Site Navigation EXPLORE MICA FIND ART SEARCH LOGIN MICA MAJORS & MINORS (UNDERGRADUATE) FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE FYE Curriculum Faculty Course List Creative Careers APPLY REQUEST INFO MICA’s First Year Experience has been crafted to provide a rigorous, integrated curriculum that reflects the diversity of our people and our learning pathways. Students are challenged by courses that share a philosophy of learning through making-thinking-exploring-reflecting and honor the needs of individuals to define their relationship to the world as artists and designers. The program assists students as they consider their major options, providing a breadth of experiences while promoting in-depth thinking and skill development. 2021 First Year Experience Overview The entering class of 2021 will benefit from a significant redesign of MICA’s First Year Experience. As in the former Foundation Program, this new program will be a commonly shared experience for all entering students and will precede the choice of a major, which will take place in the spring semester. The new First Year Experience design is in response to the rapid changes in art, design and technology, and the intersections between them that are occurring today. It has been crafted to provide a rigorous, integrated curriculum that reflects the diversity of our people and our learning pathways. Changes for 2021 include moving to a more flexible curriculum of inter-related courses addressing contemporary art and design practice. First-year students will continue to be engaged in traditional skill building through a more trans-disciplinary approach. This is built into to the new curriculum and is offered through the six credit core Forum as well as electives based in 2D, 3D, and 4D media. Students will also have more opportunity to work collaboratively on project-based enterprises and activities. Additionally, the new first-year curriculum will be more tailored to the individual, increasing the number of choices, and allowing students more agency to design their own personal and professional pathway. RELATED TOPICS Tuition & Fees, Undergraduate Programs of Study, Financial Aid, First Year Makers RELATED PLACES Main Building RELATED PROGRAMS Art History Core Curriculum, Humanistic Studies Core Curriculum RELATED OFFICES Office of Undergraduate Studies MAKE COOL STUFF LAB Make Cool Stuff If you're new to fabrication and looking to dip your feet in, the Make Cool Stuff (MCS) lab is a maker space aimed at students in MICA’s First Year Experience program. Featuring an array of 3D printers, laser cutters, and other tech, the MCS lab will coach you in the fundamentals of digital fabrication. After a year in MCS, you will be primed to dive into dFab’s deep end. LEARN MORE First Year Experience First Year Experience Exhibition 2018 Api (Janos Neubauer) Leah Alligood Mini Sofa for Mr 2 Zeyi Li Untitled Maddie Abuyuan Long Coat Ladies in the Woods Hanna Moog 7 Deadly Sins: Sloth Daria Burobina Build Toffee Matech, Raven Hirsch-Rosales, Desolina Fletcher Other Worldly Connection Nicholas Kolashy Everything's Fine Hui-yi Kuo Back to Back RZ Portrait of My Father Rachel Patterson 1000 Handwriting Straight Lines CC He STANIEL! Ben Bendana Honesty Anthony Quesen First Year Experience Exhibition 2018 A look at work created by students in the 2017-2018 First Year Experience. Virtuoso Faculty: Jenna Frye There is no clear line between Jenna Frye’s art practice and her work as an educator. Both come down to the same driving force: her desire… Toy Design... for Elephants MICA students students accept challenge to design toy for Asian elephants at the National Zoo. FIND MORE ART & ARTICLES LIKE THIS MICA Social Navigation Instagram Facebook Twitter YouTube MICA 1300 W Mount Royal Ave Baltimore, MD 21217 410.669.9200 © 2021 Maryland Institute College of Art GETTING IN Admission Process Tuition & Fees Financial Aid Apply Now STUDYING AT MICA Undergraduate Majors & Minors Graduate Programs Creative Careers Open Studies MEET MICA Contact Us MICA Campus Visit MICA Events Alumni Give to MICA Accessibility Careers at MICA Faculty & Staff Directory Press Center Equal Opportunity, Harassment, and Nondiscrimination