Friday morning. We get up, get ready, make coffee, and we are out the door on our way to visit the school that might be "the one". Much has happened in a short period of time and a visit to MICA is one more step in the series that leads us forward. It is interesting to have a sense about a place and all it represents for the future of your family before you have ever been there. That gut feeling was so strong that I paid the deposit to hold Daniel's housing before we even set foot on campus. After having visited I can say one thing...
The gut feeling was bang on.
It was kind of weird from the start. I felt like we had somehow stepped past the guards into a secret club in which Daniel belonged. Saying that the place was a good fit for our son would be understating it a bit. Sitting through the introductory presentation we were already sold. Then we got the student lead campus tour. The student leading the tour was a senior graphics design major named Nick who very politely ushered us around the facilities while walking backwards in order to talk while moving. From the historic building holding the admissions dept, our little group followed as he showed us the various departments and what went on in each. We walked through several student exhibits in different stages of installation. We got to spy on a couple of classes in progress. While walking past the sculptural department we witnessed a class of about ten all busy doing a variety of things with one student siting in the middle of the group on a stool with what I can only describe as a giant metal grid on his head. I laughed out loud as we walked by. That was just one example of the unconventional nature of the place.
As the tour continued I had questions answered without the exchange of words. The kind of things a mother needs to see. Subtle things emerged, like the friendly way the students greeted each other, and the inspiring environments. True dedication to the art form and respect for what it takes to really be an artist. This place isn't messing around. Even the housing was designed for the artistically inclined. Apartments with bedrooms that were expected to be used in the making of art, and separate studio spaces for doing larger works. And more.
Having a faculty that are active and successful in their fields was a pretty good selling point too. We aren't talking ivory tower stuff, but more like intelligent, change the world with art, stuff.
As our tour continued our guide described how he chose MICA for himself after "looking" at a host of other well known art schools. Pratt, Parsons, Art Center, he listed about ten schools and said that MICA was his final choice. After the tour I cornered him in the cafe and appologetically asked him if I could ask him a few questions sans group. I did not want to put him on the spot in front of the group with the question that I had.
"Of all the schools you 'looked into', how many were you accepted to?" I thought this was an important question because if MICA had been the only school that accepted him then what was the big deal? It is one thing to say you are "looking into" a school, it is quite another to apply. And if you list all the top art schools in the country it seems kinda suspect.
So...
Nick had been accepted to all of them. He had also been offered scholarships to all of them.
'Nuff said.
After our tour we met with an admissions counselor. First off she congratulated Daniel and then Daniel plunged into asking some really great questions.
It was a surreal moment watching him pelt her with questions about what MICA could offer him and how the program would fit with his particular personality and goals. Would MICA meet his intellectual needs as well as artistic. Were the academics as rigorous as the arts? How would MICA help him as a writer? Etc.
We left with a solid sense of MICA being a really good fit. I was blown away with how intimately the faculty strive to guide each student. Even to the point of selectively pairing students with mentoring profs, and other students based on personality. The success of each student really seemed to matter. And with only 1500 undergrads they must be pretty selective. It is weird to think that MICA is smaller than Daniel's high school.
Now there is the next step in the series... the scholarships.
arrival in the main building and waiting for the tour to start. Daniel was either taking pictures or writing in his notebook.
on the tour
mind blowing
man, you beat me to it. if it wasn't for the scholarship apps, i'd be blogging it too. and i have all these pictures to show.
Ha! tag, you're it!
Daniel's got awesome hair for an 18 year old. Really admirable. How long has it taken him to grow to this length? Has he had long hair since childhood? Does he face no problems at school?