A question about college & the SATs?

Help on Art college applications! and my college plan!?

• ok so i need a lot of help on this. So im a senior in high school with a 2.8 GPA with a 1390 on SATs. I am trying to attend Otis/Art Center/Cal Arts. So i have this teacher that used to tutor me before i went to high school and i recently met him again and he stressed so much on how Figure drawing is the most important thing in a portfolio. But i already did figure drawing in my arts high school and i moved onto photorealistic paintings So my first question is, can my portfolio consist of photorealistic paintings or does it have to have more figure drawings/still life? Do colleges look more on figure drawings? And can i get into those colleges with my gpa and SAT score? And here the 2nd part of my concern. SO, my dad is telling me that i should take classes with said tutor for like a year and build up my portfolio from him. And i think im going to do that. But CAN i skip for a year and apply to colleges even though my education was in high school a year ago? Do you think its better for me to go to a community college and transfer so they wont look at my SAT score? How rare is it to get a full scholarship? Can i get at least like 15 grand scholarships cus those arts schools tuition is like 30-35 grand. Please help me, i am a high school student in desperate help. Thank you for your time! <3

• Answer:

  All of those schools are looking for unique talent, not one type of art work. The photorealistic paintings should be good. You will have to contact each to find out about GPA/SAT requirements. I do know that they look much more to talent than grades than, say, Stanford, but they may have a minimum requirement. I would actually recommend community college for a couple of years then transfer. You will save about $60,000-80,000, and you might find a way to improve your grades and build up your portfolio. I do not have stats on how much those schools (one of which I have taught at) bring on upper-division students. One thing to keep in mind is that completing two years of an AA program in California community colleges guarantees you a spot in one of the UC or CSU schools, many of which have AMAZING art departments.