<p>Faxed her merit award letters from 3rd choice to adcon at what has now become 1st choice (after seeing course catalog with great SCIENCE classes (her 2nd love after art). Adcon is going to walk it around and wanted me to call him and let him know what it would take to get her there, because he knew that’s what they were going to ask him. Was not sure how to respond, as I know “free-ride” isn’t the right answer, but didn’t want to go too low either. Did the numbers and diff between School#1 and #3 is $19K. This is bottom line for both AFTER subtracting School#3 merit aid. Ended up telling him DH is looking at the $19k diff but D wants to go to School #1, and that with some merit aid we could probably get him to agree. He said she had been right on the border of getting merit aid, and if she went to School #3, she could transfer and her portfolio would be that much stronger for aid the next year. Or go to a CC and work on her GPA up to a 4.0 (its 3.6 now) and transfer in then. Told him CC was NOT an option - gotta be art school or nothing. He now knows this is her first choice and he’s gonna take it to the director of admissions and we’ll see.</p>
<p>I found this link on another discussion here and did a search of art schools. They only let you compare 15 at a time. The number on the far right of the chart is the amount the school spends per student (if I’m reading it right). It seems to me that if you’re bargaining for and assessing merit aid, it’s great to know that number. </p>
<p>Some of the numbers must be wrong… like Pratt’s graduation rate.</p>
<p>[College</a> Results Online](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1ba.aspx?institutionid=120403,140951,193654,214971,215053,214148,199184,166984,143048,215105,197151,194578,163295,166674,217493]College”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1ba.aspx?institutionid=120403,140951,193654,214971,215053,214148,199184,166984,143048,215105,197151,194578,163295,166674,217493)</p>
<p>Redbug,</p>
<p>Hey…thanks for the detailed description of the awkward “how do I ask for the free ride?” I think you did GREAT! I hope it works out…</p>
<p>Funny how the hierarchy of preferences changes suddenly for kids. S had ranked good university with good art program (that I thought was a great fit) quite low even though they flew him out for a visit…he did say it was full of the happiest students he had ever seen but he was still putting it down around #4. …perhaps because he thought he wouldn’t get in. He didn’t even check the webpage when they said that acceptances were up…but the letter arrives in the mail and all of a sudden…he feels interested? where did this come from? Well only a few more unknowns and then we can see where we are at in terms of choices and comparative costs.</p>
<p>congrats! I can smell where is at but no tellin.
so art schools lost the precious brain swimmer… more likely.</p>
<p>Thanks, but it was at suggestion of ad counselor I fax the awards. I would never have asked otherwise. When he asked me to come up with a number, I had no idea where to start. So I just gave him the facts and didn’t ask for a specific number. It’s in their hands now. Meanwhile, D has fallen in love with the course catalog. Great science courses! Plus we just got a letter announcing no tuition hike for this year and an increase of 4% for institutional financial aid. So that’s something anyway.</p>
<p>My son came home tonight and opened his email. He was accepted to Syracuse U, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Industrial and Interactive Design Program. They gave him 28k per year (combo of FA and Merit) plus work study and loans. The best offer so far! It is a 5 year program but still it comes in lower overall than CCA, SAIC, UofC/DAAP and SCAD. It is not his 1st choice but it makes me hopeful. Still waiting on Carnegie, Pratt and Risd. Carnegie actually invites students to submit competing FA/merit offers for review so this gives us a little leverage.</p>
<p>That’s so great! I have a friend who was in the Syracuse CVPA, she is an architect. She really loved it, because the program was like being in an art school with the advantages of the larger university.</p>
<p>Our news today is that PNCA sent a very generous merit scholarship letter today. They aren’t quite a safety, but they don’t have the prestige of the big east coast schools, and not a lot of money and stuff. OTOH, Portland is where her brother is in college, at least for another year, and it’s a city that really fits her West Coast hippie vibe. 
