My daughter is a current student (rising sophomore) at MICA but also seriously considered SAIC as well (and did a summer program there). From what I understand, SAIC is significantly more flexible, and doesn’t even really have actual majors–you basically get a general Bachelor of Fine Arts (with some optional emphases–I think writing or art education) and simply take a set number of studio credits (in anything you want) plus the required courses. Whereas MICA has set major study programs with specific requirements. So you would probably have a lot more flexibility at SAIC, if that’s something that’s important to you. Another difference I seem to remember was that SAIC didn’t have letter grades–everything was done via critiques and then you receive a credit or no credit (I think you had to have the equivalent of a C or higher to get credit). Just something else to consider! For my daughter, personally, she decided that she really needed that structure/direction that MICA offered to help her succeed, but for other students, the flexibility might be better.