Art Center College of Design

Went there got my Degree then off to the career field, some great instructors, mostly the part timers, the full time instructors a little dramatic for my taste get too much involved in students personal lives therefore coming across as having some preference for some students. Great school to attend, .!! Got lots of great friends there, very $$$$ but you can manage.

The starlight has begun to fade from stars that once shined their glory at Art Center in decades past. Art Center has basked in light long since departed and continues to fade like a dying star that has plunged into darkness. From Tink, to Don to David., it now clings like a flailing leaf where once stood deep rooted trees.

This place is the Auschwitz of hopes and dreams. I would only recommend it if your post-​college goals are to spend the next 20 years living with your parents wondering why you not only can’t get a job with Art Center in the Education section of your resume, but also why you can’t get re-​hired for a job anybody can get out of high school that you quit in order to go to Art Center. Eventually to be faced with no choice but to kill yourself at the age of 40 because you have no income and that doesn’t matter to the bloodsucking scoundrel loan companies that expect you to pay off your student loans no matter what shape your life is in, and will continue to bill your corpse once you are long gone.
If someone you know, a friend or a family member, is considering going here, if you love or care about them at all, you need to do whatever you can to stop them. The only reason you should ever allow anyone to go here is if you have a vendetta against them, but don’t want to get your hands dirty. Send them here. The long term financial strangle hold will destroy them in the slowest most painful way possible.
Art Center’s motto is: «Money (greater-​than symbol) People.» Sometimes to depict this they’ll do a dollar sign and the greater-​than symbol and then a little stick figure person running.
So to recap, if you want to bankroll non-​creative people’s mortgages with your decimated hopes and dreams and continue to receive bills after you are dead, Art Center is the school for you.

Amazing instructors that will expand your creative thinking ability along with your technical skills.
The cost of tuition, $ 36k per year only see to go to paying for faculty and mortgage. My major had nothing but benches and easels in the classrooms. Tuition does not cover art supplies, they are pricey. There’s not much for actual job placement or help with gallery connections so just be aware of the oncoming debt and the reality of post ACCD life.
I feel grateful for the career in art I have that is an extension of my post ACCD career. It would be nice not to have to pay out $ 1400 a month to paying back my loans but that’s the reality of it. I just want anyone that isn’t supported by their family financially to know the reality of debt that can occur.

This is where the magic happens. But you need business sense too. Great vibes and dreams become realities. As well as debt

I’m not a full-​time student here, but someone with a BS degree and MS degree from different colleges. I also have many years of full-​time job in corporations working on analytics before wanting to go into creative field. So I’ve got some experience to compare this school among others.
A privately owned school with some reputation in art and design seems to be a good choice to go; besides, it’s not too far away from where I live. But my enthusiasm seems to be damped every time I encounter Art Center.
My experience is limited to its ACN programs and my interactions with the faculties. The quality of the teachers seem to be hit or miss, and most of them (who work in the field) have their busy schedule and can care less about the part-​time students.
First of all, the ACN website is way overdue for an update. To be honest, I can safely say it’s made perhaps more than 5 years ago and has rarely been updated. The bright green font with white space in various parts of the website are just ridiculous to read; try yourself.
The first course I took was Product Design: Basic. Well, it can’t get more basic than this because the teacher pretty much spent more than half the time in EACH class talking about how he made it, how good the school is, how strict the application process is, and how rigorous the degree program is… etc. blah blah blah. Lots of self promoting and plug-​ins. Essentially he only show us how to draw like 3 times toward the end of the program and asked us to create a project between drawing concept of a dumpster or a candle holder… Then the way he critics is really non-​constructive by being critical about each sketches of someone by pointing to the short-​comings when he initially asked students to sketch as many as they can. After hundreds of dollars spent, I felt it was all for nothing. I felt better about the other class about licensing, but that teacher was so tired of all day teaching she couldn’t wait to get out by the end of the class.
They also canceled one of the class I registered ONE day before the class starts. I was like… dude, you can at least tell me a week before so I can try to sign up for a different class; but no, Art Center is the shiz, so no care about students because they beg to take their classes!!! Well, I’d say hell probably 50% of the classes taught can be learn by oneself unless it requires machinery that the school possesses.
Regardless, I find some teachers (maybe full-​time faculty) pretentious, nonchalant, and defensive. The way the school does things seem just lame; well I suppose it’s a culture thing that permeates the campus North & South.

