<p>What are the pros and cons of these schools in general? Regardless of "fit" what makes one school or or less desirable than the others?</p>
<p>If you are accepted to Cooper Union your tuition is free. It’s like getting a $35+ scholarship. But of course getting accepted is daunting and not easy. The free tuition may be changing in the near future if it hasn’t changed now but check their web site. I believe they are still offering free tuition to undergraduates for now. You do have to cover your living expenses which will not be inexpensive. But it’s an opportunity to go to a school that graduated graphic artists like Milton Glazer, Ellen Lupton, Seymour Chwast and type designer Herb Lubalin while living in the heart of New York City. What’s not to like?</p>
<p>RISD and Mica have great reputation also, RISD has been known for years as the “graphic design” school. However Cooper is still offering free tuition to undergraduates.</p>
<p>Ah, I see the word architect. Another Cooper graduate, Daniel Libeskind. From what I know the architecture department has a stellar reputation at Cooper. But as I said, admission is daunting. T</p>
<p>GraphicArchitect:
I thought you got in Cooper in your old post. You may choose not go? which school you are in or will be transfer to?</p>
<p>Good memory loveblue. I checked back and yes, there was a post saying he/she got in. Are you having doubts? Will the other two accept your credits when Cooper won’t? I see I must have either been totally sleep deprived and/or lost some sentences in my previous post to your statement that you got in and they would be making you begin anew. Hope this makes more sense. Think it does. But yes, GraphicArch fill us in please.</p>
<p>Since I live in Maryland and know about MICA, I can address them. I can tell you that from what I know about RISD, both MICA and RISD are more similar than dissimilar.</p>
<p>MICA is known in Maryland for being very strong in fine art particularly in painting and illustration and repudably has a strong animation undergraduate offering. They are also known for having a very strong program in art education and are known for their combined BFA/MFA offering. MICA has very good graphic design/interactive offerings and faculty, although I think RISD has the edge in graphic design. When I visited RISD several years ago,I didn’t get the feeling that they were as computer intensive as that of MICA or emphasized web design in their curriculum as much as MICA. Of course, that was 5 years ago and things could have changed.</p>
<p>RISD has higher average SAT scores by over 80 points. Both Schools have very high student satisfaction indexes.By the way,Cooper Union does not have as high a student satisfaction index to the other two. I don’t know why. Also, Cooper is a LOT more expensive than it appears. Yes, there is free tuition. However, there are VERY high fees that almost make up for it. In addition, living in Manhattan is very expensive. A typical three bedroom appartment or house costs about $5,400 a month, which is why most people share appartments.</p>
<p>Both MICA and RISD are also known for having strong liberal arts offerings and for joint programs. They don’t water down their liberal arts courses as some arts schools are known to do.
MICA allows courses taken at both Gaucher and Johns Hopkins. RISD allows kids to take courses at Brown.</p>
<p>Despite being so similar, they do have a different feel to them. You need to visit them to check out their culture and fit for you. However, I don’t think you can go wrong at either school.</p>
<p>artsmarts:
I don’t have doubts; just feel interested to see his/her decision and where he/she decided to go.
GraphicArchitect:
Can you share your thoughts about the schools you mentioned here?</p>
<p>I only visited two art schools: SAIC and RISD and I majored in computer science and career is all related to computer programming. So my view of art schools is very limited.
I think the schools you mentioned here are all very good schools. MICA and COOPER are stronger in fine art and RISD stronger in design. I will talk more about Cooper since my D is learning art there:
- Don’t have a campus, but many kids don’t care, its located is nice
- Don’t have good workout facilities; you have to join YMCA or anything near by
- Dorm only for freshmen, almost all of them don’t want to live in dorm after first year
- Really small school, you get to know each other very easy
- Everyone works very hard and that help you to be focused
- They all love their school and feel lucky to be part of it, I am talking only art students here and not sure architect and engineer students
- Good community, last semester my D (will be junior coming fall) got her intern from a Cooper graduate and she got a summer intern by her school teacher’s recommendation, but this is the strength of all good art schools
- One very good professor said he taught at Cooper and another good art school in nyc and he really love Cooper’s class discussion. The student’s insight, their passions make their critic very interesting and this help them learn more.
