Temple BFA vs MICA Animation

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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Our daughter aspires to major in animation, but she also has interests in computer science and band. Temple offers her opportunities to explore her outside interests. She has also been accepted into their Honors program. However, they don’t have an animation degree, which is what she ultimately wants to do. We’ve suggested she might be able to do film as a minor, and perhaps in a way, create her own path. She has a Provost scholarship there, which offers her an $18,000 annual scholarship plus a $4000 stipend to study abroad (she would LOVE to go to Japan). We have not yet heard if she has an art merit scholarship. Although it’s a dangerous area of Philly, I feel like her honors dorm would be close to the art school, and everything is contained in one building. So I feel like she would be safe.

She’s also been accepted to MICA as an animation major. She received a generous early action scholarship and is a finalist for more. But MICA doesn’t offer her opportunities for comp sci or band. The campus seems to be spread out in Baltimore. We live in a suburb of Baltimore, so we’re familiar with the area, but I don’t relish my 5’1" daughter walking around downtown Baltimore to get to her next class. My sense is that the dorms wouldn’t be as nice as the Temple honors dorm, and there would be fewer young men for her to meet at MICA. But if she wants to be an animator, it certainly offers a clearer path toward a career in animation.

We suspect in the end, once all the scholarships are in, Temple and MICA will probably cost around the same to us.

She was accepted at Ringling (any major except animation, $10,000 annual scholarship) but we feel it’s off the table due to cost and their decline of her as an animation major.

She was not accepted to CMU’s BFA/animation program. : ( She hasn’t yet heard from UPenn, but I doubt she will be accepted due to GPA. Those are the 5 schools to which she applied. We feel it’s between Temple and MICA at this point unless UPenn surprises us with an acceptance.

Thanks for any thoughts!

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I can help on the MICA front. We are from MN and my D1 visited two years ago as a junior and then again last year as an accepted student (special Early Action) and scholarship finalist.

Have you seen the freshman dorm Founders Green at MICA? Very new and very nice. Apartment style with a full kitchen and two bedrooms, one being a double the other being a single. So three occupants total. Access to the dorm is guarded and I seem to remember it being gated but can’t recall for sure. They do have their own dining hall as well. One bugaboo for me was that my daughter noticed no drafting tables or desks in the rooms. Not sure what students do about that. I think all the dorms have studios and other study areas so perhaps they go there.

MICA is not quite a dedicated campus like Pratt or even RISD, but it is much more of the campus than most art schools. The majority of classes are held at Fox, Brown, and Main and these three are right next to one another in the heart of the campus. Founders Green is really only about a 10 minute walk from there at most and you pass along student townhomes and other MICA/related buildings. It’s probably the same distance as Gateway (that cool funky circular dorm). There are art students all over Bolton Hill. People do worry about the “MICA bubble” but during our first visit a couple years ago we didn’t experience any sense of that. We stayed just south in Mt. Vernon and hopped on the LR (could have walked but too lazy ;0) to get to MICA. Mt. Vernon, as you know, has the Walters as well as Peabody and great restaurants. Also the beautiful basilica (the oldest in America). We really enjoyed our visit to the area.

MICA has definitely been expanding into some of the more grungy areas of Baltimore that were - hopefully! - turning around. The MFA program s located across the freeway in a newly-rehabbed neighborhood. They also recently repurposed and reopened a historic theater building and moved the film school over there as part of a joint venture with JHU. You’d need to check to see whether the animation studios are in Bolton Hill or one of the outlying areas.

The riots, of course, were rather disconcerting. MICA kept everyone up-to-date on social media but some of the thuggery happened very close to Founders Green. My D1 had just declined MICA when they broke out and to be honest I was very relieved. I don’t think that the issue is resolved for the people of Baltimore yet, but as you live in the general area you would be the best judge of that issue. Safety is a huge issue at MICA and you should check out the campus security report and speak to them about your concerns in light of the recent violence. I’d say that prior to the Freddie Gray riots I was very comfortable sending my daughter to MICA, but I’d definitely be asking more questions now. The fear is that when something happens, it can happen very quickly with little warning.

You might check with MICA about your daughter being able to do some Comp. Sci. at JHU. Not as convenient as Temple or even Brown (for RISD) but some students do cross enroll there. Plus there is a free shuttle that stops at all the colleges so ready transportation.

Good luck to her, and well done on her scholarships so far. Hope she get additional money once all the scholarships are finalized. It was quite a wait for my daughter but I think she received all financial information from them by early April or so. I was very impressed with their intellectual approach to art and design as well as the importance they placed on the liberal arts classes. There’s a reason why it has such a stellar reputation!

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My job as a musician has prevented me from attending any of the events at MICA - just bad luck that I had obligations on the days that worked for her. My husband took her and of course, neither of them are very communicative with me. : ) He works just a few minutes from MICA, and we live a half hour away, so we feel fairly confident we could get to her if needed. It’s just the daily walking from class to class and studios. I will get to do the scholarship finalist reception though, so that will be my first time on MICA’s campus myself.

We do like Temple a lot, and her uncle is a professor in the music dept, which is in the same building. Lots more potential for her to keep up with her music if she wants. I also feel like Philly might be a better city in which to start making contacts and a bit of a name for herself than Baltimore?

It really IS a very long wait!!! Where did your daughter end up, out of curiosity?

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@nanava my daughter was accepted to MICA, Pratt, and MCAD (here in Minneapolis) and all of them are excellent for graphic design which is her interest. She felt that MICA wasn’t the best fit - the program was “too open ended” for her tastes because they are very interdisciplinary and encourage a minor field of study. They are also very strong in fine arts so she saw a ton of artwork but not much graphic design on display (although we did wander over to the MFA side to look at that graphic design exhibit and she loved it). D1 prefers being in a program that’s very structured with a large body of specific required coursework so Pratt and RISD were better fits (she did not get into RISD but was viewing Pratt on the same level so wasn’t disappointed). All her schools offered her excellent scholarships so it really was an issue of fit. She really liked the strong design reputation at Pratt, the dedicated campus (a BIG issue for her and one that ruled out SAIC, SCAD, Parsons, SVA, etc.) and the location in NYC.

Had it been me rather than my very determined D1, I would have chosen the more open ended program. My thinking is how do these kids really know what they want to do for their BFA? I attended a small LAC that encouraged exposure to lots of different fields of study and I loved that aspect of it. My major was very rigorous (it was in the social sciences, not art or design) but I also took courses in the hard sciences, lots of math, humanities, art history, choir, and on and on. Both my husband and I were very impressed with what we were hearing about MICA from relatives who are “in the know” about the best art/design programs. But D1 is very happy at Pratt and so it really is the best fit for her. I am very comfortable with the level of rigor there as well as the opportunities for the ComD kids. So it worked out great.

I’d say that the nationally ranked art and design programs - which obviously include MICA and Tyler - are going to have employers from outside the area. While she might get her start in Philly, or Baltimore - she might easily end up in CA or Chicago or NYC. I wouldn’t worry so much about the locale - except for safety, of course.

D1 would not even consider a university program so that ruled out CMU, UMich, SUNY, Temple, Syracuse, RIT, UCinn, and on and on. We had many conversations about this, especially because I felt that CMU would have been a great fit. She wouldn’t even apply. Sigh. I did “make” her apply to two university programs in our area just in case she didn’t get any scholarship money from the art schools because I figured she would get her LA credits out of the way then transfer another year. Fortunately that never was an issue.

Hope you enjoy your visit! One advantage of MICA for animation is that you can combine it with a minor in, say, illustration or graphic or film or writing or something else that your daughter fells compliments her specialty. It really is a great school that way. Also, the professional development plan they put each student on really helps with employment later on. And the advisors seem very, very supportive and accessible. I’ve heard excellent things about Tyler as well, however, and there is no doubt that combining a specialty in art with a university education will give your daughter a lot of flexibility employment-wise. Her interest in music is obviously a very important factor. A lot really depends on what she wants to get out of her four years of college.

