Located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the Cranbrook Academy of Art was established over 75 years ago. This professional art school offers master's degrees and shares 315 acres of land with the Cranbrook Schools and the Cranbrook Science Institute. Students are offered a variety of program choices, ranging from 3D design and fiber studies to painting and ceramics. However, Cranbrook Academy of Art does not provide a traditional school setting with classes and grades. Instead, students study, research and create independently, and are judged on a pass-fail basis. In order to graduate, students must complete a master's statement as well as put on a show of their work.
The American Academy of Art is located in Chicago, Illinois, and was founded in 1923. This professional arts school offers students bachelor of fine arts degrees in a variety of art forms, such as oil painting, life drawing and digital illustration. The American Academy of Art focuses on building the foundational skills of students before emphasizing studio time, and, unlike many art schools, requires students to also complete several science and humanities courses. Class sizes are kept to a 25-person maximum and the American Academy of Art is accredited by both the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
The New York Academy of Art offers two-year programs with concentrations in either painting, drawing or sculpture that result in a master of fine arts. This professional art school provides instruction in the form of lectures, studio time and seminars with an emphasis on critiques. The New York Academy of Art's MFA program is more rigid than some other art schools, with a set schedule of classes outlined for the first and second years of the program for each concentration. A Diploma Project consisting of a minimum of three works, or a single work for sculpture students, is required in order to graduate.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Academy of the Fine Arts was established during the end of the 1790s. This professional art school offers students the choice of a four-year certificate program, a bachelor of fine arts and a bachelor of fine arts that is coordinated with the University of Pennsylvania. The four-year certificate programs consists of training in art forms such as drawing and sculpture, while the BFA program comprises 126 credits which encompass subjects such as art history, language and literature, history, culture and science. This professional art school also offers a master of fine arts program and a post-baccalaureate certificate in graduate studies, which is a studio-based individually designed program.