- No major restriction, you can learn painting, drawing, video, film, photography, sculpture and even design… The drawing back will be you may not strong in one particular field such as illustration, but well round art education should be able to help you pick up fast.
Cooper is not that expensive, my D has $600 monthly renting since she live in Brooklyn and if she live near the school it could be $1000 to $1200. Brooklyn is about 1800$ for a three bedroom apartment. All other expense such as food and art supply, it is the same but very by person.
Not sure what will happen later to Cooper, if they start charge tuition,…</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from MICA and was very satisfied with the education she received. She entered intending to major in illustration but changed to painting early in her sophomore year. My impression from her is that RISD is much less flexible, and that once you’re in a program, it’s very hard to change to something else.</p>
<p>Loveblue: Didn’t mean you had “doubts”. I’m curious also as to what this students decision was/will be. I think the issue was that Cooper was requiring a start from scratch so the concern was loss of credits.</p>
<p>love blue says: “Cooper is not that expensive, my D has $600 monthly renting since she live in Brooklyn and if she live near the school it could be $1000 to $1200. Brooklyn is about 1800$ for a three bedroom apartment.”</p>
<p>Keep in mind that most dorms are going to run you around $9,000 and up anyway. And most kids pair up in groups for housing. Also you WILL not find a house to rent for anything you will be able to afford in NYC, you will be renting an apartment. The few houes that exist are going to be waaaaaaaay out of your price range. </p>
<p>Also although loveblue is right that Cooper appears to have a focus on the fine arts and RISD the graphic arts/commercial reputation, keep in mind that Cooper has graduated a very large number of very successful and highly regarded graphic artists. I think the well-rounded (in the arts) education is good for anyone who wants to move on to more commercial graphics work in the future. Also today there’s such a merge of technologies and imagery the distinction between the two may be less rigid than in the past.</p>
<p>I check, dorms at the other two schools are now running around $10,000 for two semesters. This does not include the meal plan. So you’ll be paying over $1,000 a month for a dorm room wherever you go.</p>
<p>However NYC housing is definitely tricky. Chances of even finding a 3-bedroom apartment anywhere in Manhattan are slim to none and even if you found one it would be extraordinarily expensive. You’ll most likely be doubling up in bedrooms if you are in the city or be traveling like LoveBlue’s DD. But the subway system is quick, cheap, easy. I’ve heard that rental rates are rising in NYC so also that may change the picture a bit. </p>
<p>As for RISD’s computer status. They brought in a new director a few years ago who is apparently very computer savvy and had intentions of really emphasizing that area. I would suspect that by now they are well versed in computer graphics and in fact any school that is worth it’s salt would be placing most of their emphasis on computer work since you’re not going to be able to function in the commercial art world doing paste-ups anymore.</p>
<p>I check
of course should have said
I checked
I need more coffee or sleep or perhaps both?</p>
<p>Oh, Im not having doubts. Im still going. It’s just that people (mostly other classmates) have been asking me why I chose Cooper over other art schools, and what the pros and cons of those schools were. Admittedly, I couldnt think of any significant reasons and that started to bug me, especially since I remember asking these same questions a little while ago. I just want to be able to give people good answers because it seems like most information about Cooper Union’s Art/Architecture department is highly obscure (there isnt even examples of student work). These kinds of things frustrated me a bit, so I can kind of relate when other students (and friends) trying to transfer to a school get a little frustrated when I cant really give them good hard information.</p>
<p>Thats all.</p>
<p>Also, I sometimes ask questions for others if they are uncomfortable with asking the questions themselves or cant quite express a question as they would like to. I’m just mentioning this in case it doesnt make sense why I’m asking this current question.</p>
<p>Also, you guys have great memories.</p>