How I Chose an Animation School | Accepted by SCAD, RINGLING, and SAIC

I've always wanted to be an animator, but always wondered how to get into animation school. Now that I've gone through the process, I have a few things to say about my application and decision experience. This is just how I got into animation school. This isn't the only way to do it or the best way; it's just my experience. Hopefully this is helpful in some way!
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[@BalbertAnimation]

Hey guys! Let me know if you wanna know anything about how I picked an animation school here in the comments. Take care!

[@nicoleslagoski8779]

Thanks for the info. My daughter is a Sr in HS and we are visiting SCAD next week. It’s nice to hear a student perspective.

[@BalbertAnimation]

I’m glad this was helpful! I have plenty more videos on my channel with updates throughout my time at SCAD. Feel free to ask any questions you or your daughter might have

[@user-pl1fm1hp9h]

Hiya! I’m an aspiring animator as well, I’ve always been obsessed with ghibli films and so many movies (when you talked about the “behind the scenes” cds for movies, I laughed because I did the same thing when I was younger lol). I also graduated this year too and I’ve been struggling on where I would like to go to school. Since I’m on the east coast so I’ve been looking at many schools that would be too bad if they were out of state. Sadly, I wasn’t able to tour anywhere because of COVID, so this helped me a lot thanks! I recently heard about SCAD so I’m gonna keep researching about it but here’s to future animation students 👊

[@BalbertAnimation]

Hi! I'm glad I'm not the only one who loved behind the scenes for movies lol. I'm glad that I was able to help in any way! Best of luck to you 👍

[@eggnogalcoholic]

Senior at SCAD here, delighted to discover this video! Go SCAD love! I’m a Dramatic Writing student, but the Animation department is stunning. I did the exact same thing watching the Pixar movie commentaries over and over! (RIP, John L was my hero too 😅)

[@BalbertAnimation]

I'm so glad you came across this video! Since posting this video, I've actually taken on a Dramatic Writing minor, so we got that in common. Good luck with the rest of the quarter!

[@TrishVegaMusic]

Dude I’m all about this

[@MoreThanFuel]

0:47 SO RELATABLE! I watched the incredibles behind the scenes so many times especially the animated storyboards

[@BalbertAnimation]

Oh I loved watching the animatics on the Incredibles dvd. Now that you mentioned it, I kinda wanna go back and watch them again lol

[@justincampo7553]

I love this!

[@BalbertAnimation]

💚👍

[@grace5924]

I love you. Your funny and honest and I am sure you will do well wherever you are

[@BalbertAnimation]

Thank you! You’re so kind

[@benkrey3374]

Brian invested all his money in animation software, cant afford different clothes now

[@BalbertAnimation]

At this point I’m making videos just for your comments

[@tinatjahjadi25]

hi! i loved your vid! ❤️ i have a question though, if you got accepted to sva would you have picked sva instead? i got accepted to both sva and scad, and i really cant decide between the two! both schools are really expensive (esp. sva) but i got a pretty decent scholarship from scad which helps a lot. sva is still my top choice, but ive been leaning more towards scad lately. thank you!! 💛 edit: i’m taking animation too!

[@BalbertAnimation]

Thank you! Congrats on getting into some awesome schools. I think that even if I did get into SVA, I would've still picked SCAD. As much as I adore New York City and love visiting, I don't think I could actually see myself living there. Downtown Savannah has been that perfect balance between bustling, dynamic city life and small, cozy, familiar vibes (people here are a lot warmer than in New York lol). I guess it comes down to where you could really see yourself living day-to-day. Both schools are phenomenal, so it really is a personal thing. Either school you choose, I'm sure you'll do great!

[@xander4341]

Now I am not alone! I am in the exactly same situation, and I have paid the enrollment fee for both schools, but haven't decided now🥲 have you made your mind Christina?

[@thomaspetty4507]

My wife left me for a 2001 Honda Civic

[@delicate.mascara]

my son has been accepted for SCAD in the Fall. He also wants to major in animation. How's it going there now? Are all your classes still online?

[@BalbertAnimation]

SCAD has been a great experience so far. I am currently in the final two weeks of the Winter quarter, and all of my classes are still online. There are some drawbacks to being online, but it still has proven to be a very valuable experience. I've been learning a lot and the professors have been very helpful in spite of the less-than-ideal circumstances. Next quarter, I will have in-person classes, and I'll make a video about my experience once that gets going. I also made a video about my experience doing online classes from home during the Fall quarter, if that might be helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l52xkmBmqL5pntU Congratulations and best of luck to your son on his college decision!

