Ringling School of Art and Design School of Motion
How much does your education really price? Beware, Sacred Cows ahead...
What follows is an attempt at starting a discussion. It's a topic that is close to my middle and one that inspires a lot of passion...but this is only 1 man'southward opinion. Information technology will make some people uncomfortable, and for that I apologize. Information technology's fourth dimension to talk about the cost of education.
The Educational Landscape of Motion Design
Michael is a fellow Baldite and founder of the incredible Mograph Mentor program. A major topic of the interview was the changing mural of education in the field of Motion Blueprint. The interview was a lot of fun, and we really dug into what we saw equally issues with the current model of "traditional" 4-year programs.
Earlier School of Movement was a real company with actual courses, I spent a year pedagogy at the Ringling College of Art & Design in the Department of Motion Design. I worked alongside incredible faculty, taught some scarily talented students, and more or less had a blast the entire time. It's an astonishing place, and in that location are students coming out of there every year and heading to The Mill, Psyop, Buck…
Why the old model of education doesn't e'er work
So… during the interview, why was I and so disquisitional of the model that Ringling is based on? Why did I stop a long bluster about the negatives of that very model with the words, "Let's burn it all downward!" ???
Aside from throwing maybe a picayune too much hyperbole out there, I did take a point I wanted to brand… and I'grand not sure I did and then let me try to clarify a fleck.
Earlier y'all become any further, brand certain you've heard the interview so you have some context for what comes next.
ONE MORE THING...
I'd like to add a pretty big disclaimer that both Michael and I have obvious interests in seeing teaching movement more than and more than into the online space. Everything I say actually does demand to exist filtered through the reality that I am running an online education business that—perchance non today, but at some bespeak—volition directly compete for students with traditional schools such as Ringling. I am not unbiased… I will endeavor to be as objective as possible, but please keep this in mind as I lay out some thoughts.
Why Traditional Brick and Mortar Schools will Ever Be
I don't care how slap-up technology gets, I don't believe there will ever be a replacement for being in the aforementioned room as somebody else. There is an unmatchable social aspect to going to a 4-year program with a grouping of like-minded classmates, seeing them grow alongside you, hanging out after class, doing stupid stuff together… you know… college stuff.
Michael and I both do a lot of things with our programs to endeavour and recreate some of that feeling in our courses, but information technology's impossible to fifty-fifty come up shut to matching the feeling of being at a identify like Ringling. Even when we're all wearing Virtual Reality helmets and 5-Commuting to Virtual Class, information technology volition not feel the aforementioned.
Traditional schools (at least ones similar Ringling) also have the advantage of allowing students to get a lot of 1-on-one fourth dimension with their faculty, getting much more existent-time feedback than an online form tin (currently) provide. This can definitely assist speed up the process of "getting expert" if yous take advantage of information technology, which not all students do.
The bonds formed between student and faculty can last a lifetime and result in collaborations, career advancement, networking opportunities… the benefits are nearly endless.
And on top of all of that, yous get to be role of clubs, you get to take Student Work Showcases and invitee-lecturers from major studios come and talk to you, and yous get to feel like you're part of this exclusive, astonishing (and it honestly is amazing) order.
Sounds pretty much perfect, right?
What are the downsides to traditional brick and mortar schools?
Before we get to the downside, let's talk about the concept of Opportunity Cost. You may accept some foggy recollection of hearing that term in loftier-school Economics. Hither's what it means (and blank with me, this might get weird):
THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF A 4-YEAR DEGREE
You lot go to a bakery with $2 cash in your pocket to buy a donut.
Why greenbacks? Well, this place doesn't do credit cards. These donuts are legendary, and cost exactly $1. You walk upward to the counter and see a new SuperFancy™ Donut for $2. Information technology'south got butter-cream filling in the middle and is 100% organic. Even though you lot dear the normal donuts, you decide to splurge and become the fancy donut. It tastes incredible.
As you're walking out, Steven Tyler, lead-singer of Aerosmith walks in. He wants to try i of the normal donuts, but doesn't have whatever cash. He looks at you and says, "Hey man! Exercise you accept a dollar on you? I'll trade y'all a backstage pass to our concert tonight."
The Price of your SuperFancy™ donut was $ii.
The OPPORTUNITY Cost of your SuperFancy™ donut was a night hanging out with Aerosmith.
So… nobody is saying the donut is bad. Heck, it probably tastes improve than the normal donut does. But at what toll?
And THAT, my friends, is what I'd similar you to think virtually and discuss.
TRADITIONAL SCHOOLING COMES WITH AN OPPORTUNITY Cost
You tin can go to an amazing, life-changing, listen-blowing identify that actually has all of the bells and whistles and does an AMAZING job of instruction you skills… and if that place happens to toll $200,000 for 4-years, and y'all have out loans to cover those expenses, then you'll actually finish up paying more like $320,000 after factoring in the interest.
What are the opportunities that volition be inaccessible to y'all in one case you lot have a debt that large looming over you, AKA Opportunity Costs?
In that location are obvious things that happen when you attach to yourself an almost-$1800-a-month payment for xv years. Y'all tin can't accept internships as easily. You tin't motion to a new city equally hands. You lot can't plan a wedding, buy a abode, or offset a family as easily.
