Academy of Art University

I graduated from AAU but with a lot reservations. For sure it has grown beyond its size with a huge collection of different buildings. Shouldn’t a school of any kind be just one location, one major campus? They tried to get the Old Mint building, it might have worked as one big building to accommodate all departments, except for some necessary satellite offices somewhere else. Oh, well, such is art school. B. Bradley was there forever until she had that unfortunate accident. Good morning, Dr. Stephens, how are you?

Enrolling here was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.
I studied MFA Advertising: Art Direction on campus and online. Content online was copied and pasted from course to course. On campus classes consisted of the same content and format no matter the title of the course. Complete robbery!
The foreign students I made friends with told me the university preyed on them. AAU constantly failed them and didn’t offer helpful services for language barriers. They said it was deliberate since the students spent so much on out-​of-​state tuition and it was a way to trap them into taking one class multiple times at the high rate.
Wasted 2 years and tons of money attending this scam of a university. I wish I came to my senses sooner. Do not enroll here!!!
Read these articles and educate yourself, since AAU definitely won’t:

Actually, I attended Academy of Art University’s film studies program and I was one of the few people from my town to get into this school. It was 2003 and I was 18 years old. Now this school is ridiculously expensive. some of the students were snobbish asses, and their financial aid department is a joke. But I love this school because it gave me the tools to get into the entertainment industry and how to become a better business person. I am thankful for having some professors care about my vision. I attended a lot of garbage schools including Concordia at Irvine… so this school actually taught me something about being a better person.

To everyone moaning and groaning about the tuition costs of AAU, try doing a little bit of homework first…
RISD– $ 45,840
Fashion Institute of Technology is $ 18,510 for out of state residents (I hope you live in New York!)
Parsons School of Design $ 21,040
School of Visual Arts 33,560
The Art Institute $ 18,748
Ringling College of Art and Design $ 38,170
SCAD $ 34,470
Cal Arts (cheaper than RISD) $ 42,276
Otis $ 37,380
FIDM $ 28,920
AAU’s tuition is $ 25,000 per year.
SAN FRANCISCO is a very expensive city. Go complain to them.

THE ACADEMY OF INSTITUTIONS
Buses shuttle students into scheduled slots
between buildings and parking lots
Logos campus tours
Advisers entrepreneurs
Creativity boxed and sold
Advertised fashion shows
A marketing page for learners
promoting alumni high wage earners
All can come to be taught
Classroom seats are open to be bought
The Kings car collection is paid for by tuition
along with the Queen’s limousine
Teachers remain in their cubicles until officially released
Every graduation is formally policed
Knowledge has a price tag
but doesn’t pay its teachers
Pass the collection plate
just like preachers
A little group of educators try to start a choir
But they’d better stop that song before they’re fired
— — — — — — — — — — —

A lot of the complaints related to this school is how expensive it is. I am getting my Master’s degree in Fashion Merchandising from this school, and I look at other art schools, the tuition is much more expensive at other art schools actually. I would say AAU is relatively cheaper. However, San Francisco is a very expensive city, and art supplies are really expensive too. Most of my classmates in my particular program are very, very rich. They carry around $ 3000.00 purses, wear luxury designer clothing for example. Channel, Lanvin, etc. Just saying, I don’t know about for undergrad, but for grad school… I don’t think the «cost» is a big issue for some of these people.
As far as teaching goes, my teachers are really experts, very successful in their careers, and really tough and strict and have very high standards. The school uses top of the line technology. They say they don’t offer career services… they make us take a class on career and job search, and networking. If you know how to use the school resources, opportunities to network are plentiful. The people at this school are so connected to the art and fashion world. The teachers and students worked for very prominent, recognized businesses, and I know a lot of people that got internships at great well known businesses like Disney, Pixar, Valentino, BCBG Max Azria, Proenza Schouler and Missoni.
I guess with this school, it depends more on the program/​concentration itself than the school overall.
Negative comments I would make is that most of this school is located in or near the downtown area — and the downtown area of San Francisco is kind of icky, smelly, scary and sketchy. San Francisco is expensive and kind of gross too. I am surprised that San Francisco doesn’t have a bad reputation. Because it kind of deserves it… like a lot.

