What college/academy/etc. would you recommend for an aspiring photographer?

Question

I'm very interested in furthering my studies in photography. I plan on making a career into the photo biz. I've been taking some courses at the local community college (Mt. San Antonio, CA). I was told of a "Brookes Institute" which i checked up online. It looks impressive but i've also heard from others that their friends that attended felt it was a huge waste of money and time. Of course this is all hear say, but its still nice to hear others' opinions. Which is why im asking if you happen to have any recommendations?

Answer 1

RIT. Rochester Institute of Technology. It has no equal anywhere in the world. Hint: Rochester is also headquarters of Eastman Kodak.

Answer 2

Brooks is sort of living off its past reputation if you ask me, and for the most part you will find this to be the case with a lot of private institutions. Although I have to admit that Brooks is one of the best commercial photo schools. That said what type of photography are you interested in? If you are pursuing fine art photography I would suggest Yale, but its really tough to get into their photography department and to be honest is really only meant for a certain type of fine art photographer. You will know what I mean if you consider who is the dean of the department, nice guy and great to study under, but your work will end up looking like everyone else who goes there.
Since you live in California I have two suggestions for you: San Jose State University, and Long Beach State. Both schools have excellent art departments, though I would have to say that for the money San Jose State is a good bet. The curriculum is split between both commercial and fine art photography so you get a well rounded education. In terms of its faculty, I can tell you that one of the professors is also the head of the photography department at Stanford University, as well as a majority of the staff have worked at or are working other prestigious art schools in the greater bay area. The best thing is that tuition is cheap and you can save lots of money for all the equiptment you will have to buy when you decide to start your own studio.
My suggestion to you is this, learn about the faculty and staff of each school you are interested in. Look at their background, look at their portfolio if possible. If it looks interesting to you, please write them an email or call, and if possible arrange to meet with them so that you can get a feel for the learning environment, and always check out the darkroom and studio space if possible. And don't always base a school on whether their website is cool or not, afterall Rhode Island School of Design, one of the top rated schools for photography has a so so website, but their program is spectacular.

Answer 3

I have been looking into photography schools for a while and I'm always pretty wary because there are so many scams out there. The San Fransisco Academy of Art University (http://www.academyart.edu/ ) is the only one I've ever been impressed with. The first thing I do is look at their website. If it's poorly designed, I skip them. I wouldn't buy a website from a guy whose website sucked, and I wouldn't go to an art school whose website sucked. The second thing I do is look at the photo profile. Same idea - if their pictures on their website or profile suck, I skip them. For instance, I would never take courses from these folks http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/product_Listings.aspx?query=photoshop&btnSearch=Go . The third thing I do is type their name into google along with the word "scam" or "frustrating" or "waste" and read all the information I can. I would never go to Full Sail after this step. After that, it's a matter of personal preference, money, and references.

Good luck and happy hunting! :)

Answer 4

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