I am an international student major in fine art and I got accepted to RISD and MICA this year, but due to a financial issue happened this year, I am not quite sure about the decision now.
My dream school is RISD, because I really want to take some courses in BROWN as I have an interest in science and philosophy. I am rather poor on basic art skill and I think the fist tough year at RISD can help me to push my skill to a new level and help me to do better art piece. Besides, I guess because RISD is really selective, I can get to know may interesting people. But the problem is: RISD offered me NO SCHOLARSHIP.
And about MICA, I guess I will like the general fine art major there, since it will allow me to pursue more on interdisciplinary works, and I can learn many different things. And MICA offers me 5,8000 SCHOLARSHIP in total (given through 4 years), with available returning-student scholarship that I can apply for every year. But I am still concerned about the food, the quality of liberal art classes( I mean science and other field) and safety there.
So here is the question:
0, What is the major difference between these two?
1, How is the safety and food in MICA?
2, Does RISD requires quite rigid in basic skill that it even sometime harms the creativity?
3, Is it easy to take course in BROWN, or it is just an advertisement? I heard the overwhelming workload makes students unable to take other courses.
4, Is it possible to take course in other field in MICA, like science and philosophy? And how is the quality?
5, Is there a huge difference in the people surrounding you between these two colleges?
6, I will be in debt anyway, no matter which school I choose. But there is a 58000 reduction for MICA, so which school you would recommend me to take? And why?
I have not been to neither of them, so please please please give me some reliable suggestions.
I think MICA allows you to cross-register for courses at Johns Hopkins, which is well-known for its high-quality science programs and has excellent humanities as well. It’s quick and easy to get to JHU from MICA via public transit.
You can take some courses at Johns Hopkins University, although how many I don’t know. My daughter is a student at JHU. She loves Baltimore, campus is safe. She walks around downtown Baltimore in the evenings with other students.
@coco19 RISD and MICA are two very excellent schools and they both have a bit of a rivalry but also collaborate on an e-zine or two. You are fine with either school - it really comes down to fit.
The major difference that I see is that RISD is very structured - you declare you major and then you take the courses for that major. If you switch majors, you might have to spend an additional year (this happened to a niece of mine there). MICA, on the other hand, is very interdisciplinary and it’s possible to change majors w/o compromising your length of time at school, provided you work with your academic advisors to keep you on track. Neither program is “better” or “worse” than the other one - it all comes down to what you want to get out of your four years in art school. Some students prefer to define their specialty in a unique way and so benefit from the flexibility of an interdisciplinary curriculum, perhaps minoring in another subject. Some prefer a more focused and defined program of study for the major because it allows them to really work on improving their skill. I think you have kind of touched on these distinctions already.
Other than that and the fact that RISD is more selective while MICA is more generous w/r/t merit aid, both schools have stellar reputations and both are highly ranked in a number of programs. I’ve heard that taking JHU courses isn’t easy to fit into your schedule but then the Brown courses will take some pre-planning as well. However, in terms of overall relationships, the RISD/Brown one is unique in art schools. My nephew attended RISD and took courses at Brown so it’s a real relationship, not just an advertising gimmick. You would need to check out this aspect in detail as the science and philosophy courses are so important to you. The best quality ones would be at JHU or Brown, rather than at MICA or RISD (I don’t even think RISD offers science as an LAC option but I could be wrong on that).
I’m a bit confused about your situation, however. Did you apply for entry this fall (fall 2015) and then were granted a deferral? Will your scholarship to MICA remain intact if you enroll one year late? How was it that you were deferred at TWO institutions? Didn’t you have to inform one of them on May 1 that you would not be attending?
@Mamelot Yes, I applied for this fall and answered to attend RISD for this year, but then the financial situation happened and RISD offered me the deferral. But when I heard that RISD could not help me with the tuition, I contact MICA and they said they could also give me a deferral and carry my scholarship to the next year, even though I have said no to them before. And yes, I need to inform both colleges, but it is by the end of December, due to the pre-decision required by RISD.
But what about the safety and food in MICA? I heard that the campus is relatively safe, but what about the environment outside? Is it safe to be outside to do something, like buying stuffs or attending a festival event? And is there any famous museum around MICA?
@coco19 my D1 and I visited MICA in spring 2014 and she visited again with my husband spring 2015 when she was accepted (with scholarship). At neither time did anyone sense that it was a dangerous area. The freshman dorms are wonderful and a short walk to the main buildings. However, there was significant rioting in Baltimore shortly after their visit and right before the National Decision Day deadline and this occurred fairly close to Bolton Hill (the area that MICA is located in). My D1 had already opted to attend Pratt so we didn’t follow the situation all that closely. MICA has been involved in outreach within the community for years now and wasn’t discouraged by this latest unpleasant turn of events from continuing to do so. I don’t know what the crime rate has been for the past year but I’m guessing it’s higher. How much of that occurring around the MICA area is something that I haven’t researched so can’t answer.
