Without a proper portfolio, I couldn't get into any self respecting school. Which is how I ended up at the Center for Creative Studies. The most important thing one must do before learning is figure out what you don't know. In my first two years, I learned how little I knew. The last two years I tried to learn it.
Art school can be incredibly useful, but the degree itself is meaningless.
My art was still a mess when I graduated. I've met kids stuck on farms their whole lives who can draw better than I did then, and I've met art school grads whom I wouldn't want working on the Clay Colonial. I currently share a studio with two artists who have to hold day jobs and haven't been to art school. They're both incredibly dedicated and are better artists than I was when I graduated. In my last semester at CCS, I sent out samples to Marvel, and a week later to DC as an afterthought.