California College of the Arts Top Questions

My classmates are a bunch of creatively diverse and a bit weird stduents that are really welcoming.

Due to the diversity and uniqueness of the students that attend CCA it's easy to get an idea of everyones personal ideas and opinions. Many of my classmates were kind, friendly, talented and sometimes even crazy but that's what was so amazing about them. I felt I met most of my friends through our small classes and because it was so small I was able to befriend most of my classmates in each class. The students here aren't afraid to express themselves, no matter how "weird" you are you wont be alone here.

Everyone there eats, sleeps and breathes their art.

I feel that is a great diversity of students at CCA. There are students from around the country as well as the world. Everyone has a different background that brought them here and I never felt a hostility between students.

The students I've encountered embrace the diversity of the school and the area.

CCA is a very open minded, and understanding school. There are many students here that come from varying backgrounds whether it be religious, ethnic, sexual orientation, political, economic, etc. No one here looks at those things, we look at the person themselves and many of us are good friends despite the many differences we may have. The only people I think that would feel out of place are self centered, closed minded people. Most students wear to class whatever they are most comfortable in. I.E a tee shirt with jeans and tennis shoes. Students at CCA are very politically aware as a great number of us are/were active in the Occupy wall street movement. There is always talk about what we might do, earn etc one day after graduating. We all just want to be successful ultimately, and we believe CCA will teach us to be able to take advantage of the opportunity to do so.

While most of the student body is widely diverse coming from all walks of life from around the world, almost every one shares the same passion for art. The most driven group of people working together.

The students in the graduate program are extremely diverse. There are so many different people here, from countries all over the world, with all different religious practices and and sexual identifications. I think the student body is reflective of the population of the city in that way. This is an extremely tolerant and accepting environment where I think anyone could and would be comfortable being and expressing themselves. I think students are very politically active and liberal - Occupy Oakland is in Oakland, after all. In terms of socio-economic background, I think thats where the the school is somewhat less diverse. Because its so expensive to attend, I think the student body tends to attract a predominantly middle class student body. Most if not all of the graduate students are supporting themselves, mostly with federal student loans, so that is somewhat of an equalizer for our program.

CCA has an amazingly diverse student body. Every person is different and the school and students are overwhelmingly accepting. I honestly would not be able to think of a certain type of person that wouldn't fit in here. Even those with out natural artistic abilities are accepted to the school for writing or visual studies majors. I live with three other students from CCA, all different majors. One is a Creative Writing major, a Photography major, a Graphic Design major, and myself an Architecture major. We are just a small sample of the diversity of students at CCA and each one has something great to offer.

Students at my school are very diverse in their backgrounds (all aspects) and opinions. I think what's great about CCA is that we have such a diverse range of students and the interactions we have with people on a daily basis are so diverse in themselves because of the variety of different people that we are around. Students here are mostly very open minded and interested in your opinions. We get into heated debates sometimes because our opinions vary from person to person but it's not really a problem, it's just more to learn from and a way in which we each individually grow as artists and designers. CCA has a growing population of international students and this year, we had the highest percentage of International students yet. I believe it was somewhere between 11 and 15{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}! It's nice to have so much diversity because it really opens the doors to many different possibilities. I think, because our student population is so diverse, it also eliminates the "clique" culture. It's too diverse for students to break off into cliques, and so all students get very much integrated into the community and culture of the school. I think students here are also very environmentally, socially aware and active people. The values of the school are very much tied in to the ideas of sustainability and social justice and students working very closely with the ideas that encompass these principles in their art making process. I think most students are very interested and aware of what is going on in the real world and it really influences our Art making process.