It’s the most affordable of all the cities her schools are in, and that’s a big deal for summers. </p>
<p>She also sent in the MICA merit scholarship forms and stuff today. Supposedly their acceptances will be out Real Soon Now; we’ll see how that works out. We still haven’t seen any of the need-based packages yet, so what we have is 4 acceptances out of 10 apps, no denials, and 4 merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Ive been reading these forums forever, never posted. </p>
<p>My son applied to VCU, Wash U, MICA, SMFA, Cooper Union (ED)</p>
<p>accepted to all but Cooper, deferred to regular decision for Cooper. </p>
<p>Got decent scholarship from VCU, this was his safety school. Waiting to hear from others. Shortlisted for a scholarship at Wash U. He is fine artsy loves to paint. Decent gpa, AP classes, high SAT scores. </p>
<p>Im sorry he didnt apply to more schools, he went and saw SAIC and thought that he might not do well with that level of independence, but then fell in love with Cooper, so go figure. Didnt love CMU because you dont have studio painting first year and seemed too conceptual, but then fell in love with cooper, so once again go figure. Hated Pratt, but loved loved loved MICA. Thought he could be happy at SMFA, but mostly applied because we made him apply to more than 4 schools. I think what happened to him is that he had such a positive experience visiting MICA that everything else was sort of held up to that “will I like it as much as MICA” vibe.</p>
<p>Sometimes im really happy that he is excited about MICA- sometimes Im sorry that he didnt love the universities we visited CMU, Syracuse, BU or visit way more art schools. It seems like Im on the fence about art school vs. university. He is not. He is going to visit Wash U, and Im kind of hoping that he falls in love with it, but I can guess he might not, because its 2 years of foundation. </p>
<p>This is kind of rambling, but any thoughts? Also, how come folks are hearing about money already? I thought most of it gets given out in April?</p>
<p>Wow
you fit what I wanted in Cooper kid with good brain screwed tight. Would you mind telling me what made him like that place? ED meant it was the clear 1st choice. It’s either love or hate it with passion.
I am of Peter Cooper cult and self appointed stalker /parent waiting for RD knowing he’d flop but it’s OK.
Wash U could be the polar opposite, but you never know, like you said. I don’t name a name but another fabulous kid just gotten in and possibly heading, could be best buddies.
I think people here are all talking about merit award from individual schools, not need based FA stuff.
Congrats !</p>
<p>Trin- Out of all of the college mailings/catalogs we received we voted PNCA number one best design. Not enough a reason to choose a school but we did get such a good vibe from it. Wish we could have visited and wish they had ID. It would have been on the list. Portland is a fine place to spend your college years.</p>
<p>switters - Syracuse is the only school that has notified us of need based FA so far. So my cost comparison isn’t really accurate yet. All the others sent just the Merit notifications.</p>
<p>Trin- Out of all of the college mailings/catalogs we received we voted PNCA number one best design. Not enough a reason to choose a school but we did get such a good vibe from it. Wish we could have visited and wish they had ID. It would have been on the list. Portland is a fine place to spend your college years.</p>
<p>switters - Syracuse is the only school that has notified us of need based FA so far. So my cost comparison isn’t really accurate yet. All the others sent just the Merit notifications.</p>
<p>the blue two part boxed one? yes. let’s guess which one is the least pretty… I think I know.
Their building was neat, just lots of IKEA furniture, would need to be replaced often.
School started alongside of the museum, has long winding history.
Some of self claiming people in the" know" says it is the most watched up and coming school. I just got e-mail today saying they’d start new interdisciplinary motion whatnot major.