Being an alumni of their interior architecture and design BFA program, I will write a nice, thorough review detailing how awful this school is. First off, their initial pitch on being able to apply to this school sans a portfolio, gives creative students hope that they can apply and get into this school and develop their portfolio through extensive training, guidance, and support during their academic years at AAU. Instead, throughout 90% of my courses, I received very little support from teachers, as they took on these teacher positions on the side of their main businesses, thus putting very little effort into instructing our classes-​many of my six hour studios were basically silent workshops while the instructor sat in front of class with a laptop managing their main businesses. Therefore, my portfolio took inspiration after I graduated and landed myself in firms, with the help of MYSELF and not the school, who provided ZERO assistance in getting internships or guidance after you graduate. It was a joke degree. An expensive one.
In addition, tuition was ridiculous, along with supplies necessary for each course. I found a majority of my classmates had to take on second jobs or drop out just to survive in SF, and many certainly lowered their number of classes per semester because they could not afford to be full time students, which meant prolonging their time at this POS school and having to deal with raised yearly tuitions. You also were unable to transfer your credits to another, more affordable school. This is where AAU traps you into being an eternal, broke student at their array of campuses throughout SF. AAU is also known as the real estate scam of the city, boasting their numerous campuses-​their academic opportunities are just a cover up. I only know 3 classmates that graduated. I hustled out of there as fast as I could and took on additional courses so I could graduate sooner.
Lastly, I was promised by an advisor that taking on more courses during each semester would mean I would graduate sooner and be able to walk in a ceremony in May, although I had a few summer courses left. For a year and a half, I struggled to work part time and take on six classes per semester. Instead, after completing all the courses as promised, I was notified that I was unable to walk in the ceremony, after my family had booked flights to visit SF to see me graduate from this ridiculous school. My advisor simply shrugged sorry and didn’t attempt to take responsibility for her ill guidance. It was only after I decided to write the dean a letter in regards to this ill guidance. Had my attorney brother not helped me draft this letter, I’m sure I would not have walked the ceremony.
In short, this school is a joke, and doesn’t offer any help or guidance to the alumni once they graduate. The only thing they leave you with are loans you’re stuck paying off and a faux degree.
I would recommend researching all your options and not making AAU one of them. And if you love SF so much, move here and apply to any other school that doesn’t require an outrageous tuition, because now, techies have taken over the city and made rents skyrocket, so you’ll have to deal with extreme rent costs on top of tuition.
Good luck.

Enough said.

Currently I’m a 4^th year student attending the Academy of Art for Interior Design. At the moment I would give the school overall 2 – 3 stars, but I would give my program closer to 4 stars.
THE SCHOOL:
I’m not a huge fan of the Academy. I feel like the upper people just care about expanding and making more money. I don’t think the school does a well enough job trying to keep students. When I started out as a freshman there were so many of us, but by the end of the 1^st semester people were talking about going home and not returning. And by the end of the first year many students were packing up with no plans of returning. (There could be many different reasons for this, but again, the school lacks in trying to address these occurring issues for students.)
It also doesn’t help how expensive SF is and the school’s housing is just as bad. I have been very fortunate in finding great housing at a decent price at a reasonable commute, but not every student is so lucky.
I’m not sure how other colleges set up advisors for students, but at this school each year you are given a new advisor. I’m not crazy about this idea of having someone new each year, but fortunately I’ve had great advisors who have always listened to my wants and concerns and who have recommend good classes to take at certain times. Obviously this is not the case for everyone. I’ve heard of the school offering the advisor position to students, which just spells disaster! Not sure how common that happens, but the fact that it happens at all is not good.
The school’s buses are usually late; however, most of the drivers are nice enough. It’s hard to be mad at them because the school is located in a city so of course the buses are going to run late! Especially if there’s a home Giant’s game (especially against the Dodgers) or afternoon traffic hours. The best bet is to either catch an early bus (it might even be less crowded) or to just walk depending on how far it is. Or using the city bus. And now the school is changing the times classes start so morning classes start at 8:20 instead of 8:30, but as far as I can tell from my summer class the buses haven’t adjusted their schedules to accommodate the time change yet. Or if they have, they need to rework them again.
INTERIOR DESIGN PROGRAM:
If you are a student interested in learning interior design here I would say this is a school to consider. Out of all the teachers I’ve had there’s only 1 that I thought was suspect. All my other teachers have been caring, having pushed me to succeed/​challenged me, and are easy to talk to. There are teachers that I had my first 3 years that I still talk to from time to time and seek out advice. And because most of these teachers still work in the field it’s a great way to network and get valuable information of how the design world works.
Also, I really liked that the program puts you in design classes your first semester rather than only giving you liberal art classes (english, math, etc.) I learned photoshop my first semester and I thought it was the coolest thing ever to be learning so soon.
Another positive is the teachers really push students to learn things by hand before going to computers to do things. And even after you’ve gotten to the point where you learn 3DS Max, teachers always encourage students to do projects by hand if they want to and they don’t grade their work any differently.
The interior design buildings are located by SF Design Center, which is great for getting samples, exploring real showrooms, and getting exposure at their internships. Most of them probably aren’t paid, but it’s good experience to put on your professional resume. SF is like a magnet for design firms so there’s plenty of internship/​job opportunities.
The IAD program isn’t perfect though, there are some areas for improvement certainly. For one, more labs would be a great step in the right direction. IAD has three buildings: 1 on Brannan, 2 on Townsend, but only Brannan is allowed to have computer labs. So if you’re in class at Townsend, but you need to use a computer you have to walk to Brannan to do that. It’s time consuming and annoying.
With the addition of more computer labs it would mean more students could grab a computer rather than having to wait around or hunt for one. If it’s finals and you don’t get to school early enough in the morning to use a commuter, you might not get to use a computer at all that day. I’ve been very fortunate to afford an expensive laptop that can run all the programs at a good speed, but most students can’t and I’ve seen students argue over a computer.
This past year CIDA came to renew our accreditation and we didn’t do as well as we would have liked so the director is having to make changes to classes. Some have been dropped, others added, and many classes had to be renamed. So it’s an unusual time right now for both teachers and students. It’ll be interesting to see how these next two years I have left go.

I had a free ride to this place and overall it was a waste of my time. So far there has only been 1 or 2 classes of any real value. Everything here can be learned from self study. Save yourself the time and money, just follow your passions and build a portfolio. Going to finish off my 2 year Web Design degree because I’m so far in I might as well finish.
This should sum it up…
Had a free ride still regret going here!
— SF Native

Two weeks ago we found out that your beautiful and talented daughter (a masters candidate at AAU) had died due to suspicious circumstances while attending this school. AAU placed our daughter, against her protest, in a dangerous part of San Francisco, isolated her during the intersession and completely ignored both her and our request to resolve this issue. Since her tragic death we have been completely ignored by the University’s Administration and they sent security to throw us out of her dorm room when we went to collect her belongings. They have shown no concern, support or remorse for our daughter’s death.
Aside from the fact that this «school» financially gouged our daughter and took advantage of her in every way, I can’t comment on my daughter’s experience. What I will say is that it cost her life. Since my daughter’s murder on June 2, 2015 I can tell you that the school’s administration has been callous, disingenuous, tasteless and insensitive. They have shown absolutely no concern over our daughter’s tragic death, haven’t returned our phone inquiries and pushed us around when we came to pick up our daughter’s belongings. Obviously, we do not recommend this horrible institution.

In February enrolled my daughter for the Summer photography program after Junior year. Unfortunately she cannot attend it because she has to take summer school for a few missing credits. I inquired about a refund for the $ 525 we paid and was informed that they do not refund-​FOR ANY REASON. Apparently the $ 525 was a registration fee and the classes are actually tuition-​free and they never refund registration fees. It sucks to be out the money but more than that the attitude I received from this school was offensive and irritating. It was «we have your money-​nothing else matters». Because of this experience I will never allow (or pay) for my daughter to attend this school and I will share my experience with anyone I can in hopes of warning them of the greedy environment of the administration.
9/​15/​15-​After telling me they would refund me if I could provide medical documentation stating why my daughter could not participate in their summer program they rejected my «refund request» and instructed me to file a grievance. I have never been so disgusted with a school in my life and that says quite a lot being that my daughter was bullied in school.

If you are looking to get hired at the University. This is the process:
Submit your application online.
1. phone interview with a recruiter (they will ask you general interview questions).
2. schedule for an in person interview with a recruiter or the same recruiter who called you (communication interview questions).
3. in person interview with the hiring manager (general and experience interview questions).
I had the worst 8 min interview ever with Joyce Gonzalez (hiring manager)! She didn’t like me when I walked in. She asked me a question and I answered it with a story and she told me to hush up. (F… rude ass b…) She then moved on asking me another question. I answered it in a couple of words. And it ended after the question — do you have any questions?. She was really unprofessional. The attitude I got from her was nasty. I dislike people who thinks they are in a higher position and i am expected to lick there ass.
Total of 4 interview questions that I was asked. When they said we will call you in a couple of days. Don’t expect to get hired.

