Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)

 

Right in the heart of Baltimore, the Maryland Institute College of Art is dedicated to the education of the whole artist, with the expectation that the specialist within will emerge.  To that end, the freshmen take the same courses to give them a broad foundation in the visual arts and about a third of the MICA curriculum focuses on courses in the liberal arts.  At MICA, a student majors in a visual art and can minor in a liberal art.  Buildings are generally devoted to particular art forms and student art is displayed everywhere, including dorms and administrative buildings.  

The MICA campus was bustling and active on the day I visited – students were hanging a show, working in class, sitting outside in groups, studying in the library and waiting for the shuttle bus get to the nearby Baltimore colleges (Johns Hopkins, Loyola Maryland, Goucher) to attend exchange classes or visit friends.

MICA is the oldest accredited art school in the nation and at 1800 students, it seemed a perfect size to me – big enough to have a community of students within each major and yet small enough to get very individual attention.   The campus is located near downtown Baltimore, with all the advantages of that lovely mid-sized city and none of the concerns you might have if you have watched too much of The Wire. Programs engaged students in the community and brought the community to MICA.

MICA would be a wonderful spot for the visual artist who knew that art school was the right choice, wanted some freedom and time in choosing a medium and sought an urban environment for their educational experience.

Goucher College

 

Goucher made headlines a few years ago when they announced they would require all students to participate in a study abroad experience.  They back up this requirement with a $1200 stipend for each and every student to help pay for expenses that would not be covered by tuition and financial aid.  Goucher students select from a seemingly endless variety of programs, ranging in length from a few weeks in January to the entire year.  The programs are so popular with students that many go more than once.  Also distinctive about Goucher’s academic program is the emphasis on writing.  Beginning in the freshmen year, students are coached, tutored and instructed in writing, required to take as many as four English classes, write constantly in their courses and generate papers regularly.

For their size (2300 students total), Goucher offers quite a few majors, including business, peace and conflict studies and education certification.  Enthused students spoke passionately about internships opportunities in Baltimore and the intersection of hands on learning on campus and woven into their study abroad experiences.

The Towson campus is located just outside the Baltimore city limits on spacious newer campus, the first stop on the Baltimore Collegetown Shuttle service system. The newest building on campus is the Athenaeum, which contains the library, group work areas, a café, performance space and exercise machines - clearly a space designed by and for students!  Stables for twenty-five horses support the equestrian team and dance studios provide space for ballet and modern dancers.

Goucher would be a good fit for a Californian who wants the college experience to include a temperate climate, proximity to a diverse urban setting, a plethora of study abroad opportunities and as much academic challenge and he or she is willing to take on.

Johns Hopkins University

I expected John Hopkins University to be a gritty, urban campus and was I surprised!  It is located on  a pretty, peaceful and spacious parcel of land, not far from the pleasant Inner Harbor of Baltimore.  The beauty of the campus has not missed notice by Hollywood - Hopkins stood in for Harvard in The Social Network. Hopkins has 5000 undergraduates and about a third of them are engineers.  The sciences are popular here but the university has a full complement of majors to choose from and in fact, international relations is the most popular major.  Notable programs also include French, film and media studies, creative writing, art history and public health.  Some classes for freshmen may have several hundred students and include a section taught by a teaching assistant. Most students have multiple majors and minors, due in part to the flexible distribution requirements.

One of the hallmarks of Johns Hopkins University is the amount of research of all kinds that is done here as they receive more money for research than any other educational institution. Students are encouraged to participate both as research subjects and as assistants to their professors and most do.  The students here are a busy, serious crowd of high achieving young men and women.