Maine College of Art & Design - Portland, Maine

Dana Rodriguez

Great open house. This is a very unique art school with friendly staff and students. I hope my daughter goes here.

Sasha Gallaway

Started off at the summer program here. One of my professors was Bennet Morris. During one of our class critiques we had a misunderstanding and instead of having a conversation about it he decided to haze me for the rest of the summer. Making me resubmit projects multiple times that I’ve obviously completed just as well as anyone in the class. Luckily the TAs were better so I sent them thank you cards because I was grateful they were a light among the professors. Come the beginning of the school year the TAs would not even talk to me. I now met my new professors but learned that some of them were extremely immature. Hillary Irons would litteraly kick students out of class if they took to long at the bathroom and in general simply decided grades based on either how good of a mood she was in or how much she felt you respected her. It was quite an unpredictable environment and certainly not conducive to success. I had Benjamin Spaulding, who is the head of the sculpture department, for drawing classes. In general he was not a good teacher, and I’m not sure if he taught the class simply because there was staff shortage. He wasn’t horrible like some other teachers but was very bad at providing any kind of helpful feedback. Also he would constantly interrupt people (litteraly every single person) every 10 or so minutes during hour long drawing sessions for basically no reason, sometimes just to say a couple of words, and then encourage us to listen to music on headphones. Finally the retention of professors and students at this school are absolutely horrible. The good professors I had were all FIRST YEAR or PART TIME and the school had a 50% dropout rate. For what we are learning the schedule and coursework is unreasonable. I have friends who go to other art schools and our course load is realistically 50% more (extra class per semester, and longer classes plus mandatory seminar every week). I guess they’re trying to compensate for poor instruction. Generally this school felt like a worse version of high school. Anyway, don’t go here, go to UMaine or a private art school in Massachusetts or RI. Thanks

Nora

Went here and ohhh my god it was horrific, dangerous area, unqualified and unprofessional teachers, and no jobs after graduation. Was called out in class for being trans. Gaslit by faculty for saying the area was unsafe. Luckily I transferred out of here and went somewhere else but please don’t go here if you value your money and time.

Shannon Johnson

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 be like that.

Katharine Ayrault

I love being at Maine College of Art & Design. I applied and was accepted when I was 51, the same time my youngest kids were applying for schools. I have thoroughly enjoyed all my classes, majored in painting and minored in writing. They have all been challenging. I have taken such a variety Art History classes as well as others not necessarily associated with art. I thought the Pirates class last spring was one of the best. This semester, Chinese Painting and Calligraphy looks fascinating. Now that gatherings are back in person, the school is also having more Continuing Education classes on the weekends and during the breaks, getting back to normal.

Gabi Fink

Lovely art school with great facilites and tools un Portland Maine. A must yo visit

Marietta C

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. Everyone is welcome!

Omar

Outstanding works of art at Maine college of art and design. If you are an art buff and or want to see some up and comer artists in the local area I highly recommend checking this out, you won’t regret it