school. Was I wrong!! So far my GPA is 3.525 and my feelings are little hurt. The workload is enormous and lengthy. TIME MANAGEMENT is CRUCIAL!!! At times I resent this school because of the pressure I'm under all the time to produce. However some of the instructors do leave encouraging words such as

great or good effort

after many hours of work, which could be a decent comment.

AAU is definitely an upscale art school and if you cannot draw, they will certainly teach you. I enrolled in this school being able to draw only flat faces but have since learned how to draw faces in many poses in addition to drawing nudes which I would have never attempted on my own..so kudos to AAU for that. On a bad note, you can have no prior knowledge of drawing and they do not take that into consideration when you do a drawing assignment and your work is graded. For example, I drew a room divider with some clothing hanging on it, and the instructor said he or she didn't understand the perspective, well of course not because I do not know anything about perspective yet. You understand what I mean by the above statement?

My personal relationship with the university is love and hate. Students please do not fall behind more than at least two modules because if you do, you will start to sink or have to swim like hell to stay afloat. Also, I take two classes and always find that one class demands more time than the other and I am still trying to strike a happy balance between the two.

My pet peeve is critiquing, not so much from the instructors because I take their comments into account only, unless they happen to agree with a student's comments as well. I have seen countless times where students are critical of others work and theirs look like hell, I mean really bad. Frankly, I do not have the nerve to judge another students work when my work falls short also. Judge not and you will not be judged. Remember, outsiders will have harsh things to say about you being an art major and your art as well, so we as students should uplift one another instead. Additionally why does an artist have to defend his or her artwork, it is ART.

PS Please get along with your instructors as best you are able. No point in being on bad terms with them because it will effect your grade and final outcome no matter how well you draw or design.