Decisions, Decisions: MICA, Pratt, or UFL...

Graduate School
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<p>Greetings, everyone! How are you all doing? This site seems to be filled with competent researchers, and I because of what I've read while lurking I registered just to ask this question:</p>

<p>I've got a BFA from CSU Chico, and now I'll be going for my MFA--But at a better school. Now, believe it or not, Chico has a fantastic art program, both for undergrads and grads. It just gets overlooked. In any case: I've applied to 7 schools, got accepted thus far into five (haven't heard back from the other two) and have narrowed it down to three choices for my MFA. They are: MICA, Pratt, and UFL (Gainesville). I am looking to get my MFA in, you guessed it, that oh-so lucrative field of...fine art. </p>

<p>Gainesville will pay everything; they waive my tuition and give me a $6000+ a-year-stipend, and I will get to teach. However, they are in Florida, which essentially has no art scene when held up to the light of New York's art scene. Also, UFL Gainesville is not a particularly note-worthy pedigree. I doubt that my minuscule chances at fame will be helped by going there. Nor will I be able to get teaching jobs at any better private art colleges. The name "University of Florida" holds no reputable weight to it. I was accepted into their Digital Media program. </p>

<p>MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore) is giving me, as their assistant graduate coordinator claims, "one of our top scholarships". It is $10,000 a year, which is a little over a third of expected tuition cost. Tuition there will be about $28,000, per year, so I will have to get loans out for $18,000 just for tuition. I have yet to actually fill out their financial aid form, though I've filled out the FAFSA and sent it to them. I was accepted there for the Mount Royal School of Art. There is also a surprising chance to TEACH for their continuation education program while I get my masters. Further, there is the pretty good reputation that MICA has. It seems to trail just one behind RISD for certain rankings in the arts (sculpture, painting, and drawing). However, Pratt in Brooklyn seems to have an overall better reputation according to word on the street. It's tough for me to determine which (Pratt or MICA) has a better reputation....</p>

<p>Pratt is giving me nothing but loans. They've got their reputation, and that's about all they have to offer me. Their loans will take care of all but $10,000 of tuition, but other costs are expected to be another $48,000 per YEAR. The only other thing they can offer me, which I thing is a big thing, is their access to the New York art scene. Their biggest negative thing besides ridiculous cost is that they will not let me teach, AT ALL. Just TA. I was accepted into their "New Forms" program, which, as may be obvious, is pretty new and not well-established. But, I mean, it's Pratt, and it's in New York.</p>

<p>What should I do? Where should I go? I was leaning hard on Pratt, but I don't know if MICA has the better reputation.... MICA will cost considerably less than Pratt, and UFL will cost considerably less than MICA. But at least at MICA or Pratt I will have some sort of "name brand" backing me. I'm thinking that MICA will split the difference between the benefits and downsides of Pratt and UFL. UFL, despite being a public school, gives me a very tempting offer. But they HAVE to offer it because they're a public university. </p>

<p>One last thing to consider: I never applied to RISD. If I had, I can probably guarantee I would've gotten in. This is not confidence in my skill so much as a review of where I was accepted otherwise, and due to the fact that I have a friend who is attending there who is held in high regard. Faculty have asked him, "Is there anyone you would recommend?" and, had I wanted to go there, he would have recommended me. HOWEVER, his own horror stories from the place, and the cost of the place, discouraged me to apply. So I'm thinking now, WHY THE HECK didn't I apply if I'm going to be paying even more to go to Pratt? Keep that in mind.</p>

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<p>Need some help here, people. Please?</p>

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<p>If you can afford what it costs, I'd go to MICA. I think the idea of 'splitting the difference' is a good one. MICA isn't exactly the NY art scene, but it's got resources, and a teaching opportunity that you're excited about. And it really is a good school. </p>

<p>The fact is that art just doesn't pay enough to justify taking out something like $75k in loans (yeah, I applied to Pratt too, so I've been looking into the costs) just for tuition and rent and trying to subsist on free food at student organization meetings. People going to med school or law school or for an MBA can justify such an outlay, because they know they can pay it back. Do you know you can pay it back?</p>

<p>While the UF offer is tempting, what do they have to offer you other than money?</p>

