Maryland Institute College of Art

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From the College

Established in 1826, the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is the oldest independent, fully accredited art college in the nation. Because of its belief in the vital role of art in society, MICA is dedicated to the education of professional artists and to the development of an environment conducive to the creation of art. MICA has a well-equipped network of studio facilities, an exceptional faculty, extensive exhibition space, and an impressive art college library. A unique on-campus residential environment is provided, designed with the artist in mind.

The College offers many options not fully available at a liberal arts college, including a visiting artists program that welcomes more than 100 artists a year to the campus; seven-days-a-week access to some of the most outstanding facilities and best equipped studios in the country; the opportunity to exhibit work in numerous galleries, starting in the freshman year; the opportunity to study, through College-sponsored programs, art and design at colleges throughout the United States and abroad; a challenging liberal arts program that is integrated into and expands upon the studio program; and the advantage of studying with other talented students in a rigorous program of art.

In addition to its undergraduate degrees, MICA offers Master of Fine Arts in painting, multimedia, graphic design, photography, and digital imaging; Master of Arts in Teaching; Master of Arts in Art Education; and Master of Arts in Community Arts degree programs.

The faculty is composed of 270 professional artists, designers, art historians, writers, and scholars–an assemblage of dedicated, working professionals who share the insights and experiences they have gained as practicing artists and scholars.

The College’s 1,900 students represent forty-seven states and forty-eight other countries. They are marked by their intellectual curiosity, creativity, motivation, and self-discipline. Students develop a body of work that prepares them for a variety of career paths. The MICA experience, which includes internship programs and other reality-based opportunities, develops a firm base upon which students can launch and build their careers.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs coordinates programs, services, and activities for international students and the Black Student Union. The College provides specific services to international students such as orientation, immigration advisement, personal counseling, host families, and a mentoring program to members of the Black Student Union.

MICA is a residential campus providing apartment-style housing that includes dining, laundry, and fitness facilities and is wired for high-speed Internet access. Additional benefits include many private rooms and studio spaces that are incorporated into the residences. MICA housing offers independence, privacy, and a lively sense of activity generated by a community focused on art. Student life is also focused at the Meyerhoff House, which houses the Center Café and meeting rooms for student organizations. The campus also includes a health center, and students have access to an athletic facility.

The College is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

MICA is an urban campus of twenty-seven buildings that is located in a historic and beautiful neighborhood, surrounded by many cultural and educational institutions. These include the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the Lyric Opera House, and the Theatre Project. Baltimore has been cited as a city especially attractive to artists because of its vibrant and supportive atmosphere and its low cost of living. In addition to four world-class museums–the Contemporary Museum, the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the American Visionary Art Museum–Baltimore features a wide range of alternative art spaces and galleries that present classical and nontraditional works by acclaimed and emerging artists. It is also ideally situated for an artist because it is at the center of the Washington–New York art corridor. By train, Washington, D.C., is 40 minutes to the south; New York City, less than 3 hours to the north. The College offers inexpensive bus trips to New York studios, galleries, and museums every other week during the academic year.

MICA offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the following majors: art history, ceramics, drawing, environmental design, experimental animation, fibers, general fine arts, graphic design, illustration, interactive media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. Additional studio concentrations are offered in ten areas, including book arts and fashion design. The Division of Liberal Arts offers minors in art history, literature, and writing. Students may also pursue double majors. A five-year combined Bachelor of Fine Arts/Master of Arts degree is offered in teaching.

To receive the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, students must complete a minimum of 126 credits, including 42 liberal arts credits. Students participate in a foundation program during their freshman year and then select a studio major. During the first year, the curriculum is well structured to provide the conceptual and technical skills necessary for further specialized study. By the end of four years, students are expected to be able to work independently in their chosen medium. The program integrates writing and academic inquiry with studio practice. This combination reflects the need for artists to pursue intellectual concepts as well as aesthetic principles.

MICA participates in a cooperative exchange program with thirteen colleges, including Goucher College, the Johns Hopkins University, Loyola College, the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and the University of Baltimore. This program makes it possible for full-time students at the College to enroll in one course per semester at one of the cooperating institutions without incurring an additional tuition charge. This option has proved to be exceptionally useful in offering studies not available at MICA, such as languages, the sciences, and business.

