# SCAD Undergraduate Equine Program?



## SansPeurDansLaSelle (May 6, 2013)

Every college is a great fit for someone and a terrible fit for someone else. I went to a college my freshman year that many of my friends attended and loved but it was a terrible fit for me and I ended up transferring out as fast as possible. So you really can't know whether someone else's experiences with a school will mirror your own. 

I have one good friend who went to SCAD and absolutely loved it. He was not involved with horses in anyway but the art program was a good fit for him. Have you visited the campus and done a tour or sat in on any classes? I find actually going to the campus gives you a good sense of whether you think you would enjoy living there for four years or not.


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## PaisleysMom (Feb 22, 2017)

I'm not in this area, nor have I heard of the school but if I can give you some advice of a semi-recent college grad - be sure that equine studies is what you want to do. I looked into it at a school near me and fortunately decided against it. There aren't many jobs requiring a degree in equine studies, so you might get a job and then suddenly be buried in student loan debt. I have several friends that graduated from the University of Findlay in Ohio with equine related majors and almost all of them have careers outside of the horse world because they could not afford to live on the salaries of the horse world, or because they could not find a job that was up to their standards. Even with a degree, most people have to start from the very bottom, and they did not want to be "just grooms." 

I occasionally teach lessons at a very large lesson barn and they were recently hiring a new manager. They had lots applicants and I know at least 2 of them had equine related degrees. They went with the applicant that had horse experience but a business management degree. 

I'm not saying to give up on your dreams- but I am advising to be practical and think about life after college. My first few years in college working on my prereqs I was taking regular classes, but I rode on the equestrian team. I got the best of both worlds. I got to have several lessons a week and spend lots of time at the barn, show on the weekends, and still finished with my vet tech degree (and a job offer before I even graduated). 

See if you can not only have some campus tours but maybe arrange to meet with a student in the program now and spend the day with them to really get a feel for the program. Visit other campuses too and keep your mind open! I am not kidding when I say I changed majors 4 times until I realized what I wanted to do.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I don't know anything about the equestrian side of SCAD but my youngest son did his art (animation) degree at the Savannah campus and he loved every minute of being there. They were also very supportive in helping students find careers which is really important since that's why you do the courses


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

Agree with PaisleysMom! I'm actually a University of Findlay graduate of their Western Equestrian Program - I ADORED my time and education there but I'm glad I double majored in Business Management, as that is the degree I'm currently using to pay the bills. After a few years of amazing horse experiences where my degree helped but definitely wasn't required, I decided that 24/7/365 was not conducive to having the family life I wanted, so horses are now a hobby instead of career.


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## Chasin Ponies (Dec 25, 2013)

I too went to an Equine College right out of high school and was very sorry to have wasted the time and money. Yeah, I did learn a lot but it was a situation where you got the most time from the instructors and the best horses, only if you sucked up to them. Very political situation. If you didn't, you were assigned to "train" a broken down lesson horse.

For all that, the main reason I quit and changed to an Accounting degree is that virtually _none _of the graduates were getting jobs in the horse field and found out from personal experience that an equine degree is actually laughed at by experienced horse people. _The school lied big time about their employment statistics and they continue to this day! _

I don't see anything wrong with keeping horses as part of the equation but as a Minor degree, not your main one. The equine degree costs just as much as a legitimate degree and it's extra tough trying to pay off the old student loans while you start all over getting a degree in a field that you can actually pay bills with.


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## Mulefeather (Feb 22, 2014)

@PaisleysMom has a lot of excellent points. Personally I view most equine studies degrees as something that would make a good minor attached to a broader major because there is just not a lot of call for a degree like that. Most of it is stuff you could learn by spending $50 on a used Equine Studies textbook while taking riding lessons with a good coach, so it's best to just save your money. 

A business degree is great because it gives you a foundation on how business works - and a horse business is the same as any other business at the core. They all have assets, liabilities, profit and loss, supply and demand, and overhead. Whether you want to start a business selling brightly colored pillows shaped like ponies, or start a business breeding and training horses, the concepts are the same. 

If you are going to be pre-vet, then that may be a different matter. Even then, a good old Biology degree will serve you much better in the long run. 

These days, education for niche markets is a high risk gamble, so unless that niche pays well and has a high demand for entry-level candidates, it's best to avoid them where possible.


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## NavigatorsMom (Jan 9, 2012)

Good advice so far, just wanted to add that even if you don't do an equine focused major you should still be able to ride on the equestrian team and participate with that group, if that's what you want to do. My friend who got her bachelor's in psychology rode on her school's equestrian team for all three years she was there, and as far as I know she wasn't treated any differently because she wasn't an equine major. 

Basically trying to say that yes, you can do horses even if you don't make it your career - many (maybe most?) people do!


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