Maryland Institute College of Art Top Questions

There are two words to accurately describe what I would tell myself if I could travel back to my Senior year of High School: "Time Management". The most important thing I have learned thus far in my College education, and something that became evident to me within the first few weeks of starting here at MICA is that everything is possible with the proper management of free time. Procrastinating so often in high school was a careless mistake-- I know now to budget my time and keep myself healthy so that I can accomplish everything that is needed throughout the day. And, most importantly, waiting until the last minute will never merit good results, no matter how well you can conceal your lack of time spent on studies or an assignment. Overall, I definitely stress the need to prioritize, take your studies seriously, and above all, breathe.

If I were to go back into time witht he information I have now about college, I would probably have taken my junior and senior year a bit more seriously. Even though my gpa was about 3.5, I still wish I focusesed on other aspects of high school-- such as taking more advanced placement classes to earn college credit. I came in with 12 credits but if I had taken only one more advanced placement credit and earned the credit, I would have been able to graduate a whole semester earlier. Not only would I get to graduate earlier, but it also would have saved me thousands of dollars in the long run!

I would tell myself to prepare more financially. For my entire life, my father, who is a lawyer, has always been the breadwinner in my house. However, he left our family in February 2009 to live with another woman who he had been having an affair with. In november of 2009, my parents got divorced. Everyone was completely surprised and shocked. My father is refusing to pay anything for me and family. Meanwhile, my mother is unemployed and looking for jobs in book-keeping. Since then, I have prepared myself to not graduate at MICA, because we cannot afford it. I wish I had worked more in high school. If I were to receive $5000, It would help me possibly graduate MICA.

Don't worry to much about making friends becasue you will. Also don't doubt your talet because you deserve to be were you are, you worked hard to get there.

Relax, you will make the right choice, you will be fine.

MICA is a very liberal and creative environment that has the potential to cultivate much alternative knowledge. Now I know this, but as a high school student I was ignorant to this fact. If I were to advise my former self, I would suggest to keep an open-mind and allow myself to be porous to the inspiring surroundings. To hold on to old values and discriminations in a new setting can be very constraining and ineffective to the whole college and life learning process. Also, before entering MICA, I had little knowledge about the art world and the array of styles and approaches it offers. Therefore, I would as well advise myself to attempt to delve more in the creative side rather than confine myself in the academically muted version of realistic art. This activity would definitely enhance my freshman experience at MICA and allow for a smoother transition into a radically different atmosphere!

I think I would tell myself to try and enjoy more of my overall college experience during my first year, and also to expect that my experience wasn't going to be the same as what I thought of as 'the typical college experience', or what I saw most of my other friends having at state schools and liberal arts colleges. When I first got to MICA I was so intimidated by the high level of work I saw all of my classmates doing that I was more concerned with keeping up with and competing with them than having fun. I caused myself a lot of unnecessary stress. I was also disappointed in the lack of school spirit and extracurriculars I was used to seeing from my public high school. Since I was expecting to simply pick up where I left off in high school, I wasted time that I could have spent embracing other involvement opportunities during my first semester. So, in short, I would tell myself to leave all my preconceived notions behind and that it's ok to relax and not put so much pressure on myself.

"Alright Genesis, I know you are on the right track. but here are few things. You are going to get rejected, embrass yourself, do someone you'll regret and waste a generious amount of money. It's inevitable, it will happen. So this is what you should do when each happens: Getting Rejected: Automatically go to a place (mental or physical) where you are accepted, and do some work. Accept yoursef through the work you make. Embrassing Yourself: Say 'sorry' when necessary and bring it up. It is so much better to discuss with someone and maybe even laugh. Regretable Act: Realize why you regret it and make something that you are proud of to override the regret. Wasting Money: Take an extra minute to do inventory on your supplies, know what you can afford, and keep concerts and trips to the Hookah lounge to a minimum. Well Genesis, there are more things along the way. But take it one day at a time and always look at the big picture. Of course I am not talking about the 30 X 60 drawing you did for Life Drawing Class..... Have a Good Time my friend!"

