THIS IS WHERE ART GETS SERIOUS. America’s #1 public arts and design school.
HERE’S WHY WE SHOULD BE YOUR #1.
* According to U.S. News & World Report at time of printing, March 2016.
We’re a great value, and we’ve been ranked the country’s top public arts and design school.*
MAJOR IN AMAZING
Fine Arts
Performing Arts
ARTS (B.F.A.) For tomorrow’s teachers, this art education track will have you taking classes in just about every fine arts topic we have.
DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY (B.F.A.) Study modern dance, ballet, improvisation, composition, choreography and more. You’ll perform a lot and make connections with professional dancers.
ART HISTORY (B.A.) You’ll learn how art relates to events and drives culture everywhere in the world. CINEMA (B.A.) Make movies, from conception to writing to casting and editing, while you double major—or get a double minor—in an area outside of the arts. COMMUNICATION ARTS (B.F.A.) This is all about coming up with visual ideas for print, TV, film and the web. If you’re into illustration, this is your major. CRAFT/MATERIAL STUDIES (B.F.A.) Make your mark in fiber, metal, clay, glass, wood or whatever else you’d like.
MUSIC (B.M. or B.A.) Get a degree in performance (guitar, percussion, piano, strings, vocal, woodwind or brass emphasis), jazz studies or music education (instrumental or choral). THEATRE (B.F.A. or B.A.) Focus on performance, costume design, scenic and lighting design or stage management.
Design FASHION DESIGN (B.F.A.) Learn garment construction, patternmaking, draping and fashion drawing.
KINETIC IMAGING (B.F.A.) Build a solid set of skills in video, sound and animation production.
FASHION MERCHANDISING (B.A.) The business side of fashion. Know how to have the right merchandise at the right place with the right promotions.
PAINTING AND PRINTMAKING (B.F.A.) You’ll get to tailor your own course of study based on your work and your goals as an artist. Explore screen printing, lithography, intaglio, digital printing and more.
GRAPHIC DESIGN (B.F.A.) You’ll take publication and print design, sequential and motion design, interaction design and a lot of awesome studio and seminar classes.
PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM (B.F.A.) If you want to create art with a camera, this is your major.
INTERIOR DESIGN (B.F.A.) A major grounded in interior architecture. Study space, form, color and light, as well as building codes, materials, construction methods and business procedures.
SCULPTURE AND EXTENDED MEDIA (B.F.A.) Includes classic sculpture as well as artistic techniques like video, performance, sound, robotic, 3D digital modeling and more.
Art Foundation If you want to major in Arts, Communication Arts, Craft/Material Studies, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Kinetic Imaging, Painting and Printmaking, Photography and Film, or Sculpture and Extended Media, you’ll start in Art Foundation. This first-year, studio-based program will challenge you with new materials and concepts, and prepare you for your major by helping you build a rock-solid base of artistic knowledge.
INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATION Experience the creative culture at our branch campus in Qatar. For some VCUarts students, inspiration is a half a world away, at our branch campus. Qatar is a small, flourishing country on the Persian Gulf. The Qatar Foundation chose VCU to open a school in their Education City to represent the world’s "best of the best" for education in the arts. At VCUQatar, there are about 300 full-time students from more than 40 different countries. VCUQatar offers a B.F.A. in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, and painting and printmaking; a B.A. in art history; and an M.F.A. in design. You can be part of the 40 students and faculty members who head to VCUQatar each year from Richmond to learn, collaborate, and be immersed in another culture. You can go on a student exchange program, take part in the Islamic art symposium, or attend Tasmeem Doha, a huge international arts and design festival.
WE’RE ALL ABOUT LEARNING IN THE REAL WORLD. You’ll have incredibly talented professors as mentors. You’ll grow along with your peers, meet visiting artists and connect with industry professionals. At VCUarts, your experiences outside the classroom are a key part of your education.
Study Abroad
CoLab
Creative Entrepreneurship
There are a lot of ways to study abroad, from programs led by VCU faculty to exchange programs and travel grants. We have partnerships with universities around the globe, including schools in China, Brazil, Spain, Australia and Italy. We have options that might be able to help you pay for it, too.
In this for-credit internship program, you’ll work as part of a team on professional projects that harness emerging technologies for clients from Richmond and beyond.
In this four-course program, students come up with their own business models for creative-based businesses.
Internships You’ll start your career search while you’re still in school, gaining on-the-job experience for college credit (and sometimes, for money.)
mOb The da Vinci Center A special certificate program where students from arts, business and engineering work together to take on product development and design projects.
