The American Academy of Art

Date: Nov 05 2012
Major: Design Arts - Industrial Design/Graphic Design/etc (This Major's Salary over time)
Where do I start? I applied to AAA as a graphic design major for the Fall of 2011. Going into this, I was so excited. I met with the admissions coordinator, Simone. She was so sweet. I brought her my portfolio and she made me feel so great about everything. As far as admissions go, she said she only needed my diploma, which I had with me. I paid her an $150 enrollment fee and we arranged a time for me to come to orientation and that was the last time I had seen her. Orientation was long but fun. I met a lot of cool fellow artists and it was great. I start school and it went down hill from there. However, Simone was wrong when she told me they only needed a diploma for admissions, they needed transcripts. Fine. I went to my old school, requested them and had em sent. Done. As far as teachers go, I didn't like ONE of em. My anatomy teacher was plain and she didn't try to know any of us by name. My drawing teacher was an old ass douche bag who loved to brag about his "wonderful, famous career in art" even though none of us knew who he was. My sketching teacher was an airhead, totally withdrawn and she was always in my face because we're from the same town. Then, I was at the art store at least twice a day dropping $40, $50 each visit because the teachers wanted us to have millions of supplies. School was literally a job. I was there from 9 am to 6 pm 5 days a week. All the students were stuck up weirdos. I made NO friends because I didn't like to Pokemon in the student center or partake in Dungeons and Dragons. So about a month into school, Marcia Thomas, the enrollment coordinator (or whoever the b word is supposed to be) starts telling me that they never received my transcripts and I needed to get them in ASAP. Ok. I contact my old school and they said they were sent. I tell Marcia that and she gets a huge attitude with me saying it should've been done a long time ago. Well why are you people admitting students with NO transcripts anyway? So a week rolls by and Marcia calls me down to her office saying I'm suspended because they don't have transcripts from me. I was pissed and I was not paying my old school anymore money so I said forget it. A week later, I get a letter from Marcia saying that I was not accepted to the school and I can reapply next semester. Then to top it off, she included a $150 check with the letter. And just 2, 3 months ago, I got a call from the school asking to do a telephone survey and when I told the woman I attended, she said I'm not even in the schools records. Way to act like I never attended. This was one of the worst experiences with a school I have ever had. They're bullshitters. If you're just a normal person who loves art, don't attend this stuck up, freak show they call a school. They may have a great alumni but you're just a number at the American Academy of Art.