College is all about finding your niche, the right place you belong, which is why you cannot select a college sight-unseen. You need to visit the campus of the colleges you have applied, take tours, talk to current students and facility, and sit in on classes. Websites and brochures are just a window into the school, but it is not until you actually visit the campus that you will discover that it is or is not the place for you. Additionally, since you are the one going to college, do not let anyone influence your choice. Picking a school is about YOU -- think about it, it is the only four years of your life that you get to be truly selfish. You get to learn what you want to learn, experience what you want to experience, and make friends with people you want to be friends with; and if you are at a school that you do not feel great about, then what?s the point. So when it comes to picking a college, look past those fancy pictures, expensive advertising, and even the ?BIG NAME,? and choose a college that is the perfect fit for Y-O-U.

Look at a lot of different places, but don't be afraid to follow your instincts. If there is a place that seems right for you, confidnetly apply even if it appears to be a stretch. When you're at school, go out and make friends. Academics are very important, but the friends you make at school will last you a life time, so don't discount the importance of relationships.

Reputation isn't everything. No matter how good a schools reputaion is, if its not the right fit for a student he/she isn't going to get the most out of the education. Think about what you want enviornment will allow you to absorb the most out of your education, and not only will it make you happier, but more successful. Once you have chosen a college, the bast advice I can give based on my experiences is to get involved. The more energy and effort you invest into your school, the more it will invest in you- take advantage of everything it has to offer. Lastly, have pride and confidence in your decision! Find what drives you, trust your instincts and do what makes you happy. The more faith you have in your choices the more they will pay off in the end. Best of Luck!

Manage your time! If you keep a to-do list, use a calendar and keep track of all your assignments, events, meetings, etc. you will have so much fun in college, and have enough time to do anything you want. College is all about experiencing new things and learning in order to make it the real world, so manage your time and enjoy it!

My college experience has shown me than college is what you put into it. No matter where you go you can't predict what kinds of people you'll meet or what teachers you'll get, and in the end it's up to you to squeeze every drop you can out of your time at school. When you decide to go to college, you have to make an agreement with yourself to work hard, because even if you have the best teachers and facilities you can't succeed unless you really dedicate yourself to enriching your mind. I would recommend that any studends considering colleges should focus primarily on how prepared they are to accept the responsibilitiy of their own education.

The best advice I have is visiting the campus and finding out about not only the academic life but as well as how students are socially, how they live on a day to day basis. Talking with students already attending that school and find out their interests, what they enjoy about attending that college. Find out about the course work, how students and professors interact with on another, how formal and informal are the relationships between instructor and student.Talk with the Activities board and find out what activities the students are most active in at that particular school. Check out the surrounding areas, restaurants, grocery stores, theatres, reacreation etc.. and see how safe the area is and whether that community is one that the prospective student would like to live and participate in.

Visit every college you apply to.

Visit as many diverse schools/campuses you can; it will be overwhelming at first but in the end you will know what the right school for you is. Be open and don't let friends influence your decision. Only you know what school is for you.

Be sure to pick one that you love. Pick a school that really cares about you individually, a school that recognizes your needs as a student and as a person. After that, pick the school where you're comforatble and feel like you belong.

If you have a dream, wake up and get a reality check. The water is cold in the mainstream. Times are tough and people are losing their jobs. But if you love doing art, by all means put together your portfolio together and apply here. The facilities at MICA are clean and accessable,and the instructors are knowledgeable and friendly. The courses ahead are numerous and the challenges articulate and difficult. And get a Mac.

Choose a school that fits you, not that simply has the bigest reputation, or where your friends are going. School is an oppertunity to expand your mind and grow as a person, so you should choose a school that will help you do that.

To find the right college, i believe you must first start narrowing what you might want to do for the rest of your life. That sounds a bit harsh, but having a generalized idea will help you limit your choices. I knew i was going into art and i knew i wanted to be somewhere on the east coast, so i narrowed my choices to MICA, Cooper Union, RISD, and PRATT. RISD was out of the question for me, whether or not i wanted to go there; the reason being because they did not offer meret scholarships. I couldnt be in debt for the rest of my life. Anyway, visit the campuses. Let them explain everything they can. Ask questions that they havent touched upon. Think about where you see yourself in for the next four years. Know the area as well--the school might look glamourus but the area might not be in the place you hoped the school was in. Make the best of it. Have fun. Work hard. Wherever you go, I guarentee that you will learn more about yourself than anything else in any school.

