<p>Our daughter is a rising senior, attending a small performing arts high school. She is looking for a BFA program in visual arts, focusing on drawing, painting, and/or photography. She is a hard worker and gets good feedback and good grades, but she is also very slow (slow enough with enough processing difficulties to qualify for extra time on the SAT and extra time on tests at school.) She and perfectionism have a very close relationship with each other. </p>
<p>Her teachers are recommending MICA, SAIC, PRATT, and RISD. A friend graduated from SYRACUSE in fine arts, and recommends it highly. Our daughter has attended summer pre-college programs at SAIC, RISD, and PRATT. She liked her overall experience at PRATT best. We thought she got better teaching at both SAIC and RISD, but she did get very little sleep at RISD,pulling several all-nighters. However RISD was also her first pre-college program, so it served sorta like boot camp for the other two.</p>
<p>We are looking for input from anyone with insider knowledge about drawing, painting, and photography BFA programs at the schools listed above and any other schools you think we should be considering. How happy are students at the program you know about? How stimulating/creative are their professors? How would a perfectionist who takes a long time with projects do there? How well do their graduates do in their later lives? (etc, etc)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your responses.</p>
<p>D goes to MICA in illustration and loves it. She considered the other excellent schools you mentioned and chose MICA for its reputation in illustration, conceptual focus along with the fact that there is an actual campus. I would not classify her as a perfectionist, but her work is so very detailed that she regularly puts in a great deal more effort than required. She has had great luck with professors. Our experience has been good fit=happy and successful student.</p>
<p>mom4art, my daughter really likes MICA the most of any school we have visited, but I am a liittle concerned about safety in the area around Bolton Hill. It looked charming when we visited during the day but I have read that there are frequent muggngs of MICA students and break-ins to apartments. Reading the campus safety daily report was not for the feint of heart!</p>
<p>Do you have concerns about your daughters safety at MICA? Can kids safely take the light rail to the airport or downtown? How is the freshman dorm situation, being so close to north street or ave, which I have read is dangerous? </p>
<p>We loved the facilities and general vibe at MICA but I don’t want to fret constantly. We live near a city too, so are not afraid of pan handlers, homeless people etc. But in our city, girls can walk after dark in pairs very safely, and don’t have to be really worried about being jumped or followed. But maybe the campus safety reports and what I have read overemphasize the safety issues and it isn’t that big a deal.</p>
<p>Thanks for letting me know! Anyone else who knows about MICA safety for girls, please feel free to weigh in!</p>
<p>S at UArts really loves it there.</p>
<p>I find that art types are unique people and finding a fit is important.</p>
<p>My S has learning issues but not when it comes to Art so he found his fit.</p>
<p>Delta - my D is a rising senior at MICA. She lived in an off-campus apartment for the last 2 years in the Bolton Hill neighborhood and has moved to St. Paul on the north side of North Avenue. She hasn’t had any trouble with break ins or muggings. She said she was scared once when she thought a man was following her (back from the sculpture/photo/fiber building to Park Avenue) and she called MICA security. They were there in less than a minute. They patrol around those streets all the time. </p>
<p>The freshman dorms seem completely safe (can only get in and out through a gatehouse with the Commons) but you need to exercise caution getting to and from places. She would say not to live on or beyond Eutaw Avenue - that it would be too dangerous. </p>
<p>She drives a car but takes the light rail to go down town or to the train station. MICA has airport shuttles near the holidays and also frequent and regular shuttles to various shopping places. The college town shuttle runs by regularly too. I’ll ask her more tomorrow. She has opted to stay in Baltimore every summer since sophomore year.</p>
<p>MICA is also pet friendly. You can get your pet registered with MICA security and it gets a little tag and can go to class with you. Certain places are off limits - the sculpture studios, computer labs, weaving room, and any classroom that a professor needs to be “pet free”. I don’t think you can have pets in your dorm but most students move to off campus housing eventually and if you can have your pet there, you can get it registered. </p>
<p>Maybe a dog would make those walks feel safer!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input about MICA. It’s helpful. However, my D is now most interested in Pratt. Anyone out there have insider knowledge about the drawing, painting, or photography BFA programs at Pratt? What’s good and bad about it? Any special things to look out for?</p>
<p>Delta - sorry for the delayed response. I echo greenwitch’s remarks. If you knew my D, you would know what a feat it was for her to transition from her tight coccoon of a suburban life to an urban school. She did it with ease at MICA and has loved the experience. Is she cavalier about her safety? No. Baltimore may be a smaller city, but it is still a city.</p>
<p>But she takes the convenient light rail to and from the airport and makes use of public transportation to get downtown or other places in lieu of driving. In fact, the light rail and the direct flight home was a key decision point for us. I make sure that her return flights get her home during daylight hours. If that were ever not possible, I would make sure she had cab fare, but that has not been necessary in 2 years. </p>
<p>I really encourage you to visit. Our first trip to MICA was in October during a visit day. It solidified her choice.</p>
<p>Thank you both, Greenwitch and mom4art. That’s good to know that you are both comfortable with the safety of your daughters at MICA. In every way, this looks like a good fit for my D, but she is also sheltered and usually goes to the city with one of her brothers, never by herself. But she is ready for new challenges, as long as I know the campus is generally safe.</p>
<p>To the OP, my D also has done the RISD pre-college program and stayed up all night much of the time. I also wonder if it would be a good college fit for her personality, which is similar to your daughters, both in style and pace. Mine is not looking at Pratt as it is more design oriented, not as much fine arts, or so we have heard. It seems like MICA is intense but not as intense as RISD. SAIC might be too loose, without grades, but I don’t know that for a fact!</p>