QUICK ANSWER
Call 02-3446-5929 or use the enquiry form; consultations run in person in Apgujeong or by video for students abroad. The consultation is more useful if you arrive with a question rather than a request to be assessed — and the most productive question is usually about money rather than admission. Royal Blue has recorded 1,099 acceptances across 95 schools since 2009, of which 454 came with scholarship money — a 41.3% award rate averaging $52,306. Ask us to walk through what that means for your specific major and school list, because award rates range from 82% at Otis down to 6% at RISD and that spread decides more of the outcome than most families expect.
If you’ve been researching Korean art academies for US art school preparation and Royal Blue Art & Design has emerged as a program you want to learn more about, this post explains exactly how to get in touch, what to expect from initial contact, and how to make the most of your first conversation with us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Website: royalblue-art.com The Royal Blue website includes program information, admissions context, and a contact form for initial inquiries. The website is in both Korean and English to serve the full range of families we work with.
In-Person Visit (Apgujeong Studio): Royal Blue Art & Design is located in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Families who want to see the studio environment, meet instructors, and have an initial conversation in person are welcome to visit. Please contact us in advance to arrange a visit — drop-in visits without advance notice may not have the appropriate staff available.
Consultation Inquiry: The most effective way to begin is by requesting an initial consultation — a substantive conversation about your student’s specific situation, target programs, current level, and what a realistic preparation plan would look like. Consultations are offered at no charge and without obligation.
What Happens After You Contact Us
Initial response: Families who contact Royal Blue through the website or by phone receive a response within one business day. We do not use automated response systems that delay genuine human engagement.
Scheduling a consultation: We schedule initial consultations at a time that works for the family — including evenings and weekends when academic schedules make weekday consultations difficult.
The consultation itself: Initial consultations typically last 45 to 60 minutes and include:
- Discussion of the student’s target programs and current level
- Honest assessment of what is realistically achievable with the available preparation timeline
- Overview of Royal Blue’s preparation approach and what is included
- Presentation of relevant admissions documentation for the student’s target programs
- Opportunity to ask any questions — including the verification questions this blog series has recommended
There is no pressure to enroll during or immediately after the consultation. Enrollment decisions benefit from careful reflection, and we encourage families to consult with multiple programs before deciding.
What to Prepare Before Contacting Us
To make the most of your initial consultation, it helps to come with:
- A list of target schools — or at least a sense of which programs (animation, fashion design, fine arts, graphic design, etc.) your student is most interested in
- Your student’s current grade level — which determines the available preparation timeline
- Any prior art background — what art training, if any, your student has had
- Any specific questions — about our results at specific programs, our preparation approach, or any aspect of the US art school application process
You do not need to have a fully formed plan. Initial consultations are often most useful for families who are at the beginning of their research and want an honest, knowledgeable perspective on what their student’s situation realistically looks like.
Languages
Royal Blue Art & Design conducts consultations in Korean and English. Korean-language consultations are available for all families; English-language consultations are available for international school families and students who prefer to communicate in English.
A Note on Enrollment Timing
Enrollment in Royal Blue’s programs is limited by the student-to-instructor ratios that our preparation quality requires. Students who are ready to begin preparation in 10th or early 11th grade are encouraged to contact us early — not to create urgency, but because the earlier preparation begins, the more time is available for the full preparation arc that competitive applications require.
Contact Royal Blue Art & Design
공식 정보: ACT 공식
Visit royalblue-art.com to submit a consultation inquiry, or call our Apgujeong studio directly. We look forward to discussing your student’s preparation with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a fee for the initial consultation? No. Initial consultations are provided at no charge and without any obligation to enroll.
Can consultations be conducted remotely (video call)? Yes. For families outside Seoul or families who prefer remote consultation as a first step, video consultations are available. In-person consultations at our Apgujeong studio are available for families who prefer them.
How far in advance should I schedule a consultation? Contact us as soon as you’re ready. We typically can schedule within one to two weeks of an initial inquiry. For families with urgent timelines — students in 12th grade with approaching deadlines — we prioritize expedited scheduling.
