[Svanur]

I have a question to those who are in Sheridan or are familiar with that school:
Has the school begun accepting applications for September 2003? When I press "Apply for Full time programs now" button I can only see the list of subjects for january 2003 and september 2002.

Another question: What do they want in a portfolio when applying? What is the acceptance rate and so forth.

Thanks in advance.
_________________
... and they shall know no fear.

[xXxPZxXx]

Good question, since I couldnt do it online I just printed one out and sent it in. I live in the U.S. though so I took it upon myself to use the "international" application. I really don't even know if it will be looked at or not, but I will keep trying. Sorry I can't help you more but if you wanted to I am sure you could also print out an application and send it in.

[Storm Crow]

Yes, you can apply on-line at http://www.ontariocolleges.ca. The charge is $65 CDN via credit card, money-order or on-line banking.
You have up to five choices (maximum three at any one college) of which programs and schools you wish to apply for.

If you are fresh out of highschool, I would reccomend applying also for Art Fundamentals (a one-year course at Sheridan), as 98% of the students that apply straight out of high school do not have strong enough life-drawing skills to enter the program. This will also give you an opportunity to become familiar with college life and the life of an art student before commiting yourself to the 4-year Bachelor of Applied Arts in Animation or the 3-year Diploma in Illustration.

I assume you are inquiring about animation, but Sheridan also has many other excellent art programs.

I encourage you to research the field in which you are interested in before applying, as many STUDENTS at the college don't even know what is out there for them after they graduate.

I'll give you a brief summary:

Animation: Sheridan has one of the best classical animation programs in the world. Having said that, Statistics Canada reports a 39% full-time employment rate. As an animator you WON'T be starting out making $60K a year - those days have long past. Major companies such as Nelvana contract out their "in-betweens" to companies in places like Korea, where the labour is very inexpensive. Computer Animation? Well, you get an introduction to it as part of your four-year degree, but it by no means will prepare you to enter directly into the highly competitve work force as a computer animator. Most of the employment is in the United States - and you will be competing with graduates from the respective art schools down there. I can tell you, unless your demo reel is TWICE as good as your American counterpart, it is not worth the extra paperwork (VISA) to hire you over them.

I have quite a few friends who went through the program, are excellent artists - none are still working in the animation field - most are freelance and scraping by at the moment (it's tough right now).

Anyhow, that's not to discourage you, but I just wanted to demystify some of the romantic notions that students seem to have about the animation program.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask away.

[atomicmonkey]

Yes, listen to him.... don't apply! Less competition for me!

Just kidding. I wont be in the same group applying as you anyway since I'm going through special admissions (hopefully, gotta keep that B+)

Anyway, regarding the thoughts on the industry... It's true. I mean I research this stuff like mad cause it's all I'm interested in, and every professional gives this kind of news. However, as it was said, Sheridan does have one of the best animation schools in the world. Though I do of course want to work in animation upon graduation, the intesive training they give you here (if you pull through it, as not everyone does) will make you an amazing artist, period. It's not as if you are only skilled to work as an animator. I mean, you guys just need to take a look at the life drawings of these 3rd year students in animation here... they're... incredible.

Also remember there are jobs in storyboarding not in the animation biz, as well as things like commercials and the whole video gaming biz. Animation is not just television and film. But yeah, sadly, it is in quite a slump righ now. Who knows how it will be in 4 years after you graduate, though?

[Svanur]

Thanks for the advice and info, I really appreciate it.

Personally I am more interested in Illustration than the animation courses although perhaps I'll give check them out.

been 3 years since I graduated out of the so-called college here in Iceland(people graduate at 20 here not 18 like other places). I've been going to night classes, life drawing, painting and so forth to catch up on basics which have been really helpful. Tried to apply twice to the Art University of Iceland but they seem to hate me or something. You can check out the school at http://www.lhi.is been to several of their graduation shows and I have to say that they are too arty farty, even the curriculum is more about the artists workplace rather than life-drawing and so on.

but still, thanks for the info.
_________________
... and they shall know no fear.