The Savannah College of Art and Design

Date: May 18 2008
Major: Art & Design Department (This Major's Salary over time)
SCAD is a joke. Unfortunately I did not realize this until it was too late. I was graduated and owed loans over $100,000 in total. I've been a graduate from SCAD about 3 years now and I have found out that SCAD's "outstanding reputation" is pretty much a bunch of bull. I've been on countless interviews since graduating and I'm being 100% honest, companies will not hire me strictly because I am from SCAD. I actually had an interviewer tell me directly that if I had gone to Parsons or Ringling, any other art school but SCAD, he would have hired me. SCAD has a reputation alright, but it's not a good one. I found out it wasn't just me after talking to other SCAD graduates who have apparently been having the same problem. Much like others, I have been forced to attend another school just to be able to show companies that I have experience outside of SCAD, so that they wont hold it against me. Here is SCAD's "outstanding repuatation" from employers points of view: SCAD is not a real art school, it is merely a time waster and money machine. Most students at SCAD are not even real artists, just kids who dont know what they want to do with themselves yet, so they cruise by spending their parents money with the added bonus of being able to skip math, science, and business classes. Which is another thing that bit me in the butt after graduation. I thought it might be a problem while I was there, and it was confirmed when I tried to get a job. Even as artists…YOU MUST TAKE A BUSINESS COURSE! Or at least have some business sense. SCAD skips over all of that. They are way too focused on actual art classes, they dont offer anything business oriented. I've had countless employers ask me "Have you taken any business courses?" "Any math?" It's not just enough to be a talented aloof artist anymore, you also must have a business mind. SCAD apparently doesn't realize this. Had I known I would run into all this trouble now, I would have just went to a basic 4 year university and did another major and just an art minor. At least then I would have ended up with a more well rounded education allowing me to get a job, instead of just art, art, and more art. I suggest anyone considering SCAD do the same. Change your mind now, if not, you'll regret it in the long run. Do not waste your money or time on SCAD. The only person who benefits from SCAD is the schools president and professors, the students get the raw end of the deal. As far as everything else goes about SCAD…the students are mean, spoiled, little rich brats or they are seriously depressed and/or suicidal from being at the school…the professors are egotistical dictators who are usually jealous of their students and often they are racists or play favorites…the dorms are like mini prisons and off campus isnt much better or safer…the food is far from good or healthy…you spend more money on the school than you do learning anything from it…and Savannah is just a crummy, boring, dirty place in itself, definitely NOT a real "college town." All in all, SCAD is just not worth it. You wont get a real college experience from it, nor will you find success from being a SCAD graduate…you'll only find rejection.