Find out what interests you. What do you want to learn more about. What makes you happy. What could you see yourself doing with the rest of your life. Even if you are not sure at the moment at least you will have a direction. Visit as many colleges as you can and ask the same questions of each. Follow your gut reaction. How friendly is the campus? Make sure the campus is located in a place you like, because during school you make a lot of contacts and it may get you a job near there after your schooling. Start looking your junior year of highschool. There may be classes you can take in your remaning time that can prepare you for college. Create a list of all the colleges you are interested in and all thier pros and cons. While you are researching colleges, also research scholarships. The earlier you start applying for scholarships the better your chances of getting them. If you know exactly what you want to do, or have an idea. Look at top schools in your field and look for a professional in your career direction and interview them.

When chosing a college, it's best to look at the classes offered, the cirriculums and degree plans. Also if possibe, visit the campus, try to have a tour of it and see the facilities. When visiting try to talk to someone who is currently going to the college most students are happy to talk about their classes and share ideas. Just keep in mind that their experiance will be different than yours. Enjoy the process. Hopefully you'll only have to do it once.

Just make sure you're really passionate about learning whatever it is you're seeking in a school. Passion is important, otherwise you will be miserable, and you will be wasting your time.

I would research and visit different schools before making a descision as every one is different. Make sure you figure out if it's on the route to get you where you want to be after college. Take into account if there are working professionals teaching at the school, they are very helpful and you can learn more about what you need for a career in the field. Apply for every scholarship available to help make it more affordable. College should be fun, make sure you choose one that is enjoyable.

First finding the Right College: It's important to start early, the standard is early junior year in high school. Use text and online rescourse. Collegeboard is a great example and has it's own survey to find a colleges that might interest you. It's a great place to start. Around this time start visiting colleges near and far. visit even a few that you might not apply to, just to see what a college of that type is like. Also if you high school has a developed counceling center, ask you dean or counceller, it's their job. Second Making the Most Of College: It's important to know the while in College, unless you plan on attending a form of grad school this is the last step before entering the work force, in what ver field that may be. this it the time when you have the most freedom to expermient as a young adult in terms of finding what's right for you, and your college is their to help. Internship, development offices, advisors, Professors, even clubs and fellow students can help you become more experienced in any field you choose. Use it.

The visit to the college experience of talking with actually students is one of the most important experiences of visiting colleges. Make sure you take the time to find students who may be working outside of class and talk to them. If they are highly negative or unwilling to talk then it tells you something about the community at the University. Second important thing is the location in realtion to your job field and the quality of the career service department. Spend some time on campus if possible. Shoot for schools that are in the top bracket for your particular field even if they are not finiancially accessible or in a location you like because knowing about their program will help you compare other schools for the quality of the academic program.

College is a very strange time in everyone's life. You really need to seek out what all your options are, and pick the direction that suits what you want to do the best. Not what will look good for a career or something to impress your parents, but something that will help propel your dream career and life in a direction that you will ultimately be happy. You can go to law school and make a ton of money but will you truly be happy doing that? I went to art school where as all my friends from high school went to various academic-based universities. Out of all of them, I was the only one last summer who was actually pasionate about the work I've done thus far, and look forward to what the future brings.

Dont wait till the last minute and think about important things like location, school activities, and programs of study, and listen to your parents they are right 99.9 percent of the time

Let the student decide what is best for them...listen to what they want in a program. Try to let your hopes for your own student go; let them set their own goals. It is so important to visit a number of schools, preferably during the school year ( a lot of visits take place during the summer when campuses are relatively empty). Getting a sense of the dynamics of a place, a school's setting and energy is key in making a choice. Most students on campus are happy to talk to visiting students about how they made their choice and how they feel about the school. Talk to them!

