Are the Art Institute schools a fraud?

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I should probably mention, I do very much sympathize with you if that wasn't apparent through all the places I've checked out...

If you're anything like me, you know what you're good at but you don't know what to do with it. You want to go into higher education to learn something worthwhile, which makes all those nonsense class they make you take at universities sound like a waste of time.

After going through all of it, and now being a postgrad student, I can honestly say a lot of it is a waste of time. However, if I hadn't struggled through it in the hopes it would eventually lead me somewhere, I wouldn't have the options that I do today. 6 years ago I was failing out of Pitt's engineering program, and now I'm about to start a PhD. I spent a couple years at AIU, though it was the one in London, where the courses are actually certified (and the degrees are issued) by a real British university. It was crap. Sure, I learned a lot, but it was because I wanted to learn. They make it as hard as possible to actually succeed, so if you go in with no motivation, you'll get nowhere.

It's a matter of finding somewhere you can fit. Talk to the instructors and the students. Look at class sizes and teacher-to-student ratio. See what nonsense classes they make you take, and find some that, while still being a waste of time, would at least be interesting to you. When I was at Pitt I got into eastern european literature. I took a class on vampire lore and another on fairytales. I also took literature courses in sci-fi and children's books. After a while it's actually nice to do classes like those that have nothing to do with your major. It keeps one from getting bored.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, keep an open mind. I know it seems like a crap system, and I agree that it is a crap system (People have to pay to be educated? Lame.), but that's the way it is. Find a way to make the best of it.

I might actually go to community college. Compared to the Art Institute, classes are extremely cheap. $60,000 compared to $6,000. Yeah. Theres one class, Biotechnology, that insterests me. Does anyone know anything about that? Ive looked online for careeres in that field and found nothing. Apparently the God, google is limited in finding good websites.

I've suggested this before on here I think, but I use clusty.com. It sometimes has more academic results than google does.

Go to Google and TYPE: SUE THE ART INSTITUTE as a search, you will find a myspace site that has a lot of very upset students and graduates.

While it is possible that they can be legit, I just don't have a lot of faith in higher education that's advertised on TV late at night.

I'm not sure I would classify the Art Institute as a fraud. They are very expensive.

They are regionally accredited which means that courses will transfer to another institution (I used to work as a transfer credit evaluator). It's up to the institution on how they transfer though (will it meet a core requirement or do we have to throw it in the electives). I.T.T. is not regionally accredited so that means if you bag the school then you will probably be hard pressed to find a school to accept the credits.

I suggest that you look at other schools and see what they have to offer in Pittsburgh. There are some awesome schools in PA. I think a wise option would be to start out at a community college. The tuition will be SO cheap. You can knock out the general requirements that every school has (english, math, science, etc.) then you can transfer to the school that you want (even if it's still the art institute). You will save a lot of money. CC of Allegheny County is 85.25 per credit....Art Institute is around $454 per credit.
CC of Allegheny County has articulation agreements with (seamless transfer to four-year schools):
Bethany College
California University of Pennsylvania
Carlow University
Chatham College
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
Duquesne University
Edinboro University
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Juniata College
LaRoche College
Lincoln University
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Point Park University
Seton Hill University
Thiel College
University of Pittsburgh
Virginia Union University
Westminster College
Wheeling Jesuit College
Wilberforce University
Youngstown State University

If you decide to go to the Art Institute after the community college they will be very liberal about transferring credits (most for-profit schools are).

Good luck.

Thanks for the list. Ill be sure to go through them when sometime.

My friend is defenatly going to AIP and he said it isnt a fraud, people are just so sour about it because they dont have the passion and determination people like him have for the stuff. He said the AI schools are for people who already have experience and passion with that stuff and the reason why it wouldnt work out for me, for example, is because im not willing to go home after classes and practice what they were teaching and work on the projects for the rest of the day, every day. I wont disagree with that. Plus, its all mostly freelance work, and thats extremely unreliable. It wouldnt be good to rely on it as my main source of income as well.

I think my main problem is finding a job I want, first of all. Once I decide that, ill look into schools that offer it. So far, im looking into Criminal Justice, Biotechnology, Architecture, and possibly music teaching, but im very disuaded by the huge amount of work involved. I dont want to come across as lazy, but I dont want my schooling to dominate my life 100%. I couldnt take the stress.

I graduated from The Art Institute of Houston in 2008 through their Media Arts & Animation program. It's a complete waste of money. My instructor actually said "you won't learn anything here" and his name is Norm Engle. He is correct. They do not use books with a set curriculum or examples for you to take home and practice. You basically have to spend hours on the web finding tutorials for free and teach yourself.
They spend their class time telling stories and having you work on your assignment. Where is the instruction and the lectures? Where is the hands on training? They spend more class hours allowing your fellow alumni (who lack skills and training) to critique your work, rather than lecture and instruct or teach you for what you are paying them.

These guys just want your money and they do not care about teaching you or preparing you to work in the real world. Now i'm over 60k in dept and I still don't have a job.
They do not teach rigging.........which is essential to animation. They have a very poor curriculum set up and most of the time you will over lap classes with graphic design, culinary, and photography students in a one-shop cattle call enrollment to fill the classes with the masses.

You might want to look into the Savannah College of Art and Design. I'm in their Visual Effects program, and it's pretty good (though expect to pay through the nose for tuition). I can pretty much guarantee you will learn new skills (if you don't either you can't be taught, or your skill level is such that you should already be applying for jobs in the industry and not wasting your time and money on school), and, more importantly, you'll start making contacts with companies and individuals that you can later tap to land a job.

Also, the disabilities services office is very adept at helping out students with Aspergers, and can get you pretty much any accommodation necessary for you to get your work done and learn what you need to do.

I am going to try to give you an as objective view as I can on the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. (It will be hard considering that I am biased towards the Art Institute (AI) for my own reasons.

The Art Institutes is a highly expensive profit school, that has been known to have so-so accreditation system. For instance, I have a BA college degree and most Art Institutes across the country will not accredit my course work in similar courses that the Art Institute offers. It is important to keep in mind why are you considering the vocational school route. If you already have a body of work, such as an art portfolio you may want to consider applying to a four year university. In the short run its more prestigious, but in the long run its just a preference decision once you have experience in your career field it will not matter so much where you completed your formal education. Most college art school's that have a competitive art program will require you to have a portfolio. If you are looking for hands on immediate training more than likely you will prefer the Art Institute over a four year university. Most universities require that you balance your art with liberal arts courses. I would say DO NOT LISTEN TO RECRUITERS, they often say many untrue facts about the school. Do your research ask current student. My one close buddy who went the Philadelphia Art Institute would say save your money and just watch tutorials because most faculty expect you to do most of your learning on your own. If you are looking to be active and just utilize the art institutes state of the art faculties than go for it, but over all its a preference decision. I am thinking its much, much inexpensive to go to a state university, there are tons of aids, and loans are much, much easier to pay back. Look up cbs sallie mae in google this is the company that you will have to pay back your $60, 000 from, they are known to be ruthless with high yielding interesting that can compound subject to no warning. Any how, I do like the art institute resources it's just too expensive to pay back in this economy.