The Academy of Art University

So I just wanted to share my experience so I can warn everyone about this school. I do not mean to bad mouth this school in no way shape or form but you have to remind yourself that this school is a for profit institution so they dont really care that you learn anything as long as you pay them. They will try to charge you for everything, maybe even breathing on campus if they could. At first I was interested in the school because of the program, it is very good in theory. If they were to hire more professional employees interested in actually educating students and not just failed artists who need jobs they could have something going for them. I am pretty sure if they did, they wouldnt let just anyone attend. I had classmates who knew nothing about the craft, to me it was something they just wanted to do because it's cool, which is one of the down sides to going to an institution that doesn't require a portfolio. I must remind you that I am speaking for the undergraduate program, specifically the motion pictures department. There was one class that I really benefit from, the instructor was really professional and on top of the students, making sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to. But in another class the instruction not only missed the first day of class, but several days after that. I can honestly say anything I had to learn for that class I did on my own, she was not helpful at all and would play movies and tell us to think about it, and not give us any particular explanation. I knew of a few students who filed complaints about her the thing is about a private school education that also in theory it is better quality for the price so for me I am not a rich kid at all I am just extremely hard working and thought I deserved a quality education but for the price it just wasn't worth it. I am very serious about my education so I just went forward with it and got some pretty decent grades. I think it could have been better though if some of my instructors knew what they were doing. Despite these experiences I moved away from san francisco and wanted to continue my education so signed up for online classes. This is the warning I am talking about, if you are an online student and on financial aid, stay on top of it or dont do it at all because they will not notify you of anything. So I signed up this fall and I was told my loans were approved and to sign a note, same as usual and I thought everything was going fine but none of my financial aid had gone through. I thought maybe they didn't update my information so I called them several times. Trust me when I say several times on several days for a month. I was told to sign the note every time, at this point I had done it twice once before classes started and again after school started and still nothing. So a month later my advisor calls me asking for a form, when they could have asked me several times before when I tried to contact her, but I was completely ignored. Then I got an attitude from her because I didn't give her the form right away when I wasnt notified and they put a hold on my online account. So at this point I was completely furious because of neglect and unprofessionalism I was going to get an absence and that would very much affect my grade, again my grade being effected because of the schools lack of professionalism and concern for students. You see I say this because they are so easy to hold my account for money they did not receive because of their neglect and lack of communication but when I tried to contact them they didn't want to deal with me. I decided to take my loses and transfer to a regular institution, I just continued because I didn't want to bother with the hassle of transfering but I see that compared to my experience it would have been no bother at all.

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Surrounding City: A+, Education Quality: F

I thought about attending AAU for many many years before finally going. While I didn't have a terrible experience, my experience was not worth the money that it costs to attend this school. Best advice if you do decide to go is first to thoroughly examine the requirements needed for your degree. Make sure to get all basic credits (math, english, art history, speech, etc) done elsewhere. These classes are labeled as Libral Arts requirements at AAU. As of Fall 2015 every undergrad class here is about $2400 a piece per semester so there is no reason to pay that kind of money for general education requirements. Next piece of advice would be to be fully aware that you will need to literally LIVE your major to get the most out of it here. You have to work your tail off, probably harder than you ever have before. The grading scale here is very difficult. Basically, a B at a regular college is a C here. A's are extremely rare and difficult to come by unless you are a stellar designer or artist. One complaint for me is, while still teaching things in class, almost every professor both on-campus and online would tell you to look online to learn more about things. For the cost, I don't want to be told to basically self-teach. If it's simply that easy to learn about it, then there would be no reason to go to an art school. The school can be great if you are a die-hard, 100% committed student and creator. If your heart is not in it to spend the time needed to excel then there is truly no reason to pay the outrageous cost of tuition here.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2015

Surrounding City: A+, Individual Value: D

I would suggest that you check out a few schools BEFORE making a decicion. I am a Motion PIcture/TV student, and I can say confidantly that the school's strength is the access to equiptment. You get 35mm, 16mm, they have some digital cameras as well, decent lighting kits, dollies, tracks, etc, and they teach how to use most of it.

Most of the teachers are OK. A few great teachers and a handfull of bad ones as well.
This school is for motivated people and not people who expect to be baby-feed info and book info. The more important info you will not find in-class but by working on sets with student and just chatting within the school body.

If you want more of a structured and theory-based film making education, I would suggest checking out a REAL university like USC or UCLA, NYU. The AAU is for people with poor high school grades.

Lastly I would STRONGLY suggest that you stay where you are and attend a community college- take classes that you are going to have to take to achieve your degree anyway. Like basic Mac computer classes, digital design, Art History, sketching. The reason why is because once you attend the school NO transfer credits will be accepted either in or out. In other words once you attend the school you are forced to continue your education at the school and you may not go to other schools carrying the class credits you've already earned. THIS SUCKS! so earn as many credit as possible. Do you wanna pay maybe $100-300 dollars for community college art class, or $1,500 at the AAU?

I would also suggest to save a nice some of money
to invest in some equiptment what ever your major is. You will find more work and friend with your own equiptment.Lastly, if you have no knowledge of the movie making industry I would suggest picking up a book and just getting som ebasic info. The first two years or schooling will seem wastfull. You will not get any good equiptment, yo uwillnot get to shoot the short movie that you have in your head right now. You will be frustrated and broke. from the first year alone, I think maybe only 15% of the students stay. So yuo better know that this is what you wan to invest your time and SOUL to. I owe over $100,ooo in student loans. be wary.

4th Year Male -- Class 2007

Perceived Campus Safety: A, Scholastic Success: D