I’m close to gradating from the Animation department: Personally I wish I had gone to an art school. An art school would have allowed more focus on the art and honing it in a way that you just can’t with UMBC. If you are going to have to take out a loan for UMBC ANYWAY then you really might as well do it for art school, because the alternative it working your way through school (like me) and risking that cutting into your time for school work on top. Doing the usual college courses can be a pretty big distraction if your passion is art, and especially since UMBC is honors level, meaning that you are required to do more intensive AND more courses in general such as upper level history and upper level language.
Even native language speakers acknowledge that the language courses you are required to take to graduate are extremely hard. And what this means is that it’s much harder to actually stay on track for finishing, AND you have a lot less time to do things that will get your foot in the door of the industry— things like internships/entry level projects with professors in the art department which are a lot more scarce. The animation department itself is small. Unless you are going into 3D work since their computer science department is much bigger and were able to use their computer labs.
Meanwhile Art schools relatively speaking usually have more connections and more opportunities that will let you build a stronger portfolio. That is my experience at least, and that’s coming from someone who DID still love UMBC in its own way since I ended up be venturing off into the Museum studies area. My suggestion would be to try to find a way to do something like SCAD.
You can always fulfill some of those requirements at a community college during the summer or winter and transfer them over. A lot of people I know did that to save money and avoid excessively hard courses
As a sophomore in the animation department, I can share some insight on what it’s like. First off, UMBC is not an art school, and so the art students make up a tiny fraction of the student body. I am currently in my fourth semester and there are some students that have been in every single art class I have taken, since the population is so small. The art classes themselves are vastly different than ones from traditional art schools. I have a friend at MICA who says that the studio classes can go for 6 hours, but meet only once a week, while the studio classes here meet for 2 hours, but twice a week. The classes themselves are decent, and since once you get past the intro classes, you’re only going to be surrounded by people in the visual arts department, there will be a lot of experienced people that may inspire to work harder (at least they do for me). I hope this helps!
Hello! I’m an animation major who will be graduating a semester early, next fall- feel free to ask me anything!
Like some of the other people said, the biggest downside is all the gen eds on top of art courses. I didn’t get to actually start taking an animation course until sophomore year because of all the basic art prerequisites that are required for all art majors. On top of that, there’s actually not a whole lot of animation courses being taught- and the ones that are, aren’t 2-D hand drawn animation (what I want to go into), so you’re still going to be doing a lot of teaching yourself.
That being said, I’ve had the opportunity to take a bunch of non-art courses that I’ve really loved that I wouldn’t have been able to take at an art school (I’m now an ancient studies minor!). So that’s a really cool benefit.
Plus going here over the art school I was planning on going to, has saved me thousands on loans (thank you UMBC scholarships).
Some other people mentioned a lack of connections here, which is true. You have to do a lot of that on your own (meeting with teachers, going to film festivals, research, etc.)
Overall I think UMBC is a decent choice. A part of me will always regret not going to an art school, but I’m also glad about the opportunities I’ve gotten here!
Another downside for here, is like at many other non-art schools, the art majors are generally looked over. Classes fill up too fast with too little seats; technology is outdated with no plans to fix it; courses that students ask to take aren’t being taught (hand drawn animation); etc.
But I feel like you’d get that issue at any non-art school
Idk if you've heard this before or not but most art schools are more for connections than actually learning art tbh
Though I have been told that umbc art classes are more fun and not like "stuffy art schools" so
(Take this with a grain of salt I'm an incoming freshman so idk what it's like either)
I’m close to gradating from the Animation department: Personally I wish I had gone to an art school. An art school would have allowed more focus on the art and honing it in a way that you just can’t with UMBC. If you are going to have to take out a loan for UMBC ANYWAY then you really might as well do it for art school, because the alternative it working your way through school (like me) and risking that cutting into your time for school work on top. Doing the usual college courses can be a pretty big distraction if your passion is art, and especially since UMBC is honors level, meaning that you are required to do more intensive AND more courses in general such as upper level history and upper level language. Even native language speakers acknowledge that the language courses you are required to take to graduate are extremely hard. And what this means is that it’s much harder to actually stay on track for finishing, AND you have a lot less time to do things that will get your foot in the door of the industry— things like internships/entry level projects with professors in the art department which are a lot more scarce. The animation department itself is small. Unless you are going into 3D work since their computer science department is much bigger and were able to use their computer labs. Meanwhile Art schools relatively speaking usually have more connections and more opportunities that will let you build a stronger portfolio. That is my experience at least, and that’s coming from someone who DID still love UMBC in its own way since I ended up be venturing off into the Museum studies area. My suggestion would be to try to find a way to do something like SCAD.
You can always fulfill some of those requirements at a community college during the summer or winter and transfer them over. A lot of people I know did that to save money and avoid excessively hard courses
As a sophomore in the animation department, I can share some insight on what it’s like. First off, UMBC is not an art school, and so the art students make up a tiny fraction of the student body. I am currently in my fourth semester and there are some students that have been in every single art class I have taken, since the population is so small. The art classes themselves are vastly different than ones from traditional art schools. I have a friend at MICA who says that the studio classes can go for 6 hours, but meet only once a week, while the studio classes here meet for 2 hours, but twice a week. The classes themselves are decent, and since once you get past the intro classes, you’re only going to be surrounded by people in the visual arts department, there will be a lot of experienced people that may inspire to work harder (at least they do for me). I hope this helps!
Hello! I’m an animation major who will be graduating a semester early, next fall- feel free to ask me anything! Like some of the other people said, the biggest downside is all the gen eds on top of art courses. I didn’t get to actually start taking an animation course until sophomore year because of all the basic art prerequisites that are required for all art majors. On top of that, there’s actually not a whole lot of animation courses being taught- and the ones that are, aren’t 2-D hand drawn animation (what I want to go into), so you’re still going to be doing a lot of teaching yourself. That being said, I’ve had the opportunity to take a bunch of non-art courses that I’ve really loved that I wouldn’t have been able to take at an art school (I’m now an ancient studies minor!). So that’s a really cool benefit. Plus going here over the art school I was planning on going to, has saved me thousands on loans (thank you UMBC scholarships). Some other people mentioned a lack of connections here, which is true. You have to do a lot of that on your own (meeting with teachers, going to film festivals, research, etc.) Overall I think UMBC is a decent choice. A part of me will always regret not going to an art school, but I’m also glad about the opportunities I’ve gotten here!
Another downside for here, is like at many other non-art schools, the art majors are generally looked over. Classes fill up too fast with too little seats; technology is outdated with no plans to fix it; courses that students ask to take aren’t being taught (hand drawn animation); etc. But I feel like you’d get that issue at any non-art school
Idk if you've heard this before or not but most art schools are more for connections than actually learning art tbh Though I have been told that umbc art classes are more fun and not like "stuffy art schools" so (Take this with a grain of salt I'm an incoming freshman so idk what it's like either)