buddyholly

but you shouldn't! your work is pretty astoundingly good. i can see why you were accepted at yale (and everywhere else)

i'm curious--how would you get your 2nd year more fully funded by CCA? i just declined my offer of admission this morning.

i'd be very curious to see your work. do you have a website by any chance?

I was given the same offer. It's apparently their standard package. There's no way I'm accepting it. You have to make the decision for yourself, obviously, but for me, it's just way too much debt for an MFA. I can't justify it. Yes, I really do want to go, I really do want my MFA, but no, I can't accept living the rest of my life under 100K of debt. There's no way to get out from under that. Better to go to a state school, in my opinion. There's always the option of reapplying next year to programs with better funding.

hey guys, if anyone has been accepted to UIC and doesn't plan to go (i mean, you really, really know it, maybe have accepted another offer already or intend to this week), could you please let them know? all things considered, i'd prefer to go to UIC, where i'm wait listed, over the schools to which i've been accepted. so, please, please, if you know you aren't going to accept their offer, could you tell them?

thanks!

Doesn't Cornell offer a full tuition waiver and stipend? I'd say that if your offer at Berkeley is as good as that, then you should definitely go there. Otherwise, I'd choose Cornell. The only real downside you mention about Berkeley is the location of the studios. Sure, it's not ideal, but I think you would be fine without a car. You can't find a relatively inexpensive moving service to get your things to CA? Could you store them in your parents' basement, or something like that? If both funding offers are the same, I just think Berkeley is a better choice.

Yeah, me too. I definitely felt like they had funding to spare. Their website mentions merit- and need-based awards, and also diversity awards. I definitely didn't expect to receive so little in the way of funding. I applied in large part because I really like the school and I really thought it would be possible for me to attend. I ruled out other schools, like SAIC or CalArts, based on their lack of funding. If you look at the merit-based scholarships at CCA, there are none specifically for photography, while there are named scholarships for other media. Maybe I should have discovered this and asked about it before applying. I think the only awards we would qualify for are the "open" ones. I'm not going to the graduate event, as I'm not attending the school. I did get in to other programs, but they're expensive, too, and the one I really want to go to is UIC, where I'm wait listed. So we'll see. All things considered, I probably have to go to a state school. I'm not comfortable with the debt these private schools think we should be so willing to assume. Columbia College, by comparison, is cheap (tuition at 20K), but when you tack on living expenses and three years of study (with hardly any scholarship opportunities), it's about the same amount of debt overall.....I'm still considering it as an option, maybe with the intention of transferring out the first year. But I just don't know. It's very disappointing.

I guess that's their standard package. Definitely can't attend.

they gave me 10K for the year. no nearly enough.

CCA folks, has anyone received a good financial aid package? i thought this school had some money to spare? considering asking them if they can offer a bit more......

has anyone who's wait listed at UIC heard anything yet?

I didn't actually apply to CalArts. It's an awesome school, but I figured I wouldn't be able to afford it even if I were accepted. Congrats on your acceptances; it does seem to be a difficult decision, though.

If I were you, I'd just call to find out the deal. I personally don't like the way they do business there, but it's still a good education. I'm applying to schools again this year because of funding. I was accepted to SVA but it would have bankrupted me, SMFA with 16k scholarship, but I still would have gone into about 60k in debt just for tuition alone (and they wouldn't let me defer), and UMass Amherst for free with living stipend, but I visited the program and didn't like it at all. So I couldn't justify going there, even with the money. I'm taking studio classes this year. I really, really want to go to CCA. As I understand it, they have a huge endowment, so I'm hoping they'll be able to offer me something. But we'll see. Columbia College, while relatively inexpensive in terms of tuition, didn't offer me a penny. That deal is off the table. I'm still not compelled to go into a massive amount of debt for an MFA. But at the same time, I want to go to a school that will offer the best education and professional opportunities, too. I think we're probably all in that boat.... They may be art schools, but they're businesses, too, plain and simple. Some of their practices I consider to be very shady (for example, offering everyone who isn't accepted into the MFA program the option of completing their BFA instead, as at SAIC--just read the MFA Photo thread to see what I mean). As someone who has worked in the corporate world and knows just what that's about, I approach these programs in that way, as businesses rather than organizations of wide-eyed artists.

Has anyone received their financial aid award from CCA yet? I was told it would arrive by end of month. They seem hesitant to answer any questions about it. Thing is, I was accepted to this program 3 weeks ago and I'm still not sure if it will even be possible for me to attend.....it's my top choice, and it's the only program that hasn't sent my financial aid letter.

