Road Trip: Florida's Ringling College of Art and Design

We toured four Florida schools and found out what it's like to attend them

August 19, 2009 RSS Feed Print

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Students at Ringling College of Art and Design take classes in painting studios, not lecture halls. They spend a year creating computer-animated films instead of writing research papers. And you're more likely to see them drawing in sketchbooks with pencils than poring over textbooks with highlighters. Ringling isn't a traditional liberal arts college, but most of its students, from illustrators to graphic designers, thrive on its quirkiness.

Ringling's campus, a few miles north of downtown Sarasota, houses about 70 percent of the small school's undergraduates. The area's white-sand beaches are a big draw for students, but so are the many local art galleries and theaters as well as the symphony, opera, and ballet.

Can you get a job after art school? Ringling says yes. More than 1.25 million Americans work in the visual arts today, and Ringling President Larry Thompson—a man on a mission to dispel the idea of the starving artist—expects more than 10 percent growth in the industry in the next five years. Ringling's Center for Career Services invites an impressive list of recruiters to campus each year, including Hallmark, Pixar, and Reebok.

Pixar and DreamWorks have hired about 40 Ringling graduates since the early '90s, and the walls of the computer animation department are lined with posters for movies such as Toy Story, Shrek, and The Incredibles, films on which Ringling alumni have worked. Many students say the industry connections are why they chose the school in the first place, and they, too, are bullish about their job prospects.

"Everything has the touch of an artist on it, and people don't even realize," says third-year illustration major Reed Bond. "Art school graduates are not just up in their parents' attics eating paint. They're going to work, too."

More About Ringling College

Plus factor: It's a digital world, so every student gets a free MacBook upon enrollment.
Undergrad enrollment, fall '08: 1,229
Est. annual cost, 2008-09: $44,280

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My son just completed his 3 rd year as a CA major. I remember at Freshman open house, they also said that many of the students will not make it through, and also to make sure your student does not take on more than they can handle in the first year. My son did not as he was fortunate to have had credits from another college that were transferable as he was an Art Major, but all those credits do not transfer, but helped and with some other core classes he took. I can tell you from what he has said and the stress he is under it is a grueling college, and in CA it is a 4 year program. He had already done some college before attending, which did help out, but it is still 4 years regardless of how much college you had at another institution. This has been his dream. He lives off campus and we found that to be the best, financially. He is in a house with roommates and lives close enough to campus that he can walk or ride his bike. There is plenty of security on campus and I can tell you when I have been there in the summer, we would ride our bikes at midnight and never felt threatened. It is a beautiful area, but yes, these students have a grueling case load and it is very demanding with the work load, late nights and projects that need to be completed. He has been working on his senior project and when home here at X-mas he was working on that and would not even allow me to look at his sketch book. I tried, and he grabbed it away from me. On holidays,if the campus is open that is where he will be, plugging away.
I have much respect to all the students at RCAD.
Great school and looking forward to attending his graduation in May, although he always thinks he is not going to pass as the instructors are really harsh and tear your work apart as someone else stated on here; but guess that is done in a good way to make you the best of the best!

NCLW of FL 6:19PM May 26, 2010

My son just completed his 3 rd year as a CA major. I remember at Freshman open house, they also said that many of the students will not make it through, and also to make sure your student does not take on more than they can handle in the first year. My son did not as he was fortunate to have had credits from another college that were transferable as he was an Art Major, but all those credits do not transfer, but helped and with some other core classes he took. I can tell you from what he has said and the stress he is under it is a grueling college, and in CA it is a 4 year program. He had already done some college before attending, which did help out, but it is still 4 years regardless of how much college you had at another institution. This has been his dream. He lives off campus and we found that to be the best, financially. He is in a house with roommates and lives close enough to campus that he can walk or ride his bike. There is plenty of security on campus and I can tell you when I have been there in the summer, we would ride our bikes at midnight and never felt threatened. It is a beautiful area, but yes, these students have a grueling case load and it is very demanding with the work load, late nights and projects that need to be completed. He has been working on his senior project and when home here at X-mas he was working on that and would not even allow me to look at his sketch book. I tried, and he grabbed it away from me. On holidays,if the campus is open that is where he will be, plugging away.
I have much respect to all the students at RCAD.
Great school and looking forward to attending his graduation in May, although he always thinks he is not going to pass as the instructors are really harsh and tear your work apart as someone else stated on here; but guess that is done in a good way to make you the best of the best!

NCLW of FL 6:19PM May 26, 2010

Ringling is a good school for Computer animation but if you are a graphic design major be careful. It's a huge cost with little jobs out there and huge debt will follow you everywhere. The field of graphic design doesn't pay much anyways and the world seems to be inundated with 2 year fly by night degree designers snagging up alot of the jobs if you can find one since they get paid less. If you have the right connections and money you can go far. Having money produces more money. I wish I had stayed at a state university instead of racking up 60K in debt at this school and being laid off with no job in sight. Good luck...

grad of Ringling of NC 7:00PM January 27, 2010