[@michaelcano9282]

GOAT. Although just saying man you should’ve grown out the fro you’ve had plenty of time during quarantine

[@BalbertAnimation]

Imma admit, my hair is pretty long now. I could make it a fro if I wanted to.

[@finnboat809]

Why did cal arts not vibe w you?

[@BalbertAnimation]

It was mostly the environment. I wasn't a big fan of how the school is in one big building with not a lot of windows or outdoor areas. It felt a little cramped and stuffy. I loved the curriculum and the work that was coming out of there (cuz they're famous for a reason), but I felt like I wouldn't enjoy living there/going there every day.

[@andreap9319]

Loved your vid!

[@BalbertAnimation]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it

[@chengliuh8658]

@@BalbertAnimation Hi I am the student from china i will go to sacd on the next year beginning！Are u Chinese？

[@BalbertAnimation]

@@chengliuh8658 Congratulations on becoming a SCAD student! No, I am not Chinese. I am Filipino. I do have some Chinese relatives, though! :-)

[@produmpsterdiver]

Id love to know your opinion on SCAD since you have been going there for about a year now. My family and I plan to tour the campus this summer and I am really considering going there!

[@BalbertAnimation]

I've really been enjoying my time here so far! I've made a couple videos since posting this one that you can check out, but overall, I've been having a lot of fun and learning a whole lot. The area is really pretty and there's lots to see and do. My classes have been a lot of fun, but a LOT of work. Like A LOT a lot of work. There's not really a "campus" in the conventional sense. It's just a bunch of buildings that are scattered around the city, so I guess you could say the city is our campus. I've definitely enjoyed my time here so far. If you have any questions about specifics, feel free to ask me here or DM me on Instagram @balbert_art :)

[@produmpsterdiver]

@@BalbertAnimation wow that sounds really awesome how they set up the campus. My family visited savanna a few years back its beautiful! Do you think the animation department is well set up? I have heard its well ranked but I was looking up senior projects and couldn’t find much, it seems it isn’t a school geared towards animation as somewhere like cal arts would be but id love to get your opinion bc i may be totally wrong haha

[@BalbertAnimation]

@@produmpsterdiver I was in the same boat as you when it came to finding senior projects. They are definitely harder to find than ones from schools like Ringling and CalArts. That being said, I've really been enjoying my animation classes so far, and they've definitely been incredibly rigorous and highly difficult. SCAD does not mess around when it comes to workload and grading. SCAD splits up the animation major into four concentrations that you can choose from (2D, 3D, Technical, and Storytelling/Concept Development), and you basically spend all four years refining those specific skills. I'm currently doing the Storytelling track, since I want to do TV animation and storyboarding, so I'm going to be doing a lot of writing and concept art for the next four years. If you choose one of the other three concentrations, then you'll get drilled real hard in those skillsets. I'm also pretty sure that Animation is SCAD's largest major, but don't quote me on that.

[@produmpsterdiver]

@@BalbertAnimation ah thank you it is really great of you to take the time to respond! I also have come to understand animation is a 4 year program. I was hoping i could go to community college to get the core classes out of the way like id be able to for most majors but do animation majors not allow for that😳. Id love to go all four years but i also dont look forward to student debt so being able to knock out 2 years of core classes would be tremendously helpful!!

[@BalbertAnimation]

@@produmpsterdiver You could definitely complete your general education classes to get them out of the way! In fact, I highly recommend you do if you want to save money. I took a lot of AP classes in high school and because of that, I'm actually set to graduate one quarter early (whether I end up doing that is up to me). SCAD isn't strict on how you schedule out your classes in what order and in what year unlike schools like CalArts or Ringling. That being said, your final year (whenever that may be) has a pretty set class schedule that you have to follow since it revolves around your thesis film. But whatever you do to get to that point is entirely up to you. Since SCAD follows the quarter system, you could even take up to a full courseload in the summer if you wanted to be WAY ahead of the game. There are tons of options for you, and taking community college classes and transferring over credit is definitely a good way to go. It's not uncommon for SCAD students to do that.

[@preethamreddy2558]

Can i get some info about MA/MFA in Visual effects

[@Kaelarts_vt]

So it's been about a year. How goes SCAD?

[@BalbertAnimation]

It's been great! I'm having a lot of fun and I'm learning a whole lot. Hopefully I'll be able to make a video about my experience so far, but I've definitely been really busy.