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Open ended sounds very appealing to me (and likely my daughter.) She is definitely more of a interdisciplinary type, and would appreciate the open endedness and the opportunity to explore a minor. I think my daughter was more interested in a university rather than an art school, which is why I’m a bit behind in learning about MICA. But as we move further along, MICA is drawing (no pun intended!) us in more and more.

Thanks for all your feedback. GREAT food for thought.

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@Mamelot - I like your whole line of thinking and the way the family worked out your daughter’s art school choice with her steering the ship. My daughter was accepted at several top dedicated art schools in the Northeast. She is really struggling with her choice. She is going in as Drawing & Painting major but has interests in Industrial Design and possibly Graphic Design. All of the top schools, including shockingly RISD, have offered her substantial scholarships so money is fortunately not the major criterion. However, she remains very torn. I don’t think she had that aha-moment you hope your kid has when they see THE school. There were schools she really did not like, but none she absolutely loved. Pratt is close to home, close to NYC and with great placement and contacts. RISD is kind of the Princeton of art schools and it is tough to turn them down. But she did the precollege there and is afraid Providence will get old quickly. She’s also afraid that with its international reputation RISD attracts a lot of rich internationals who may not be as academically rigorous and some who may be extremely cliqueish. She liked Tyler, but mainly because she found it refreshing to have a real college campus and experience opportunity. Not sure Tyler measures up to RISD or Pratt though. Also, Pratt & RISD offer at least some academic opportunities. She will graduate in the top 10% of her class and wants to at least take some classes outside of art and to have interactions that are a bit more academic. All this by way of asking for an opinion or even just more questions to ask. Thanks!

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@BrooklynRye - first of all congratulations to your daughter for her accomplishments! She may not realize it at the moment (or for many more years) but she’s in an enviable situation!!! Long ago I had a friend in grad school - let’s call him John Smith - who, when everyone else was struggling to find employment ended up with two tippy-top offers. The guy couldn’t make up his mind and spoke to everyone about it for days - maybe even weeks. Finally we all told him that he had what was known as a “John Smith” problem, defined to be a problem that everyone else wished they had. Hopefully that gave him some perspective. Maybe not. You have to be in those shoes (and vice versa) :wink:

My D1 was relieved that RISD turned her down precisely because she really liked both and didn’t want to have to make that choice. So it was a bit easier for her. But given that your daughter sounds enormously talented my guess is that she can probably write her ticket to anywhere. She doesn’t need to hang her hat on just one choice if it doesn’t work out best for her. I say encourage her to give herself permission to change her mind later on.

All of the top schools take transfers and it’s simply no big deal. As good as the precollege programs are at preparing these kids for a rigorous studio program, they can’t substitute for actually being there month after month. Art/design kids have a different way of thinking than most of the rest of us. Their thoughts don’t fit into a neat and tidy box. They need room to grow in their unique direction throughout the entire educational process (and probably even beyond).

The only issue would be scholarships but I think at least as far as Pratt is concerned there are actually scholarships for transfers (you should check on that). If so, then your D might well start at the top and go with RISD. What does she have to lose?

I wouldn’t worry too much about her lack of decisiveness at this point for a major. As I mentioned in an earlier post I find it difficult that someone their age would absolutely KNOW what they want to do. The foundation year is such an eye opening experience from everything I’ve heard and read that I would be afraid a kid’s “tunnel vision” would inadvertently by-pass some great opportunities. RISD has the Wintersession and I believe that first years will be encouraged to explore something entirely new for that course. The only risk with RISD - and probably Pratt - is like what happened to my niece who switched her major from painting to Textiles and had to redo her 2nd year as a result (so five years total at RISD). RISD is kind of “guild” - oriented, for lack of a better description. Once you choose a major you are trained in that major and there isn’t much crossover to other disciplines. It’s not like MICA or SAIC where you can change your major several times and still graduate on time. None of these are better or worse approaches - it all depends on what fits the individual student. That’s why it’s so critical to understand each school’s approach from the get-go.

