The Art Institute of Philadelphia

Art Institute is a for profit school known for false placement stats and misrepresentation. I attended the Art Institute. I had to bail before they ran me into a massive amount of debt for this subpar education.

I graduated from AI with an Associate’s degree in visual communications in 1989. I immediately found work as a paste-​up artist for a company that created ads for telephone directories. That gig lasted a few months, then a few years later, I was hired as a paste-​up artist for a company that manufactured printing plates. They eventually went out of business. Flash forward a few more years, and I’m working with ads again. But then eventually I wanted to get my BA, so I did, but let’s get on with the review…
AI was an excellent school to attend if you truly wanted to learn how to be an artist. Its curriculum was thorough: I was taught every aspect of art, from drawing to painting to typography to airbrush. The instructors refused to lower the bar for anyone, as they worked us all like mules in class and piled on the homework that would keep us so busy that it effectively negated our lives outside of school. It was rough for me as a kid in my late teens/​early twenties to endure such a rigorous course load while I worked my way through school. But in the end, I survived. That says something because a lot of people dropped out after the first quarter. This school either made an obsessively hard worker out of you, or you cracked under the pressure and dropped out. There was no in between.
The demands made upon me at AI molded me into the assiduous and dedicated student I became in later years. Returning to school in my forties (a different school, not AI) to pursue my Bachelor’s degree in art history and graduating Summa Cum Laude with a host of academic awards — all as I worked my way through school — is proof of this. And by the way, art history was a required subject in my AI curriculum, and they laid a very solid groundwork in this discipline that helped me to excel in the art history courses I took years later for my BA. AI was not for slackers. You either worked your butt off or got out. It was like boot camp if boot camp were smeared in vine charcoal and acrylic paint. :)
I can’t comment on how the school is today, and the other reviews I’ve read are mixed. But I suspect that the facilities are still excellent. I’ve seen the facilities in other art departments in other schools, and AI’s were definitely the best. So in addition to the teachers molding you into a hard worker, you have excellent facilities in which to work. The classrooms were always clean, bright, and well-​organized, which is the type of space you really need as an artist. I learned much about many aspects of the fine-​art world, and I feel I got my money’s worth there.
The biggest drawback to this school is what other reviewers mentioned about its lack of proper accreditation. I found that out the hard way when, several years after I graduated from AI, I enrolled at another art school, and they told me they couldn’t transfer in my AI credits because AI wasn’t an accredited school. Totally sucked!!! So I had to start all over again on the path to my BA. Please, if you even think you may transfer, make sure you study art at a place that’s properly accredited. As much as I admire AI, I can’t endorse them in this respect. In this part of the country, the governing body that confers accreditation is the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, so make sure the school you go to, if it’s in the Philadelphia or Mid-​Atlantic area, is accredited through them. If you know you aren’t going to transfer, then AI is okay. Even if it is a for-​profit school, they will train you properly and thoroughly, and you’ll be amazed at what you find you can do!

I had a great experience at this school. I graduated with an Associate of Science in Multimedia in 1998, and when I left I got a job for the Rosetta Stone software company. I ended up going back for my Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Multimedia and Web Design at the Art Institute of Washington. I have worked for two educational software companies, owned my own business, and now am the Senior Web Developer at the University of Virginia Library. There are a lot of kids here that do not want to do the work, and then complain that the school sucks. It is true that it is easy to get in, and maybe that is part of the problem with the reputation of this school. As another reviewer said «It is what you make of it.» It was actually a very rigorous course load with lots of homework. I remember running on pots of coffee and on some nights did not sleep because I was up all night working on projects to get them done on time. It may be true that you could theoretically teach yourself the same stuff with books, but highly doubtful that one would be able to put together the right curriculum in the right order, have access to all of the right resources, and be disciplined enough to stick to deadlines leading to a successful career in a chosen field. It is also extremely helpful to be guided towards your career by experienced professionals willing to share information and knowledge.
I was fortunate that my hard work paid off, and I made some great friends and memories at AIPH! Philadelphia is an extremely fun city in which to study art. I wish everyone else who studies there success after they leave!