What if I’m not sure Royal Blue is the right program — should I still contact you? Absolutely. Initial consultations are not commitments. They are information-gathering conversations designed to help families understand their options. We give honest assessments — if a different program would serve your student better, we will tell you.
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What a Useful First Consultation Covers
Most first consultations are spent on portfolio assessment, which is reasonable but incomplete. The decisions that shape the outcome are made earlier and are mostly not about the work. Four of them are worth raising in the first conversation.
1. Which major, and therefore which requirements? Requirements differ by programme, not just by school — at CalArts, Character Animation sits in the School of Film/Video while Graphic Design is in the School of Art, and each programme needs its own application and fee. Deciding the major first determines what gets made next.
2. What is the financial shape of the list? This is the question families most often postpone and most often regret postponing. The failure we see every spring is not a rejection — it is a family holding two or three acceptances with no money attached to any of them.
3. Which deadlines actually bind? Scholarship deadlines are frequently earlier than admission deadlines. VCUarts requires the application and transcripts by November 1 for scholarship consideration against a January 15 regular deadline — a student who submits in January can be admitted after the scholarship review has closed.
4. How many distinct preparations does the list require? Schools contradict each other: CalArts asks applicants to leave out figure drawing and generic class assignments unless they show a personal approach, while USC’s animation division lists human figure drawing among accepted work. A list spanning both needs two selections, not one portfolio.
The Data We Will Walk You Through
Royal Blue has recorded 1,099 acceptances across 95 schools between 2009 and 2026, and we track the funding column alongside admission because an offer you cannot fund is a letter, not a plan.
| School | Acceptances | Awarded | Award rate | Average award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otis | 38 | 31 | 82% | $63,935 |
| MICA | 64 | 51 | 80% | $54,290 |
| SAIC | 81 | 56 | 69% | $46,775 |
| Parsons | 63 | 38 | 60% | $53,116 |
| Pratt | 102 | 40 | 39% | $67,638 |
| SVA | 140 | 41 | 29% | $58,944 |
| RISD | 68 | 4 | 6% | Not reported (n=4) |
| All 95 schools | 1,099 | 454 | 41.3% | $52,306 |
Source: Royal Blue admissions records, 1,099 acceptances across 95 schools, 2009–2026. Initial award letters, applied against tuition. Total awarded $23,746,972. These are acceptances, not enrolments — a student admitted to several schools appears several times.
Read both columns together. SCAD awards at 81% but averages $30,221, our lowest; RISD awards at 6%, on four awards we do not average. A percentage tells you your odds; it does not tell you your bill.
What we will not do is quote an acceptance rate. That fraction needs a denominator only we would know and nobody audits. We also mark what we cannot support — CalArts appears 15 times, too small a base for us to publish any percentage from.
What to Bring
Whatever work exists, unedited. Sketchbooks, unfinished pieces and class assignments are more informative than a curated selection — they show how the student works rather than what they can present.
The current school year and any deadline already known. The calendar constrains the plan more than the portfolio does, and a first consultation that ignores dates produces advice that cannot be executed.
An honest budget range. Not because it narrows the list — often it widens it. With award rates running from 82% down to 6%, a family that states its constraint gets a list built around it; one that does not gets a list built around reputation.
And any prior advice you have received, so we can tell you where we disagree and why. That is more useful than a second opinion delivered without reference to the first.
Questions Worth Asking Us
Ask these of any academy, and of us. An academy that cannot answer plainly is quoting figures it has not audited.
1. How many acceptances, in which years, at which schools? A count with a date range, not “many top-school acceptances”.
2. Acceptances or enrolments? Both are legitimate; conflating them is not.
3. What were the scholarship outcomes? An academy recording only admissions is recording half the result.
4. How do you handle schools that contradict each other on portfolios? The CalArts–USC disagreement above is the fastest test on this list.
5. What do you admit you do not know? Our CalArts row is marked rather than filled. An academy with no stated limits has not examined its own data.
The standing caution on our figures: an award rate is not an admission rate and not a measure of programme quality. These describe how schools distributed their own money among students we worked with — a planning input, and not a promise about any individual application.