BTW, Did you all visit Pratt? And I can’t recall but did she ever to apply to MICA or no?

Good luck to her - I’m sure she’ll do fantastic things with her art!

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very surprising g no mention of the #1 rated public fine arts program in the entire country and the #2 grad program overall right behind Yale. That’s right , it’s ahead of RISD! That school is VCUarts in Richmond Va. Great school
inside of a larger university. Students are treated like gold of the campus and Richmond is simply a wonderful arts town.

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@stones3 you are correct - the new rankings just came out and VCU is now tied with UCLA for 2nd place (Yale still dominates overall) - both are just ahead of RISD and SAIC now. RISD still has the most consistency but VCU has almost caught up with that (6 specialties now in the top 10).

They are ALL great programs! Not really convinced you can go wrong with ANY of them. It’s really about finances and personal fit.

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Why surprising? I started this thread because my daughter is choosing between Tyler and MICA and I am seeking advice on those schools. She didn’t apply to Yale or VCUarts, so not sure why that would come up in this thread?

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its surprising in so much as there has been discussion on Mica Pratt Risd Saic etc, so yes, its’ surprising that it took a while for VCUarts to come up in the conversation. I recognize you asked about temple and mica , but that didn’t preclude talk of these other schools . So why not the discussion of VCUarts ? Its one of the best programs in our country.

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Now that VCU was ranked #2 we will be hearing a lot more about it! I know that it comes up in other visual arts conversations currently but people tend to look at USNews to start their research so I expect that more families will have it on their radar now. We did look into it a few years ago but D1 ruled out university programs . . … Pretty sure that she will be considering it as a possible grad. school. :slight_smile:

They certainly have succeeded in getting their name out there.

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@nanava No specific words of advice but we’re in a similar situation in that our DD was also accepted into MICA & given early scholarship and going down this weekend to visit/help make up her mind. She also got into RISD - aid package was ok, but not great so we’re wondering and waiting on what MICA might provide $-wise.

I admit I’m a little mom nervous about the location in Baltimore BUT I was signed up for their FB page last year and was incredibly impressed with how the college handled student safety and communication with parents. We’ve also spent a family vacation there and love all that the city has to offer. Without getting too political, I think that situation could sadly happen in any area now and so I’m trying hard to just have her compare her final picks via their art programs and best “fit” for her.

I also have a BFA and I really like MICA’s more open ended/multi-disciplinary approach to the students’ majors. As technology and my own interests have changed my career has morphed from one field into many spinoffs of visual arts. So I like that she’ll get a chance to immerse herself into more mediums and shift gears there more easily if she wants.

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@ArtAngst We’ll also be there tomorrow, but can only stay for part of the day due to gigs (my husband and I are musicians in addition to day jobs.) Still, would love to chat in person if we can find one another somehow! I’ve also heard that MICA did really well through the FG riots. It was a scary time, and hopefully not one that will be repeated in Baltimore any time soon. Baltimore is a really fun city - it has a lot to offer, and it’s also fairly close to Philly, DC, NYC. But is my independent-minded suburban girl very street smart? Probably not. So that worries me a little. I suppose she’ll learn to be… : {

Actually, speaking of open ended, I wonder about whether or not getting a plain old BFA at Temple (or MICA for that matter) might be better than pigeon-holing herself into Animation at MICA. She loves drawing characters, and she loves the style of animation and illustration she’s seen at MICA. She also loves her comp sci class (her dad got a degree in violin performance and comp sci and she’s very much like him.) BUT, I’m not sure if that her love for drawing characters will necessarily translate into loving an animation career and all that entails. She’s a slow worker and hates deadlines. It’s hard to imagine her thriving in a job of constant deadlines and quick turnaround times.