Well, six weeks or so (if I recall correctly) passed after the interview with no word. I think at that point I called and they told me that they didn't have a decision. The administrator I spoke with said she would look into it or something like that. I don't exactly remember the sequence of events after that point. Some more time passed and I think I either called back or received a letter. Pretty sure I called, actually. I was wait listed. I honestly think they just don't make decisions over there until the last minute. I heard back from them about my wait list status at the end of August.

they did the exact same thing last year, too.

does anyone have any info about funding (or lack thereof) at Columbia College Chicago? what sort of opportunities are available to TA or work on campus? the last thing i want to do is live off of loans. i thought i saw that some writing MFAs receive good financial aid packages there, but for whatever reason it doesn't seem to be that way for the fine arts......

excited for you!! congrats!

i was accepted to SVA last year. i calculated that it would have cost me $60k each year to attend. that would have all been loans, as they don't offer much funding. they will match any outside scholarship you receive up to $2,000. that's about it.

yes, only the photo department. i don't know much about sculpture; i assume it's better, but can't say either way. have you asked to be put in touch with current sculpture grad students who can share their experiences with you? maybe that would help?

Meh. I applied to MassArt because there's one photographer there I really, really like (I know him), and because, let's face it, it's one of the less expensive options and it's in Boston, close to friends and family, which is a huge consideration for me. That's about it, though. I can't speak to the other departments, but I have an insider perspective of the photo program. It's a homogenous community, with absolutely no diversity at all. Most of the first year students are white, middle-class, straight men. Most of the work I've seen from the grad students, with a few notable exceptions, is flat out boring, still lifes or landscapes, technically correct (there's a huge emphasis on "the right way" for photographs to look), but not intellectually strong or emotionally evocative in any way. I've seen a lot of work there, and it's not impressive. I think it's reflective of the general bent of the program, which is very conservative, staid, and stilted. Nick Nixon is there, and a real character, and very talented, but he isn't a part of the admissions process, and works for the most part with undergraduates. There's very little theory taught there, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, I realize, but for me it's important. I haven't witnessed much exchange of ideas or passion for art, although a lot of people there seem to think they're smarter than they are, and are very vocal about their opinions in class, effectively monopolizing time speaking and drowning out other students' voices; what I mean by this is that I have seen students act as though they were in fact professors, and had one even remark to me during my interview that, as second year students, they would be my "superiors". (As a side note, I asked what the first years liked most about the program, and one responded, as though it were funny, "all the men." I'm a woman, btw.) This might not be surprising, however, since graduate students are allowed to vote on applicants' work. They have a big role in choosing who is interviewed. They see and literally vote on everyone's work. I'm not sure how much input they have in the final admissions decisions, but my guess would be that they do have more say than they rightly should. So whether you are offered a position or not may have a lot to do with whether or not they want to hang out with you, and the kind of feedback they give on your interview. The program is directed by Laura McPhee, who has a strong preference for work like her own (and is very clear about what she does not like). She's phlegmatic in general, though, so I don't doubt that people had unpleasant interviews or found her hard to read. Abe Morell, however, is genuinely insightful and seems upbeat and funny. But depending on who is reviewing your work, you might receive input that will help you grow, or you might merely receive someone's personal opinion. I think personal opinions are important, and of course feedback is personal, but I need more justification than that, whether someone likes or does not like my work. I've met few successful graduates from the program, but, then, everyone's definition of success is different. However, I cannot name one (MFA) graduate who had a unique and interesting enough style to go on to do "big things." I don't doubt that that's because individuality is frowned upon in favor of toeing the line and technical accuracy. And that won't get you very far. The other aspect I have experienced, which seems jarring, is a total and utter lack of organization. Professors literally forget what they have planned in the syllabi. I will say that my letter is dated March 6, and I assume a decision was made well before that. I'm not sure if they simply did not get around to sending it, or if they thought it would be better to make me wait. They are both too disorganized and too formal for me to know what the case may be. But there is something to be said for treating people well, even applicants to your program! (You'll find that there are many administrators there who either give wildly inaccurate information in response to a question or simply do not respond at all.) The level of discourse in classes I've attended has been....OK. That's about as much as I can say. Not outstanding. Certainly not horrible. But just average. The breadth and depth of classes on offer is also....OK. If you know exactly what you want to do, and you only want to do that one thing (say, 4 x 5 landscapes, for example, indefinitely), then you'd be happy with the program. If you're looking to experiment or want to take a lot of theory or art history classes in addition to your studio work, then you'll find their offerings to be....OK. I realize it's not a glowing review. Unfortunately, for me, money is a big issue, and the priority I place on being near friends and family is perhaps too high. But I don't love MassArt, and they don't love me. It's all right, though, because I've been accepted to much better programs (both better-suited and better ranked, make of that what you will). So I would say that you should take this MassArt estimation of your work much the way I do: with a big grain of salt.

waitlisted, MassArt. decision via mail.

cute diatribe. not interested. i see now why people have just been ignoring you.

except that he's been on this forum for god knows how long now spewing rude comments and insulting people left and right, and it's gotten to the point where someone needs to say something. ignoring his posts hasn't really been a very effective tactic.