I
first heard about SCAD from a college rep who came
and did a presentation at my high school, i was
impressed by this as few other schools did this. Being
uncertain about the other schools I had applied to (small
schools, low acceptance) I decided i would apply there as
a back-up. When my mom found out she immediatly pressured
me in to choosing that school despite my desire for
a small school and my acceptance to several other schools
i wanted to go to more, she did this because
of the the city: SAVANNAH IS A HUGE TOURIST AREA!
the top 3 things going on in savannah are
1.SCAD
2.Tourist(EVERYWHERE)
3.Crime.
if you do
any reasearch regarding the schools layout you will see that
they have bought random buildings within the city, the industrial
design building, and animation/game design buildings can take up to
45 minutes to reach from the dorms(you will need to
take the bus or drive). If you do choose this
school i strongly recommend a bike, they can be incredably
helpfull, but be carfull
SAVANNAH DRIVERS ARE DANGEROUS!!!!
most
of the upper classmen i know have had very rough
times with savannah drivers as well as the savannah tourist
trollys. the trollys are everywhere. you will hate the trollys
if you have anywhere to go in a hurry as
they stop frequently in many areas leaving you no way
to get around, also the horse drawn buggys do this(but
they usually give you enouph room to squeeze by).
Althought
the tourist areas a very pretty the rest of savannah
can be downright dangerous. the freshmen dorms are sandwiched in
between two ghettos, the sounds of sirens in the night
is a very common ocurance. There are ghettos all over
savannah, and lucky for us many of the buildings(especially the
foundations buildings) require you to travel throught them. one night
my first quarter i rode by 4 seperate shootings, on
the way to 1 class, i found out later that
night there was five shootings that happened mear minutes before
i rode down to class at 4:30 in the afternoon.
ABOUT 80% OF THE STUDENTS OFF CAMPUS THAT I KNOW HAVE HAD THEIR APARTMENTS BROKEN IN TO.
but the dorms
arent safe either, winter quarter of last year two students
in the dyson dorms where robbed at gunpoint in their
own room. I have heard tales that there are gangs
in savannah whose initiation rights are to kill as scad
student(even thought i find this hard to believe, there is
still alot of animosity twords the students by locals).The local
population is for the most part very poor, seeing hundreds
of spoiled rich kids wandering the streets blasting there ipods
and taking many of the jobs in savannah isnt a
welcome sight. Despite the sterotype of “southern hospitality” i found
many of the locals to be jadded and short with
alot of SCAD students.
SCAD WILL ACCEPT ANYONE!
The
“#1 art $chool in the country” doesnt even require a
portfolio of any kind to get in. you will meet
lots of kids who wanted to to go to an
art school to avoid math and science requirments and are
floating along on mommy and daddys trust fund. Lots of
BMW's, Audi's, Corvettes and other very expensive cars can be
found in the freshman parking lot.
IMPORTANT.
SCAD
will give you a scholarship, but beware, they only do
whole letter grade's for class's meaning a 2.97 is a
C, and dont think that the professor will bump it
up just to give you the grade cause you will
find alot of them are very harsh graders. Also, if
your GPA drops beneath a B average you will lose
your scholarships till your average returns.
SCAD has also
introduced a program called FYE(first year eperience) in this program
they show you the ropes on how to sign up
for class's, where different buildings are located, college resources and
such, also they give you a “passport” which you are
required to complete to pass FYE. The passport is a
tiny replica passport that you are required to get stamps
in for different events and places (EXAMPLE, sporting events or
gallery shows), not a bad idea for the first quarter.
If you fail FYE however you are required to
take it again, till you pass, and they will charge
you somthing like $2000 dollars each time, if you miss
more than one FYE class(you cannot pick the time of
the class, and its one a week) you will fail
it.
MAKE SURE TO GO TO FYE IF YOU GO TO SCAD!
The school is very expensive, and
they dont skip out on showing of how much money
they have to spend. there are hundred of flat screen
plasma TV's around the school as well as “sleep pods”
and all sorts of usless crap that is not needed
for students. Palla Wallace throws huge gallery show partys for
invessters often to show off her #1 art school. There
is little resources for items such as light tables and
other expensive materials that can be extremely helpfull in foundations
class's and superfolous for students to buy.
IF YOU PLAN ON GOING TO SCAD NEVER EVER COUNT ON EX LIBRIS(campus
book and supply store) FOR ANY THING YOU NEED, IT IS EITHER OUT(lots of foundations teachers assign projects at the
same time, and there are alot of students) OR EXTREMELY OVER PRICED!
there are two places in savannah(aside from wallmart
or micheals wich is about a 30-45 min drive)that you
can buy general supplies for class, Ex Libris and Primary
art supply. Ex Libris will jack up the price (they
made me pay 9 dollars for a can of spray
paint) on any item and usually has specific items out
of stock. Primary, thought better priced and more reliable for
supplies, is still somewhat expensive and further away, if you
can buy as much of your supplies online before hand,
www.dickblick.com is a great website.
DO NOT WORK FOR SCAD AS A WORK STUDY STUDENT.
the hourly wage is
somewhere between 4 and 6 dollars an hour. i was
given $75 dollar pay checks bi-weekly! there is not way
that you can survive down there on the min wage
if you are trying to go to SCAD.
Savannah(besides being
poverty and crime striken) is also the foulest smelling city
ive ever been to in my entire life, the river
it borders houses several paper mills, the horses often leave
crap all over the road, and the garbage from the
numerous buisness's creates a stink that will make your eyes
water. combine that with the humidity of the south and
it becomes unbearable.
I wouldnt recommend SCAD to anyone, let
alone a serious artist. the school is nothing more than
a overpriced day car filled with spoiled rich kids. I
transfered far away, and i have no regrets.