The Savannah College of Art and Design

SCAD is a joke! Stay away! I was a Sequential art major. I am now working for DC Comics only thanks to my mentor, who I had to seek out myself since the school has no connections. I get paid less than 10,000 a year as a comic artists job is not a rich one in the top company on the charts, next to Marvel. Scad blinds its students telling them how you get paid a lot of money and the best connections out of college. Want some truth? Only one of my teachers was working in the business at all, and no one has ever heard of them. Most of the teachers can't draw better than a 10 year old. I paid 100,000 in loans, at 1,000 a month and can't afford them at all, let alone rent and such. Though I am the only of about 2 or 3 people that actually got a job at all out of this major. I see many of my fellow students still stuck in Savannah working waiter jobs or bar tender jobs trying to make some money. Also, don't let the city fool you. I always left nothing in my car and it got broken into twice and we caught them on the third, IN THE SAFEST AREA! Savannah is not safe. Many other friends have been held at knifepoint or gunpoint. Another's truck got shot up in a shootout, and just this past week, another few students got shot. Scad does not want you to know this AND WILL NOT ADMIT TO IT. Save your money and your life and go somewhere else!

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

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.

5th Year Female -- Class 2006

FYI: Beware of the fashion design department. The final show is based on a "vision" that is only revealed one month before the show and precludes your total involvement if your vision doesn't align with theirs. You will not be allowed to have ANYTHING in the show. They only include 11% of all submissions and the "guest designers" being brought in have the final say. So if they're into plastic garbage bag clothes, you have to be too. It will not matter that you have had straight A's all year; if you're into couture and he/she's into imitating clothing worn by the homeless, you are prevented from showing any of your work.

Expect to feel like you're facing a firing squad right before graduation. They do not have an unbiased jury make the selections. There is a protest every year by the students regarding the unfairness of the entire process, but the staff is resistant to change. No amount of calling and complaining will make the difference. No other fashion design school holds a fashion show that excludes the majority and has a theme that is revealed in the month before graduation, like this one.

4th Year Female -- Class 2008

Useful Schoolwork: C, Education Quality: F