I can see her definitely doing something in the arts, and I definitely can see her spinning off as you describe yourself. So I’m not so convinced that it’s the end of the world if she doesn’t get to major in Animation. I feel like a BFA undergrad and an Animation grad degree might be more beneficial to her. But I think it was Ringling (?) that told us at National Portfolio Day that there are NO masters in Animation in any college. It is intended to be a bachelors then you get a job. I haven’t fully investigated if that’s true but it’s hard to believe no one offers a masters in animation (maybe something related would do if she decides she really wants to do animation.)

Can you tell I’m leaning toward Tyler/Temple?? But a big scholarship from MICA might change everything… Wish we didn’t have to wait so long!

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MICA was the very last FA package we received and we knew there could be additional merit aid with that packet so all final decisions had to wait till it arrived. We had everything set up on a spreadsheet just waiting to plug in the MICA numbers. That packet was marched straight over to the computer - not even sure D1 was given a chance to savor the moment LOL! I read on other (non art school) threads about frustrations with not having their school wrapped up by winter break. Heck, D1 was happy to get hers wrapped up before the May 1 deadline!!!

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@Mamelot LOL at the spreadsheet! We developed our own spreadsheet about a month ago and yes, we’re just waiting to fill in those final numbers from MICA!

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We were pretty set on Tyler, and we were surprised not to receive any merit scholarship money. Because of this we decided to revisit SAIC next weekend, and are also waiting on MICA. My daughter got an initial award of $50,000 from MICA.
What are our chances of getting a much larger scholarship amount from MICA next week? Does anyone have any idea?

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@calicogirl Did she receive $50K total from MICA, or over 4 years? Our daughter received a similar amount (over 4 years) as part of the early action scholarship. I can’t imagine sending her to MICA unless she managed to win a decent amount of scholarship in this round as well. But your guess is as good as mine as to what the likelihood of that is!

I will say, we went to the MICA Open House this morning for scholarship finalists, and it’s the first time I’ve been with her to MICA. Her dad had to take her to previous visits. I was struck by how much the students there seemed like her people. I could see my introverted, different, artsy girl really blossoming there. I was really impressed with the discussion of multidisciplinary approaches. The animation professor who sat down at our table (Clarissa) talked about her background in theatre and lighting and how movement and lighting informs her animation art. I loved that.

My girl was very excited to talk about her own interests. As she told the professor, her interests were in “Pre-production and storyboarding.” She had to explain to me what that was about later. Who knew she’d thought it through that much? (Hint: Not her mom!!!) The prof also talked about the foundation year, how they receive a broad art education, and all the opportunities for the kids to explore different areas even beyond the foundation year. So I’m leaning back toward the MICA camp after today. But money is money. If you can’t afford something, you just can’t. So a scholarship will unfortunately be a key part of our decision. Best of luck to you.

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We are in the exact same boat. I couldn’t foot the bill to go back to both MICA and Saic (from California) , and since Chicago gave her $80 over four years, we are going there to revisit first… If I had $250,000 in my college savings acct. then none of this would matter. I talked to the Mica rep last week and I got a really good feeling from him about the interdisciplinary approach. We visited in January, and the school was so quiet (class in session), it was hard to get a feeling for the vibe. Did the campus feel more vibrant today?

Yes, Mica gave my daughter $50,000 over four years. I guess I didn’t think about it as an “early action” scholarship…although I should have. Did you get any idea from the gathering today what to expect in the envelope this week? I don’t want to get our hopes up, but my goal is to bury our girl in as little debt as possible! Best of luck to you both, let touch base after the big decision comes down. Did you look at SAIC? What was your impression?

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@calicogirl We could only stay for a short time because I had a concert to perform. So we didn’t wander around campus much and no time to really assess vibrancy. But I loved the exhibits of student work. Very impressive. She loved just overhearing conversations about things that were exactly in line with her interests. She felt very much at home with her fellow admitted students.

I think in our letter, they actually called it an early action scholarship. No ideas as for further scholarship at all. But my husband and I are still paying back our own student loans, so yeah, I’d prefer our art major to have as little debt as possible.

We didn’t look at SAIC. We just wanted to focus on five schools she liked for various reasons, but we’ve narrowed it down to Temple and MICA.