School of the Art Institute of Chicago Rankings by Salary Score

I met very talented faculty & fellow grad students while attending SAIC, and also made lifelong connections. At a grad level, SAIC it's not worth the expense. The school does not have any real power when it comes to advancing their student's careers and exposing them to greater things. Also, outside SAIC environment, nobody in the art world really cares about its "prestige". The school has grown too big and it's constantly scheming new money making strategies like the "Low Residency Program", which is basically... Read More a part-time MFA "light" done during the off season so the school can capitalize on the empty studios during student turnover. During my time as a student there where no studio visit schedules, open calls or growth opportunities available. I have made considerable strides in advancing my carrer thanks to my own efforts. SAIC has become a meaningless entry on my CV.

I accepted going to SAIC based on three pitches: excellent facilities, a great career development program, and the freedom to be an interdisciplinary student. Only one of these turned out to be true. The quality of the facility you use will greatly depend on what program you happen to be a part of. Otherwise you may end up with some extreme difficulty having even your most basic needs met. Despite boasting about their foundry program the school for years did not fix a ventilation problem in either the foundry... Read More or the ceramics department until they found out some of that air was leaking into the museum. So they had the ability to quickly fix the problem, but would rather risk the health of students who are paying an enormous sum of money to be that the school. The career development program is a complete joke. When the school first looks for students they will claim they never let their alumni's become "starving artists." I don't know any of my classmates who have succeeded in feeding themselves do so by the help of the career development program. The only job I could get my foot in the door for after graduation was in retail and after consulting a friend who had become quite good at helping people with resumes they pointed out that every tip given to me by career development, including the resume they helped me build were terrible. The school is very interdisciplinary, no doubt about that. There were very few programs where one could not sample an entry level class. Something they did not bring up that was a positive were the instructors themselves. Most of my instructors were very skilled in their craft and had a passion for what they taught. Finally, a dirty little secret. Having made friends and talked to students who ended up getting jobs at the financial aid department, they learned that financial aid staff are deliberately under trained so that they will not effective aide students. I was told incorrect information about my scholarships and financial aid qualifications many times over.