School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Top Fine Arts College in The U.S. Skip to Content Lottie file National Decision Day is Approaching Make your undergraduate tuition deposit by May 1 in order to secure your place in our fall class. Transfer Deadline: June 1 Learn more about transferring to SAIC for fall 2026 and apply now. Take an Art Class this Summer Non-credit online and in-person courses for adults start soon! See all courses and register now. Register Now Curious. Bold. Ambitious. You're ready to take risks and challenge others. You're open to change — and want to change things. This is your playground. Explore Our Programs: Undergraduate Graduate #2 Fine Arts Program among art and design colleges in the U.S. U.S. News & World Report Best Grad Schools See SAIC Rankings & Accolades #2 An International Campus With 80 countries represented among our student body, see why students from around the world come to study art and design at SAIC. 160 Years in the Making In 2026, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is celebrating its 160th anniversary. Since 1866, we've been educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars, and we can't wait to see what our community creates in the decades to come. A History of Influence SAIC has been at the forefront of art education for more than a century and a half, fostering critical thinking, rigorous investigation, and playful creativity. The School was among the first to embrace self-directed study across disciplines. Notable Alumni This has always been a school that pairs rigor with risk-taking, serious critique with play, and a commitment to individual creative vision with the belief that artists’ and designers’ work can help drive social change. Our alumni lead not just in the fields of art and design, but across a wide range of industries. Purposefully Different The School offers more than 1,000 courses across disciplines, so the academic experience is unique to each of our 3,300+ students. From how artists and designers learn, to our community’s deep involvement with today’s issues, to the fact that we're one of the only museum schools in America—there is no one “something" that makes SAIC stand out. Our Museum To visitors, the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the world’s great galleries. To our students, it is an extension of the classroom. Encompassing more than 5,000 years of human expression from cultures around the world, the museum contains more than 300,000 works of art. Chicago: Our Home & Campus Chicago's richness, complexity, and contradictions are the perfect environment for our own diverse community. SAIC alums settle here to make work, open galleries and studios, and power Chicago’s creative industries. The city grounds and inspires the School’s artists and designers. In turn, their impact reverberates throughout Chicago and beyond. Why SAIC? Three of our students share what brought them to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Tess Shoshana "The freedom to choose what you learn and how you learn." Leo Dai "I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now without Chicago." Antane Phillips "The museum, I have now seen it as my second classroom." Spring 2026 Magazine From alums who work at Disney and Mattel to artists creating vibrant modern work, our Pop Art issue spotlights the overlap between popular culture and creativity. Explore Share This Issue From alums who work at Disney and Mattel to artists creating vibrant modern work, our Pop Art issue spotlights the overlap between popular culture and creativity. Read the full issue The Coolest Thing in Comics In our cover story, comics superstar Caroline Cash (BFA 2019) makes history as the new artist behind Nancy . Cash started creating comics as an SAIC student—and she hasn’t slowed down since. Read the cover story Amy Lawson Smeed Will Make You Cry Moana Frozen Wreck-it-Ralph , and more: As an animator and head of animation on many projects at Disney, Amy Lawson Smeed (BFA 1997) is behind the scenes of your favorite movies. Read the full story Where Art Meets Drag From clubs to raves to galleries, Ále Campos (MFA 2022) and Abhijeet Rane (SAIC 2016) carry the lineage of Chicago drag performance forward. Read the full story What Is This? For more than 155 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Read the Latest Fall 2025 Magazine From Classroom to CTA: Lauren Nickels on Designing for Connection Angel Otero Defies Definition Close Upcoming Events Meeting Early College Program Summer Institute Registration is Open November 01 - May 01 Transferring to SAIC Online Info Session: April 23 April 23 Online Art History Graduate Symposium April 29 MacLean Center Ballroom Online National Portfolio Day: May 9 May 09 Online Explore More Events Latest News students Venice as a Classroom faculty Faculty Member Nick Cave Exhibiting at Smithsonian and Venice Biennale Alums Alum Maggie Gottlieb Wins Children’s and Family Emmy