[UPDATE] Well, I finally got my diploma in the mail. However, the rest of my review stands. Don’t waste your money here. There is no help with job placement, and to add insult to injury they have just cancelled all of the alumni privileges. This school does not care about its students — it’s all about the money. Which is a pity, because most of the instructors here are amazing (they are the only reason this place even gets two start. Honestly, if it weren’t for the lies, bait and switch promises and shady business practices this place would be 5 stars).
[OLD REVIEW] Don’t go here if you want a diploma. My friend graduated in the spring of 2014. It’s now February of 2015 and she hasn’t received her diploma. I graduated 3 months ago and haven’t received mine. Also, for students who graduate in the Fall thanks to the ridiculously long program, graduation ceremonies have been cancelled. This school is rife with shady business practices and repeatedly rips its students off.

Don’t Do It! It’s A Trap! A Very Expensive And Pretentious Trap!!!
This school is ridiculously expensive. And the worst part is that you will walk away with a piece of paper in your hand that means nothing.
They will suck every penny out of you. They charge you for everything. They don’t even have decent parking. Prepare to pay about $ 15 for parking everyday. Prepare to pay $ 9 for unofficial transcripts. OMG that one hurt so much.
There are some good teachers, but many godawful ones.
The counselors aren’t shit! They will guide you the wrong way many times and you will end up getting charged extra for it.
The midpoint and final review is the same for absolutely everyone! It’s a joke! They say the same darn thing to you and all of your classmates.
And if you were an MFA student like me, you will walk away with over 100k in debt and that’s about it. No doors will open and there are no windows. Good luck!

Disclaimer: This is a review about only the **GRAPHIC DESIGN** department at AAU on 79 New Montgomery, and not AAU itself. My glowing experience does not necessarily reflect those in other departments. IMO, our department is an entirely separate entity and note that each department operates differently. It is with best discretion to consider the reviews for each discipline and to not holistically apply to the entire establishment.
I seldom review on Unilocal,but I stand my ground when I write about something I truly believe in. After obtaining a traditional academy degree at Cal Berkeley, I came to AAU to be a better storyteller, designer, problem solver and critical thinker. I have never studied design prior and now, I am emerging back into the world with more than I could have ever imagined. Never have I been through a tougher but equally as rewarding program. No lie, this is bootcamp but you will meet some of the most challenging yet caring and passionate teachers. They make a lasting impact.
Graphic design is about making an impression on people and executing with the best of intent and a high degree of execution. Graphic designers are socially and ethically responsible for creating information – they are motivated to communicate perspective on sensitive topics and pave the way for change. With these responsibilities in mind, teachers take great pride in instilling that same belief in their students.
That said, I would like to express my gratitude to all the teachers who changed my view of the world for the better, who took their personal time out to teach us, who guided us towards eye-​opening experiences. Due to the word limit of Unilocal,I will add an amendment shortly about my invaluable experiences with my instructors.
#everythingonthetable

THIS PLACE MAKES MY LIFE A HELLISH PLACE: the whole place is rotting from the inside out.
at the gym someone asked me if AAU was a pyramid scheme. That’s the reputation. And they deserve it.
They are located in SF, surrounded by the best tech talent in the world but their online system is from 1990. and it works that way!
Can’t say enough negative things about this place and regret it every single day.

So wow, here is an update on the Academy of Art University.
Simply put:
1. Read everything, everything they hand to you regarding their policies… because at some point they will break them and deny any reason that its their fault.
2. If you talk to an advisor (if they still exist after a semester, and i have gone through several.) take down any and all notes that you can.
3. They record your calls, so tell them that you will too, and do it! I wish i had the recorded call of the advisor that literally turned into them fumbling over themselves.
4. The Grievance Committee is there in favor of the school, not you. If you address them with sufficient documentation and evidence that you (for whatever reason) are the one in the suffering situation they will dismiss it and twist your words around in their favor. Don’t. Even. Bother.
In conclusion, I hope AAU reads this and understands my frustration. I put years of effort, time and money into them… only to be repaid by being neglected and their policies misused against me.
AAU, I don’t care if your reading this. I hope you are. You disgust me to think that you represent the Arts. You flat out don’t. I see your adds for teachers on Craigslist as well. You make MILLIONS off of students YEARLY. The least you could do is actually KEEP a staff or, you know, provide better accommodations to students.
You are obscenely terrible.
You don’t even deserve the single star that this site suggests.

