<p>Hi all, I'm thinking WAY ahead to spring break & what schools we could visit w/ our D. Definitely interested in VCU and MICA...will probably fly in and out of DC and drive, combining with some DC site-seeing.</p>
<p>Are there other art schools in that neck of the woods that people here recommend (or not)?</p>
<p>She is not 100% sure what area she will want to major in yet. Illustration, Digital/multi-media design, Fine art (painting/drawing), possibly art ed. I think she would like to have freshman year foundation to help her make a decision on major.</p>
<p>I just did a search on here for Corcoran, and don't seem to find much. Worth seeing or not? DC seems like it could be a great place to go to school.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, we WILL be price sensitive. Prob would qualify for little aid, so hoping to find a school w/ some merit. (Which worries me about MICA...do they offer much merit aid, and is it extremely competitive to get).</p>
<p>Thanks for any other suggestions or any insights/advice on VCU and MICA!</p>
<p>You might as well visit the Corcoran, it’s in a great spot downtown and you could tour the OAS, DAR constitution hall or anything on the Mall afterwards. </p>
<p>Will you visit Philadelphia too? There are schools there and also PCAD in Lancaster PA and Shepherd U in Shepherdstown WV. </p>
<p>Not sure about the others but Shepherd is still affordable with OOS tuition and MICA is considered fairly generous with merit aid. They tend to give it in little doses so don’t commit in January or February, wait until later to make sure you get all that they’ll give you!</p>
<p>Thanks Greenwitch–I will check Philly/PA options out, too–we maybe could do that. And Shepherd U is new on my radar, will look into that.</p>
<p>And good to know about MICA–I seem to remember an acquaintance’s kid getting a last-minute award a few years back; thought that was unusual but maybe it’s their method? </p>
<p>Definitely won’t commit anywhere early…</p>
<p>Corcoran is probably a bit on the small side, but I agree it would be worth a stop probably. See if D agrees & will leave it up to her to decide that one. Will visit DC sites in any case.</p>
<p>Unless the plan changes by then & we end up in NYC or Boston or ??</p>
<p>When you are looking at your flights, look at fares into BWI (Baltimore-Washington International). They can sometimes be significantly less, and it is close to MICA. The drive into DC from there is about 40 minutes. Fares on Southwest can be really good to BWI, as it is one of their hubs.</p>
<p>good for you for getting ahead of this now. Two years ago when S was a junior I waited until the last minute but we still managed ok but stressful. We did the northern route (we live in DC and we visited VCU a couple of time). We started our tour at MICA (they had an open house on a saturday). I had to drop my D for a trip at BWI so I actually caught the train in to Baltimore to see how that worked…perfect and met H and S at the end of the MICA open house. The metro/train drops you right at MICA campus! Then H,S and I drove to Tyler/Temple(excellent tour of really top notch facilities!), and then headed into NY (Vassar, Bard–we saw very little of them…son already preferred gritty, urban setting ), Boston (Tufts/SMFA) and then RISD (similar issue to Vassar–did not apply), Yale (more for me than anyone) and decided to skip NYC and come home. Later, my husband took my S to visit friends in Chicago (SAIC), Milwaukee and UW-Madison so my S got to see quite a variety of art schools and Universities. In the end, it came down to CMU (he visited during a sleeping bag weekend) and VCU with MICA very close in the end. He really wanted to go to a university so that is why he didn’t choose MICA. VCU despite the great merit aid had too many of his friends from HS and governor’s school and not a very good engineering program (he is minoring in robotics at CMU). Still…we have heard uniformly great things from these same friends at VCU. Good luck and we all like to hear about these trips and your impression/student feedback!
PS my son did a portfolio class and several summer camp activities at the Corcoran. He did not consider applying–very small, not a university, too close to home.</p>
<p>There are at least 4 good to great art schools in Philadelphia. First, Tyler which is part of Temple and very highly ranked. There is university of the arts. There is Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts , mostly for painting and there is Moore College of Arts which is a woman’s college and well received here. So adding Philadelphia to your schedule could be worthwhile.</p>
<p>We live in VA (DC burb) and D just finished a summer program at Corcoran. I have to admit that I wasn’t impressed with the facilies of the school itself, downstairs below the Corcoran museum (although the marble staircase on the way down was nice :)). The cubicles where students spent their day felt somewhat like a bee hive, lol! However, she worked with some incredibly good faculty and accomplished an amazing amount of work for her portfolio in drawing and darkroom photography. So although I wasn’t thrilled about the fact that the school was located in the basement of a their gorgeous historic building, I do feel that the Corcoran is a top notch art school. DC is also a perfect place for an art student to reside for 4 years. There are loads of museums and most are free (all Smithsonian museums). There are always traveling exibits to see and they’re walking distance, and again, no cost. So I am chiming in here to agree to keep Corcoran on the list. </p>
<p>We also just returned from a visit to VCU. We both loved it! The art building is new-ish, had lots of light, and the studios were large and open (and quite clean actually). There were students sitting around on sofas outside the building taking breaks and playing air hockey. The Fan district of Richmond has such a cool vibe and the students just have that urban look. My D felt quite at home there and liked the charm of the campus with the brick sidewalks and historic feel. She is considering applying for their summer program next summer before admissions (she’s a junior this year). We are instate and she is certain she will be applying to VCU. </p>
<p>I also saw RISD with my son last year during our visit to Brown (he’s a first year at UVA now as an Art Scholar). Not sure if you’ve already visited, but wow, what a beautiful art school and surrounding area. It just feels like the Ivy of art schools, it really does. I didn’t see the inside of RISD, so no tour of studio spaces, but I can tell you that we parked right across the street from RISD and I got out of our rental car and my jaw dropped. I said, “wow, that’s RISD!” The iron fence and historic building is just beautiful. Providence has a vibrant dedication to the arts and it has been revitalized over the past couple of decades. At least that’s what we were told during our Brown admissions info session. I’d be thrilled to send my D there if we could afford it!</p>