The Academy of Art University

This school is whatever nothing special. i went for a semester and im leaving and going to fidm in la. the people in san francisco and aau are very different and live a completely different life style than me. i made one friend. the people in my classes werent talkative, friendly, and everyone was in their own little world. im from la and im used to going out at night and hitting up a bar or a club no one was ever down tto have a goood time. alot of people were just WEIRD. no one listened to weezy f baby, deadmau5, wolfgang gartner, birdman, wale, kid cudi, RUSKO, jack beats etc. they all listen to 90's alternative music. but besides the people classes were fine. they make u go around the city basically and go on wild goose chases for fabrics and certain types of architectual designs, so u spend the whole day looking for shit and waste time. that was so annoying. they dont tell u where to go. PS NVER TAKE MODEL MAKING WITH DAVE. he is so rude, toughest grader, not helpful, basically just a pain in the ass teacher/babysitter for 6 hours everyweek. also make sure u save your money because u will spend at least $200 on foam board alone. you have to pay for so much art stuff the school doesnt provide you with one thing. i spent at least $1,000 on art materials for hw and projects. that is my opinion of the school. also its hard to meet people because there r so many buildings round the city its so stupid becuase aau is getting sued for millions becuase they are buying and renting historic buildings that used to be hotels and like other shit and turingin them into buildings and dorms in residential areas.

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Friendliness: C, Education Quality: F

I'm trying to be as neutral as possible while thinking about AAU. But it just isn't happening.
As for the IAD department, I had my ups and downs. I had planned on getting a BA in Interior Architecture and Design but decided to put my credits towards an AA and get out. I had some wonderful teachers but they were few and far between. Most of the time I had teachers that didn't speak enough english to teach so they just gave out handouts, the other half of the bad teachers would just quit randomly and left the department scrounging around for whoever felt like picking up the class. I had classes like this on more than one occasion. To placate the students the department just gave all the students A-, they wouldn't refund the money nor would they let those students retake the class. Personally, I would much rather have learned perspective drawing and CAD basics than have a neat little A- on my transcript. Projects were challenging and I spent most of my weekends pulling all-nighters. However, you can definitely pass with doing minimal amounts of work.

I became really great friends with other students in my major because of our shared dedication to being the best students in the department. However, out of the 4 friends that joined me in being top of our class there is currently only one left at AAU. 50% of the students don't drop out because it's too hard. 25% drop out because they can't afford it and the other 25% can't deal with the administration.

Ahh, the administration. I will never ever attend another school that functions for profit. It?s very much so a dirty business with the people at the top only making decisions for financial reasons. There are so many controversies; the wikipedia page references only the nice ones.

I had read all these reviews before I attended AAU and dismissed them as disgruntled students or completely lazy art kids. It definitely is some of that. I graduated with a 3.6 GPA and I was an RA, I was deeply involved at AAU and I still recommend you consider all other options before attending. The best thing I can say about AAU is that it helped me create a strong portfolio (although I did teach myself) to be able to transfer to a ?real art school? (one that requires portfolio reviews).

It took a 11 months for me to receive my diploma, after countless angry emails and telephone calls. Trying to transfer my credits to my new institution is not a hassle because they look down upon AAU credits. It?s because AAU doesn't give out syllabi or course outlines, all they send me are the course description paragraph that is a bunch of fluff.

I met so many great and richly diverse people.
I definitely fell in love with San Francisco.
I am in debt.
I am infinitely happier at my current university.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2010

Surrounding City: A+, University Resource Use/ spending: F

After several years of attending community college on and off, I was determined to get serious about my education. When browsing around trying to figure out what school I wanted to go to and what I wanted to study, AAU just called out to me. It seemed so wonderful...it was spread out all through beautiful San Francisco, it was highly accredited, students came from all over the world to attend this school... it quickly became my dream school.

As much as my parents tried to talk me out of it, I fought with them for almost 2 years, trying desperately to convince them that this was it, this was the school for me, this was my dream and my passion and I just couldn't get the same education and experience anywhere else. Once my parents were on board (primarily for loan/financial purposes), I started the long and grueling process of getting all set up to start my first year at The Academy of Art as a graphic design major. I tried to be modest, but I couldn't help but feel pretty damn special that I wasn't just going to a state university or a trade school... I was going to be attending THE ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY! I didn't even think about what I would do if things didn't work out, because AAU had convinced me that I was embarking on what would be the greatest experience of my life; despite any obstacles that may arise, I was brainwashed into believing that the Academy was far too incredible to let anything get in the way of me getting my degree.

