MICA Maryland Institute College of Art

[Katfayheirti]

I was recently accepted into MICA in Baltimore and have plans to attend the school starting this Fall (after I spent an excruciatingly long time trying to decide between MICA, SCAD, RISD, CCAD and Ringling.) I intend to major in illustration. I was curious as to whether anyone who frequents these forums has ever attended MICA, plans to attend MICA, or has even heard of it for that matter.

Anyway, please share your thoughts with me about MICA. I'm pretty curious about what you guys have to say. Do you think it's a good school? A bad school? Have you ever heard of it?

[DiMb]

i am also attending mica... heres what i've heard so far to strart things off

its got a very good painting program.. usually regarded as the best

they have a very well known illustration program which focuses on nurturing rather than trying to change you.

the illustration program builds off the painting one

there are also some very exciting things happening in the illustration department... if you are into concept art there are internships at firaxis and bug huge games. also they have some new classes focused on concept art.

The illustration faculty is pretty darn famous if that means anything.

please let me know what people think of this school.. this is only what ive heard mostly from students who ive met who go there

-DiMb

[indigo flynn]

What I've heard (just the other day, actually, from a current sophomore at MICA) is that the illustration dept. is very rigidly structured and tends to turn out a lot of people who work within one style, which is really pushed- sort of simplistic and cartoony. I visited just over a year ago, and I remember being decidedly underwhelmed by their illustration dept.

The painting dept. sounds a hell of a lot better to me- it's very loose, schedule-wise, so you can take a lot of non-painting classes, and of course it's currently ranked #1 in the nation.

Of course, you'll have all of Foundation year to get a feel for the different departments.

MICA's been hovering near the top of my list for a while- aside from Baltimore's reputation, it's basically everything I want in an art school: kickass dept. of choice [painting], lots of flexibility within said dept., friendly campus, familiar weather patterns, NY-, DC-, and Philly-accessible.

[bluefruitbowl]

Live in the area and have taken Continuing Ed/ Summer camp classes there. MICA and Baltimore, ftw, pretty much. =]

[brightwater03]

I attended the Maryland Institute 57 years ago and received a fine, well rounded, education that has served me well, first as an Art Teacher in the Baltimore Public Schools, then in advertising as account exec, art director, ad agency owner and, until I retired a few years ago, for 20 years as an independent rep for art fine art publishers and individual artists.
If I remember correctly tuition was about $350 a semester then. I'll bet that has changed, but I'll also wager the quality of the education is still excellent. I wonder if any art school in the US offers a course in "how to sell your art" once you have graduated? I'm not aware of any, but based on 20+ years experience as an art rep, I've done a number of free podcasts on Art Marketing. These links are also posted on Coneptart in another thread you may not have seen:
THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK – Part I Published in AMERICAN ARTIST.http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=13728

THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK – Part II Sell and build customers. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=13925

THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK – Part III An artists' rep and artist shares. .http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=14271

ARE THERE SECRETS TO SELLING ART? Based on 20 years as an artist and art rep. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=11313

ARE THERE SECRETS TO SELLING ART? Part 2 “Must listen" for artists who want to sell their work. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=12502

A LESSON FOR ARTISTS AND ART COLLECTORS Interview with renowned painter of sea life.http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=17098

THE ART BIZ – WHO GETS HOW MUCH AND WHY How THE ART BUSINESS actually work.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=19729

I'd love to hear from any art grads who attended a school where "How to Sell" was taught.
Dick Harrison

[Maxine Schacker]

Kat, please let us know how things go for you. I wish you all the best and hope you found a decent loan...don't forget to look into myrichuncle.com. We are hoping to get Max the Mutt on their list since it seems that they offer students the best deal. We really should have a thread on healthy, inexpensive meals. Its so important to your work that you stay healthy....Have a great summer.

[Corot]

If you are strap in Cash and want to go to a School similiar like MICA. Check out Towson University. Its in Baltimore still. The faculity are mostly MICA Graduates, so you know your getting that MICA touch to it. You can look at it as a second MICA. THey have a brand new building and it's beautiful. Inside of the building is a two floor museum. PLus it only cost under 40 grand for a Bachelor.

Actually I knew several people that left MICA cause of the price and they went to Towson. They said that the things they are doing at Towson, were the same things they were doing at MICA. Well the first year of course. They were fustrated with a 15,000 debet already and all they did was made snow flakes cut outs -_-*? I think it was a Design course. After that first year, its all self motivation at the school.

Good luck on your choice. Money can be a tricky issue. At the end, its portfolio and everyone knows that .

[Maxine Schacker]

In this day and age, when "painting" can mean so many things it tells us very little to say this school is ranked #1. By who? For what kind of painting? Do they teach representational skills, or does "kick ass" mean you can break crockery and glue it on your canvass?

[Myxomatosis]

Just saw this thread -- didn't know MICA was being represented here. I'm starting for painting in the fall! W00t!

[headless camel]

I heard much of the same things from my own art teacher when I told him I wanted to go to MICA. I asked him what he thought, and he said MICA was a lot of hot air. Naturally, I felt a little defensive, because it was my first choice, and then asked him what he would recommend. He told me that taking the studio track at Towson University would be better if I wanted to develop my technical skills more, whereas he felt that the students at MICA were allowed to do whatever without any basic structure behind them. He also recommended RISD and Uarts, but I would prefer to stay in-state, which is why it seemed like MICA was the way to go, but now I'm just not sure at all after what he said...Btw, I want to go into illustration, too.

