Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design’s campus is located in downtown Providence, just a short downhill walk from Brown University. The campus buildings blend pretty, red-brick New England-style exteriors with modern interior design and furniture. The Fleet Library is a great representation of how RISD loves to blend old artistic styles with cool architectural designs, as well as a great example for its students on how to use project limitations in design planning.
RISD (pronounced Riz-dee) offers Bachelor of Fine Arts majors to 2,000 students in Apparel Design, Graphic Design, Painting, Ceramics, Illustration, Photography, Film/Animation/Video, Industrial Design, Printmaking, Furniture, Interior Studies (Adaptive Reuse), Sculpture, Glass, Jewelry + Metalsmithing, Textiles and one Bachelor's Degree: Architecture (BArch). A Brown-RISD dual degree is offered to a very select few (15-18 per year) who are admitted to both campuses.
In addition to courses in their major, students must complete coursework in the liberal arts (art and architecture history; English; history, philosophy, and social sciences; and some electives) and complete a final-year project to graduate. There is a 5-week intersession between fall and winter semester when students are encouraged to explore a class outside of their major.
Students do not have to decide their major when applying to RISD. Instead, all freshmen follow the same studio curricula—known as Experimental and Foundation Studies. Each of the three programs (drawing, design, and spatial programs) meets one full day per week, with students expected to work on challenging assignments outside of class time.
RISD housing is gender inclusive—students can choose to live with one another, regardless of sex, gender identity or gender expression, in a shared room. All freshmen live on campus, as well as 60% of all students; the rest choose nearby lofts or apartments. The social life at RISD is fairly tame; those looking for more nightlife seek out their friends at nearby Brown.
There is no intercollegiate sports program offered at RISD, but they do have a co-ed club ice hockey team called the Nads (which prompts students to chant "Go Nads!") and a mascot named Scrotie (you get the picture). RISD is expensive, and they do not offer merit scholarships nor they meet full demonstrated need. However, the opportunities students have to perfect their craft keeps this school a top choice for many future artists.
College Bound & Ready students: click here to learn more about Kristen’s visit to RISD , or contact her for a consultation.
