<p>Would love to hear some feedback about MCAD. Senior S is very interested but we live in South Carolina so that is very far away and I'm also wondering how the scholarships are there. He will be the second child in college so starting to panic about costs!</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior there, graduating this December. I’m not on here much, so I just saw your post. No one asks much about MCAD, but it was the totally the right school for her. We live in Florida, so it was an interesting change of culture for her. I have some posts out here, some that she wrote, that you may be able to find if you do a search on my posts or on MCAD. If not, let me know, I can give you some insight. She loved every minute of it!</p>
<p>I found the link.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1005291-mcad-experience-long.html?highlight=mcad+long”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1005291-mcad-experience-long.html?highlight=mcad+long</a></p>
<p>Also, what is she interested in majoring in?</p>
<p>Thank you, I will share with DS. I think he is most interested in printmaking at this time. He attends a very strong residential arts school and has a great foundation in most everything. He attended KCAI this summer and basically hated it there! This process is nervewracking!</p>
<p>DD is an illustration major and didn’t realize she enjoyed printmaking so much until she took a class as an elective! Her high school had 2 art classes, painting and ceramics. It was mostly a football school. She was considering KCAI and did the college tour there. They (as well as MCAD) gave her some nice merit money, but when we took into consideration the overall costs, MCAD was just a little more and doable. She liked the idea of the apartments instead of dorm rooms, so that was a factor as well. Apartments are right across the street from the school and that is really nice during the winter. She also felt that Minneapolis was a more vibrant city than KC, and her prospects for internships, jobs and freelance work were better. Since she doesn’t drive, she also found the public transit system awesome. She has decided to stay up there (we live in Florida), as the city is a lot more vibrant than where we live!!</p>
<p>If you have any other questions, such as the merit $ amounts, etc, feel free to message me.</p>
@luvmiballerina my D has been accepted to MCAD for this fall. GD major. What did your son decide? I’d be happy to share what we know about the school - we live in the Twin Cities metro area so are pretty familiar with it. D will attend the accepted student’s day on March 21st. Great school!
@Redbug119 what is your daughter doing now that she is graduated?
@Mamelot We have not made a decision yet. Just received his financial aid offer yesterday and were pleasantly surprised! So MCAD is looking like it may be a serious consideration. We are deciding today about attending the accepted student’s day. Since we live in SC, it’s a bit of a challenge to get up there. But since we may be able to swing it, we feel like the trip will be worth the effort and expense. Feeling excited for him!
Any idea how what time the accepted students day ends? Need to book flights!
@luvmiballerina the event seems to end 3:30 - 4:00 pm or something like that. Campus tours and optional meeting with financial aid office in the afternoon it looks like. My D has to be at work at 5 pm so we were thinking we’d be out of there by 4 pm or so.
MSP Int’l airport is going to be reasonably close by (for a metro area). If you are driving you would just get on 35W southbound from MCAD and then take 494 E toward the airport. Probably a 20 minute trip if that. So barring a weird traffic situation if you book a 6 pm return flight you should be good. If you book a 7 pm you might have time to grab a bite to eat on “Eat Street” - I’d recommend the diner on the corner of 26th and Nicollet called the Bad Waitress. There’s also the airport (more expensive but there’s good food there too).
We got our D’s financial aid package too and no surprises there. MCAD has been the first to get one out to us which is very prompt. It’s really a great deal but I’m still shocked at how much it costs to send your kid to private college these days. Gadzooks.
Hope to see you all at the accepted student’s day!
@luvmiballerina I just forgot that there is another way to the airport as well that might be shorter (by a couple of minutes). Highway 55 (also Called Hiawatha) is just due east of MCAD and you take that right to the airport. It follows the Light Rail line. Just thought I’d mention it in case your GPS takes you on a route not similar to what I mentioned above. If you opt for public transportation - something we make sure to do whenever we are college visiting because D won’t have a car - it’s about 40 minutes (but you won’t have to take time to return a car, etc.) and you can bus right over to the Blue Line and then straight to the airport.
You are definitely welcome to PM me with any questions about transportation or other matters.
We are very close to making the final decision for S and it’s looking very likely that he will attend MCAD next year. Can anyone tell me what kind of food the Bistro offers and what kind of prices they charge for the food? I’m concerned a bit about my S buying groceries and cooking for himself!
Also, what happens if the kids get sick while there? Just had the experience of older college child ending up in the ER last week and I was able to drive there in the middle of the night to be with her since it’s only an hour and a half away. Obviously, with us living in SC, I can’t do that if S gets really sick while at MCAD.
Thanks everyone!
Hello @luvmiballerina. Congrats to your son on his (near) selection! D and I did eat at the Bistro a few weeks ago and we spend maybe about $10 for a grilled cheese, a club sandwich, and a couple of waters. I think. And I thought the food was very good. They have basic food there - I saw one entree with mashed potatoes on the side. My D has eaten there before and thinks it’s pretty good. Seems you can get B-fast there as well. My only issue would be that it closes early - I think around 5 pm? - on the weekdays and I don’t even know about weekend hours. Studio class runs from 1 - 6 for the most part so they would need either to get their dinner beforehand “to go” and store it or make dinner at home or go out to eat. In reality, if your S is like my D, he will be heating up frozen stuff throughout the week as well (or eating leftover pizza).