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<p>UFL can also offer me better teaching experience than MICA (A professor who teaches at MassArt told me that a University teaching assistantship is usually very good in the teaching experience department, better than the continuation course deal at MICA), and a chance to study with two very good artists: Sergio Vega and Max Bescher. I doubt that you've heard of them, but Max is tops in photography in my book (Photography is a big part of my "multimedia"), and Sergio Vega has connections to the being near by),Whitney program and has done some Biennials and the like. </p>

<p>Since I posted this thread, I've done a lot of research, asked around and such, and come to the same conclusion that you have about Pratt. What I hear about them is that they are more and more design-based (the same direction RISD is, because that's where the money is) and the professors are much more concerned with their New York art careers than teaching you. Someone who has taught for a long time on the East Coast told me that last part, and it just confirms what I had guessed from all those calls to Pratt and no one ever responding to me other than students who are teacher's aids. Pratt seems to not care whether I go there or not. Those things, combined with the fact that I can't teach there and the ridiculous cost, are too many strikes against the institute.</p>

<p>I've replaced Pratt with MassArt on my list; found out I was accepted there after I wrote this thread. MassArt has its obvious benefits over Pratt: Teachers care, access to other universities (and the whole Boston technology thing right now, including MIT), lower cost, good teaching experience, and a not-half-bad reputation (They're like an "Art School Ivy" like MICA or RISD, only they're public. They strike me as very well connected.)</p>

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<p>"Pratt seems to not care whether I go there or not"</p>

<p>I hear that. I had to talk to the VP of enrollment to get wheels turning to even find out whether I'd been admitted or not! And they don't seem to be very forthcoming with aid.</p>

<p>I've definitely heard good things about MassArt. Could you swing it financially? Does it end up being cheaper or more expensive than MICA?</p>

<p>I guess the big consideration with UF is whether or not, if you worked your ass off to use every connection available to you there, you could come out of there able to make a viable living off of your art. I admit I know nothing about the Florida art scene, in fact I'm not even sure if it has an art scene. I've had to make a very similar choice, and have ended up at a state school with a strong program and teaching opportunities. So I'm not trying to bash on the opportunity at UF or not, just raise questions that need asking.</p>

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<p>No, absolutely--You raise good questions, some of which I've not been able to answer. For example: Florida MIGHT have an art scene in Miami. MAYBE. But making viable connections, then using those connections to make a living off of being an artist with a degree from UFL? It's a long shot, and a gamble. I've done the University/Public school thing once already, with my BFA. So, despite their offer, Florida is out.</p>

<p>I've heard good and bad things about MassArt. One of the things I keep hearing, though, is that "you get what you pay for", meaning it is a relatively cheap school. Worse yet, it seems that a lot of kids who go there (undergrad and grad) want to be at RISD. But the teachers seem to care about their teaching, because it is a public school--They're there to teach. </p>

<p>With the scholarship I have from MICA, weighing the cost of MassArt vs. MICA, it comes out pretty comparable. In other words, I won't be paying much more to go to a more reputable school (MICA) that has more money/better endowment and nicer facilities. Further, if you add in the cost of living in Baltimore vs. Boston, it's conceivable that I'd be paying MORE to go to MassArt. </p>

<p>One other crappy thing about Pratt is just the pretentiousness I hear you'd face. Actually, one of the phone calls I made there sort of confirmed this. I asked a TA (the only people I could ever get ahold of) if there was teaching opportunities at Pratt. She told me, "No. Pratt is geared for those of us who want to be PRACTICING ARTISTS, not teachers." I wanted to say, "And I want a solid gold crapper, but it's just not in the cards, is it, sweetheart?" Instead I said, "Well, sure, we all want to be practicing artists first, but...you know...." (Life doesn't always turn out the way you plan it to. In fact, it almost never does. That's why you have a back-up plan.). So. Yeah. That was just snobby of her.</p>

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<p>That response explains a lot to me. The program I got in there for (MS Communications Design) is comparable to MFA programs elsewhere, they've just chosen to have an MS instead of an MFA, which makes it harder to get teaching jobs later on. I'd wondered why that was, but if that's the school's attitude, then I think I get it now.</p>

<p>It sounds like you're drifting towards a decision on MICA, which sounds good to me. I don't think that either MICA or MassArt would be a bad choice persay, but I understand it could suck to be at a place that was the second-choice of everyone else in it. Have you gotten to visit them?</p>

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<p>so where did you end up doolittle?</p>