Post-Baccalaureate Programs in Fine Art

For those who maybe regret not finishing off a major in Art, want to switch careers, or simply solidify or formalize a potentially lifelong passion, attaining a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Fine/Studio Art could be a viable path ["More than Bachelor, Less than a Master," New York Times]. While I’m sure many colleges and universities can easily accommodate adding a fifth year onto a four-year BA program to allow students to double-major in art as well as their original area of study, individuals who have been out of school for a while need to figure out how to start new, probably at a different institution. Unfortunately, no web page summarizes the programs available, so I’ll do my best here to post what I found in the first hundred results of a Google search for “post-baccalaureate” and “art”. The dollar amount in parentheses after each institution’s name is the annual tuition.

1. Top Tier MFA Programs with Post-Bac Options: Both the Art Institute of Chicago ($33,000) and the Maryland Institute College of Art ($32,000) offer post-bac certificates while also being highly-regarded in the US News and World Report rankings of graduate programs in fine arts. Say what you will about the rankings, but if you are set on getting into a “top” school, making art into a profession, and are willing to pay the premium tuition, then attending one of these schools could be a good move. Although admission to MFA programs is not guaranteed and credits do not transfer from post-bac programs to graduate study, making connections and involving yourself in the art community at the schools can only enhance your ability to attend them full-time as an MFA student. Just to be sure, I dug into the other top-ten programs and did not find post-bac opportunities at any of them.
2. Affordable Post-Bac Options: Brandeis ($17,500), Berkeley ($5,700), and the Lyme Academy ($19,000) all offer post-baccalaureate certificates for considerably less tuition than most of the other programs available. If you aren’t going to a top program or just want this to be a formalization of a lifelong passion, I’m hard pressed to come up with a reason why you would not consider one of these options. Brandeis’ program might be more affordable because it only offers 2 and 3 courses per semester, though it is a full-time residency program. At just $455 per class, Berkeley could be the hands-down best deal, but its program is run by UC Extension, the continuing education branch of Berkeley.  Therefore, classes meet once a week during evenings and weekends; these would be considered casual audits and not worthy of any degree or certificate at another program.  In addition, as a non-degree continuing education program, Berkeley classes are not eligible for federal student loans, so you will have to find private loans or pay out of pocket.  I’m not sure why someone would pay more to attend the Lyme Academy in Connecticut; to me, it seems like urban culture is central to a vibrant arts community. It is, however, more affordable than the following options.
3. Other Post-Bac Options: The San Francisco Art Institute ($32,000), Minneapolis College of Art and Design* ($28,000), and School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston ($31,000) all offer post-bac certificates, but at the premium prices of top-ranked options without the supposed prestige of a high ranking in US News. Unless you are specifically tied to a particular area, I’m not sure why you would attend one of these schools instead of the options in 1 and 2 above. Then again, I’ve barely put a pen to paper, much less brush to canvas, in about ten years, so I’ll likely be a beggar rather than a chooser should I go this route. These three programs could be my only recourse.

Having just dissed three post-bac programs, it would do me well to remember that posting ancient drawings to DeviantArt.com is about all the "artwork" I've done in the past ten years.

Post-bac programs like these are the only recourse for people who definitely want an MFA but don’t have the undergraduate degree or portfolio to get into a graduate program. However, for someone who is just trying to reinvigorate a lost-lost passion or right a past wrong, diving into even $15,000 (Berkeley) of debt can be an expensive way to go. On the other hand, what’s all the money from lucrative professions for INTJs supposed to go toward anyway? The worst thing that happens is that I take a year, decide I don’t want to do this, exorcise my prior regrets, and easily pay off my loans after an MBA. The upside is that I rediscover an old passion and am then able to continue to pursue it with an MFA program.

* Note that the application instructions state that you must submit 20 slides.  My correspondence with their admissions department has revealed that their online information is dated and that they actually prefer digital submissions.