A Visit To Rhode Island School of Design
RISD is the perfect school if you want to get a serious hill workout! Hills aside, it is a great school if you want to learn as much from your co-students as you do from your professors. Our painting major tour guide talked about the techniques he had learned from his jewelry and film major friends and the collaboration and support were evident at the two senior show openings we attended.
Freshman Year at RISD
All freshmen start with the notorious Experimental and Foundation Studies program comprised of two 12-week semesters separated by a five-week Wintersession where you take one elective to try out a possible major. The January term continues for all four years and allows students to take one class in a subject outside their major. The foundation program consists of three 7.5-hour classes a week in drawing, design, and spatial dynamics. These 20-person classes, with the same students in each class, allow students to form tight bonds and continue to learn from each other throughout their four years. Students choose their majors at the end of the foundation year. Double majoring is possible but often requires five years, and RISD's BArch program is five years as well.
If you like Math or Science and are worried you are choosing your art instead, RISD has some great opportunities for you.
As a premier art school with some of the best student creative problem solvers, RISD has a variety of STEM opportunities for you. Students are working with NASA on the Artemis mission working on the clothing designs to ensure that it functions for the astronauts in both form and function in a variety of environments and with some unusual requirements. They offer concentrations in Computation, Technology and Culture where students “hone their ability to write source code, author software, and program machines for making works of art and design” and their Architecture degree is a 5-year accredited BArch degree with required internships.
If you disliked Math or Science in High School, this could be the school for you.
But, if STEM is not your interest, unlike at most art schools, students are NOT required to take math or science, instead, they take about 40% of their courses in liberal arts. Many students we spoke with felt that the liberal arts component greatly contributed to their critical thinking and writing skills which are valued in the job market.
Rhode Island School of Design’s Campus: Providence, RI
As you would expect, the facilities are spacious and complete with the tools you need to practice your art. The dorms have all been refurbished in the last few years and all freshman and sophomores live in a quad arrangement with the dining hall, catered a few days a month by culinary students at nearby Johnson and Wales, within this connected group of buildings. Housing is available all four years though many juniors and seniors choose to live off campus.
A few other benefits of RISD: it is adjacent to Brown University where you can take classes and which contributes to the student "vibe" in the area; Providence is a manageable city with easy access to Boston and NYC; the area around the campus is full of New England history and charm with old brick streets and beautifully cared for houses; the career center helps prepare you for interviews and brings related businesses to campus.
If you visit, you must make a trip to the RISD Art Museum. You will truly be hard-pressed to find the same eclectic community that provides an endless stream of artistic inspiration as the Rhode Island School of Design.