They have a great location of this institution it’s fire proof, water proof, and earthquake proof, need I say more? I was here for my cousin’s graduation which was well done and they had many pieces on display but i wasn’t able to explore the whole campus. But from the looks of it… looks like only the talented and the best of the best go here. Looks and seems like a great college for art school.

You definitely learn a lot at Art Center, they treat you like they would in the real world of art and design. BUT… you’re up to your chin in debt after you graduate.
They raise the tuition 6% every term. I started in 2009 paying approx. $ 15K per term and finished paying just under $ 18K in 2012.
I graduated in the Advertising department, one of the smaller departments at Art Center.
My reason for 3 stars… The fact that I felt completely screwed with my classes. The Department Chairman we had at the time didn’t do jack about helping out the students. he was flakey, he didn’t listen when you spoke to him, and hired all of his friends to teach the Ad students even though most of his friends didn’t have any background in advertising. My final semester there we got a new Dept. Chairman and he’s much better but he lives in NY and is only at the school 11 days out of the month, which isn’t smart on the school’s part. they should have a second Chairman to fill in for the guy when he’s not at school.
The old chairman told me that if i took the 5 classes i needed, i’ll graduate in the summer of 2012… he was so wrong! I spoke to the lady who is the Assistant Registrar, she goes «uhhhh, you can’t graduate this term, you need 11 classes, not 5.» i was furious! i told her what my Chairman said and she immediately got on the phone and called his office in front of me and chewed him out saying «i’m sick of having YOUR students come to me with misguided information you gave them! this is the 2^nd student I had to tell this semester that they’re short credits to graduate!»
Boy was i mad.
AC is very disorganized.
After graduating, I had working professionals tell me that AC isn’t as good as it use to be and other schools like Miami Ad and Creative Circus surpassed AC. Not good.
It’s a great school for Transportation Design, Graphic Design and Entertainment Design. Just because it has the name Art Center, doesn’t guarantee greatness, you can only teach someone techniques… but you can’t teach talent. Make sure you do your research and if you think you can handle the stress of being over $ 100K in debt before committing to this school.

the origami art of robert j. lang, @ the williamson gallery at art center: another superlative show at art center.
intriguing complex origami ranging from lizards, moose, & cranes, to a wall installation of koi fish. many folded out of only one sheet of paper.
some cast in bronze, yet still appear crafted of paper.
mathematical diagrams that are the underlying pattern of origami works.
highly recommended!
free admission!
dot com/​

This review is for the student bookstore. I decided to visit the art store they had at Pasadena Art Center. The staff were very nice! They carry a lot of everything you need for your art materials. They have me a 20% percent discount when I visited which was very nice!

Art Center College of Design for Film
If you’re attending ACCD to become a designer for a major industry, Art Center is the right place for you. Their programs can help you get on the right track for a career in design. The film department, however, is a disaster.
As a former attendee of the film program at ACCD and I found their curriculum to be sub-​par. The entire department has been recently dismantled due to the retirement of their former department chair. The current courses in the film department at ACCD are not intellectually challenging so much as they are physically exhausting. There is very little in the way of reading and the lectures are basically subjective conversations. If you’re not interested in thinking, ACCD film/​video is right for you. If you’re interested in making pretty things while paying a hundred grand for your degree, ACCD is a great place to be. Also, be prepared to get very little aid. Their packages are also sub-​par.
The film classes are taught by sexist, racist instructors. Many of the instructors swear, curse, and make deterministic statements about topics they aren’t educated in. The upside is that you will, in fact, practice making a lot of films. On the other side, the technology advancements in film and video allow anyone to pick up a camera and begin their filmmaking career. If you’re interested in truly learning about the world of filmmaking and how to make great looking videos, your local community college is a better place to start. If you want a master’s degree in film/​video, and you’re intelligent, look anywhere else.
Lastly, don’t let their world wide reputation fool you. They are ranked #18 for FINE ARTS. That’s not the same as film. As far as film schools go, they don’t make the top ten.
And they also pay a lot of money to fluff their reputation.

I’m not going to lie: This review is purely about the aesthetic value of this beautiful place. After all, I was only here for an audition, and know next to nothing about the world of sculpting, painting, and design.
Just exiting the freeway and driving through the gorgeous neighborhoods up to this place was a treat. The school, itself, is tucked away in a secluded part away from the neighborhoods, up the hill a little ways. It’s pretty easy to pass the entrance, so keep an eye out for it, and once inside, you need to make sure you don’t park in any restricted areas. When in doubt, ask security.
As I was escorted through the halls of this place by a really nice security guard, though, I could easily see myself falling in love with the process of creating art. As I passed workshop after workshop, I saw state-​of-​the art materials and technology, as well as sculptures, paintings, and designs the likes of which I’ve only ever seen in big-​budget movie sets and studios in Hollywood. This place has more rooms and resources than I would have ever thought possible or even necessary for a school dedicated to just a few subjects. And the best part is, most of it is hands-​on; every room I passed had students and teachers «getting their hands dirty» with one artistic pursuit or another.
The views are fantastic, and there are many secluded areas to chill, study, eat, or what have you, and I even saw a basketball court in the distance, which tells me this place has all the amenities of a small, well put together community.
Forget studying here; I’d love the opportunity to come visit once in a while!

This is gonna be really simple. It’s one of the best schools period. You can argue some have better programs but I didn’t go to multiple different schools to compare. All I can tell you is this school is not for people that are trying out something for fun. This is serious business you need to know what you want in life. This isn’t a party school just F’ing around and going to parties, this is what real life will be like if you choose to participate in design/​ad/​product/​photography/​film etc. This is a no bullshit school. It makes some of the toughest designers I know. There is no excuses for failure and there are no boundaries to hold you down as well. If you want campy counselors and a step by step program of how to achieve that dream job you are in the wrong mindset.
Function follows form as they say and you’ll learn this very much so in whatever direction you choose. Anybody complaining about how the school is expensive and that they didn’t learn much or they blame counseling were the weak minded students that barely got through it. The industry that involves these skills will require a creative innovative mind.
Your teachers are your counselors, so become good friends with them since they’ve been in the trenches. The money it costs to go to this school is expensive for sure and there will be some kids that have the money to get into the school but it doesn’t mean anything until you graduated the program. The teachers will be very critical of your work and insult your thinking possibly. It will challenge you mentally as well as physically but in the real world that’s what it’s like. Working late nights and working on the weekend and possibly rushing to produce something in limited time. This is the world we work in and that’s what they honestly prepare you for. If you can’t handle that stress than your not gonna be able to handle the real world working at large/​small scale agencies where the demand for dedication is high. You got to have a no excuses type of mentality here and if you do then this is the place to fine tune your skills.
–out

(NOTE: this review is for the grad show only)
Amazing. Simply amazing. We went to campus to visit with a friend who is currently attending ACCD. As luck turned out, we met her on campus at the same time as the grad show. We were able to see all of the graduating students’ work, ranging from photography to product design to entertainment to illustration. Based on everything we saw, their work is a testament to how well ACCD educates their students and brings out their full potential.

There is a magic that permeates the hallowed halls of Art Center, an invisible orange thread that connects each and every person that has stepped onto its manicured grounds and felt the stress/​joy of design. Oh yeah, and there are coyotes. Sometimes lots of them. In the parking lot. Watching you.
Let me get my biases out of the way and say that I don’t just love ACCD, I’m *in love* with ACCD. After years in finance, one visit to a large game studio in OC pushed me out the door of spreadsheets and business professional attire, and into a wholly foreign world of chalk & marker renderings, free-​hand ellipses and soul-​withering public critiques. It hasn’t always been a smooth road for me going from being a CPA to faking being a designer, but I have never looked back, and my career has gone in a direction I would never have imagined.
That being said, tuition is on par with USC and other private schools in the area; that is to say bloody expensive. There was a definite (and unfortunately demonstrably) negative impact on my health due to stress while I was here as well. No one in my start group who came into the program being in a relationship left with that relationship (with very few exceptions). Art Center owns you from the day you start, and you might as well estrange yourself from your loved ones at the door.
The workload was unlike anything I had experienced prior in my previous undergrad experience, or even working in finance. This stems from the fact that you’re learning technical design skills which take time and continued practice to master, as well as developing your critical thinking. Neither of these can be truly learned during a 14 week term, but you’re expected to anyways.
The standards at the school are incredibly high, with teachers marking off points for smudges on the *back* of your work. «Learn to be perfect» is the lesson of the day, everyday. Rather than finding that attitude unnecessarily trivial or torturous, I ate it up. For the amount of money I was spending, I didn’t want someone patting me on the head for crap work and bad design.
Everyone should visit the campus for grad show which happens three times a year at the end of term. (Check the website’s calendar for dates.) You will be surprised by what you see as this is *not* Art School Confidential. The grounds are beautiful, and you get a nice view of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl from the viewpoints on the south east side of campus. You might even catch me reliving my student tour guide days showing my friends around.
This place forever changed my life and the way I view the world. With loaded phrases like that, how can I give anything but five stars?

Wonderful grounds

Pros: Good to great school depending on the program and timing.
Cons: Leaves you over 100k in debt with a most likely prospect of a 50k career. You can get a 8 year degree for not much more than that at state schools.
Summary: Think hard about the $ 1000+ loan payment you will have every month for 10 years. There is a good chance you won’t be making 6 figures. It is not a decision to be taken lightly.

Today i came here with a high school student who want to be a musician. She asked me to browse the school to get inspired.
It is stunning. I realized that it is the best school ever. Every art work that Art Center students have done is far beyond. and i understand why people said this school is the best. I am so lucky that I live near by.
Today i could visit an exhibition «PAGES» by accident. While browsing the campus, i found out the exhibition began. It was very impressive and creative. i love the school and the exhibition.

I’m a current student here and I have to say that I love Art Center!
I’m not saying this because I’m currently enrolled, but more so because as a student, I never thought I could learn as much as I have within these past few terms.
(Currently in my 4^th term! Woo!!)
The school runs on a trimester system so there are 3 terms within each year (Fall, Spring, Summer). Each term is 14 weeks and then you get a 3 week break, then the next term begins, and you rinse and repeat. (Kiss your social life goodbye for every 14 week cycle, lol)
The program is designed so you are to complete 8 terms and then you are on your way of becoming a photographer, designer, etc etc.
Honestly the school is amazing. I never thought I could learn soooo much ! I think I’ve already said that, but I need to say it again!
Teachers are always helpful and want to help you. A lot of the teachers are also very honest– if your work sucks, they will say it. Some more nicely than others while some may tear you a new one. But that’s the nice thing– the teachers are here to help you succeed.
The only down side is the cost of tuition but in the end, it’s worth it.
There is one secret I will share with anyone who visits ACCD. Buy soda from the vending machines! The bottled 20oz kind. The vending machine is 5c (was 30c) cheaper than at the cafeteria. If you’re a student that 5c over time adds up. Seriously.

I went here actually and got my Bachelor in Arts, directly after high school.
I question the value of higher education sometimes (especially specialized private schools) and wonder how much of it is really applicable to real life. The truth is I have a great career now. Art Center helped jumpstart a clear career direction very early on in my life. In addition, it helped built a strong foundation in which I’m able to apply everything that I have learned in my line of work. It’s already been 14 years and the knowledge that I have gained, hardships that I’ve endured (pulling all-​nighters) have finally paid off.
Based on my experience, here are the positives:
+Specialized curriculum and prepares the student for their career from the beginning. The first part of the program focuses on building a strong foundation. As you progress into the program, you begin taking more specialized classes that are suited to your goal.
+Top-​notch instructors (most are professionals and have their own businesses and relevant life experiences)
+Expectation is very high and disciplined, therefore students need to perform at their very best all the time.
+One of the most prestigious art schools in the country (maybe even the world).
+The campus is beautiful (modern, chic, clean) and an awesome gallery
The negatives:
+The tuition is quite high and the rate goes up each year. I was paying $ 8K per term 14 years ago and ended up owing about $ 100K in student loans by the time I graduated. (But on a bigger picture it’s really not that much).
+Prepare to give 120% because you WILL be pulling all-​nighters and perhaps even shed some tears from constructive criticisms of your work by the Instructors.