Top Animation Schools Ratings & Rankings

It is common for post secondary educational institutions to be rated or ranked in a number of aspects.  We’ve all seen the lists, everything from the best academic performance to the best party school and anything in between.  College is expensive, so it’s important to give very careful consideration to your choice.  When you use ranking information to narrow down possible schools, make sure you also know what criteria were used for those ratings.  There are a couple of systems that seem to stand out for animation schools.    

One of these ranking methods is peer review.  With this system a survey is developed asking very specific questions regarding the major area of study.  The survey is then given to a predetermined number of academic peers, like the deans of art schools or equivalent academics, and they are asked to respond to the questions for certain schools by rating them on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being marginal and 5 being outstanding.  Once the results of these surveys have all been submitted, the ranking for each question or category is determined by tallying the responses to that question and dividing the total by the number of responses received.  This method was used in 2008 to compile a list of the top 10 graduate schools for multimedia and visual communications, which includes animation.  The top 10 schools were Carnegie Mellon University, California Institute of the Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, School of Visual Arts, University of Southern California, Virginia Commonwealth University, and New York University and Rochester Institute of Technology tied for 10^th place.

Another method used for ranking animation schools is calculating the number of films produced by students that are placed on the shortlist at international film festivals over a five year period of time.  This method is more typically used to rank schools on an international basis.  The compilation of schools for the period of 2002 -2007 included a total of 20 schools from all over the world.  Schools from the United States that were ranked in this international list included Ringling College of Art and Design, University of Southern California, California Institute of the Arts School of Film and Video, Savannah College of Art and Design, School of Visual Arts, and Rhode Island School of Design. 

Even with the difference in rating and ranking criteria, four schools appeared on both lists.  This overlap may provide a solid indication of the excellent reputation of these particular institutions.  While certainly not the only things to consider, these types of rankings provide prospective students with a firm footing on which to begin their evaluations of schools.  Knowing how the rankings were established makes the information even more viable in the process of elimination.