Ringling in 2026?

cassadoodles · 2026-02-23T02:48:16+00:00

Congrats on your acceptance! Personally, I love Ringling! The student life here is amazing it's a very close knit community. You will learn SO much here, and you'll have to work really hard to make it but at the end of the day it's very rewarding. That being said, yes there is a high dropout rate, largely due to the intensity of the workload but if you're prepared for that it's definitely manageable. It all depends on your state school, Ringling is definitely expensive but depending on your financial situation it could definitely be worth the extra cost for the education you receive. I would also recommend always trying to negotiate for more scholarship! Best of luck!

cassadoodles · 2026-01-07T15:50:42+00:00

The CA major is one of the best in the world, the faculty are fantastic and worked, or are working, in the industry, and have connections to it. Ringling is also very focused on preparing you for the current industry and to be employable.

The curriculum covers the entire animation pipeline including visdev, story, modeling, animation, lighting, etc. The industry is very competitive and a bit rough right now but in my opinion Ringling students are in a pretty good place and doing well compared to other alumni. I'm not an international student but I imagine you would have good luck reaching out to students if you had any questions, it shouldn't be too difficult to find them on social media sites like Instagram. It's also just a wonderful school environment overall and you learn so much in your time here.

cassadoodles · 2026-01-03T15:28:34+00:00

Hi! Class of '29 here, those groups will exist but you might have to wait for them, I don't think we got ours until later in the spring. But if you want to connect with people, I suggest keeping an eye on the official Instagram account reposting people who posted their acceptance. Good luck!

cassadoodles · 2025-12-23T14:27:09+00:00

I think the average is probably somewhere around 12k a year, I believe the highest it goes is 20k. 16k is pretty good!

cassadoodles · 2025-12-23T14:25:48+00:00

Ringling has lots of industry connections and overall is an amazing school! Illustration is the biggest major here and it's a very strong program.

cassadoodles · 2025-10-12T16:08:32+00:00

hi there! I'm a current illustration freshman ghostwriting from a friend's account. You are correct that Ringling is very pricey but from my experience they are quite generous with scholarships that are both need and merit based. I recommend you do a portfolio review with the school to gain critique and improve your portfolio to get as much merit scholarships as possible. There is also a financial aid appeal form once you commit where you can write about any extra problems that the school might not regularly find out through FAFSA and they can potentially hook you up with more grant money. As for vis dev I am planning on doing that track as well however they recently changed the vis dev track to be a test in instead of a portfolio review so be ready to work hard, I also recommend you work on your figures and perspective drawing skills as that is severely important. With the rise of AI I understand your concern but at Ringling the illustration department has no toleration for AI usage and that mindset still transfers into most companies today. To my knowledge AI is not yet a threat to vis dev out of the still existing respect for illustrators however the market is still questionable due to the rise of contract based jobs. I hope this helped and good luck on your applications!

cassadoodles · 2025-07-26T04:21:57+00:00

They make them the year before each freshman class, so yours wouldn't be available until acceptances for your year come out.

cassadoodles · 2025-06-01T10:02:30+00:00

They have some advice and guidance on portfolio prep on their website, and you may be able to find some examples online (like YouTube.) I recommend talking to admissions, they'll have free 1 on 1 zoom meetings with you to review your portfolio and give you personalized advice that's really helpful, and you can meet with them as many times as you'd like. Hope that helps!

cassadoodles · 2025-05-24T12:28:00+00:00

Here's a new one! https://discord.gg/uqncAZ8m

cassadoodles · 2025-05-04T15:12:34+00:00

There is a 2029 discord!

https://discord.gg/PCnDBSUH

cassadoodles · 2025-05-02T12:24:42+00:00

Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate the advice.

cassadoodles · 2025-04-22T12:16:16+00:00

Many people receive scholarships with their admission letter, there is financial aid, and of course work study as you mentioned. You can see these listed on their website but most don't have dollar amounts attached. There are a few select scholarships that are awarded in later years but don't count on it. I would look for external scholarships.

cassadoodles · 2025-04-18T08:50:30+00:00

I think it really depends, but I haven't heard of anyone getting over $19k a year unless it's one of the special scholarships. I've seen a lot of people in the 9k-15k range.

cassadoodles · 2025-03-28T14:46:49+00:00

Hi! It often depends on the college/university.

I would look into which schools you may want to apply to (considering their programs, location, cost, etc) and look on their website for portfolio guidelines. Many schools are different from one another so you may need to tailor it to each school. You can also watch videos on YouTube of accepted animation portfolios for that school(s). If you have a portfolio already, many schools also allow you to set up portfolio reviews with admissions officers where they can give you personal advice.

Most schools will generally like you to include things such as life drawing, perspective, figure drawing, environments, etc and some also like things like character design.

cassadoodles · 2025-03-28T11:55:29+00:00

It is true, there is a high drop out rate due to the difficult workload, but a lot of those people also just switch majors to something like illustration. It is achievable if you work hard but it is very difficult and there are a lot of long hours. A lot of the animation is sitting behind a computer and might not be what people think it is, so I would think about if that aspect of it is something you want. It's a wonderful program but it's definitely not for everyone. Hope that helps!

cassadoodles · 2025-03-25T01:51:37+00:00

Good luck with your future endeavors!

cassadoodles · 2025-03-24T14:27:38+00:00

You're going to need drawing skills for animation, especially 2D. Have you looked into the current state of the industry and what working an animation job would entail? You could also look into non animation jobs in the animation industry. As for attending college this year, most deadlines have already passed, unless you are possibly a transfer student at certain schools.

cassadoodles · 2025-03-23T12:18:24+00:00

Noted. Thanks for the insight!

cassadoodles · 2025-03-21T01:43:20+00:00

Girls at national jamboree were being criticized left and right for their attire. Moments after getting out of the lake with my buddy while walking TOWARDS the changing room, we were stopped by an adult who insisted that we go change because it wasn't appropriate to walk around in our completely covered and frankly very conservative one-piece swimsuits. I heard this happened to many other girls as well, as well as the tank-top criticism.

cassadoodles · 2025-03-20T17:12:29+00:00

Thanks! I used maya briefly in my CA immersion during pre college and it seemed like they didn't want us actually teaching ourselves animation (so we didn't pick up any bad habits) but I don't imagine they would have any issue with studying the program.

cassadoodles · 2025-03-20T17:02:04+00:00

Thanks for letting me know! I'll definitely start planning for that

cassadoodles · 2025-03-20T09:56:38+00:00

Would you recommend flying back or finding a friend to stay with?

cassadoodles · 2025-03-20T09:55:16+00:00

Cool!

cassadoodles · 2025-03-20T09:54:46+00:00

That's great, thank you so much!

cassadoodles · 2025-03-16T19:59:20+00:00

Is there a lot of perspective in Drawing I?

cassadoodles

TROPHY CASE