At Middle of Broad, or mOb, students work with Storefront for Community Design on non-profit design projects.
HERE, IDEAS ARE ENCOURAGED. AND FUNDED. VCU is a research school and that applies to the arts, too. Being a research school means we support students’ projects with grants. Each year, VCUarts gives about $25,000 to our undergraduates through the Undergraduate Research Grant Program.
◄ The Sustainable Skateboard Project team includes fine arts and graphic design majors who are looking for a way to produce high-quality skateboards with a minimal impact on the environment. Award: $3,500
A sculpture and extended media student and physics major are teaming up to explore The Properties of Aerogel, the lightest, lowest density solid that’s similar in structure to glass. Award: $3,584
▲ The Drag Lab, created and led by nine students, focuses on androgyny, fashion, identity, and cooperative art-making to communicate developments in gender performance. Award: $2,679
The four students who created Frame Your Future meet with 20 middle school students weekly, teaching them crafting techniques that will be applied to decorate a frame symbolizing their future. Award: $1,614 Four students are developing an app called GeOh. This social networking app is built on mapping technology, GPS and upvote/downvote systems, and it shows users nearby events and attractions. Award: $1,822 In Human vs. Nature Microscopic Exploration, a two-student team of scientific illustrators is using a digital dissecting microscope with a camera to examine relationships between natural and non-natural specimens. Award: $2,550
▲Small Living Space paired two sculpture students and a kinetic imaging student as they converted a bus into a social laboratory for creative and sustainable housing. This small living space turned into a template for minimalistic, simplified living. Award: $3,000
BEFORE THEY WERE WORLD-CHANGERS, THEY WERE STUDENTS.
Sophia Li (Fashion Design B.F.A. ’13) As a photo producer at Vogue, Sophia Li helps produce photo shoots and video for Vogue.com. She has also covered the red carpet at the Met’s Costume Institute Gala and other major fashion events.
Ryan Mulligan (Painting B.F.A. ’03, M.F.A. ’05) Ryan Mulligan shifted his life as a university art professor to work in service, creating innovative solutions to lower the city’s high infant mortality rates, building playgrounds for kids with sensory disorders and doing anything he can to help his community thrive.
◄ Allison Bills (Photography B.F.A. ’16) A photography major, Allison Bills spent the summer before her senior year interning at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She was the only photography intern on site and got to take portraits of NASA personnel— on the ground and training in zero-gravity flight.
Donna Vaughn (Dance B.F.A. ’06) Donna Vaughn is making it on Broadway: She is in the cast of "The Lion King" and was in the 24th edition of "Broadway Bares: Rock Hard!" She also starred as the lead in Jill Scott’s music video for "Back Together."
SunTek Chung (Sculpture and Extended Media B.F.A. ’00) SunTek Chung is a sculptor, photographer, performer, and videographer whose work has been shown at MoMA, across the United States and around the world. He’s been featured in the New York Times and Art in America.
WE’RE PART OF A MAJOR UNIVERSITY . . . If you’re accepted into VCUarts, you’ll not only be in one of the best ranked art schools, you’ll be part of VCU, a highly respected research university that’s also one of the coolest schools in the country.
has
Students
30,919 students
has undergrad degrees (so you can double major or get a minor in a lot of different areas)
62
Majors
More about VCU
#1
VCU Medical Center is the hospital in Virginia
has
2,700 students
326
VCUarts students are currently pursuing a minor
mindblowing gyms. One of them even has a 38-foot rock climbing wall.
2
The average department is around
150
The average studio arts class has
16
students
students
168
44
VCUarts students are currentlydouble majors Top 5 most popular double majors: English, Mass Communications, Marketing, Psychology and Business.
We’re an NCAA Division I and Atlantic Conference member. We’re the Rams.
10
Students from
108
countries
VCUarts students are currently enrolled in the da Vinci Center’s undergraduate Certificate in Product Innovation
The campus is on acres in downtown Richmond, Virginia (including a lot of repurposed historic buildings)
150
We’re known for our firsts. The first homeland security major. The first biomedical engineering major. The first masters in product innovation. See? We’re all creative thinkers.
