<p>Trinf … Sorry that it is such a tough decision and the lack of generosity of the schools but Portland does sound like a good alternative. The travel and the “built in” costs are pretty big. CMU makes you buy a very expensive meal program when you could eat really good food in Pittsburgh for much less. DS has already realized that he could live off campus after freshman year and cut costs by almost 25% or more. </p>
<p>I was wondering about your worry that kids holding out on making a decision are making the schools hold out on offering “leftover” scholarship money to others who want to go. I did call SAIC about their April 19 decision “deadline” and found it was soft…but what surprised me is that she said even if he waits until June to commit, the money is still there for him…how can that be? That seems to imply they don’t offer leftover scholarship money to the remaining kids…I suppose we don’t know for sure but it was an interesting phone call.</p>
<p>Any reports back from MICA weekend? They assured DS in email that awards will be sent snail mail on Friday…aaaakkkk! snail mail? at best that means Tuesday 20 of April…</p>
<p>Fineartsmom
We were at the MICA open house on Sunday. They said that the award packages were going out priority mail on Monday. I had really expected to see it in the mail today… but nothing there. Sure hope it didn’t get lost somewhere along the way. Guess we’ll have to wait to see what tomorrow brings.
In terms of the event at MICA itself… typical art school confusion. They had kids split into groups ‘scholarship finalists’ vs. ‘others that didn’t fill out the scholarship paperwork’… which pretty much meant that everyone was a scholarship finalist. They had about 1400 people there (including HS sophomores and juniors) so it was crowded. There didn’t seem much point in tracking down financial aid person since they weren’t going to tell us any useful information ahead of the packets arrival anyway. Kid went to Illustration and Painting departments in the afternoon (on her own since she decided to be nasty and I decided I was “done”) and hubby went to parent’s round table discussion – he said lots of talk focused on dangerous Baltimore area/safety concerns and drug scene. Funny that was parents’ perspective at SUNY Purchase too.</p>
<p>Glutenmom: Hey, I think I mentioned way back in this thread that MICA considered anyone who sent in a packet to be a scholarship finalist! Their rep on Facebook told people that. I think it’s a little confusing, myself.</p>
<p>redbug: I think the Otis thing is pretty silly, but she said that the girl who went to Otis wasn’t one of the known “artists” (there are only 4-5) on campus and was the (wait for it) ex girl-friend of one of her friend’s other friend’s older siblings, who “is a total druggie and stuff.” I think she went 2 years ago, but no more than 3, since their first graduating class was 2007. So her opinion is, “If they’ll admit this person who had no interest in art but just decided at the last minute she wanted to go into fashion, they’ll admit anyone.” I pointed out that several schools she applied to admit most students who apply – like SAIC, duh – but she would not be moved. I also think that they were too enthusiastic about her art at NPD when she was a sophomore. She says “I was horrible back then compared to now!” and faults them for not being critical enough at the time! So silly, given that at the <em>time</em> she was happy that Otis and other schools were supportive and not critical of her. </p>
<p>According to Naviance for her school, 2 students have been admitted to two art schools in the history of their graduates before my daughter: 1 to Otis, and 1 to FIDM. Daughter is the first student in the history of the school to apply to all her choices, let alone be accepted to any. :-)</p>
<p>We got my S’s MICA package today- based on various scholarships he applied for, it worked out to $18K a year.</p>
<p>So it worked out this way:</p>
<p>Cooper Union - accepted and he is accepting them
WashU- accepted, then shortlisted for the Conway/Proetz, didnt get it, but got $6K finalist award
SMFA- got $10K a year merit
MICA- got $18K a year merit, plus 5K Stafford loan, the biggest portion of merit was academic.
VCU - very nice package of about $11K a year, for a very affordable school. </p>
<p>Interestingly, at least three of the Conway/Proetz finalists also got offers from Cooper (I determined by triangulating info, and also because the kids became facebook friends on the WashU visit.</p>
<p>I think if he hadnt gotten into Cooper he would have gone to MICA.</p>
<p>Now that is an interesting piece of puzzle.
Switters, what does said WasU scholarships requirements like?
If three kids out of Cooper 65 ( one being loveblue’s D?) are also in that, but far as I know what WasU ask is polar opposite from Cooper-sh art style wise.
Did you switch portfolio works around to suit their needs?
I am more inclined to think that Cooper wants some portion of really smart students with real foundation and skill but with awareness in conceptional angle that they could built on.
That is very hard thing to achieve as 17-18 year olds. They must be mature and responsible even within amongst classmates of would be 20 year+olds, less likely give trouble to folks once get to NYC with so fewer restriction/support from administration than other residential colleges.
It all make sense but kind of sad… my kid will never be like that…</p>
<p>MICA package arrived today and it was pretty good! Pratt’s offer is still better, and D is visiting there on Saturday but I think MICA has the edge. </p>
<p>D just came back from visiting WUSTL. Not a conclusive visit for her. She liked the school, but said the BFA program is only a few years old (used to be BA?). They don’t require a portfolio so there’s quite a range of abilities in the freshman class, and you can’t place out of foundation classes. I’d be surprised if she chose them.</p>
<p>Congrats to you switters on your final squee moment!!! Hopefully we’ll have one by next Monday.</p>
<p>bears- I honestly have no real idea about what Cooper wants. Based on what I saw when I was stalking the internet during Cooper hometest time, I would not have guessed that my S would get in. I didnt think his hometest was conceptual enough for them, a couple of the pieces were what I thought of as fairly solid paintings. None of his work was literal though. So for instance, his feral self portrait was not feral in the literal sense. I thought the essays he wrote were thoughtful.</p>
<p>No he didnt switch his portfolio around. He sent in more prints to Cooper, so he had more opportunity to show a range, but everything he sent washington, he sent cooper. </p>
<p>He really liked WashU when he went to visit. He thought the facilities at MICA were better, and at Cooper even better.</p>
<p>Daughter sat on the decision for a day and is now certain about PNCA. She will have priority standing there with a scholarship – be able to register for classes first, things like that. Today they even added a small federal work/study award to her package at our request, to allow her to qualify for some other outside aid. </p>
<p>She has already been collecting applications and giving out resumes to try and maximize her earnings for this summer. I haven’t let her have a part time job before now because she had to put so much time into academics and art, but she can relax a little now. Every cent we can scrape up this spring and summer means less PLUS loan, which makes her happy <em>and</em> me happy. My only fear is that I will not qualify, but I think we’ll be able to work something out. Hopefully!</p>
<p>Dearest Trin
you can hate me forever it is OK to ignore me forever and ever
have you realized that it is in fact, became I TOLD YOU SO?
you are no longer super anti loan, no longer proudly EFC=0
no longer shooting for the star but gotten down with your feet.
PNCA is really great school and the best fit for your D far as I know.
My kid maybe ends up there someday, and I will never going to say
It is just second tier because no SAT
It sucks because of this and that
I will say
This very special girl I know goes there, got to be great</p>
<p>Wonderful news Switters and Trinf that the decision is made. What a relief and knowing where they will be in September. </p>
<p>No MICA package yesterday! Ouch we are only 1 hour away. If no package, will call. But have an email assuring us that it will be sent on APRIL 16 regular mail. What? Does this indicate second tier status? try not to hyperventilate…breathe slowly…for some strange reason this has been worse than admissions…I hate uncertainty, I hate deadlines with uncertainty…S says he just doesn’t want to think about it…too much stress so I am doing the worrying/thinking apparently. After just sending in taxes the idea of another series of even larger checks to pay for university is really depressing.</p>
<p>Did your kid go to the MICA open house on Sunday? We got an email too, last week I think about notification – but then at open house they announced packages would go out Monday morning priority mail.</p>
<p>I’m so done with all this stress. Watching for the mail man.</p>
<p>Trin - talked to my daughter about your D’s rationale re: Otis in terms of her sometimes friend “R” that does art but brags incessantly about how better she is than everyone else and doing underhanded things. stepping on people, etc to make herself in the spotlight all the time. She does cartoony stuff and copies from photos. D tells me that wouldn’t hold her back if she really wanted to go, that she would be better than “R” anyway. Just when you think you know your kid… BTW, “R” is joining the Navy in hopes of becoming a nurse. I was in the Coast Guard for 23 years, and I know that the military will either make or break her depending on what she does with her attitude.</p>
<p>redbug: Heh! I think in my daughter’s case, she just had one of those gut level “not the right school” feelings, and she’s trying to come up with a reason to justify it. I’m certainly not going to keep pushing a school she doesn’t feel good about, especially when I really can’t stand southern California either! :-)</p>
<p>KCAI just told me that FA packets will be “mailed out by the end of this week”. Interesting, since the last email said “within a week” as of March 30. I wonder how many students get tired of waiting for these straggler schools and have already made up their minds, and now it’s pretty anti-climatic. I would think students would lose interest and figure if it takes them this long to make acceptance decisions/give out money, how responsive will they be to other student/parent issues/needs? D’s MCAD adcom has kept her informed every step of the way, making sure all her questions were answered, sending info, etc. KC, not so much - never did get that course catalog we asked the rep for. I imagine the smaller less prestigious schools lose some good students this way.</p>
<p>yes, Redbug, that is kind of what happened with Pratt (and it it is considered one of the more prestigous schools!) for my son. As of yesterday they still hadn’t emailed or mailed the FA packet. I called up and the FA Officer ran the aid calculator program right there on the phone and came up with 0. It was really creepy. Very big brotherish. I am so turned off to the way they handled this whole process. First the long wait, then the discrepancy in merit scholarship offers and finally no one returning phone calls. Maybe other people have not had this experience with Pratt, maybe it is just destiny working its hand.</p>
<p>CMU on the other hand were very professional with my husband when he asked for a reconsideration of aid. They have a form to fill out and a process. They were very personable and helpful. Same with RISD even though they said they could not reconsider the aid amount. </p>
<p>If any admissions officers are reading this…remember Customer Service is important! It may be a school but it is also a business.</p>
<p>Oh, drae! Yes about Pratt and creepy! We sent a response back to the FA rep “assigned” to my daughter asking about her aid, and have never gotten a response. It’s like communicating into a black hole. At least the other schools we contacted wrote back, even if they couldn’t increase aid.</p>
<p>“He thought the facilities at MICA were better, and at Cooper even better.”</p>
<p>Was this based on the new building at Cooper because actually the facilities are their downfall if there is one. I’m assuming he visited Cooper but I found their facilities pretty “New York” which I am used to but translates as cramped and a bit dingy I guess would be the description. The sculpture area was not only small but seemed to lack ventilation and much space to work in. Not much in the way of state of art newer equipment but that’s not the end all be all if the school is good. But I would never describe the facilities at Cooper as even better than MICA unless you were in the new building perhaps but I think that’s dedicated to Engineering and Architecture. Perhaps not which would be great…</p>
<p>Sorry the above comment is based on a reply on the previous page by Switters.
And don’t get me wrong for anyone interested, Cooper is a great deal but I think unless I’m wrong about the new building that describing the facilities as great is a bit misleading. I would recommend parents take a look at Cooper and also look into rents in New York because when we toured we were told that the dorm only accommodated students for their first year. Rents have gone down in NY right now but they are very very expensive compared to other parts of the country and the commute from outer boroughs (where rents are less expensive) can be long.</p>