Also, if foundation year at MICA is as bad as people have said it is...agh...I dunno, I'm just really trying to finish a portfolio for now..

I think the best thing for now is to see if I can schedule some sit-ins on classes for both Colleges and see if their teaching methods influences my decision...but if anyone has any hands-on experience with either program and has anything to relate, that would really be a great help.

[•Lindsay•]

I was accepted into mica also, but I choose risd partially because the reputation of the illustration department at risd is better.

I also avoided mica because it's less structured, I dislike the location, I dislike the food, and a few other reasons. Overall I was pretty impressed by it though, I'd be pretty happy to go there if I didn't get into risd.

[AntiMatty]

i was accepted into mica with no problem, ( they told me at my interview that i would have no trouble and they were right ) , but i couldn't afford the massive pricetag . i really don't want to go into debt. so i went to TOWSON University instead. some of the teachers are good. Nora Sturges for example ( heres some of her work : http://www.secondstreetgallery.org/exhibitions/nora_sturges.html )

she's got some really great paintings and she was really helpful . its the curriculum that sux. coming from a magnet highschool , i had already had 4 years of art ( + 3 years magnet middel school), so i had a pretty developed style already. i was able to place out of some classes but was told that i would have to fulfill those credits via other classes. showing up at design 1 .
the teacher said something along the lines of : " i'm going to assume that you have never drawn before so we are going to start at the very basics. i want you all to bring some magazines and tracing paper next class.....!!!" i immediately excused myself and went to the head of the art department and was excused from that class. i was instead allowed to attend drawing 2.

to understand what you are going to be dealing with , i REALLY recommend the movie "art school confidential" . it is a comedy but its also a pretty faithful portrayal of art school. LOTS of bullshit. not just towson and mica, but one of my best friends is attending the pittsburg school of art ( i think thats what it's called) . he says that its all bullshit there too. he spent a semester in a class about "color theory" or some such bullshit. they spent a lot of time doing color wheels. i heard about a particularly talented art student who went to some big art school in Chicago : during a critique of the classes assignments the art teacher brushed past the work of the student in question because it was the best there and the teacher didn't want to make the other students "feel bad" because their work wasn't nearly as good , so he tried not to draw attention to it or something.

art school is a lot of pretentious bullshit, you will notice that half of the other students there can't draw for crap and are going into debt for no reason. the teachers don't say anything because each student is a piece of the paycheck.

my second semester at Towson in "Design 2" we were cutting shapes out of carboard into some sort of "abstract sculptures" bullshit. i dropped out shortly afterwards. but i will probably end up going back.

my recommendation is that you first go to Community College to get all of your Gen Eds out of the way ,( general electives such as math, history, etc) for cheap and THEN go to Towson for just the art classes. two things though:
1. make sure that your gen ed's will carry over into towson
2. FOR GOD's SAKE DO NOT BUY THE BOOKS!! each semester they ask you to buy around $300 dollars worth of books , many of wich you will NEVER use , or might only use twice, or could easily get at the library . make sure you NEED the books first . no one ever told me this and i lost hundreds of dollars on useless crap.


i hope this was helpful to you.

[headless camel]

Hey, I got accepted to Mica, and was all excited for a while..and then the financial aid letter came and smashed everything to pieces.

They offered me 30,000 in scholarships, but it would distributed over the course of 4 years, so I couldn't use the whole 30 to cover this year. And I didn't want to take out a loan, because I've heard countless stories of people in their mid-thirties still trying to pay them off, which doesn't sound appealing. Along with other financial aid offers, Mica said they could cover around 15,000 out of 30000, the rest I would have to come up with myself. This doesn't cover room and board. My family is pretty poor as it is, and I wasn't gonna ask them to scrimp for me a whole year while I lived it up at fancypants academy.

Towson also accepted me and sent me a financial aid letter that covered most of the costs quite nicely. And my art teacher still thinks Towson is the better choice of the two, which I am not so sure about.

At any rate, I plan to make the most of it, and I might try to transfer over to MICA for the 2009-2010 schoolyear. Then again, I might not. Hopefully I'll learn everything I can and build a portfolio that's very attractive to scholarships.

On a side note--One of my classmates is going to Uarts in Pennsylvania, which supposedly has a pretty good rep. He told me not to listen to my art teacher and to go for MICA if I'm still up for it. The schooling is what you make out of it. nice.

[8bitnick]

finding this thread now is funny. mad props to kat for getting a big huge internship after her freshman year.

[Metalclay]

MICA came to my school my sophomore year actually, kinda weird since my school isn't an art magnet or anything and we're all the way down in Miami. Seems like a pretty good school.

They handed out these little big books spanning all of their major and I must say I was quite impressed overall. There were a few things there that were a little "meh" but...overall, nice. I took a look at the animation program and it looked pretty sweet, but...then I saw it was about the same price of Ringling, far from home, and their animation program wasn't as strong as I saw their illustration and painting program were. As Brighwater03 said, looked like one got more of a "well-rounded" art background from there

But, yeah, I've heard of it, pretty well known actually...more than Ringling, SCAD, or RISD down here in my neck of the woods.