Students: Do what you love, and love what you do. You know you've found the right college when you've found an institution that can facilitate this mantra. Even when the work gets tough, you can at least count on the fact that you love what you're doing and are hungry for more. College is more than just academics and grades, it's a life experience, so take full advantage of everything it has to offer you. You'll find you'll not only develop the skills you'll need in your career, but in fulfilled life.

Parents and students need to choose not the school which presents itself best, but the school which is the best. The measuring stick for 'best' is irrelevant, so long as the student knows what he or she is looking for. Perhaps one school has immaculate grounds but a terrible library, and the student is pursuing a research-heavy degree. Perhaps another school has fantastic academics and an 0-16 team. The world-class pre-med program is irrelevant to the high-school star quarterback looking to make a name for himself. Parents should consider just how heavy that financial burden will be four years from now. Is $80,000 really worth it for a private school's liberal arts education, when a similar education could be obtained from the state school for a fraction of the cost? If the student is interested in an expensive liberal arts school, consider enrolling at a community college to knock out the general requirements at little or no cost, and then transferring to the larger school for the degree-specific courses. It's difficult in the whirlwind arena of high school to choose a college wisely, but it's possible, with careful consideration.

When it comes to selecting a college and hoping to have a fabulous four years of life spent there, there are really no guarantees. A few thousand dollars can be spent searching for the right fit, but is there ever a perfect fit concerning a home other than the womb--although it's not to dishearten visiting campuses. The only guarantee is what the student makes of what they have been given at any given location, which is simply a point on a map. What a student brings to the school--and really anywhere--determines the kind of experience they are going to have. Some suggestions that seem universally applicable are the following, but not limited to: 1) approaching all the professors in the student's schedule and really getting to know them, 2) doing all the work necessary for each class, as time permisses, 3) sleeping and eating and cleaning regularly, 4) maintaining a social life of some sort to retain stable composure. Find a place that suits your economic breeches, go there, work hard, and remember to play just as hard or harder!

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Spend time there. Imagine yourself as a student. Go to classes. Ask students on the streat questions. Don't rush your visit. Consider the area the school is in among your top reasons to go. spend time around town. Be involved. Go to class.

Be yourself, and try to have fun as well as being responsible.

When visiting various campuses don't get too overwhelmed; when you visit the right school for you, you will know it.

When you are looking for the right college, you need to visit the school and tour the facilities. Speaking to the students will let you get a feel of their classes, and how they really feel about their college. The students at the school will be the most honest with you. Walking beyond the campus into the community will help you get a better feel of what it will be like when you attend, whether it be a city, or suburban area. If it is in a city, make sure there is public transportation available near your campus and not just by a car.

go to a college that seems enthusiastic about the major you intend to go in to.

When you're looking for a college, make sure you find somewhere that you are going to enjoy being for the next four years. Being in a good environment is not only going to help you enjoy your time better, it will help you be comfortable branching out into new areas, minimize stress, and create an all encompusingly better experience. On top of that your parents won't be wasting money by sending you to a school where stress and discomfort would lead to underachievement and could ultimately lead to you switching schools and wasting time, class work, and money recovering the classes you missed. Talk to the students, they know the school better then the admissions officers and can give you a better feel for the school and the environment. Wherever you go just remember to have a good time. Studying is always important but so is getting into the real world and interacting with people. Go somewhere you enjoy being and get out and have fun every now and then, if you ballance everything right you will have both a successful and an enjoyable college experience.

Visit the schools while there in session, most schools give tours, you can sit in on classes, try the food, use the bathroom, talk to some students and just get a feel for the area. You'll be able to get a much better feeling for the school that way, because of course the school looks good on the website, they made it look like that. You really need to see it for your self to know if you'll like it, and try going to more than one school so you can compare.

whatever happens make the most of wherever you are.

The best adviceI could give to parents and prospective college students is to always talk about their feelings. I think that going to college is something scary for a lot of kids, ( we really are still kids), and lots of students feel embaressed about feeling overwhelmed or lost in the new setting. Everything is new and scary, and the best way to get over the fear and start using the campus to it's full potential is to talk to your classmates and teachers about it, no matter how 'dumb' or childish you sound. I was a shy kid coming to college, and everything seemed over my head, but the teachers, once I got to know them, were very easy to talk to and very accessible. Keeping things in prevents people from branching out, because in reality, most people are out in the world searching for the same basic things, and wer're not that different. Talk to your parents, kids, about what you really want college to be like, try to forget the price of things, you can always work with an advisor to sort out debts, and do what you, at that moment really want to do.

