The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Since the U.S. News and World Report began ranking American colleges in 1994, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has garnered the number one spot for graduate art schools every year. In 2005, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago shared its top seat with the Rhode Island School of Design and Yale. What does this mean? What makes the School of the Art Institute of Chicago so much better than all the other art schools out there?

If the name didn’t give it away, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is affiliated with the Art Institute of Chicago, which houses one of the largest art collections in the world. SAIC is located in the heart of downtown Chicago, near the museum campus in the area referred to as the Loop. Your SAIC student ID gives you free admission to the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as art museums all over the world. Any student at the school may check out photographs and drawings from the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection, and ask to view works not currently on display. For an emerging artist, this alone is a valuable resource.

As with any “good” school, the faculty is distinguished and the facilities are up-to date. What makes the School of the Art Institute of Chicago so impressive for a prospective applicant is the personal attention students receive by the staff. Of all the graduate schools I applied to recently, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is the only one which bothered to send me a letter stating my application had been received and all the necessary components had made it safely. Not bad, considering it took another graduate school (which I won’t name) two weeks after the due date to send me a terse email saying they never received one of my transcripts I literally sent three months before.

Want to get your MFA in painting? The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is rated the #1 graduate school for the arts.

Credit: Sarah Joos

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