<p>Does anyone know anything about how strong the academic program is at MICA? How many classes you can cross register in? What schools you can cross register in? Is it easy? I know the Brown/RISD thing doesn't work at all, but what about MICA's situation.</p>
<p>I was admitted but I'm concerned about academics, that's why it falls lower on my list.</p>
<p>Any input?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Tagran86, First the Brown RISD things DOES work. The problem is that art courses are many hours in a day, and that causes conflicts in taking courses at Brown and vice versa. However, about 20% of the RISD kids DO take courses at Brown and, although it is a bit of a hassle, it is quite doable.</p>
<p>As for MICA, I live in Maryland and know a fair amount about them. They are reputed to have some of the best liberal arts courses around. In fact, one of the MICA vice presidents is on the art school accreditation board.</p>
<p>They make a real emphasis to have quality liberal arts courses for their students and not just giving lip service to these courses for accreditation purposes. Which makes them "stand out" from most other stand alone art schools. Moreover, MICA is about 3 miles from Johns Hopkins, and MICA kids can take courses at Hopkins for core requirements.</p>
<p>Be advised: MICA is the only school that I know of that WON'T take AP credit regardless of the score. They believe that their courses are so designed that there really is no equivilant. They believe in integrating their humanities courses with their art curriculum in some special way.</p>
<p>Personally, I don't believe that any art school offers the same liberal arts training as a good LAC or University, but I could be in error on this. If quality liberal arts is that important to you as having a decent art program, you should definitely check out Skidmore College. They really meet both requirements. Also, You might want to consider the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston. All those kids take their liberal arts courses at Tufts, and you get a Tufts Deploma!</p>
<p>Other options for good art programs and good liberal arts would be Wash U St Louis, Carnegie Melon, and Syracuse University. However, as I said, MICA does have a reputation for having decent liberal arts training.</p>
<p>Be advised, if you attend Skidmore or one of the other programs with strong liberal arts, you generally don't get to take as many art and studio courses as you would at a school like MICA. For example, the Museum school requires a whopping 18 courses ( not credits, courses) in liberal arts. Schools like Skidmore, also require a lot of liberal arts, which, consequently, lowers the amount of art training that you receive. </p>
<p>In the older forums of CC, there was a discussion about arts schools vs. Universities with good art prorgrams vs. LACs. If I remember correctly, those that attend a stand alone art school, take about 70-75% of their courses in art or design. University kids take about 60-65% of their courses in art and design. LAC kids take about 50% of their courses in art and design.Thus, there is a tradeoff.</p>
<p>Thanks, that was a very thorough response. That is pretty good to hear about MICA. I am also applying to Skidmore and WUSTL for the reasons that you cited. Wash U is my top choice right now. I wish I had known about that Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston deal with Tufts, that looks pretty appealing in the one sentence description at least. Skidmore looks really nice because they have 1/5 art majors graduating each year, so you get a sort of art school feel in that sense, but also get the strong liberal arts courses. I guess we'll just have to see how things work out, but that information about MICA really stressing academics is good to hear. They could be a contender now based on scholarships and stuff--I'm just not so sure about compromising academics for more art--it's a tough choice. Hopefully I'll just get that full ride to WashU and it'll all be done with.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Anybody else have some input on this?</p>
<p>I have a kid at MICA. I think the liberal arts courses are excellent, some really exciting teachers. Cross registration with Hopkins is encouraged, but hard to work out because the typical studio-type course lasts 6 hrs, as taxguy says. For a BFA, it's hard to beat MICA, right up there with RISD, Pratt, a few others.</p>