RISD, MICA, Cal Arts

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>Hi there, I just joined the community. I wanted to hear from you all about RISD, MICA, and Cal Arts (The School of Art). I live in the NY area and I favor closer schools, so RISD and MICA are at the top of my list. </p>

<p>To give you a little more information about me, I was accepted into all three schools and received scholarship from all of them (36k from RISD, 25k from MICA, 23k from CalArts, all for the 09-10 year). I was a youngarts / NFAA national winner and a scholastic art and writing awards national portfolio winner, and my work thus far has been figurative painting and drawing, but also very personal. My academics are good, as mentioned in another thread, I have about a 3.6/4.0 GPA. </p>

<p>I have no preference for my future (I'm not sure what major I want to do) and am looking to explore before settling down. I've read many threads about RISD and MICA but I also wanted to hear from people who entered the schools not knowing what they wanted to do. </p>

<p>Also, sort of random, but how long does it take to get to RISD from NYC at 9:30 AM on a weekday? Just wondering if a lot of traffic is involved.</p>

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<p>By train, I believe it is 4 - 5 hours or so? Should be around there, my friends travel from RISD -> NYC when they have time to go home.</p>

<p>Getting 36k from RISD is impressive! I personally love Providence, so I’m leaning towards RISD, and I also have many friends who attend there.</p>

<p>My friend who transferred from MICA to RISD said that to her, there is a difference in the environment in RISD and MICA, but work-wise she sort of feels as long as you put effort into it, both schools are equally good, so it is not worth paying more to go to one school if you don’t have a preference/have an equal preference for either. RISD’s coursework is more rigid from what I hear, so if you want to explore more, MICA would be a better option, which my friend vouched for.</p>

3

<p>If you’re driving, it would take just about 3 hours to get from lower Manhattan to RISD during off-peak hours. If you take I-95, you’ll find the most traffic on the Manhattan - Stamford stretch, a little less congestion around Bridgeport and New Haven, and pretty smooth sailing everywhere else.</p>