It takes courage to go to art school. It takes creativity, conviction, passion, and diligence, too. But the bottom line is that you’ve got to have courage. Because the idea still exists that art school’s a joke. That it’s for kids bent on coasting. That it’s studying for a hobby, not a career. People don’t scoff at someone studying corporate law. But to say you’re studying sculpture, photography, or film invites condescending reactions. Going to art school means facing people who won’t understand. And there are no guarantees. Go to business school and chances are good that you’ll land a job, and likely one that pays pretty well. But you could be the greatest art student in the world and still only land a $20,000-a-year job. Like I said: courage.

Luckily, Boston is loaded with art schools looking for the few, the proud, the art students.

Fine-art gumbo

Raishad Glover came to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) from Xavier University, in New Orleans. Gumbo is big in New Orleans. But he found a different kind of gumbo at SMFA.

Glover’s art blends genres. He works in painting, sculpture, video, and performance, reflecting what he calls the “gumbo-type of aesthetic” at SMFA. “It’s a big gumbo community,” he says, “and the gumbo is good.”

SMFA offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as diploma, post-baccalaureate, and fifth-year programs. It’s affiliated with the Museum of Fine Arts, and all students have free access to the museum. SMFA also partners with Tufts; undergrads and grad students get their academics there. The diploma program, meanwhile, is a studio-based course of study, and diploma students are not required to take academic classes.

Glover completed the diploma program this May and is heading to grad school at Yale next fall. He praises the freedom at SMFA, the respect it fosters between students and teachers, the way it teaches how to handle defeat and encourages people to confront challenges and take risks. “It’s a family type of thing,” he says. “It’s not a sugarcoated school. But there are moms here, dads here, cousins, black sheep, and everyone’s engaging with each other.”

Shutter to think

New England School of Photography (NESOP), located in Kenmore Square, offers six majors to choose from, including commercial, black-and-white, photojournalism, and portrait photography, and five minors, including fashion, documentary, and digital imaging.

“It’s a very, very technical school,” says Trevor Rathbone, a 23-year-old who dropped out of community college and picked up a camera.

During the first year of the two-year Professional Photography Program, “you’re bombarded with technical information.” The second year involves more aesthetic classes. “You need the technical background to be able to explore your own ideas,” Rathbone says. NESOP is “small and concentrated and totally hands-on.”

With only 140 students, “there’s a lot of personal attention,” he says. “And the average age is about 25. And that’s kind of what I liked too — it eliminates some of the kids who’re just riding on their parents’ buck. Most people here are really passionate about what they’re doing. It’s nice to be in that environment.”

Sewn up

Like Glover and Rathbone, Jessamy Kilcollins also came to art school after attending a more-traditional college. While studying creative writing at Goddard College, in Vermont, she started to sew. The hobby soon led her to transfer to Massachusetts College of Art, the only publicly supported free-standing college of visual art in the country.

A junior fiber-arts major (part of the 3-D department, which includes weaving, papermaking, soft sculpture, and textiles), Kilcollins praises the collaborative community at MassArt.

“We feed off each other,” she says of the roughly 1400 undergrads. Degrees offered include bachelor of fine arts (BFA), master of fine arts (MFA), and master of science in art education; MassArt also has certificate programs. Courses of study range from environmental design to performing arts, critical studies to 2-D fine arts.

“There’s something to be said about it being a state art school,” Kilcollins says. “A lot of us couldn’t afford to go to a private art school. People here are down-to-earth and come from all different backgrounds.”

Such a family

A small private school founded in the ’60s, Montserrat College of Art, in Beverly, offers a BFA, as well as diploma programs with concentrations in fine arts, graphic design, illustration, painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

“It’s such a small school, you get so many opportunities,” says Emily Pardoe, a junior studying sculpture. “It’s such a family.

“You have to have passion for art,” Pardoe continues, describing what makes a successful art-school student. “You have to be someone able to look at other artists for inspiration. You have to be really willing to work hard. You have to be constantly working.”

Graphically inclined

In high school, the only thing Shaun Stanwood wanted to work at was art. He finished up at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University (AIB) in December and now works at a design firm in town.

“I think what I learned at AIB is how to take an ability, a skill in being visually creative, and translate that into something that’s applicable,” says Stanwood.

AIB offers BFA, MFA, post-baccalaureate, certificate, and diploma programs. There are about 565 undergrads. As a result of AIB’s 1998 merger with Lesley University, its students have access to expanded educational opportunities. And the school emphasizes community, promoting dialogue over lectures, collaboration over competition.

“I’ve noticed,” remarks Stanwood, “that a lot of kids who didn’t feel in place in high school really feel like they found their home in art school.”

More to life

Like AIB, the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University (NESADSU) is an art school within a major university.

Marg Dion graduated from NESADSU in the ’70s, started teaching a history of furniture and architecture course there in the ’80s, and besides running a business, is now pursuing her master’s in interior design.

“One of the strengths of the school,” she says, “is that everyone is a practicing professional. We know the real world because we’re out there every day.” NESADSU attracts an older group, according to Dion, “and there are people here from all walks of life.” The school offers three main programs of study, in interior design, graphic design, and fine arts. No matter where someone decides to go to art school, “it’s a commitment.... You’re not necessarily going to make a million dollars,” says Dion. “You just have to realize that there’s more to get out of life than just money.” ^

Nina MacLaughlin can be reached a nmaclaughlin[a]phx.com.

Where to find them

• Art Institute of Boston, 700 Beacon Street, Boston | 617.585.6600 | http://www.lesley.edu/aib
• Massachusetts College of Art, 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston | 617.879.7000 | http://www.massart.edu
• Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street, Beverly | 800.836.0487 | http://www.montserrat.edu
• New England School of Art and Design, 75 Arlington Street, Boston | 617.573.8785 | http://www.suffolk.edu/nesad
• New England School of Photography, 537 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.437.1868 | http://www.nesop.com
• School of the Museum of Fine Arts, 230 The Fenway, Boston | 617.267.6100 | http://www.smfa.edu