The Art Institute of Seattle

03/07/2008 Posted by Boss2

I'm a second year Graphic Design student here. Like any school the AI has it's fair share of ups and downs. For one, the faculty here is mixed in terms of quality. There are some teachers here (Sigrid Cannon, Dave Daniath, Jim Lee, etc) who are very helpful and attentive, who will go out of their way for you, and then there are some that honestly shouldn't be teaching here. If you know who is who, it's relatively easy to avoid the few bad apples. The quality of the teachers here used to be much better, before the introduction of the BA program which forced many of the more talented back into the industry. The education is here is very technical. You get a mix of layout, type, and drawing classes. It's very much a generalist school, you get what you put into it. The first couple quarters will be very boring to anyone who has any previous experience, or if you came from a community college. This gives many people who drop out during this time the impression that the school is not challenging, this is not true once you get past the first 2-3 quarters. You must be prepared to work your butt off if you want to make it through with good grades in the higher classes. Don't expect to get much sleep if you want to make it through Portfolio 2. The school has an active AIGA student group (The Graphic Design Club) that is one of the most active in the region. They've had Bruce Hale give a workshop, they've had Stefan from Spacecraft give a talk (and give out lots of free swag). They've set up a talk at the Henry with Art Chantry, etc. The quality of the group tends to ebb and flow though depending on the current members. There is also an active student run magazine called FUEL. The magazine is printed at an actual press. If you want some more realistic experience, the magazine is a good place to start. It is expensive. However I've found that the financial aid department here is very helpful and I've had no problem with getting grants.

09/18/2007 Posted by thegr8k8

I'm not one to start something and not finish it, so I finished my "degree" with AIS. When I began the program, Multimedia and Web Design, had no director and was in transition. Halfway through my attendance they switched curriculum and name on the program so I was stuck behind in all these classes that no one else was taking in my program. I learned the very tiny surface of a ton of different media subjects and not enough to really have any talent in anything. This school is great, if you already went to a Community College somewhere else and learned everything already and want to hone your skills and waste $40 grand on it. I was forced to take BASIC COMPUTERS when I'm the person my friends all go to for computer help and to have one built from scratch! I taught the teacher throughout the class, helped her teach and aided the students who really needed the class, and then proceeded to tutor at the school in the subject! But still had to spend $1k on it. The director was rude to me and many of the classes were a complete waste of money. One of the teachers even went as far as to INSULT us by calling us all idiots on a daily basis and NO ONE did anything. When I approached the vice principal he talked to the teacher and the teacher in turn confronted our class saying he was disappointed we turned him in! He was obviously on something throughout each class being totally pompous when we didnt understand his rantings and ravings about some subject and he'd totally lose track of his progress in the demos that it was impossible to live up to his expectations. Many teachers refused to show me how to do things saying I should already know. None of the teachers have teaching degrees, they are just nobodies from the field they are teaching in hired to try to teach students this. If you want to learn something new, don't bother going here. DO NOT go here unless you want to show off your abilities to a bunch of full of themselves teachers and have $40K down the toilet.

Pros: Location is beautiful, friendly recruiters

Cons: Everything?