What’s best about the Bistro is that it’s completely optional and I think the points are deducted from your card (you can use cash as well). Regardless of what colleges tell us, the reality is that set meal plans are money makers for them. Something like the Bistro is much preferable, I think. But the downside is that the student has to be a bit more responsible about eating right.
Now, about unexpected illnesses, etc. First off, you should talk to MCAD and see what they do if a student becomes ill late at night - is there car service to the ER? etc. They might have a plan in place that they execute.
Secondly, advise your S to have a plan with his roommate so that if one of them gets sick, the other will have his back.
More generally speaking, The Twin Cities Metro has some of the most comprehensive and efficient hospital care, especially Emergency Department care, in the country. Consider: 1.3 miles away from MCAD is Abbott Northwestern Hospital, HCMC is a mile or two beyond that and has a Level I Trauma Unit. There’s also U of MN, Fairview Southdale, Methodist . . . all within a few miles. But the combination of Abbott and HCMC would make me very comfortable about my student living in that area and having access to excellent care 24/7. Those are simply excellent hospitals, regardless of what the mishap or illness is.
We also have urgent care centers all over the Metro for non-emergency but urgent needs (some of them might be located in the same complex as the hospitals I listed above but if you google “urgent care Minneapolis” you’ll see what’s around MCAD). These tend to run during regular business hours but are a GREAT alternative to the ER because you can in and out of them more quickly. I don’t understand why I don’t see these in other parts of the country as often.
Then, for strep, ear infections, etc. there are walk-in clinics such as Minute Clinics (run by CVS) - not sure if CVS is close to MCAD though. Of course anything that can be treated at the walk-in can also be treated at the UCC or ER; but for the smaller stuff sometimes it’s better to go simple and avoid the wait if at all possible. So perhaps you can google (or the Health Office at MCAD can provide) information on what walk-in clinics are around.
So in sum, this is a great location for emergencies! (How’s that for comfort???). Seriously, though, when the 35W Bridge collapsed in 2007 the response of the area hospitals was amazing. They are drilled for crisis. You won’t have to deal with such a high level of drama, but it gives you an idea of the level of preparedness and organization here.
Thank you, @Mamelot for the info! Has your D made a decision yet? I feel that we will be making our deposit by this weekend. So exciting but scary at the same time!
I figured it would only be breakfast (maybe) and lunch at the Bistro during the week. He attends a residential arts school currently, so we will be working on cooking skills this summer!
Cooking is a great skill to learn! I’m sure the students end up relying on the microwave quite a bit (it’s college after all) but it would be great to hear that they actually use the oven and cooktop! Having a full kitchen AND a pay-as-you-go dining option is the best situation for students. It encourages independence and autonomy, while giving time-pressed Foundation Year students a means of eating properly.
D is holding off a final decision till we visit one more school this weekend. I’m glad she’s being so thoughtful and deliberative about this, while letting us know her thoughts and preferences. We know she’s not struggling with indecision, nor set on some whim or other. She is seriously thinking through her options and considering finances as well as fit.
Congrats again to your son. Happy to give advice on winter gear, etc. when the time comes.
Did anyone pay for MCAD Bistro meal plan? Sounds kinda useless since you can just pay by cash. Does anyone know how much it costs per year on average?
@artstudent21 it’s not an actual “meal plan”. You can load up a card with points and use that or you can pay cash or credit. What’s nice about the card is that you can load it up online I think - kind of like a card for the bus or subway. It helps if you are on a budget because you load it up online ahead of time and run it down throughout the semester or year. Or if your parents are paying for your meals they can just load it up from wherever they are.
I’d look at your financial aid award because housing and meals were included in the cost of attendance. I think meals were something like $2100 but then you have to consider that you would be purchasing food for your apartment as well ? I’m guessing the cost of attendance assumes some of your meals will be at the Bistro and some you will make on your own (and some you will get by eating out . . . ).
@Mamelot There wasn’t anything specific about meals in my cost of attendance, but it said roomandboard would cost around 5k. I think that’s the one-room/two-persons apartment, but I doubt this includes Bistro meals too.
Anyway, this sounds like a pretty cool system actually, only turn-off is that they close after 5.
@artstudent21 I think you need to look on page two of your award letter which actually has the entire cost of attendance, not just direct costs. Don’t they add another 2,000 or so? Can’t recall. At any rate that would come to $3 per meal if you ate there all the time (19 meals/week for 9 months) so that can’t be the entire food cost. I just wondered if it was the portion that students purchased on campus. I never did ask Financial Aid about that.
Yeah, it definitely closes too early. But I guess it’s competing with Eat Street or dinner at home. I think studio gets out at 6 pm so you’d need to remember to get a “to go”, or eat out or fix something in the apartment.