<p>UnsoccerMom,</p>
<p>My D is a high school senior planning to do fine arts next year. MICA is currently her top choice and SAIC is also on the list. She has also applied to Cooper Union (hometest in progress) and CMU. She is waiting to hear regarding merit aid from each based on portfolio, but SAIC has already offered her $16K over four years based on academics.</p>
<p>She looked at RISD but wanted to be a generalist longer than they like, since you must declare a specialty in the 2nd half of freshman year.</p>
<p>She has friends at each school she applied to. Her friend, a freshman at SAIC, was less than complementary about the quality of work in the foundation program there. Her friends at the other schools are all satisifed,especially a senior in the painting program at MICA. </p>
<p>As you said, there is no perfect school. CMU has a campus and great academics but is $$$; MICA could be in a nicer location; CU is free tution but could use an actual campus and SAIC, while it is in a great location, could be more selective.</p>
<p>It's all about trade offs...</p>