Savannah College of Art and Design

Private · Moderately Selective · GA

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School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationGA · South

SettingUrban

Undergrads15,243

Student:faculty21:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate51.5%

6-yr grad rate69.4%

Drop-out rate13.7%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$42k

Out-of-state tuition$42k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity48.4%

Gender diversity70.6%

International13.9%

Identity—

Overview

SCAD is a large, career-focused art and design university spread through the historic squares of Savannah, with a second full campus in Atlanta and additional international locations used mainly for study abroad. It is built explicitly around professional creative training rather than a traditional liberal arts model, and its scale in fields like animation and game design is unusual among art schools — closer to an industry pipeline than a conservatory. The SCAD Museum of Art, housed in a converted historic railway depot, signals how central exhibiting and producing real work is to the university's identity.

Academics

Programs are organized around industry-facing creative fields: animation, game design, film and television, fashion, illustration, interior design, and similar disciplines, taught by faculty with working industry backgrounds. Classes are studio- and portfolio-driven rather than lecture-based, and the curriculum is intentionally structured around building a professional body of work by graduation. SCADpro, the university's in-house creative consultancy, pairs students with real client briefs from outside companies, giving them agency-style project experience before they graduate. Fashion students benefit from SCADFASH, the university's museum of fashion and film in Atlanta, which doubles as exhibition space and industry-connection point.

Campus & student life

Savannah's campus is unusual in that it's woven directly into the city's historic district, with classes held in restored 19th-century buildings the university itself renovated rather than a single contained quad. This gives students an urban, walkable setting steeped in Southern architectural history, distinct from the newer, more conventional Atlanta campus. Creative output — student films, fashion shows, animation screenings — is the center of campus culture rather than traditional athletics, though SCAD has built one of the more prominent college esports programs in the country, with a dedicated esports arena on the Atlanta campus.

Getting in

Admissions emphasizes a portfolio or creative samples for most programs alongside standard application materials, reflecting the school's professional-training orientation. It is generally accessible relative to its size and reputation, with the creative submission and demonstrated craft mattering more than a purely numbers-driven academic profile.

After graduation

SCAD's placement pipelines into major studios and design firms in animation, gaming, and film are a genuine differentiator, with alumni working across the entertainment industry at a rate unusual for an art school. Fashion and interior design graduates likewise benefit from an active industry-recruiting culture built around the school's portfolio-first training model.

Worth knowing

SCAD's scale in creative fields is genuinely unusual — it is one of the largest producers of animation and game design graduates in the country, with recruiting pipelines into major studios. Students should know the culture is intensely career- and portfolio-focused from day one, less exploratory than a traditional liberal arts art program.

scad.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate83%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1030–1270 · ACT 21–28

Test policyoptional

Rec letters1

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying