Post-bac Premed Home

Michael Price
Junior / Art Major and Communication Minor / Centreville, MD

I’ve been shown different beliefs here at Goucher—not in a forceful way, but just in coming across them. We’re such a tight-knit community that it’s hard not to see other people, what they’re doing, what they’re thinking, and how they react.

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“I like to express myself a lot—but not necessarily always through words,” says Michael Price. “That’s why I sing and make art.”

As a high school student, Price knew he had a gift for drawing, but he wasn’t sure how he’d fit in at a large art school, and he didn’t know how, exactly, he might translate his talent into a career. In Goucher’s Art and Art History Department, Price discovered a love for painting and digital art, and in the Communication And Media Studies Department, he found a way to parlay his creative interests into a possible career in illustration.

“As far as anything to do with digital imaging, graphic design, and art using computers, I used to be very negative toward it, and didn’t want to work with it at all,” says Price. “But I took one digital imaging course this past semester, and I’m completely in love with it now. I’ve become really interested in doing design work for magazines and advertising. A lot of the courses here open you up to new ideas and new ways of thinking.”

Though he’d never considered himself a painter, Price decided to take a few painting courses in the hopes that working in a different medium might improve his drawing abilities. He was surprised to find himself developing a unique painting style all his own.

“For the longest time, I thought I was mainly just somebody who drew,” says Price. “I thought of painting as an extension of that, not really something that I’m going to work hard on improving drastically. But then I got into my painting classes, and I started to get a really good feel for my work. It felt like it was mine, and some of my friends noticed it as well—they could tell what artwork was mine. That made me feel very proud, and it gave me a sense of confidence.”

Price also drew confidence—and communication skills-from his campus leadership experiences as a community assistant (CA) in the residence halls, and as co-president of A Few Good Men, Goucher’s all male a cappella ensemble.

“Being on councils, and being a CA, and being the president of a club—those sorts of things add up,” says Price. “I understand people a lot better. Because I’ve had so many interactions with people, I’ve learned a lot about personalities and behavior.”

Price initially struggled with Goucher’s language requirement, so he was a little intimidated about taking an intensive course abroad in Spanish in Cuernavaca, Mexico. For three weeks, he lived with a Mexican host family, an experience that forced him to improve his casual and formal Spanish conversational skills.

“At first, you’re intimidated because everybody there speaks Spanish all the time,” says Price. “But then, just the mere fact that they do acclimates you to the language. It’s not only about speaking the language; it’s about listening to the language. The course was taught so well and so patiently that we learned in three weeks what you would learn in a whole semester back on campus.”

Finishing his language requirement was just one of the benefits Price took from his study-abroad experience. He feels that the course added to his sense of independence and individuality-a quality that should serve him well in his art career.

“I learned so much about myself-about my own independence, about how to act like an adult and get through situations without panicking. Going to Mexico by myself, and going with an open mind, with the objective to learn and take in whatever I could, was very freeing. It was a huge opportunity to grow.”