Love Portland hate rain. well…</p>
<p>Bears-</p>
<p>about clear first choice. Cooper and Mica have been neck and neck forever. He got the cooper faculty referred early decision thingy and felt that he needed to pursue that if he were to stand any kind of chance. So he went ED, got mono, did the hometest anyway (december was hell) and at least got deferred. In some interesting ways this was a relief, because now if by some miracle he gets in, he has a choice between cooper and the other places.</p>
<p>about what he loved about Cooper: I think he is used to the cult aspect, because he is in a small art magnet in a large high school now, and its pretty intense. Also probably the snob appeal. Also, he likes to think about art, and artistic solutions, and art theory and history and so on, so is likely headed for an academic career, and it looked like many of the professors at other schools came from cooper. All of this is based on our totally ignorant view of art school and art school kids, I am completely not an artist. I was surprised that he liked cooper as much as he did, because he is a fine artist type and what we saw was very conceptual. But I think he thinks that being exposed to a conceptual environment is what he really needs to grow. Frankly this whole process has been very confusing, and the thing I am realizing is that part of what makes up a persons mind is made up of small moments, and intuition. As an example, we went and saw Pratt. I loved loved loved it. He did not apply to Pratt because he had such a bad experience on that day. Its the only negative portfolio review he got, kind of ever. The guy who reviewed him clearly didnt like his work. The reviewer, an artist himself, does sort of photorealistic stuff, and my kid, while figurative, is more expressive, mixed media, and so on. </p>
<p>The whole experience has been really interesting (vicariously.) Additionally, having an adult perspective viewing a teenaged thought process is kind of a trip.</p>
<p>Pratt is the winner of silver medal in geezer reviewer count.( Gold goes to Cooper) I have seen a kid reduced to tears. sick.
Now that is the poster Cooper kid, please come!
I have in here page 2 or 3 crazy RD hometest thread. So how many pages did he write? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.
I wish we (we!) liked MICA or even Pratt better. Things would be so much easier.
Want to see his paintings woof woof pant pant thump thump (tail)</p>
<p>Hi Bears</p>
<p>The essays were mixed, some were a couple of pages, some a couple of paragraphs. </p>
<p>What was not liked about MICA? Seems up and coming-ish. Please be frank. Its weird because at first it seemed like a safety school, and now its his first choice. Could be because of how gosh darn nice everyone there is. Where did your kid (s) apply.</p>
<p>I am pming you a link to sons work, didnt want to post here because the only link also has his name all over it. wasnt sure of the etiquette…</p>
<p>sorry I took nap. being crazy working but not really all night posting, reading etc.
thanks for the link, I don’t know I could get to it since my Mac is ancient.
There is post portfolio thread everyone use. If he did Johnhancock-ed too big, you might want to be careful because you never know who is watching. Make sure that your kid knows what you are doing.</p>
<p>Be frank…
I never took official tour or info session of MICA, just walked around spied after I dropped him off for pre college two summers ago. Everything was so so, student works are great but not his liking.
He went Italy but stayed in Baltimore common few days for the orientation. Hated RA, bunch of girls, just the air of it. Now, it is pre college but like you said, it sealed impression, was not impressed by facilities after seeing RISD first. </p>
<p>Pratt is just about OK. commuting to Brooklyn and seeing familiar faces does not appeal him much. He went to art magnet/vocational HS but did not want to go to art school that is filled with pretentious one uppers he encountered in various classes nor anti social enough to be lone weirdo just blindly do his stuff and happy.
Cooper is the only exception because that’s where he spent every Saturday these four years and its out of the world snootiness don’t bother him.
He was looking into need blind LACs until figured out that at least needed precalc well done, which he didn’t. Do not like /can’t afford low tier schools ( I know, shouldn’t be picky here)
He read, write like crazy, can’t do math. Art is hit and miss. Wants to be big shot curator or director, but now doing intern and stuff, learning what it takes and rather discouraged.