Going to college is now a simple progression from high school to higher education; it seems easy to pick a school close to home or one who is offering the best scholarship. But like the rest of your life, every decision you make has a profound effect on what type of life you are making for yourself. Strive for the best, research, visit schools. If the school you want is too expensive, find a way to finance it. Never let anyone tell you no, if you do, you are setting the tone of your college experience. And that's what it is, an experience. Let it be that.

When you are looking for the right college, the most important part is the visit. A school can look amaxing on paper or on the web, but it can be hard to find out if it is the right fit. You should be able to see yourself in the environment and hanging out with the people there. You should want to learn in the classrooms and eat at the dining hall you walk by. If you can picture these things and it feels right, then it could be the place for you. I knew almost immediately upon visiting my school that it was perfect for me. As for making the most of the experience, it is crucial to explore. Explore the campus, how to get involved, special programs, the surrounding area, close cities, random places on public transportation, and anything else you can. Exploration inside and outside of the school setting opens up opportunities to learn and grow even more than you will in the classroom. Work hard, explore, don't be afraid and just experience as much as possible.

The best advice to students would be to talk to current students, via facebook or seeing them on campus, particulary students who do not work for the school, becuase those who do work for the school are censured about what they can tell you, a student who is not part of tours or other school jobs can give you the real scoop about the pros and cons. To a parent, guide your student, do not make choices for them, treat them like an adult and let them make the descion for the themself whether you like it or not.

The most important thing about choosing a college is to leave the home town you live in. Moving out of your comfort zone and experiencing a new way of life is essential to college life, and also growing up. The experience you gain from living on your own, is a life experience that will change your life. Students gain a sense of responsability, independence and freedom to be themselves. The college you choose should also be based on the location. The location in which the college is located must be suitable or a livable enviornment that the student is comfortable with. Being opened minded but also having your own expectations and standards is key. Enjoy the college expeierence and SHOP around for colleges. Always explore your options by VISITING the campus. THAT is very very very important.

Before searching the first thing a student should do is try to understand who they are and what their necessities and preferences are. These things can help determine things like whether to pick a large school or a small school, if a school in the city or in a small town would be more suitable, or if they should choose a place closer to home or farther away. My biggest piece of advice is to make sure that the student chooses a place that has a program that they will love and are passionate about. This is the basis for how well they will do and how much they will absorb. Once the student finds a place that suits them, the best thing to do is simply to do as much as they possibly can without overwhelming themselves. Both students and parents want to make sure that they get their money's worth, so take all the classes possible and join as many clubs and organizations that will fit into their schedules. This is the best way to take advantage of your school, learn as much as you can, thrive in your field, and even meet new people.

Finding the right college is all about what's comfortable. If you visit the campus and see yourself sitting in the library or hanging out with those kids in the dining hall, chances are you will once you enroll! Don't forget to take your finances and distance from the school into account--how will you be effected by travel expenses? Do you want to be close enough to home to visit when you want? Assess the safety level of your campus and be aware of your surroundings. Also, make sure you talk to the professors in the department you want to enroll in--you want to be sure you're getting the education that will serve you best for your money. Once you get to the school of your choice, don't be afraid to try new things and take a shot! College is the time to break out--maybe you'll surprise yourself! Have fun!

Pick a major you love. If you don't love what you study, it is a chore to do your work, and you can never produce your best work if you are not passionate about it. If there is a particular school that will put you ahead in what you love to do, go there. There is more to education than just getting a job. Your education is about YOU, make it that way.

My advice to parents and students about finding the right college and making the most of the college experience would be to let the student decide what is best for them and, to a certain extent, let your son or daughter make up their own mind. The one major thing i would keep in mind is that facilities do not teach, teachers do. Find a school that has wonderful instructors.