When we first started Art School Reviews our goal was simple, to give alumni an online platform to share their opinions about their education. Today, we’re trying to do a little more.

After a year of design and development, we’re finally ready to release a beta version of Art School Reviews with features that will engage all our users: aspiring students, alumni, and schools across Canada.

Let’s take a look at what the new ASR has to offer.

Structured Reviews – Find the information you want

The cornerstone of ASR is and always will be our reviews. Reviews are now broken down into 7 distinct categories, making them that much more concise. Readers will be able to get to the information they want to faster and skip everything else in-between.

The 7 categories also represent a much larger hierarchical change to our site. Using the metaphor of the report card as inspiration, reviewers now have the opportunity to grade the programs and institution themselves. The grades of each review are averaged to represent a program’s overall grade, and in turn a school’s. Every grade you assign is now a grade that makes a difference.

Simple Submissions – Write a review in 3 easy steps

Writing a well crafted review that makes a difference takes care and time, so we wanted to make the process as simple and precise as possible.

Distinct categories can now be assigned grades and then written about. At any point in time a user can also save a draft to come back to later. Furthermore, since reviewers can have differing opinions as to which categories deserve the most attention, they can adjust the final grade by manipulating the ‘Weight Distribution” sliders.

Filterable Directories – Find any art + design program in Canada

Want to find an industrial design school that offers bachelor degrees in British Columbia or reviews for makeup schools with greater than B+ averages. Well now you can with our newly minted review and school directories. With our advanced filtering system, you can find the school that’s right for you.

Feedback

We’re looking for all the feedback we can get. From bugs, to usability issues, features and the like. Join in on the conversation by posting on our feedback page.

Thanks

Lastly, we’d like to thank Venture Connection, in particular Stewart Marshall (mentor in residence)  for guiding us through our entrepreneurial adventure. Without his help, we wouldn’t have been pushed as hard as we were to get to where we are now.