I love Watkins and have had a great experience so far. The classes are smaller; allowing students to have one on one feed back from their professors. Most of our professors are working artists and it's quite inspiring to see their work.
The community education teachers are experts in their field who are passionate about sharing their expertises. I have only had good experiences, and some teachers are even willing to come after classes have ended to help students finish projects. If you want a authentic art studio course with professional guidance, this is the right place.
Great school. Industry professionals teach graphic design classes and have incredible connections to many other local and national design professionals. Graphic Design program offers opportunities to meet and learn from prominent designers who are nationally recognized with the visiting artist series. It has been hard work but the job placement statistics show that they know what it takes to send you into the design field prepared.
I am a recent graduate and loved my experience at Watkins. Does it it have it faults? Yes but what school doesn't. The teaching staff here are amazing and are so invested in you as a student. I have had teachers come in after class and office hours to help me if I was having trouble with a project. This is a fine art based photography school and photography is what I studied. Knowing this going in is really important as I am a commercial based photographer and not fine art. While it wasn't exactly what I expected I still learned a lot that has helped me in my own photography business. Being an artist about being a hard working an driven student. You don't become a good artist overnight and it is something that is not easy. If you are willing to put in the time and the effort to not only learn but also to put yourself out there you will greatly reap the benefits of this school. Watkins is a great place to be yourself and learn how to be a better artist. I highly recommend it!
I spent one semester here and got out as fast as I could. It was not at all what they made it out to be, I took a few pre-college programs here and even toured the school and thought it sounded so great...until I actually attended. The teachers are so ridiculous and don't seem to care about you at all, I remember I had informed one of my teachers that I was going to miss the last day of her class and I had a paper to turn in so I asked if one of my relatives could turn it in for me and the staff lost my final paper! Even when I chose to leave the school a lot of the teachers tried to convince me otherwise saying that I was making a huge mistake, even going so far as to call me cowardly. Also they'll try to scam you out of your money. When we signed up for student loans and got all my scholarships straightened out they informed us that we would not have to owe anything else out of our own pocket, which my mom thought at the time was completely wrong on their part because she had calculated it, she even asked "are you sure?" and they said yes they were sure. Well months after I had left and already paid off what little student loans I had they started harassing me with another bill of $1200!! Ridiculous! Honestly DO NOT waste your time with this school, some of my classmates also left very shortly after I did.
As a parent of a Watkins College of Art, Design & Film student, it's my opinion that you could not select a finer college for your aspiring artist, designer or film studies student. The fine & extremely knowledgeable professor staff have both inspired & taught very effectively. Likewise, the seriousness of the treatment of art studies is notable from observing the student's work & work ethic. Similarly, general education studies are taught by inspired teachers who know what they're doing. As a sophomore at Watkins, I'd say my daughter is on the equivalent level of a senior at any supposedly competitive institution. I'm very impressed with every aspect of Watkins. And it's not only the successfully trained student and increasingly improved skills and performance we notice, it's the positive feedback that we routinely hear about engaging each student in processes and the professionalism of every class. No exceptions. I would wholeheartedly recommend Watkins College of Art, Design & Film for anyone seriously interested in any of these mediums. Very impressive experience.
I am really disappointed. I was going to apply to this school for my MFA because I felt it was a good fit for me. Now that it will be merged with a Christian school I no longer feel that that way and will no longer be Appling. This is a sad moment for me.
I love Watkins. Very unique school with working artists as professors. My time spent here is so worth it. Ignore the bad reviews and understand that hard work and passion produce a good student. Great community of artists.
Teaching staff at this school is pathetic. Where do they find these people? This is a question I constantly asked myself. Giant rip off, so really think twice before you decide to attend this school. Everything sounds good before you actually start your classes, then the garbage hits the fan. I had a teacher that taught us by telling us to google how to do things. What is the point of school then? Google is what I use to figure almost everything out I need to know about certain programs. Why pay all that money for something you can do on your own? I also had another teacher that graded in this manner... The teacher tells a student to pick the best assignment, and then gives that person an A and everyone else a C. This teachers logic was that not all assignments can be the best. Honestly do not give this crap school your money. Go to a college that is worth it, and that actually cares about the students future.
I was at the Watkins College of Art to attend a lecture and spent some time browsing the halls and viewing the student work on display. Generally speaking, the quality of the work was of considerable less quality than what I've seen at public universities and campuses that don't specialize in art.
watkins.edu
