Maine College of Art & Design — Local services in Portland

Just want to throw out there that they had a review rating that was much lower 6 months ago with many reviews being 1&2stars and now they've disappeared 🤔 Anyways- Mother of student. Faculty are horrible to deal with. There is no communication. They avoid emails and questions about billing as much as possible but have no problem getting a hold of you right away for late fees. They will say one thing and do another like agreeing to make a payment plan then the following month after getting hit with late charges, the same exact person we talked to said they won't do a payment plan. When you do speak to someone, they sound annoyed and act like they dont want to help. The first year was awful. I thought we would be ahead of the game for the second year. Every time our daughter went to guidance with questions and to get set up for the following year, they were never in office, canceled apts they set up with our daughter. She never received info for a dorn. Now we can't get a dorm. During the first year, one of the teachers called her out in front of the class, making a mockery of her animation and calling it racist. A gray scale animation about aliens on a planet, but the aliens were dark in color. Had nothing to do with race. She was treated horribly that her fellow students wrote statements and went with her to a meeting. Even they felt bad for what happened to our daughter. Very supportive. Either the Dean or assistant Dean, not sure who we talked to, said he'd take care of it, then decided there was nothing wrong with what happened. They only care about money and will find any way to add on more fees. You don't get to choose your dorm or room mates, and there's a set rent payment. my daughter had 2 roommates and 1 left so they received an email they would have to compensate the rent for the roommate that left or agree to take another. Obviously they agreed to another roommate but not sure how they can be charged for the one that left I could write a book on the crap we have dealt with. If my daughter didn't love the other teachers and the classes so much I would have had her leave. That being said, she had classes all day until 6pm and did homework until 11 or 12 and would pass out and get up early for class again. She stopped coming home on the weekends and missed easter because of all the school work she had. Id drive almost 3 hrs to see her on sun where she would show my what she was working on then would get right back to work. Almost 6 hrs of driving for a 20 min visit. She was behind on work and when asked for extensions was told no. They have unrealistic expectations. Some, not all, teachers act like they are the only class the student takes. She didnt get a chance to make friends or really enjoy portland other than check out nearby stores when she had to buy supplies. My other daughter goes to a different private school and they are so helpful and communicative and nice. It's amazing. I wish every school could...

I hold a BFA from Maine College of Art in Metalsmithing and Jewelry. This school gave me a much better footing on how to sell my art and myself (and even doing business taxes) over many of my art-major friends that went to a "regular" university. Besides being able to specialize in one of many majors this college also offers a strong core foundation that teaches 2 dimensional art as well as 3 dimensional and wood working, drawing etc..

My art has given me the ability to stay at home with my children when many people do not have that option. Yes, I have had to pay attention to trends, yes I have had to do production work at times (Heaven forbid! LOL) and yes, my work may have left the jewelry niche and thrown me into a different medium temporarily. Had I not had the skills that I was taught at MECA, however, I would not have had the know how as to how to do the above and I would have been working a 9-5 job, or night hours, instead.

One has to better his/herself in any field, art is no different. One can't blame the school for the degree, that should be researched by the student beforehand. MECA gave me excellent training in many mediums and I got out of it what I put into it. I worked hard and was rewarded with knowledge and useful skills (like how to photograph my work... an important thing for an artist).

I am now finishing up a Masters of Art Teaching at PSU (I live in New Hampshire) so that I can teach artists, myself! If you aren't afraid of working hard and being open to minor shifts then MECA will serve you well. I am proud to say that I went to MECA and have never...

Amazing College of Art. My review is based only on my experience as a viewer and not as a college student.

While touristing around in the streets of Portland, we came across this awesome College that features amazing art galleries (open to the public + free of charge) with all of the amazing work of the talented local students.

Coming here on the weekend wasn’t too crowded, we even went up the stairs and explored some more art work and some of the cool art rooms. Some students were working on their art and we even got to see the really dope photo room with its own dark room. So so dreamy!

The art and talent of these students truly reflects on their art work. Can’t wait to come back in here and check out some of the newer art work. The galleries and art work changes constantly so make sure to stop by and check it out....