The Maryland Institute is a member of the Alliance of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), which has cooperatively developed a program of study in New York City for eligible second-semester juniors and first-semester seniors. The New York Studio Program’s center, a loft facility in the Tribeca area of lower Manhattan, is home base for the semester-long program. Students may pursue either an independent study or, as apprenticeship students, they may work with a professional artist, museum, gallery, or an art-related business.

MICA encourages young artists to work and live in other cultural settings so that they will better understand the universality of the language of art. MICA offers an honors program for juniors in Florence as well as other study-abroad opportunities in England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, and Scotland that allow third-year students to study for one semester at colleges and universities noted for their strength in the visual arts. Summer study abroad in specialized subjects has been designed to provide students an opportunity to work closely with senior faculty members in locations that offer diverse cultural, environmental, and philosophical experiences. Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Jamaica, and Korea are the current sites for two- and four-week programs. Exchange programs in twenty countries are also options for students.

The director of career development arranges job internships for juniors and seniors. These internships provide educational experiences that bridge the worlds of academics and work. There are more than 1,000 local and national listings.

The campus includes twenty-seven buildings with 430,706 square feet of studio and classroom space, creating a coherent and unified urban campus. The studios are fully furnished with state-of-the-art equipment for each area of concentration. The Decker Library includes more than 50,000 volumes, 300 current periodical subscriptions, and 250,000 slides of artwork. It is one of the largest art college libraries in the country.

MICA has taken a leadership role in integrating new technologies into its programs of study. Within a very short time, the oldest degree-granting college of art in the United States has developed its facilities to provide more than one computer and/or video workstation for approximately every 4 students. The College’s faculty has introduced computer-based courses in all of the professional studio majors, and the computer is also an important resource in the liberal arts area, whether as a tool for word processing or as a research medium for accessing images and information in a variety of forms. In some departments, such as environmental design, graphic design, animation, interactive media, or photography, competency in the creative use of digital technologies is considered fundamental to the curriculum.

MICA has outstanding instructional facilities with specialized equipment for both traditional and new media. Independent and/or dedicated studio space is provided for seniors. Seven-days-a-week access is provided in all departments. Liberal Arts classrooms and lecture halls are intimately sized. A 550-seat auditorium provides programming for a full schedule of visiting artists and lecturers as well as for film, video, and performing arts.

The Meyerhoff Career Development Center houses a full staff of counselors providing services related to internships, job listings, alumni networking, corporate recruitment, and career development skills.

Exhibitions play a major role in the artistic and intellectual life at the Institute. Each year, more than ninety public exhibitions are featured in the Institute galleries, which are unrivaled by any art college. They bring the work of regional, national, and international artists, as well as faculty members and students, to the public year-round.

For the 2008–09 academic year, tuition is $31,640. Room is $6760 and board is $2240. Mandatory fees total $1040.

Each year approximately 65 percent of the full-time students receive $12 million in financial assistance. The College administers a variety of programs, including need-based grants and scholarships, government-related loans, and college work-study programs. The College also awards more than $520,000 through competitive, merit-based scholarship programs. Students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents are not eligible for financial aid.

The faculty consists of 140 full-time and 130 part-time professional artists, designers, art historians, writers, and poets. Their work is represented in more than 250 public and private collections from the Museum of Modern Art to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. They have won individual honors and awards from notable foundations, such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. They are Fulbright Scholars and recipients of the Prix de Rome, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, and the MacArthur Fellowships. The faculty-student ratio is 1:10.

The Student Voice Association represents the interests and viewpoints of students to the faculty, administration, and board of trustees.

Students applying to the Maryland Institute must have made a serious commitment to art; therefore, a portfolio of artwork that demonstrates talent, ability, and experience is required for admission to the College. The portfolio is very important; however, evidence of academic ability as determined by level of course work, grades, test scores, and class rank are also weighted heavily in the admission decision. Individual interests and accomplishments, revealed in the personal statement, letters of recommendation, and lists of extracurricular and volunteer activities beyond classroom instruction, strengthen the application. The required personal essay is seriously considered. A minimum TOEFL score of 550 (paper-based test), 213 (computer-based test), or 80 (Internet-based test) is required of students whose native language is not English.

Students interested in early decision must complete all requirements for admission by November 15. Freshmen applicants for the fall term should complete the application process by February 15 for priority admission and to be considered for merit-based scholarships. Transfer students have a March 1 deadline. Applicants for admission to the spring term are asked to complete the application process prior to December 1. For an application, catalog, and further information, students should contact: