Overview of School of the Art Institute of Chicago

I'm from a strong liberal arts background, so at times the art school attitude (yes, be ready for some artsy pretension, folks) was a bit jarring for me.. But in general, SAIC offered me an environment and art community like no other, and my practice grew in leaps and bounds.

The school is really fantastic with great choices for classes. Teachers such as Richard Deutsch have really encouraged me and supported me when I am very critical of myself. However, there are many students and teachers who aren't very encouraging or supportive, which makes it difficult. Also, there are so many projects to do constantly and no spring break, etc so it is really difficult to get through a semester. Chicago is a great city, so the school is in a great location. The school has a really great interdisciplinary program, which is fantastic if you want to work in a variety of media.

I've never loved school more than here. Yeah I've had a bad teacher or two, which made me loathe going to that class. But it doesn't mean the school sucks or I regret taking that class. I love my school.

I honestly love it here. At first the artistic community was a little intimidating, but if you're a creative intuitive person you will have no trouble fitting in. Every class is a new opportunity for artistic expression. SAIC's campus is downtown Chicago, but our city playground is the West Loop, the Northside, Logan Square, and all of Chicago is available at our fingertips. Around every corner there are new adventures to explore. The school is definitely an interesting and unique college experience.

The main flaw with the School is that it is located downtown in a high rent district, so it has no extra space. It has no student center or hang-out space other than a small cafeteria. Its studio space is taken up by classes from 9am to 9pm, so there is little opportunity to just work alongside fellow students during these hours without being enrolled in a class, unless you are accepted into the Advanced _ class in a particular discipline, in which case you get a small personal space among others like you. It is easy to be lonely at SAIC. I would recommend living in the dorms for at least a year to help you make friends, although this did me little good as a somewhat reclusive and older student. There are few social glue personalities at SAIC, and they are often obnoxious. If you are a social misfit when you enter SAIC, you will most likely be a social misfit when you come out. That said, most people seem to find enough friends to make the experience tolerable, at least after the (usually painful) freshman year.