I just spent a few years here studying Interior Architecture and Design. Now, that I’m graduated and done with the program, I have to say having gone to other schools such as FIT in NY and taking classes at local community colleges, AAU delivers the best in this field of study. You get what you pay for here. Yeah, it’s super expensive, but this is one of the best. It’s a CIDA nationally accredited curriculum (Council of Interior Design) and will look good on paper.
Everything is state of the art here to accommodate an optimal learning experience. That would include equipment and resources. The instructors here know their material, and some are industry professionals. They offer free shuttles to different campuses around the city. They’re always having alumni guest speakers, industry professionals and other helpful speaking engagements for us to attend and learn from. I enjoyed listening to Roger Thomas speak (Wynn Hotels designer) My financial advisor was very helpful throughout the course of my study in helping me pick the right classes with a suitable workload.
I will say this. Don’t come here thinking it will be a cakewalk because it’s art school. Every class has a good load, and if you don’t have any art experience, at least have some passion and drive. If you already have art skills, that is one of the most important skill sets you can bring to the learning table here. You will be challenged, but once you’re finished you’ll have all the tools to get you started in the real world. They even assist you after you’ve graduated with a resource site to help with getting a job and improving your resume or cover letter if you haven’t already done so.

Undecided on whether you want to attend this school or not? This article will help:
Here’s my experience:
I was in the graduate program and had started fall semester of 2010 as originally a Fashion Design major and later transferred to Fashion Merchandising. Expect to be in any graduate program on average for 3 – 3.5 years if you register for classes for fall and spring semesters. I have friends that completed the program in 2 years because they took classes fall semester, winter intersession, spring semester, summer intersession and summer. That wasn’t going to work for me and most students will agree that schedule is too strenuous due to the workload we receive.
As far as the curriculum goes I believe that AAU has amazing, knowledgeable professors, but with that being said you are responsible for asking questions, utilizing the abundance of provided resources and taking full advantage of what you’re being taught. There are some cases when a student doesn’t work to their full potential and doesn’t get anything out of the program and later transfers to a community college only to realize that they could have worked harder and benefited from this grad program.
Areas of improvement include a larger library with more resources. The library has difficult hours operating from 10am-​10pm on weekdays (Friday’s closing at 7pm) and 12 PM-​6 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. This was frustrating because there are certain days that I needed to utilize the library before and after these hours, as one can only imagine.
Another area of improvement includes the high turnover rate for the school staff. During my three years at AAU I’ve had about four different advisors. With this being said sometimes the proper/​correct information was lost in translation and I ended up taking a class that I didn’t need because I was previously waived out of it, but didn’t find out until two weeks before the semester ended. It’s important for you to take control of your schedule and take the classes that you feel are necessary for your matriculation at this school. Sometimes the advisor would suggest that I needed to take a particular class but if I didn’t believe that it would benefit me I would sign up for another class that helped me more then their suggested class. Many students do this which usually works in their favor.
Also, there is a $ 120 class registration fee every semester. Completely absurd. I’ve paid in total $ 720 just to register for classes each semester for the 3 years I’ve been there. Absolutely ridiculous!
Keeping in mind that the school is extremely expensive and tuition seems to rise every year, but like any school it’s best that you make the most of it, especially since you will most likely be in debt for the rest of your natural life.
Dorms/​Residence Halls:
The cost per semester ranges from about $ 4300-​$ 6500. However that cost may have skyrocketed because tuition has increased since I’ve graduated. There are about 17 residence halls that all cater to a different demographic:
1^st year co-​ed.
1^st year all female/​all male.
21+ students only.
International students.
Grad students only.
Different residence halls have different amenities. Some have kitchens, some don’t. Make sure you look at all of the options before choosing your housing.
I’ve lived in about 4 residence halls and the best one yet was a loft that had a full kitchen and washer/​dryer. That was $ 6500/​semester because it was a single. Single rooms cost more. If you need your own privacy/​space and would rather not deal with roommates this is the way to go.
Residence halls don’t allow alcohol, hotplates, candles/​incense or smoking. Period. A lot of students whined because they had medical marijuana cards and thought they could do whatever they wanted. Nope, they got in trouble too.
No exceptions to these rules.
Dining:
Depending on your situation, living in a residence hall sometimes requires you to have a meal plan. There are about 3 dining halls plus cafes that take Knight Cash (AAU money for students). The only downside to the dining halls is that they aren’t open too late.
They close around 8:30PM/9ish, so if you have class from 7−10PM you’re out of luck.
The food is good and they have options for vegetarians/​vegans. Once you’re a student you can view the weekly menus online which is a huge convenience.
You can select a meal plan anywhere from 5 meals/​week up to 3 meals/​day.
Other info:
No student center/​main hub to hang out at. Everything is pretty much divided. Since the school is downtown you can kill time lounging at Yerba Buena Park, coffee shops, etc.
No campus bookstore-​buy or rent from Amazon or Alexanders (local bookstore).
No campus health center/​infirmary.
Courtesy school shuttle. Plenty of routes and runs often until maybe 1AM.
The drivers are usually very friendly (Rico & Sam).