After High School
Many high school students looking into college are focused on the notion of pursuing the vocation which will earn them the most money. Starting a career path to becoming a doctor or lawyer is a traditional and sure-fire way of ensuring that you will have a professional and lucrative career that can last you the rest of your life.But some Fortune 100 companies are calling the MFA (Master of Fine Arts degree) the new MBA. (Master of Business Administration) Why is this? What is it about an art degree that prepares students to become high-earning professionals on a par with a Wharton School graduate?
What's Art School Like?
I spent a couple of semesters in High School attending the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland to test the art school waters and to see if this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I did well in the pre-College studio class and also took a Drawing 101 class before I had graduated from High School. By the time I applied for and was accepted to the Maryland Institute I already had a few college credits under my belt and was ready for the full four-year experience of being an art student in art school.While I did indeed spend many hours honing my drawing, painting, and photography skills, there are two by-product skills of my art education that have trumped all the others. The first is discipline. As an art student, I carried 12 to 15 credits per semester and each class required approximately seven hours per week. So if I carried four classes, I had 28 hours of homework per week on top of in class work and my part-time job. Some weeks I am quite certain that I worked as hard as if not harder than any pre-med or pre-law student in a regular college or university.
What Do You Learn In Art School?
The second invaluable skill that I acquired in art school is fast and clear problem-solving. Indeed, perhaps art can be defined as the visual and conceptual resolving of problems. The business world talks about how it wants workers who can “think outside the box”, which is really just a cliché that means creative problem solving. Being an artist and creating art is all about answering questions and solving problems in new and creative ways.Where Can You Go After Art School?
So where did my seemingly humble art school Bachelor of Fine Arts lead me to career-wise? I have had a rich and varied career as an arts administrator, graphic designer, filmmaker, grants writer and freelance arts writer. I personally have never made a ton of money, but have always been able to rely on the core skills of discipline and problem-solving that I learned in art school to propel me into whatever career niche I have desired and pursued.It is also interesting to note famous art school attendees: Keith Richards, David Bowie, Robert Redford, David Byrne, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Robert Palmer, Brian Eno, Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, John Lennon, Ron Wood, Bryan Ferry, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia and John Entwistle. It makes me think that visual art schools yield excellent musicians—why is that? Know any other famous art school attendees? I would love to hear from you to add to my list.
