Ringling College of Art and Design

Seeing these reviews be incredibly polarized made me want to leave an honest review as a current student. First off, if you are not ready to pull all nighters, face criticism that may be super harsh, then this school is not for you. This is not a art school in the traditional sense, this is a school that prepares you for industry work. They're gonna lay down the hammer on you and build you up for the inevitable crunch you will receive. If you can't handle the curriculum, then you probably won't be able to handle that work in the future. A lot of the reviews from neurotypical people point out how hard this school was on them, so if you fit somewhere in that bubble then maybe consider a career change, or freelance. Now for the price of the school, if you're planning on going here you better not dream of wasting time and slacking off. If you take advantage of the opportunities here and study, build connections with students and faculty, volunteer, you will have an amazing experience. You will grow as an artist and you will be set up for a promising career. The staff knows what they are doing, obviously you aren't guaranteed to have a lot of chemistry with them, but they all no doubt have years of experience in their fields. They are not bullies, they are here to help you get better, even if that means giving you the most harsh critique you've ever heard in your life (Me personally I've only ever witnessed 1 - 3 people get really harsh feedback, so it's not even a common occurrence) The school has an amazing career services team. They bring multiple people over a month to give talks, bring recruiters, host job fairs, give resume critiques, all for free, and are still accessible after graduation. My friend already got an internship as a sophomore at a huge company thanks to the schools connections. The cafeteria food is fine? Some days it's pretty good, other days they'll have food that no one eats. It's the most average college cafeteria food ever. Now on the darker side, yeah the school is not great at all at handling student misconduct. They are currently being sued for sweeping heavy things under the rug and giving students a slap on the wrist. There are students who are still here who have done horrible things and the school keeps them here. It's a problem that they aren't getting any better at. To top this all off, the school has a great growing campus, the faculty are great and know what they're doing, if you put in the work, you are guaranteed to grow. There are a few places where the school falls flat, but overall if you're looking for a college experience where you can find good friends, get better at what you do, and want a promising career, then Ringling is probably a pretty good choice. Just please don't waste your money if you go here, a good 30 - 40% (ballpark estimate) of students in the year end up dropping out or transferring. Be prepared to consider if you can afford it and if you think you're capable of putting in the work. Otherwise, it'll be a huge waste of money