School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Date: Apr 09 2011
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
As a graduate student, I feel that the classes are great. I am able to explore whatever direction I want, with some help from the faculty. In fact, it's the only good thing about the school. If I didn't like my classes, I would really hate my time there. The school is filled with ignorant, fake-cultured people (basically a lot of white people who come from wealthy backgrounds and pretend like they don't have money) who don't care about anything besides their own art work and their small niche of friends. The school lacks diversity. I get happy when there is a person of color in my class (no joke). The lack of diversity affects classroom discussions, which sometimes become ignorant, or at the very least, boring and typical. Everyone is obsessed with gender and lgbt rights, but no one gives a crap about any other social issues, which frankly, is annoying. The school also preaches this mix of politics and art, which is pretty false. The campus is extremely apolitical for a college campus and its disheartening to see the next generation of artists so detached from the actual world. While some faculty members may have interests in politics or social justice issues, you won't hear about it in the class. It's up to you to explore those issues on your own.

Anyway, positive for (graduate) classes, but negative for everything else.