The RISD/Brown area is not immune to some dangerous sections as well, although if you stay near campus you should be fine.
You can find the most recent campus security report both schools online. (Colleges and universities are required to report their crime statistics). Be sure to get recent statistics (2015 if possible) because a lot of the social unrest has been very recent. You can also contact MICA and ask them about campus safety. I’m sure they were getting many calls in the wake of the riots. But at least in previous years MICA’s safety record was much better than RISD’s. You can check out historical crime statistics on College Navigator.
In terms of getting out and about in Baltimore you should be fine. All of the students need to get off campus for shopping or attending art festivals and such. Baltimore is a great college town and there are students everywhere! Mount Vernon, just to the south of Bolton Hill, has excellent places to eat and I’m sure excellent night spots. You can always Uber back to campus or call for a security ride if you are concerned about safety in general. Baltimore is an urban area so you should use common sense and good judgement when you venture off campus (or even on campus).
As I never ate there I can’t speak to the quality of the food at MICA. I have eaten at the main dining hall at RiSD and it was out-of-this-world delicious. RISD probably wins the prize on that one.
@coco19 I meant to address your question about museums in Baltimore. There is the Walters in Mt. Vernon which we really enjoyed. The Baltimore Museum of Art has the Cone Collection of modern art which is quite famous. The Smithsonian in DC is a 40 minute train ride or so away. I actually think it’s easier to get to more museums at MICA than at RISD. Other than the RISD museum (which is great) there’s really not much in the area. You’d have to get up to Boston to see anything else.
One of my daughters attends JHS/Peabody conservatory, around the corner almost from MICA. Although students are always attentive to safety concerns, the area around her school is monitored and students move around freely. My daughters attends concerts, book fairs, goes to the waterfront several times per week, shops, etc. In the evening it is wise to walk with a buddy, but that is true in most large cities in the United States. The Walters Art Museum is across the street from her dorm.
Hello again OP, sorry to not have responded earlier. We visited RISD with S who was considering the dual degree program with Brown (but did not end up applying). We know MICA bc his art school rec’d MICA rep’s frequently and send several students there. RISD has the reputation of being the most established, rigorous, and well-known esp outside art circles. MICA is more cutting edge, more multidisciplinary, and more “hip” if that makes sense.
This is really about what fits your own particular circumstances. I would just say that when you are looking at four years, take the financial situation really seriously. You may even want to do a MFA or art education degree so not taking on too much debt would serve you well in the long run.
I have to agree with these posters above. The area is really cool with Bolton Hill and Mt. Vernon and then just south is the downtown. To the north of MICA about 3 miles away or so is JHU and there is a free campus circulator bus that operates between all the major campuses including MICA, Goucher, JHU, etc. so you are assured of transportation. For general public transport there is the Charm City Circulator which is free - D1 and I hopped on that several times during our first visit. There is also the light rail which we used to get from our hotel in Mt. Vernon up to MICA (we could also have walked but one of my goals was to check out public transportation in the city so we used it whenever we could).
Peabody (which is a top-ranked music conservatory) has been there in Mt. Vernon for awhile and JHU would not put its students in jeopardy so that’s a great sign as well. And as I mentioned earlier we simply didn’t notice anything dangerous, although we did notice a lot of homeless people and it’s not uncommon for them to ask for money (even on the LR). I lived in Chicago for years so was used to that. If the riots were a one-time incident then it’s probably not anything you need to worry about. My only concern about the riots was how quickly everything seemed to turn. I know that the campus was on lock-down with classes cancelled and students instructed to stay in their dorms, etc. It seemed to be a scary situation. If you are on FB you can go and check out the posts. MICA was very good about keeping everyone up to date. And I’m not sure that JHU main campus had to worry about this because they are actually located up in another area and not so close to the grittier parts of Baltimore.
One thing I loved about MICA was the quality of the dorms. Especially the freshman dorms which are brand new. Rather than “corridor style” or even “suite style” they have constructed three person apartments with kitchens (two bedrooms with one being a single and you would pay extra for that). They are much nicer than the RISD corridor style dorms at Nickerson or other parts of the freshman quad. Later on in your college career you have Gateway which is another apartment style dorm in a funky green circular shape. It’s one of the more photographed images at MICA and part of the distinct look of the campus. So let’s say better food at RISD, better dorms at MICA.
If you want to read more about the MICA experience I would recommend the book Art Schooled (can’t remember the author but I bought it on Amazon so it’s readily available). Written around 2009 or 2010 so pretty current.
The money issue is crucial - these are two very fine institutions and you can’t go wrong with either. They both have plusses and minuses. Money and Fit should probably be your highest priorities because I think on the other issues overall there is not a clear winner or loser.