kierstin

Congratulations! Seems like you will do well there!

Waitressing sounds pretty reasonable to me. Actually, that's what I've been doing for the past two years, paying off all my undergrad loans before taking on more for an MFA. It has been useful for me to make work in the absence of deadlines and the gratification of group crits, and figure out how to self motivate. It takes some adjusting. As long as you have a studio to continue making work in, I say it's worth it to learn how to balance money making with art making. Hopefully you will gain more clarity and independence in your work along the way. I haven't done a residency so I can't speak to the merit of that path, but unless your tuition will be covered by your parents or scholarships, your priorities should be earning money and making work. Grad school is expensive. Plusss... there's a good chance you'll have to moonlight as a server to pay your rent as an adjunct professor. Might as well build your resume now.

It's useful for me to think about what it means to be an artist as the participation in a giant conversation. The dialogue happens between the artists, critics, museums, galleries, historians, collectors, MFA programs, and the larger contemporary culture. Obviously each of these parties enter with different emphasis, with different stakes, and are inevitably in conflict. That's why it's exciting! It's the participation in this big argument about what art is which makes someone an artist, more so than making work, even. Being holed up in your studio making work irrelevant to anything outside itself isn't worth it, in my mind. For me, it's all about relevance.

Congratulations!!!

In my mind, an MFA is all about the conceptual aspect of making. The reason we value these programs is for their ability to help us as young artist to question what we're doing and way, and hopefully provide insight into how we can each participate in a larger "art world conversation." The reason you go to school is to change for the better. That being said, when I was looking at schools I only included those whose alumni work was interesting to me. I wasn't going to apply to schools where grads come out making work that I couldn't relate to. Do you feel like your program fits your philosophy of making? Otherwise it may be better to continue to work outside of school until a better match presents itself. Then again, you have little to lose if your finances are covered. In my opinion, you should take advantage of this great opportunity (I'm jealous) and look at it as a way to challenge yourself conceptually. In order to make it in the art world you have to be able to speak about your work on a theoretical level, and an MFA program is a good place to develop those skills.

I say go to VCU. In my mind, their reputation alone is reason enough to take a chance on funding for your second year.

Thank you, and congratulations to you as well! I'm pretty sure I'll be at SAIC in the fall. As much as I like the way Penn is structured and have a great admiration of the professors there, much of it comes down to money for me. I also did my undergrad in Philly, and I feel like this is a good opportunity to broaden my network. Looks like you have a few options.. Which school are you most interested in?

Accepted to Penn! Wait list at Rutgers. Congrats to those who got into VCU!

When they ask if you have any questions, say "What do you think it takes to do well here? How does someone make the best of this program?"

Awesome!! Congratulations!

From what I understand, they won't notify until noon on Friday the 14th. Which department did you apply to at VCU?

Just got a call from SAIC. Accepted! 25% tuition award! I feel lucky and surprised, as there were so many smart, cool applicants at the interview this weekend.

Mine said that too.

I have a feeling that schools don't send rejection letters to applicants who have interviewed, but that the wait lists consist of every interviewee. I think the rule of thumb is that they interview three times the number of people they plan to accept, so the wait list could be 20 people deep. Has anyone received a rejection letter after interviewing?

I just got an email too.. wait-listed for sculpture.