nitekitty

I got rejected by FIU. Took FOUR months for a bunch of us to hear from them. Highly unprofessional experience all round trying to track people down to find out what was going on. I hear registering for classes is pretty disorganized too. I'm going to visit them in person and hopefully get more feedback from current students before I decide to apply again. With FIU I think you're getting more bang for your buck in terms of locale. Art scene in general is big down there and Art Basel is huge. And I personally like the art coming out of FIU, but that's just me. I believe (but don't quote me on this) they're bigger on sculpture, fabric arts, and mixed media though rather than photography. Studio space I'm not exactly sure of but some classes are held right on Lincoln in the midst of the art scene blocks from Miami beach, so that's pretty nice as far as mingling and also being in a beautiful place to be inspired to create. Good luck!

Background: Basically, I worked as a professional for many years stifling what I really wanted to do with my life, and now I finally am moving towards those goals. Long story short I want to stay in the state of florida, I just received my MFA in creative writing, currently working on my writing (and getting short stories published), working on my visual art, and meanwhile would like to work towards a book of graphic narrative and would like to teach art. (Taught writing and liked it, but I'm leaning towards art). I applied this past year (while finishing my creative writing thesis-- I know, super dumb, and exhausting) to three schools: Penndesign, SVA, and FIU. SVU was my dream school (and I took some summer classes there) but even if I had gotten in I probably wouldn't have been able to afford it. Didn't get into Penndesign either. I could understand why (my portfolio was sort of all over the place since I was in the middle of a writing thesis), and both Penn and SVA got back to me within a month of applying. FIU took FOUR months for a bunch of applicants to hear back we didn't get in. The whole scenario was highly unprofessional. I thought I knew FIU pretty well until then........ The Current state of affairs: Now I'm applying to ten different schools for Fall 2014, some florida schools included............but I keep coming back to wondering what has been the experience of others at the schools below? How attentive or mentorly are the faculty? How skilled are the faculty? How are the facilities? And the programs' philosophies in regard to painting, illustration, and mixed media? And how well do any of these schools prepare students to become surviving artists versus simply teachers? FIU USF University of Miami FSU Any thoughts, regrets, good points on any of the four mentioned I'd be very appreciative of. Best, Nitekitty