<p>DGB - MICA offered my son a similar package - $9,000 merit, $1,100 work study, plus some money in subsidized loans, but no need-based grant aid. I called them to ask if that was correct (because I couldn't believe there wouldn't be some sort of need-based grant), and they reviewed the offer. They ended up adding a very small need-based grant and also upped the work study a bit. RIT still turned out to be less expensive - I suppose because their tuition is lower to begin with, and as NYS residents we're eligible for a state grant as well as the RIT aid. He loved MICA, but he liked RIT a good deal too, and that's where he's going.</p>
<p>We live in Maryland, and I am familiar with MICA. It's a good school; however, in some ways I liked RIT better. At the very least, RIT seems to be located in a much safer enviornment than where MICA is located. </p>
<p>My daughter got accepted to RIT's new media. It was a tough choice taking University of Cincinnati over RIT. We really liked RIT and liked all the people that we came in contact with. It is probably the only school tha I toured that gave me a very warm and furry feeling about its administration.</p>
<p>So Taxguy -- the choice has been made for UC? That really is a good school. Congratulations.</p>
<p>(Did your daughter decide to make a WL effort at RISD?)</p>
<p>Mackinaw, what is a "WL effort at RISD?" </p>
<p>She was told to call and ask why she was placed on the waiting list. When she called, she was told that they didn't see anything in her folder that would have prevented admission,but they didn't have time to look at it in depth. She was told to call back after May,which is a bit late.</p>
<p>I think that if she gets off the waitlist at RISD, she is now mentally committed to Cincinnati. She really liked the coop program and the fact that she can get plenty of music training with their marching band and their Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In addition, she got into the honors program there and was given a decent scholarship. Moreover, Cincinnati has, by all ratings and accounts that I have seen, a very strong school of design. Thus, I am not unhappy with her choice over RIT, Syracuse and even CMU, if she gets into CMU.</p>
<p>She is on the priority waitlist for CMU, but she has decided, whether rightly or wrongly, not to attend CMU. She didn't like the school envirnment and didn't like the computer labs in the subbasement of the building. She found CMU very sterile and very business-like. She didn't get the warm- fuzzies that she got at other schools such as RIT and RISD.</p>
<p>Sorry, my "WL" was shorthand for WaitList. Thanks for the information. </p>
<p>I agree that the overall look of the CMU campus is sterile. But it wasn't so much the buildings (though I've mentioned my daughter's concerns), but rather something that could be significanty addressed in a simple way: landscaping! The buildings on my campus are generally lacking in any charm, especially the newer ones. But the landscaping and gardens here are outstanding. They hide many a flaw in the outward appearance and layout of the structures, they integrate different components of the campus, they add color and texture, and they give an all-around pleasant feel to the place. This was missing at CMU.</p>
<p>Mackinaw, I agree. my daughter felt that something was missing at CMU. She just felt that CMU wouldn't have been a good fit for her.</p>
<p>[jdsmom]
DGB - MICA offered my son a similar package - $9,000 merit, $1,100 work study, plus some money in subsidized loans, but no need-based grant aid. I called them to ask if that was correct (because I couldn't believe there wouldn't be some sort of need-based grant), and they reviewed the offer. They ended up adding a very small need-based grant and also upped the work study a bit. RIT still turned out to be less expensive - I suppose because their tuition is lower to begin with, and as NYS residents we're eligible for a state grant as well as the RIT aid. He loved MICA, but he liked RIT a good deal too, and that's where he's going.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~~~
wow, what a coincidence......... we're also NY State residents, and it appeared the bottom line on RIT would have been a lot cheaper, especially with the NY State TAP money (estimated 5G) on top of the $6800 per scholarship.</p>
<p>But he wasn't too keen on the remote location of the campus, and Rochester in general. I thought the programs were dynamite at RIT. As I said before, put that school anywhere else and it would have been perhaps the mostly highly desirable place to go. oh well.</p>
<p>DGB, we felt the same way. Put RIT in Miami or some other nice location, and it would be a killer school to attend. We loved the programs.</p>
<p>//But he wasn't too keen on the remote location of the campus, and Rochester in general. I thought the programs were dynamite at RIT. As I said before, put that school anywhere else and it would have been perhaps the mostly highly desirable place to go. oh well.//</p>
<p>Rochester is not in the best location to be sure, but it has some good points. It's actually an okay college town with the University of Rochester and a couple of other schools plus RIT. The Monroe and Park Ave area is pretty good for living off campus; there are some quaint parks like Highland and a reservoir off of Monroe. There's skiing 90 minutes to the south; a minor league baseball team, the George Eastman House, Memorial Art Gallery. Biking is pretty decent south of the campus; the school has lots of intramural sports. There is a beach - sort of, and a noce park with hiking trails nearby. Wegmanns is an awesome grocery store - but I guess if I have to make comment on a grocery store I'm pretty much running out of good points. In my day - the drinking age was still 18 - most kids got drunk and the dorms were litterally swimming in beer by Monday. The stench was nauseating.</p>
<p>The cold and snow is tiresome however. No doubt about that.</p>