<p>hey, does anyone know anything about MCAD, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, or SAIC, School of the Art Institute Chicago? I have been accepted to both, but I am trying to choose between the two... I have always wanted to go to MCAD, but now I'm being pushed to go to SAIC, does anyone know anything about the either? help me out!!</p>
<p>SAIC is best known and very highly ranked in both painting and photography. I don't know about other majors there.</p>
<p>Hi, congratulations, I was going to go to SAIC last year until I got almost a full ride somewhere "more selective" and I really wish I'd gone.</p>
<p>Painting, photo, video and fashion of the conceptual variety are all good at SAIC. Pretty much the whole school is very conceptually oriented. Obviously you know they have a foundation year and I hear just about 1/2 the freshman class drops out during that. I know about 6 SAIC freshman, none of them have left yet but they all are having a love/hate relationship with foundation. I think the most outstanding thing about SAIC is how flexible their curriculum is, you get to explore whatever you want. The facilities are good, especially the dorms and advanced painting studios, much better than Pratt where I spent a summer (although that's not saying much, Pratt is rather infamous :)). The location is amazing, that museum! I go down the the Art Institute every Tuesday (tuesdays are free) and sketch for like four hours, I think if I lived a block away from it I would just move in permanantly. Also you right by Nordstrom Rack and H&M and Millenium Park. I had this idea, growing up near a Big 10 school that college should involve grassy lawns and throwing frisbees. Most urban art schools don't offer that but @ SAIC you can throw a frisbee and have water poured on you by a giant face fountain.</p>
<p>So that's my perspective, as a former prospective SAICer and someone who's spent 1 quarter studying art elsewhere in Chicago. I know nothing about MCAD except one silly rumor. Best of luck</p>
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<p>aaah thank you.</p>
<p>Refraq,
Are you interested in graphic design/advertising or are you more fine arts focused?</p>
<p>more fine arts. photography, and screen printing.</p>
<p>are you serious? mcad over saic? no no nooo.
SAIC all the way. its ranked number one in the country for fine arts. actually it might be tied with risd or something. everything about this school works. currently im in photography and its great. saic has one of the best photography departments around. the reputation of this school far exceeds mcad. but youll enjoy it here more then you would mcad. chicago has LIFE. i agree with the comment up there about saic being extremely conceptual, it is and maybe sometimes that can become a little overbearing. but girl, do whats good for your future and come to saic
maybe im being a bit pompous by just expecting you to love it here, but the majority of them do</p>
<p>ps- im guessing that the person who said she went to a school more "selective" went to columbia. dont do that. that schools for overdramatized emo kids and we look down on them. sorry but saic just brings out the pretentious side of you. we're the best</p>
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<p>Nope, I went to DePaul for Costume Design where only five people get in and they all get good jobs but you die of boredom first.:)</p>
<p>Columbia is for emo kids....and people who get cut from DePaul. Don't go to Columbia unless you want to be made fun of by jerks like us! lol</p>
<p>j/k sort of, there's some really good work coming out of Columbia, there's just so much bad work that it kind of gets lost</p>
<p>Wandergirl, what's the silly rumor you heard about MCAD? It's just crept into my view, as it has a comic art major, something my daughter is interested in. So any scoop on MCAD from anyone would be interesting to hear.</p>
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<p>//Wandergirl, what's the silly rumor you heard about MCAD? It's just crept into my view, as it has a comic art major, something my daughter is interested in. So any scoop on MCAD from anyone would be interesting to hear.//</p>
<p>if it's a silly rumor, it's 1. silly, and 2. a rumor.</p>
<p>i didn't know columbia was selective. i've been accepted to SAIC and am still waiting on other schools... i feel optimistic about the fact that i will probably end up there though. can you tell me a little more about classes? i guess the thing that i'm most afraid of is that the conceptual aspect will be overwhelming. i wouldn't say i'm traditional, but i really do value the technical aspect of art.</p>
<p>My son wants to go to one of these schools....is Columbia that bad....
I think he is one of those emo kids.........I always thought anyone could get into columbia???????????</p>
<p>to be fair, i only know one person who goes there, but last i checked he wasn't going to class. he didn't go to class in high school, either. i guess that's an indicator.</p>
<p>My son's got SAIC and Parsons for undergrad.He wants to take up animation courses.Hows SAIC for this ? He's also got Chelsea in London and California College of the Arts. Whats best for him to do ?</p>
<p>My d and I went to look at Chicago. She is interested in illustration. She was accepted as well as to MIAD, CIA, CCAD, Herron and RISD. We found that Chicago was not the place for her. She does very detailed, meticulous work that we found they did not seem to appreciate or be able to foster. They suggested she could go into wildlife drawing but they did not have much for her ability in illustration!!! Strange. The inside of the buildings were dark and had no display of student work. We were told that it is immature to put work up on the walls. The students we talked to said the program is very unstructured and you can work hard and get alot out of it or just blow through and not work at all and no one will get on you for it. The fine arts did not seem to be where they were at. We were told that in most classes you do your own thing and the teacher is there to help if you ask for it, but will not tell you what to do as far as an assignment. The dorms we were shown were about 8-10 blocks away. Long walk in the winter and wind. I have heard great things about the schoold but I think it depends on where your focus is and if you will perform without structure. Best to go look and get a feel for yourself. We knew after about 5 minutes it was not the place for her. Probably will go to RISD or MIAD. Trying to decide next week with 2nd visits to each. Good Luck.</p>
<p>yeah, i'm in the exact same position as your daughter. i am interested in illustration as well and i do very detailed work. i'm more interested in fine arts than design, though, and that didn't seem to be their strong point. i also was disappointed that i couldn't see the student work! to me, that is a huge indicator and maybe even a deciding factor. i love the city and the dorms were great. but i haven't heard anything from RISD yet, and i'm not really that optimistic. i wish i had more options.</p>
<p>Not sure where you live but did you look at Milwaukee Institute of Art or Herron in Indianapolis? Both have good illustration depts. in safe areas of the city. Herron has a brand new building this year 245,000 sq ft.-beautiful.</p>
<p>does anyone have any experience with upenn fine arts and the pennsylvania academy for the fine arts?</p>