What are the most selective art shools in the U.S. and UK that offer a BA, MA, or MFA in Illustration?

SVA is pretty good at carrer work and portfolio development, better than most art schools I've seen anyway.

I went to http://mcad.edu/. I got a degree in comics and currently work in comics. Their program is currently producing some really amazing work. I had a great time and I learned a lot. It wasn't THAT hard to get in, but it was hard to stay-it was very rigorious. http://calarts.edu/ has a great reputation, is pretty hard core for admissions. If you want to work in movies than you might as well just head to california straight away. You don't need to go to the "right" art school (or any) to get an art job- you need to be in the right location, have the right portfolio and learn how to network like a champ. I'm going to really caution you about art school in general. Almost every one of my friends from school are drowning in debt. It may be more valuable to get an apprenticeship with a creator, and learn the basics there. I know tons of kids who do the scanning at studios in NYC with big artists in exchange for a shitty paycheck and some real good learning.

http://www.rca.ac.uk/ is probably the most prestigious postgraduate art school in the UK. General highly regarded art schools with illustration courses include: Central St Martins and the other parts of the University of the Arts in London, Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh School of Art. There are probably others that don't pop into my head right now.

Ringling, CalArts, Art Center College of Design. Concept art for film and video is also done by those with degrees in Computer Animation, and Ringling's dept is very, very good. And a degree from these places means you have a strong network right from the minute you graduate.

I attended RISD and Parsons, but not for Illustration - but the departments at both were very well regarded. Its been quite a few years, but I imagine both schools are still very solid. Most of the people I know who've attended SVA haven't felt it was a great experience - and that's for many departments. I can't speak first hand on that though.

In certain circles, Thehttp://www.lymeacademy.edu/ is considered very prestigious.. but very few people outside the art world/southern Connecticut have heard of it; it's a super, SUPER small college and it's very focused on the classical arts. It certainly doesn't have the name recognition that RISD has.

No, SCAD does not have the same reputation. I was accepted (in 2006) without a portfolio. (and didn't end up attending, but still.) I know some people who speak highly of http://www.lcad.edu/