The Maryland Institute College of Art (StudentsReview)

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	B	Faculty Accessibility	D
Useful Schoolwork	B+	Excess Competition	F
Academic Success	C+	Creativity/ Innovation	F
Individual Value	F	University Resource Use	B
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+	Friendliness	C-
Campus Maintenance	A	Social Life	F
Surrounding City	D	Extra Curriculars	B
Safety	A+

Describes the student body as: Friendly, Arrogant, Snooty, Closeminded Describes the faculty as: Friendly, Helpful, Arrogant, Condescending, Unhelpful, Self Absorbed

Male

Quite Bright

Lowest Rating Excess Competition	F

Highest Rating Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+

He cares more about Creativity/ Innovation than the average student.

Date: Jun 29 2013
Major: Design Arts - Industrial Design/Graphic Design/etc (This Major's Salary over time)
Words cannot express my displeasure with my experience at MICA. Considering the reputation, and certainly the price of admission, I was expecting a world class art school. Majoring in Graphic Design with a focus on Advertising, the general major coursework was on par with what I expected. However, the faculty, curriculum and general school beliefs are still stuck in the past and REFUSE to accept new ideas or ways of creating. At MICA, Photoshop should only be used to crop images, not paint, or in any way express creativity. As a freelance Digital Artist, my life resolves around digital creativity, something MICA simply does not offer or value in the slightest.

As far as the general requirement classes, they are aimed at teaching you the basics of color, composition, techniques, and style. Which is all well and good for freshman, and people pursuing an education in how-to. But to anyone with any experience in any kind of art making, the coursework is laughable, and a colossal waste of time. I'm sure it's like this with any art school, that doesn't change the fact that they should cater to those with experience, and actually try to push us farther instead of having us sleep through entry level courses. I feel as though every class was essentially an arts and crafts session instead of a prestigious art school course.

Onto the actual experience. Not only were the majority of students completely condescending and arrogant, it was without merit. While on a daily basis, trying to courteously, respectfully, and constructively critique the work of others in class, the majority of other students had zero respect for any of their peers. I was insulted on numerous occasions, even at one point accused of being a chauvinist for portraying a set of female lips enjoying candy. By a Graphic Design instructor, I was pulled aside after a class and was told I was "too visual oriented" as an artist. Think about that statement for a second. The fact that this conversation happened inside of one of the supposed top art schools in the country, I was simply amazed, and still am to this day.

At the Maryland Institute College of Art, if you didn't oil paint it, it is not acceptable. Unless you throw a bunch of red things inside of a red scarf, and then it's brilliant. It was a complete waste of time putting any effort into projects, and I probably would've been better off creating the most simple paint splash for every project. Unfortunately, the majority of artists in this world take their art very seriously, and enjoy putting their lives into it. Not here.

I will not be returning to continue my education at MICA, and would advise others who are going into the Digital field to look elsewhere. The school is extremely traditional, and arrogantly stuck in the past.

Responses

In reading the student's review of MICA it is clear that he is very uneducated. At the most basic rate, the artist admits that he does not believe in any additional use for Photoshop other than "cropping" images, which is to say he must not understand digital photographic imaging and its uses in a professional setting other than using the program as a final destination in the art-making process - which leads me to believe he has no professional experience to base his assessment of the school or future implementation of the principles learnt therein.

With regard to the foundation year, MICA has always been credited as having the most invaluable program for freshman visual artists - and this is a well known fact within art academia circles.

The second to last paragraph of the artists review accidentally reveals that the artist does not understand conceptual art and enjoys making fun of it which is to say he isn't actually an artist.

The design program at MICA is at the helm of the best educators in the world leading the design field in their day jobs at companies and institutions such as the Cooper-Hewitt Design Musuem and Pentagram to name a few.

Chances are, when they saw the students work he mentions being accused of being chauvinist, they were actually probably more-so asserting that his work was probably not only ignorantly voiced from an unintelligent mans man, but also lacking in conceptual value and probably too tongue-and-cheek. MICA's mission has always been to combine tradition with innovation, always being informed by past advancements in the arts while boasting the newest cognitive ventures in art making and design- surpassing conventional uses of both in every day practice, and this is true of any alumni profile you will read.

After reading, it is clear the student would have had a better education at a basic design school such as the chain "Art Institutes" as they are more attuned to students with no creative sensibilities. MICA is for the real artist, who does not need to be told how to use computer programs, but finds his or her own way to define them for their own uses. MICA's peer group is incredibly bitchy to people who don't belong at the institution and I have to assume this hasn't changed.

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