What could you do for the time and coin of a traditional school?
What are some culling ways of "learning the craft while meeting and socializing with likeminded artists and students" that you could have chosen to use but now you can't because yous're enrolled in a traditional school with the associated costs and responsibilities? What practise those Opportunity Costs await similar?
• Moving somewhere with a cool fine art scene and an existing base of operations of studios / artists / user-groups, perchance Chicago, LA, New York… on the cheaper side y'all've got Austin, Cincinnati, parts of Boston.
• Backpacking across Europe for 6-months, experiencing more art, civilisation, and inspiration than you'll detect at any higher.
• Attending every Half-Rez / Alloy / NAB type of upshot, user-group, and meetup that you find. Meeting lots of people, making friends with people who practise what you lot want to do.
• Working your way through every tutorial you detect on LinkedIn Learning/ Pluralsight/ GreyScaleGorilla /School of Motion (Plenty of 4-twelvemonth students exercise this anyhow).
• Hanging out religiously on Motion Blueprint Slack channels, reddit.com/MotionDesign, /r/Cinema4D, /r/AfterEffects
• Using resources like School of Move Bootcamps, Mograph Mentor, Learn Squared, Gnomon to focus in on the hard stuff.
• Taking some Illustration & Design courses at a local Customs Higher for inexpensive...
• Booking a killer freelancer for ii-3 weeks to create something badass and shadowing them on Skype.
• Starting to become projects via Craigslist / E-Lance… Non for the purpose of making money but for the purpose of getting feel working with a client and doing bodily work. Beingness paid (non much) to learn as yous become.
• Going after an internship during the schoolhouse year when most other students tin't because of their schedule.
• Renting some shared space in a Creative Incubator like New Inc. (http://www.newinc.org/) to work around other artists. Some places will permit you hang out / work there for free if you're a "student" (significant you are not a professional person)
• Contacting local studios, letting them know what you're doing, offering to take producers / animators / designers / creative directors out to lunch or coffee. Yous'd exist amazed how people will want to help you.
Who defines what "Schoolhouse" is?
Of course, being able to exercise all of those things depends on your ability to travel way outside your condolement zone, to be self-motivated, to deal with adversity, and to network without forced social interactions. You lot besides still demand food and shelter, and nobody will give you a loan to alive for a few years while yous're on this quest: You'll need a day-chore. But it's an choice. A quite valid ane, in fact.
Yes, there are Opportunity Costs with this road as well, but yous can evaluate them and determine if they are less onerous than the more traditional route'south.
You have limited Fourth dimension (which is not-renewable) and limited Money, and iv-years is going to fly by whether you are enrolled at a traditional college or making your own pedagogy happen via Life, the Internet, and practiced former-fashioned networking.
The deviation is the Opportunity Cost… what y'all may give up mid-to-long-term past choosing one route over the other. And that is a very personal decision.
WHEN IS A TRADITIONAL BRICK AND MORTAR THE BETTER CHOICE?
I actually talk about this in the interview with Michael. For some students it's just a no-brainer. If y'all're a rock-star, then going to a identify like Ringling tin propel you to the top of the food-chain in record fourth dimension. Some students graduate from the Motion Design program there with salaries north of $75K. Information technology's not the norm, but it happens.
And if you're fortunate enough to not have to accept out loans to pay for the feel… so at that place is little downside to consider, other than the Opportunity Cost of your Time (your nearly precious non-renewable resource.)
But for other students (and Especially for older students thinking of going dorsum to school), I believe it's worth truly considering the real price of those four years and weighing the obvious benefits against the slightly-less-obvious downsides. I believe it'south worth realizing that there are many different means to end up with a career in Motion Design, a lifelong group of friends, and memories of amazing times.
My advice is to think about what makes sense for you, and to be honest with yourself about the true price of everything.
The options available to you are well-nigh endless. It'due south admittedly worth considering that, today, the well-worn path leading to a traditional college is only one out of many paths you can choose from.
And if yous do this and make up one's mind that a iv-year program is for you, I would HIGHLY recommend checking out Ringling as I tin't imagine a finer institution, faculty, or student torso.
One blog post is not enough space to really explore this complex topic.
Nevertheless, information technology's my hope that this helps foster more discussion most the style we think about "Pedagogy." I'd like to say that, for the record, I don't desire places like Ringling to get abroad (though I practise promise they notice ways to be more affordable)… 4-Twelvemonth schools tin can be admittedly astonishing, transformative experiences. But please realize that those 4 years will terminate… and there will be many more than years afterwards where the real cost of all that high-terminate learning may turn out to exist far more expensive than you realized.
Through technology, learning no longer requires existence in the same room or fifty-fifty the same CONTINENT as your instructor. The downsides of this high-tech arrangement vanish past the mean solar day and you may detect that the Opportunity Price yous pay for learning your arts and crafts the non-traditional mode is far more affordable.
I'grand not the first to talk about didactics in this way… here are some other great reads:
- Create your own "Real World" MBA - Tim Ferriss
- $10K Ultimate Art Education - Noah Bradley
- Hacking your Education - Dale Stephens
Let's keep the conversation going! Leave comments here, or let the states know what y'all remember on Twitter @schoolofmotion.
Thanks for letting me ramble!
joey
Source: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/motion-design-school
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