Passion now is drawing endless literacy infused super hero comics. I don’t know anything any more…
Oh, he is still junior in counting sense because of repeating 11th grade in new school, Cooper let him apply anyway. that is all he did this year.</p>
<p>I know BsandDs is like a matchmaking mama hoping that I will respond to Switters since it sounds like our kids may bump into each other at WUSTL if they both visit in April and say “hey, twins!”…we are on somewhat parallel courses…non-art parent trying to be supportive but kinda hoping that S will choose the art-in-a-university because it is hard to understand the appeal of these art schools and we have NO idea how it all works out in the end. Unlike Switters’ S, mine did love CMU because he is less of a painter and more of an animator/mechanized sculpture/likes physics kind of artist…BUT that being said until very recently MICA has been a strong #2 with VCU as very competitive safety…(see what I mean about similar?)…But on the other hand, S would not apply to any school in NY. No idea why, really. Doesn’t mind gritty --he liked Temple OK and MICA isn’t exactly bucolic and Richmond has all the big city crime a parent fears…The anti new york thing has never been fully explained except his most recent visit was during New Years…that can be a big turnoff.</p>
<p>Bs and Ds has a lot better angle on the quality of the art etc. at the schools as well as the “culture” because, frankly, they all feel alien to me…and has a more critical eye for details that I can’t even begin to see. But I will tell you frankly, Switters, as a non-artist mom, what I liked and didn’t like about MICA. </p>
<p>Liked–friendly, enthusiastic students, lots of interdisciplinary art for undecided S, core of practical mom-like people (they wore comfortable shoes…very reassuring for me) in career placement…oh yes, student from our hs one year ahead of S is wildly happy at MICA and he is a picky kid and is the most dedicated painter type I can imagine…</p>
<p>Didn’t Like: felt cramped, particularly computer/video/high tech rooms…couldn’t swing a cat without hitting oddly dressed art student. Baltimore neighborhoods and the tuition $$$$$$ scared the bejesus out of my husband. oh yes, student from our HS 2 years ahead …dropped out to be bohemian artist in Baltimore(?)</p>
<p>My S is much more conceptual and he felt WUSTL was more traditional and he did not get strong positives from his portfolio review compared to more conceptual schools so like you said…depending who does the review kind of sets the tone for the kid which is nuts when you are talking about thousands of dollars spent over the next 4 years (only 4 hopefully). If MICA gives very strong signs that he belongs it could move to top choice very quickly.</p>
<p>Welcome to the group, Switters…only a few more weeks to go (I hope). The nicest part about joining this group is knowing that someone is rooting for your kid and for the brave kids that post here too…I am hoping for good things from Coopers for you and BandDs…too bad my S is either too lazy to do the home test or fears the subway.</p>
<p>My D2 was accepted at WashU a few days ago also. Also got an entrepreneurial scholarship but since it’s only for 3K, we need to get a lot more to have her consider going there. Room and board is more than 12K!</p>
<p>Full disclosure… I went to WashU in the 80’s. Not in art school, but close by. With all the new Sam Fox stuff, it should be better than ever and still give kids the possibility of minoring in Russian Literature or Cultural Anthropology or whatever. It’s all there.</p>
<p>The cons…it’s just a little to big and intense compared to a good LAC. My info may be old, but I bet there are just as many (or more) crazy pre-med students desperately taking intro science classes to get an A for their almighty GPA. I didn’t dare take a lab science while I was there which is a shame. </p>
<p>I resisted the lure of WashU for a long time and wish I hadn’t. I kept thinking that I didn’t want to be one of those parents who pushed their old school. D ended up applying anyway and now wants to visit on some art weekend in April. Karma.</p>
<p>We still have a few others to hear from. Some art schools, some LAC’s. She’s so wishy-washy that I’m sure it’s going to go down to the wire!!!</p>
<p>fineartsmajormom- Im not really opposed to straight art school vs. university, your right its just a strange beast to me. I think artists (all creative types) are really brave. And frankly, its such a strange financial time these days who knows who will make a living ultimately. If MICA was a strong number two, what was 1? WUSTL? About your MICA likes and dislikes, my son is intensely interested in painting, and all the painters we know from MICA seem happy as pigs in mud. </p>
<p>The thing I am getting a kick out of is that our art kids are getting into schools that premed/engineers etc. would just love to get into. My son has very decent grades, good test scores, etc. but he never ever would have gotten into CMU or Wash U without his portfolio. (Not that he applied to CMU) I know that that sounds like a gloat, but it isnt meant to. </p>
<p>Greenwitch- what LACs (and art schools) did you D apply to?</p>