Oh, how naive and foolish I was! I'm actually kind of embarrassed now at how hard I had tried to convince everyone of how great this place was, and that it was WELL worth the $30,000+ a year to attend. It only took one semester for me to realize what a scam it all was.

As many of the other reviews on this page state, AAU's biggest concern is definitely not YOU, it's your money. As if the cost of tuition, housing and fees was not enough, my family was forced to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for things that the faculty insisted was necessary in order for me to succeed. I was told by several members of the faculty that as a graphic design major, it was IMPERATIVE that I invest in a Mac. They never really clarified why, other than that the graphics on a Mac were supposedly better than that on a PC. And so, a month after my mom and dad had spent $2800 on a brand new Dell laptop for me, I had to call them and tell them the news about the Mac. Personally, I was pretty much broke, and my parents were pretty horrifically in debt, so we ended up having to turn to my 85 year old grandfather to help pay for a $3500 computer AND a $300 printer that one of my instructors insisted that I invest in for her class. I did receive loan money to pay for my education, but for those who have dealt with school loans know that it can take a while for that loan money to go into effect and to receive a check in the mail to pay for all additional expenses, so that is why the Mac and the printer had to be paid for out of pocket initially. I will tell you that yes, a Mac is preferable in the graphic design field, but it certainly is not IMPERATIVE. And as for the fancy shmancy printer, I had so many problems with trying to get it to print cleanly and a correctly that I ended up using the school's printers (which they charge $3 for a color print-out) more often than my own.

Next on my list of complaints: housing. Yes, an apartment in SF is rather pricey, but you WILL spend more money on student housing at AAU than a decent studio apartment. I was charged $4500 (that's $1500 a month) to sleep on a BUNK BED in the middle of a TINY living room--yes, a LIVING ROOM, meaning no door, and no privacy from my other 3 roommates. The room was basically a very small 2-bedroom apartment with a teeeeny tiiiiiny kitchen, bathroom and living room. The two roommates who had their own rooms paid $6500 which, despite the fact that they had a little more space, a closet and a door, was still RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE for 3 MONTHS, even in San Francisco. Literally, a studio apartment in the building across the street was cheaper than what I had to pay for my bottom bunk. Oh, and there was always shit going wrong... a fridge that leaked and had a broken temperature knob that they never fixed or replaced, windows that leaked when it rained, bulbs burning out all over the place, loose bricks in the wall, etc, etc. If you do decide to go to this school, I highly suggest NOT living in AAU's housing.

The instructors at AAU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO F-ING TEACH! They may be experts in the field, but that says nothing about their teaching abilities. (Just a side note... most of the instructors are alums who obviously did not succeed in getting a super great job after they graduated because they ended up back at AAU teaching) All my instructors were very condescending and definitely had favorites in the class. And if you're going to go here, be prepared to teach yourself the majority of what you need to know. My instructors were very unhelpful and unavailable. I tried to ask one for help at the end of class one time, and she pretty much just blew me off. They always seemed to pawn all their students off to the workshops when we needed help or further instruction. "Um, I really don't understand how I'm supposed to do this assignment" "Well, you need to go to one of the workshops." That's basically how they roll. And by the way, you don't get much help from the workshops either, because there's usually only one, maybe two teachers there and a ton of students, so sometimes they don't even have time to get to you.

Overall, no one at the Academy gives a flying F*CK about the students. They just want money, money, money. I can't say I didn't learn anything that semester, but most of it I pretty much had to teach myself! I quickly learned that it was not worth it AT ALL, so I got out of there real quick before they could try and take any more of my or my family's money. Even if money is not a problem for you, I still don't recommend wasting your time at this school. The faculty is worthless and you can't learn much there that you couldn't learn at a state school, or even a community college. JUST DON'T DO IT!!

1st Year Female -- Class 2009

Surrounding City: B, Education Quality: F