There are more than student organizations
500
. . . AND WE’RE AFFORDABLE. You’ve probably heard about a lot of people who graduate from college with major student loan debt. Your goal should be to limit that debt, or avoid it altogether. Going to VCU can help. Compared to most of the other art schools on the Top Ten List, VCUarts costs A LOT less. $47,600
#1 Yale University
$30,838
#2
$12,772
(out-of-state)
(in-state)
(tie) University of California: Los Angeles #4 Rhode Island School of Design (tie) School of the Art Institute of Chicago
$35,631 $45,840 $43,960 $50,665
#6 Carnegie Mellon University
$53,000
(tie) Columbia University (tie) Cranbrook Academy of Art (Graduate only) #9 Alfred University
$30,200
(tie) California Institute of the Arts
$43,876
(tie) Maryland Institute College of Art
$43,870
* Rankings come from U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of graduate school programs. Annual undergraduate tuition comes from College Board, March 2016.
RICHMOND IS THE HAPPIEST CITY IN THE U.S.* and VCU is right smack dab in the middle of it. ● Richmond has a huge arts scene, and was ranked as the "Most Artistic Mid-Sized City in America" by Gogobot in 2015. ● National Geographic picked this as one of the best places in the WORLD to travel for food in 2016. So make sure you eat somewhere new while you’re here. ● Everywhere you turn, there’s cool history. You can walk the streets where Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Jefferson walked. See where religious freedom started. Check out where the Geico caveman was born.
*2014 National Bureau of Economic Research
● There’s a thriving creative culture with ad agencies, design shops, galleries, museums, a major ballet, opera, symphony, and huge support for local entrepreneurs, artists and businesses. This provides many opportunities for internships while you’re a student, and jobs after graduation. ● There are Class IV rapids running right through the downtown. That’s the James River, and it’s one reason Outside Magazine named Richmond America’s #1 river town in 2012. We could write a book on why this is such a great city. Instead, we wrote a website: arts.vcu.edu/rvaallday
COME & SEE TAKE A TOUR VCUarts information sessions and tours begin at 1:00 p.m., Monday–Friday, except holidays. Our tour guides are current art students, and they’ll show you the studio and classroom facilities you’re most interested in visiting.
OPEN HOUSE Open Houses are held each fall and winter. This is a great time to see the university as a whole, tour VCUarts facilities and meet faculty.
NATIONAL PORTFOLIO DAY This event, held each fall, is where you can get feedback on your portfolio from many top art schools. (What’s a portfolio? It’s basically a collection of your best work. It’s usually about 12–16 pieces.) arts.vcu.edu/visit
GETTING IN TAKES TALENT. AND SOME PLANNING. It’s not easy to get in, but it’s definitely worth it. Each year, we receive about 2,500 applications for 600 available freshman seats. Here’s what you need to know about applying:
Apply to VCUarts
Prepare a portfolio
Find out more
Apply by December 1 for scholarship consideration, January 15 for regular freshman applicants. Apply online using the Common Application.
If you’re applying to our visual arts programs, create a portfolio consisting of 12–16 images of your best artwork. You can get feedback on your work before you apply by attending an Open House or National Portfolio Day. Need help developing a portfolio? Consider attending our Pre-College Summer Intensive.
arts.vcu.edu/apply
Keep your grades up! The average GPA of accepted students is a 3.6.
or
Take the SAT or ACT
Prepare for your audition
The average SAT score of accepted students is 1150, and the average ACT is 25. If you have a 3.3 or higher GPA, you can opt not to submit test scores. (But you won’t be considered for a scholoarship.)
If you’re planning to major in performing arts: practice, practice, practice! You can get some inside information by attending the audition prep workshop for Theatre and Music, held in the fall.
Work on your writing All applicants will submit an essay and personal statement as part of the Common Application. If you’re applying to Cinema, you’ll also submit a film concept essay, and optional screenplay. Art History applicants submit a research-based writing sample.
We’re here to help! Our friendly admissions counselors would love to hear from you. Give us a call at 804-VCU-ARTS or email us at arts@vcu.edu
THE PRE-COLLEGE SUMMER INTENSIVE Go to art school before you go to art school.
With the VCUarts Pre-College Summer Intensive, you’ll spend three weeks in July on campus studying fine arts, design arts or performing arts with our faculty. You’ll stay in the dorms, attend classes, build your portfolio and meet some great friends, too. You have to apply for this program and have a teacher recommendation, and you have to be a high school student.
Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Office of the Dean PO Box 842519, Richmond, VA, 23284-2519
arts.vcu.edu facebook.com/vcuarts instagram.com/vcuarts twitter.com/vcuarts youtube.com/vcuarts Front cover: Red Bear’s House Party Fantasy, 2013, Hyun Son (Sculpture B.F.A. ’14). Photo by Terry Brown.
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