MCAD Gallery

There are places in life that are magical portals. MCAD is one of them. Just being here; walking these grounds, breathing this air, is transformative. The College, the Muséum, the Children’s Theater, the Students, the Staff; all of it, is Magical, in every sense of the word. I was fortunate enough to study here in my youth. My father also studied here in his youth. I am proud to be a recipient of a BFA from MCAD. But i must say, I was most proud of the land acknowledgement that is recognized and honored by the college. This is Indian land; The Dakota and Ojibway; their DNA is in the earth here. It’s in the trees, and every living thing that resides here, or just passes through. And that to a great extent, is what makes this place, truly exceptional.

There is art here. And the bathrooms in the NE corner are great for selfies. There are also art students here. Wild.

Interesting student and faculty exhibits. Enjoyed Seeing Plants and the cardboard creations. Ceramic exhibit is wonderful.

The gallery is open to the public. Visitors receive badges and can roam the galleries and some student and art lab spaces. Exhibits vary considerably. Depending on the exhibit, some may not be appropriate for children. Staff and students are welcoming.

It's a beautiful place to see the students art and other featured artists and it seems like an overall amazing college

Senior projects were being displayed. Very creative and interesting concepts.

Loved the gallery here!

The artists are very talented. I am just not a fan of homosexual superheroes

GREAT TIME to view the immense talented of the students during their exhibits-- left me wishing I had bottomless pockets!! :)

This school did not adapt to COVID well. Unable to use the facilities, students are still paying up to 58,000/year. Of course the president was kind enough to give a generous $500 back per semester, as if that's supposed to help over six months of classes. Most of the professors are great, some are only focused on their own tastes when in crit. The classes are long, and there is rarely time to complete any assignments as well as classes. I often found myself dropping classes to offset the workload I was given. Most professors don't care that you have 4 additional 10 hour assignments due as well as writing and research assignments, so it continues to pile on. It feels like a scam. I was so excited to be 19 and applying, but now that I'm older I see the way they take in vulnerable artists for their money promising a distinguished degree. What are they even spending it on? Facilities and amenities (especially housing) are RARELY updated. There are only two buildings, one of which is over 100 years old and has barely been touched. I understand paying faculty, but when you're charging 800+ kids 50,000+ per year... you have to wonder. Printing and parking is not free either, they take every spare penny you have. There is a reason I'm not going back next semester, the stress and pain wasn't worth it, even if I graduated, what could I expect? Assistance getting into the job market after school is non-existent. They kick you in the ass with a good luck out the door. If you're an artist, just begin your own practice. Save yourself some time and money. You don't need a degree to be a real artist. Don't waste your money.

This is a great school to get a bachelors degree if you accept art making will not pay your bills, but will open up other job opportunities with a 4 year degree and make art as a side hustle. If you think you deserve to make a full time living with art, self-train and take a chance instead of racking up debt. This institution is only worth attending if your combined scholarship and financial aid covers at least 60% of the total tuition cost. That said, attending MCAD is worth the cost if you have a decent scholarship because it will hone your work ethic by balancing multiple deadlines. Do not attend if you are part time- commit to full time and put yourself through it while working a part time job so you can feel the pain and save money. The instructors do their best to piss you off because, honestly, it makes you work that much harder. Final thought: If you are attending MCAD and feel like you are being treated unfairly by your instructors- take it as a compliment. They pet the mediocre and get hard on the students with potential.

The financial aid office at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design is weak and lame and totally screwed us over (I was the cosigner to my husband's school loans). Unless you already have $100k to waste and don't need to actually work after college don't go to MCAD. They do absolutely nothing to help you career-wise. Sure art is fun and the teachers know what they are doing but if you can't get a job afterwards what's the point. My husband graduated from there in 2008 and has been unemployed since even though he's been shopping his portfolio around and around and around and around. He still works on his art every day. His teachers at MCAD were very complimentary of his work and made comments like "what are you doing here you should be working?" And yet, no work. All of which is very helpful what with the $90,000 dollars in loans he racked up attending the college. Unless you get a full scholarship or a pell grant or something, or are independently wealthy, I advise you avoid this college. UPDATE (04/2014): I thought I should update this review as I felt I wasn't being entirely fair to the faculty. So I've increased my rating from one to two stars. For the most part my husband had an overall good learning experience with really great faculty members, but the administrative departments (specifically financial aid and the career office) were lacking. My husband graduated in with a BFA in Comic Art right before the recession hit. He graduated with over $90,000 worth of debt because (a) we were not rich enough to pay out of pocket and (b) the school did nothing to help fund his education other than facilitate loans. I expected better. And that $90,000 was for tuition and fees only. We paid on average a couple thousand out of pocket for some of tuition expenses plus books/supplies per semester and borrowed the rest. He worked a part-time job for three years and I worked full-time to cover our living expenses. At one point I was working two jobs so that we could afford for him to quit working during his senior year. As someone who has completed two college degrees and about to start my third (and hopefully final) degree at my third school, I also feel they did very little to prepare him for a career as an artist. They should have had him researching the industry, surveying alumni, and talking to other working professionals on what they did to develop their careers, etc. They also could have done more along the lines of facilitating workshops, internships, career fairs, networking with potential employers, etc. I think the most they had (at the time) was an online job board available to employers looking to post jobs - not sure how many postings the college worked to solicit. It was my impression at the time that they had more opportunities for their design majors than fine arts majors. It is worth noting that the only communications my husband has received from MCAD since graduating are newsletters announcing gallery openings and letters asking for donations to the school. If they would do a better job of preparing their students for careers/connecting them with work then perhaps they would get more donations. It might also be nice if they surveyed their alumni occasionally.

A very good friend (ok my ex) went to this school. I had the pleasure of sitting in on a few classes and basically bumming around. I must say it's a fantastic school filled with so much talent.

DON'T TRANSFER HERE. I was accepted to MCAD as a transfer student. My transfer credit evaluation didn't look so good. The person who was in charge of transfer admissions severely misled me, told me a lot of stuff would be able to transfer after I did a transfer credit portfolio. I feel I was lied to so they could my pocket my $300 tuition deposit. I never attended the school due to this issue and they refused to refund my deposit. Do they really need to steal from artists? Don't they have enough money? I would have basically had to repeat a whole year of school in order to continue on with my program. What a horrible institution!!!!!!!!!! I wish they were not a part of my community!