I graduated from the Art Institute of Philadelphia in 2004. I’ve worked as an animator for VH1, and several other local Philly-​based multimedia companies and managed several publications under my belt. I even run an art site with over 100,000 users currently. I gained a lot of valuable knowledge, skills and resources. As an alumni of the school, I’m one of their «success» stories.
So why rate this so low?
Because the Art Institute schools are to the arts what McDonald’s is to the culinary world.
Classes ranged from amazing to abysmal. Some of the instructors were absolutely amazing, and I even had the opportunity to work with them in the field (Linda Kudzmas, amazing!) while others never taught a class. In at least half of my classes, the entire course was «Here’s a handout» — lesson plans copied from a text book. For the cost of a school like AIPh, being given handouts and told «read the instructions and do this» is, well… degrading. And that’s if the computers at the school even worked for you to do your assignments in the first place. Again, for the cost of a single class, you could buy the same book the instructor made photocopies of, as well as a new computer, the software and more.
The school has no standards for elective students. It’s open enrollment, and if you have the money you can get in. This is incredibly problematic for artistic arenas like animation or graphic design. New students often had zero artistic skill or backgrounds. Illustration, art and design are not just things you learn overnight, but that’s what they (and the school) seemed to expect. This became extremely problematic as you’d often be paired with fellow students on projects where your grade point relied entirely on collaborative efforts — but when you’re paired with people who have zero background in art, you ultimately had no choice but to carry the work of 2 to 3 people just to make sure you didn’t fail the class.
When it comes to animation or digital design, there is nothing AIPh can teach you that you can’t teach yourself — and for far, far less cost.
Here’s the secret nobody will tell you in the art world: nobody cares about a degree. None. Zero. Zilch. What DO they care about? Your portfolio. Whether you can do the work, whether you have the skill. A degree is absolutely worthless in the professional art world. Everything comes down to your portfolio and/​or demo reel.
Another thing they don’t tell you is that there are almost ZERO jobs for animators or graphic designers in the nearby area (unless you want to commute to NYC every day). Culinary? Sure. Photography? Maybe. But for graphic designers or animators? Jobs are few and far between.
Further, the dorms. While I don’t know if they improved in recent years, during my stay the dorms were a living hell. AIPh paired me up with former drug dealers, people who actively grew drugs in my dorm (even *IN* my own closet) and or people who refused to show for months at a time. It took an act of God to get the school to step in, and when they did, they failed massively. I was robbed by evicted students who had no supervision from the school, losing computer equipment, DVDs and more. The school’s response? «Not our fault, you should have had insurance.»
I even had people break into the building looking for my roommates who had threatened to kill them. The school’s response? Give the students refunds and help them relocate, but do nothing for me who had to deal with the guy who broke in threatening to take them out.
Due to the constant roommate problems, and their failure to tend to them, the school caused massive anxiety, frustration and made my life a living nightmare during my stay there. And every time I’d complain noting would happen.
Do I regret going to AIPh? No. As miserable as I feel the school was, I got a lot of experience and education. But I wouldn’t do it again, because short of life drawing classes and the experience I got from Linda Kudzmas (seriously, she’s amazing) there’s nothing I learned that I couldn’t have taught myself from an off-​the-​shelf book… because that’s exactly how 90% of the classes were taught.

AIPH cost me a lot of money but most colleges do. The teachers I had were the best I’ve had my whole life, no debate for me on that. I still remember them and what they taught me almost 15 years later. I wanted to edit, pickup a camera, write, direct everything that goes into a video or film production and I got to do that all the time. I don’t know what the school is like now but when I was there it was great. The business is competitive and takes a lot of hard work but I stuck it out and I am successfully working in my field as an Avid editor in NYC. making good money. The passion and knowledge some of my teachers had there was nuts and it jolted me into where I am at today. They were hungry to teach and share what they knew and it showed.
— Jason

Very happy with my education here, and have been working in my field earning good money for a few years. not to mention, i’m still in school.
**it’s all what you make of it.**
Financial aid is a pain in the ass to get ahold of though; I agree what everyone has been commenting on about that issue.

The Art Institutes are all marketing Whores.
They just want your money… that is why they have open enrollment, lenient grading, etc. I spent three years there in Graphic Design. Graduated with an «A» in Portfolio, and 20 yrs later STILL not working in the field! In one class, an instructor actually stood up before us and said, «Computers are NOT the future, so don’t worry about them.»
Don’t waste your money here. Earlier reviews were correct, in that no other reputable schools will accept credentials from the Art Institute. It is frowned upon. Although some of the instructors were good, and although I enjoyed being in an «artistic environment», in the bigger picture that does not pay your bills.

This school is a JOKE! Don’t waste your time and money! I attended this school for one year in the graphic design program. While I really did like the majority of my teachers, I never felt like I was learning enough of what I should be. You get A’s just for going to class, regardless of the quality of your work. Now, the school is laying off a lot of its full time teachers, in favor of part time contract teachers who have never worked on the field. They are also requiring you to buy books you might not need, and cutting core, hands on classes, and replacing them with lecture based classes that are cheaper for them. They also raise the tuition each year while giving you a lower quality education.
I repeat. This school is a JOKE. DO NOT be fooled by their marketing or their promises of employment after graduation… you WILL regret it.

I go to AiPH for culinary arts, and like with any other tech school/​college/​whatever, you won’t get your money’s worth out of it unless you try your damn hardest to pass your classes and MAKE it a good experience for yourself.
The only complaint I have, and I hope someone reads this, is that I CAN NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER FOR THE LIFE OF ANYBODY get in touch with financial aid or admissions, which you WILL need to be in constant contact with throughout your entire school time. Financial Aid never keeps track of their paperwork, for I had to them the SAME piece of paper over 3 times for them to «record», yet next quarter, they ask for it AGAIN. What the hell? Next time, fuck it. I’m not giving it to them again. How do I know what you’re really using my information for?
Also, they charge a reentry fee if you take off for one quarter, but hell trying to figure out how much you owe them. I’ve called several people, left messages, and NOBODY, I swear, NOBODY calls you back OR emails you back. Their communications is the worst of any company/​school ever. They’re worse than trying to pay a cable bill over the phone or calling a service repair guy.

This so called school has to be the biggest waste of money and time in the world. On top of the lazy door people, how can you consider yourself an appropriate school if you are not even accredited regionally. Their dorms are the most disgusting, vile, broken down crap holes I have ever lived in. Let alone how many robberies and burglaries occur there on daily basis. At one time during a visit, I was awoken but two fools attempting to rob the apartment I was in. After waking up and confronting them, the school was angry I called the police even though we were missing personal property. This school and all of its buildings should be condemned to hell.

What a waste of my time and money. I was in the culinary program where in which they had us make sandwiches for the flower show (free labor with out learning?) and forced us to take a «front of house» class so they could have more free labor in their restaurant. Actually it wasn’t even free labor, we paid for these classes and time while the school profited by it.
Kitchens are not air conditioned in the summer, which is fine i guess for «real life» experience, except for when you are trying to learn how to draw with chocolate.
even though you fund the kitchen, some teachers won’t allow you to take what you made home because they need it for certain events, or require you to buy outside ingredients for your dishes.
Also the dorms have been evacuated on numerous occasions.
they lost my tuition check… that I paid on-​line.
I had to fill one gen-​ed class: effective speaking, which was actually taught by a theater teacher, who taught us stage directions.
Tip: if your trying to find out ANYTHING about your loans or financial aid or anything related to the underpaid angry people behind desk, threaten to call fox news… they’ll help ya in a jiffy.

I have been going here since 2008.
I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and got my associates, and now I’m in philly.
This place is the biggest waste of money on the face of the planet. If you don’t know anything about the field before you start here, guess what, when you’re done, you’ll probably know just as much.
The Art Institute is full of inept students and (mostly) instructors. They just don’t know what they’re talking about. Sure there are a few teachers that are fantastic and actually do want to help you learn some things.
I go here for Graphic Design, and most of the work out of my classmates makes me cringe.
I just hope to god that when I graduate I will be able to pay my loans back, someday. The amount of debt I’m in because of this place is seriously going to affect the rest of my life. Will I ever be able to own my own house, or live comfortably? Probably not.
Fuck this place, seriously. They just want your money.

I’m a photography person so I can only speak on behalf of what I know compared to what I have seen in this school. I do hear the film program isn’t bad.
So I went to view the percentage of the arts exhibit the other day again and ran into some art institute students. They were laughing at some of the UARTS images that were chosen and talking about how they didn’t use HDR. Without saying that I went there because I agree the images chosen were terrible, I asked what they would have done differently and how they would have bettered the images with HDR. I admit, I played the dumb card to see what they’d say.
This girl proceeded to tell me that «duhhh. I would have used the Highlight Darkness Rule to enhance the … you know skin tones.» Uhh. HDR? It stands for High Dynamic Range. And it’s terrible for skin tones. Not even meant for that. But ok, maybe you’re not into digital.
So I ask what the program at AI is teaching. These poor students were doing like. Freshman/​Sophomore work as seniors. They’d never printed in a color darkroom, never developed their own color film, didn’t know about the important software or anything related to digital printing. It was pathetic. Didn’t know anything about the types of equipment, digital hasselblads. Anything. What exactly does AI use… or teach for that matter?
Then they were trying to tell me how UARTS «sucks» and they don’t teach anything and I’m just sitting there wondering if they’ve even had English class. They didn’t know anything about the history of photography either! It just. made me sad.
Before you say I’m biased, I am. I expect someone entering my field to love it like I do. To dedicate themselves to knowing every detail of the craft. Not to just pick up a camera and suddenly be a photographer. I’m insulted that these students from this school care nothing for the true art of photography. Flabbergasted that they call themselves photographers and believe they’re intelligent enough to talk to anyone about processes they’ve never even done. Please, go to UARTS, Pasadena College of Art and Design, RISD, MICA, somewhere real.
I have met some very talented AI students but they’ve all transferred out because AI is overpriced and you don’t get a true education. You get some basics and then bam, you’re done. I’m very disappointed with every experience I’ve had with AI photography students.

I graduated there with a degree in industrial design and I DO NOT recommend the school or the program. please visit this website before even considering this school or any art institute for that matter:

College is college and Art school is just whole lot weirder. Just like any other school there’s a giant annoying bureaucracy. But things get done eventually. I like how this school runs on quarters, like Drexel, and how you can take summer courses seamlessly and finish school quickly. Though the financial aid department is a beast to get right. However the career services department is amazing. Anyways it’s a helluva lot better than Uarts. Though I hear Tyler is quite nice.