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Well, last year I applied to one school just to see what happened figuring I would end up with a fun little gap year and here I am embarking on a gap year. It's not so bad-I got into the local traditional Irish ensemble, have a cozy little professional composing gig, might have a new tennis partner, wrote 50 or so pages of something new and shiny and exciting, and am interviewing tomorrow for a position as an assistant teacher at a preschool. I have my list ready to go. The Schools That Matter: Brown, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh. My just in case schools: Ohio State, Indiana University, University of Minnesota, VCU, Hollins. Just for kicks: Iowa Writer's Workshop, Johns Hopkins. Pittsburgh is high priority because one of my best friends moved there earlier this year and has assured me I have a spot in her band, plus I have another good friend in nearby Eerie. VCU and Hollins I am applying to because it makes family happy if I apply to schools close to them, but I hate the idea of living in Roanoke again and Richmond is lovely and I have quite a few friends there but the VCU stipend is a bit too low for me to manage without some assistance. I hate that I cannot just try for UVA and stay where I am, but alas, I have been assured that as one of their undergrads they would not even consider my application. Anyhow, glad to be back on ol gradcafe. This time around it's a fair bit more serious for me.

Hey there, doing a Grad Cafe sweep for no valid reason other than I am bored. The topic is rather old, and maybe you already got your answers. But I am blind, so am qualified to chime in ahahah. First and foremost, I am sorry that some of the responses you received were off-putting in nature. I am not as competitive as either of you guys, so I know for a fact that I got rejected when I did and from where I did based on merit and not my disability. But I also know for a fact that a negative outlook on certain disabilities exists at top schools. How do I know that? Through experience. I am the alumna of one of these top schools, and I can firmly say that accessibility services SUCK at most top tier institutions. Although this is not reflective of any committee's treatment of disabled candidates, I believe it is reflective of the institution's general disposition towards disabled candidates and students. For this reason, when I was building my school list, I emailed each and every school on my provisional list and asked for pre-submission walkthrough and personal post-submission assistance. I did not apply to any school that said no or made me play pinball between different departments regardless of how much I wanted to apply to that school or how good my fit was. In my experience lower Top 30 and 30-50 were the most responsive. I believe that is because these schools have a stronger interest in treating applicants and students better as they want to climb higher on the ranking ladder, and part of it is to receive more applications. In contrast, at HYPSM, you are lucky if they throw a glance your way. So, it is no surprise that they are less interested in ensuring that the students can navigate the system comfortably. Another thing I did not do for my grad cycles but did do for my undergrad cycle was to contact student disability offices and ask for a copy of their policies, if they go, "ADA.", skip. If they are responsive and delineate their processes for you, give that school a chance. Also, contact DHS well in advance, and ask whether they had any severely disabled students in the past, and they would be willing to talk to you about their experience. Sometimes, what we interpret as bias is the fear of "handling it wrong", and people find staying away a safer option than trying their best. So, if a department has experience working with disabled students, great! I remember the time I asked a department about their experience with and policies on disabled students, and they proudly told me that they had a "talking elevator" in their building. So, I believe what you think is there, is there, but I am not sure if it has enough weight to tip the scales from "nope" to "come on in" or vice versa. I am blind and ı got into the terminal master's program of my school with a generous aid package, I am blind and I would be shooed away if I applied to the same school for a PhD. Best of luck!

Welcome back! Any advice you have from your experience applying in the past?

YEAR THREE AND I'M BACK. (apparently my favorite hobby is applying to mfa programs.) anywho this place wont become a party for a few months yet, but i just want to say an early: good luck! don't SWEAT. have fun! alright now back to work.

Hey everyone, thought I'd start a thread for questions/concerns/thoughts surrounding grad apps for art history this application cycle. I am applying for PhD and MA programs in South Asia!

Feel free to reach out to me, I've been taking Athabasca courses as an Open Studies student this last year while working ft and volunteering.

Another application cycle is almost upon us. Any questions, ask away! And best of luck! 🙂

Hey Friends, Most of my applications got rejected, and I lost track of what's going on here. As a last Hail Mary, I applied for the MA in Creative Writing at University of East Anglia and got accepted today, start date mid-September 🫠 But I don't want to complain. Does anyone have experience regarding creative writing at this school, institute and accommodation? Best wishes

Hello! Awesome to have a chat going for 2026 applicants. I will be applying to Canadian SLP programs (looking at Western, UofT, Mac) but lately have been interested in doing my masters in SLT abroad in the UK. Wondered if anyone new of any forums for SLP's overseas that I could take a look at:) I know Facebook groups are also common for this kind of situation but am struggling to find any so any info would be helpful! Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer!

Hello everyone! This is my first (and hopefully only😭) application round! I recently graduated but since my sGPA isn't as competitive as I thought (~3.6/3.7), I am thinking of either going back as a continuing student or taking online courses at Athabasca U since I want to work ft and focus on volunteering this year. I'd love to hear somebody's opinion on Athabasca or if you have any course recs I could take from there! I also feel like I may lack a lot when it'll come to my statement of intent since I don't think I have enough experience in this field. I was planning on working on it this summer but got sidetracked due to some personal situations and it's been eating me up. I'm trying to stay calm and get back into motion little by little. Hope y'all are enjoying the rest of your summer and good luck with this application round🙂

Thank you for this! I'm a painter and I'm considering applying to ArtCenter. Laura Owens being there is a big draw for me. How did you find the program there?

I’d honestly spend as much time as possible with family and friends, possibly date around if you’re single. Building a support system is very very important!

I’m a fellow clinical psych applicant who has now turned towards an MSW path too 💙 (and yes I’ve worked with many psych grad students who are slightly miserable) It’s so easy to feel like you aren’t good enough or you’ll never get in when those rejections happen, but sometimes it’s just preparing you for something better or different than what you originally planned.

Ahh yes, the issue in this thread is definitely me and everyone else who has been commented (and been courteous and upfront I would add), and definitely not you. Glad we just devolve into insults. Echoing previous comments, everyone here has told you that "they shared their disability in their statements of purpose (so the schools would see it) and still received admissions from top schools." It's a shame that you simply cannot admit that you are wrong. Also, note that any ranking which places 1st in political science a University which has a graduate program that does not place students in the best TT positions in academia, is probably a ranking that you should avoid. I say that as someone who was offered from Oxford DPIR.

Hi, New here, but with extensive knowledge of MFA programs and MFA admissions, esp. the most competitive schools. What is said above about rankings and location in particular is right on. The USNWR rankings are absurd, and if you want to be involved in the contemporary art world -- not regional art scenes -- you should tailor your lists to schools in NYC or LA. Yale counts as NYC, as does Bard. Think of it this way: go to school in a place where the artworld already is, not a school you'd need to move away from to be a part of it. I would take issue with a few things on this list: - "Most successful artists did not get an MFA": this is simply untrue. No matter the metric, it's not true. This is, indeed, part of the problem: even if you don't need an MFA, you need an MFA to get into the game. Getting an MFA is about developing as a visual artist, of course. But it's also about networking and connections, on the one hand, and professionalization, on the other. The networks are not just with faculty or alumni; the first network you join is with your cohort. The kinds of students you are with is essential: a lot of time is spent in studios with your peers, not just class with mentors. And above all, these students are the ones you'll continue having conversations with when you leave; people you'll get studios with; people you'll organize group shows with. Finally, the imprimatur of a good MFA program matters with people in the market context, and in institutions. Trust me on this. Another aspect of the "professionalization" part here is that grad school is not about technical skills, materials, etc. That's assumed. It's about, in a sense, learning to talk about art, to think about it, to contextualize and frame it. The point of this is not to make you a good dinner-party guest, but to emphasize that much of what constitutes contemporary art -- particularly for artists not rooted in a traditional medium -- depends on art discourse, on conceptual and definitional premises. Then there's art history, recent and not-so-recent. And, not nothing: there's gossip, insider talk. All this is part of learning to be an artist, not just make work. That's what an MFA program of the sort I have in mind does. Debt is a huge issue; too much of it means you don't have time to be an artist, because you're too busy working to pay down debt. But with so few schools in the mix, and so few "spots" in the artworld, there's a sense in which you might have to bet on yourself and take on debt. Even the expensive programs offer "scholarships" to many incoming students, esp. those at the top of their admitted list. (This isn't actually scholarship money, just reallocated tuition.) - "star faculty": it is true to a point that the bigger the name, the less accessible they are (there are some programs where this is less the case). But star faculty are one element of a program's prestige, esp. if it is not housed in a "famous" school (like Yale, for ex.). These faculty do, in fact, form part of the networks these schools constitute; and even saying "I studied with X at Y school" has some value. But above all, this question ties into the location question mentioned above: star faculty live in NYC and LA, period. They do not live in Atlanta or Palo Alto. They live where the art world -- global significant museums, major galleries -- are. Stanford is cool if you want to do computer science and make money in the tech world. Not so much for the MFA in visual arts. Then there is the fact that star faculty serve as "models" for how to be a successful artist. Don't underrate this. I agree for the most part with most of the other points, even if I'd nuance things a bit in one direction or another. One thing I'd really emphasize to applicants is that you should be familiar with the faculty of the program you are applying to. This should be reflected in your writing, and in your interviews. Faculty read the apps, and they do the interviews. They want to know if you know what you're getting into: what the MFA does, who you will work with, whether you know alumni from the program. The more "clued in" you can appear, the more likely to think you'll be a good fit for the program and will succeed there. Even applicants who have strong work need to show they understand what game they are playing. There is much more to say about MFA fine art admissions. I would stress above all that there are the top tier programs which see themselves as connected directly to, if not feeders for, the global contemporary art world, and then there are the rest, which are largely going to supply local art scenes and above all provide teaching credentials. This is not to say that there are not brilliant teachers there, but by definition the most successful artists will be in two cities, not in Ithaca. The list of schools above is similar to the ad hoc list I have in mind, though I'd remove a few schools, add others. I hope this is useful for some of you. It's important to dispel the mystery around this process, given the risks many of you are taking. But remember, there are two kinds of risk: a. taking on a bunch of debt that makes it impossible to be an artist, or b. going to a school that's cheap but doesn't get you where you want to go. None of this is easy. edit: I wanted to add that I agree it is best not to go straight from undergrad to MFA. Lots of reasons for this. Happy to give my perspective if anyone is interested.