evillr

Your responses are verrrry general, so it's difficult to get a feel for what you're after. Most schools want to know what you're all about as a person, not that you're interested in graphic design (which is a given if you're applying). Who is your dream client? What projects have you seen that you like? Which designers do you admire? What subject matter intrigues you? Be specific. Name names. Give us something to go on. If that doesn't work for you, I'd suggest gathering a bunch of those "top 20 design schools" lists and then exhaustively researching every school without regard for ranking (this isn't accounting, after all), and try to narrow it to an informed handful of choices from there. During that research you'll probably uncover a few others that aren't on any top-whatever lists – go research those schools, too. Some things to consider: - Does this school fit your philosophy? Is it all about making money? All about teaching? All about exploring yourself? - Do you like the work recent graduates have produced? Are they working at places you'd like to work (or for clients you'd like to have)? - Who are the faculty? Have they designed, written or spoken about anything that interests you? Find out about them, see who you're drawn to. - Do they have a program for people without a design background (usually a 3-year program)? - Where is the school? Can you deal with living there? - How much is tuition? Can you afford it? How's their international aid?

Experimentation and critical thinking, that's a start. Now how about these: - Where do you see yourself working (name a company/institution and/or a city)? - What specific type of job do you want (name a position, e.g.)? - What kind of projects do you want to work on? What are your specific interests within the field of graphic design (web, advertising, publishing, wayfinding, exhibition, editorial, corporate identity or...)? - What types of clients would you like to work for (huge corporations, small non-profits, NGOs, musicians, magazines, book publishers or...)? If you can't answer these questions, you're going to want to do some thinking (and research) until you can. Any school that's worth attending is going to ask for much more specific detail than this.

It's going to be really difficult to recommend programs without knowing more about your goals and interests. - Why do you want to go to grad school? (Experimentation? Critical thinking? Marketability? Business skills?) - What specific outcome(s) are you hoping for after graduation? - Where in the world of graphic design do you want to exist? - What kind of work do you eventually want to do (and for whom)? The more specific you are, the easier it will be for us to offer suggestions. Graphic design programs (especially at the graduate level) range from completely experimental/conceptual to very straightforward and professional/business-oriented. You're free to apply everywhere of course, but I think most people find that the schools they're truly interested in are clustered around one particular band of this spectrum.

There are plenty of MFA Graphic Design programs in the US, but they're all very different. What are you trying to do after you graduate? Where are you doing the 6 month course? Generally, the requirements for admission are: 1) an undergraduate degree and 2) a good portfolio. The trick is that "a good portfolio" will mean wildly different things at different institutions. Are you focused on highly commercial work? More experimental? Teaching? Hence my question about what you'd like to do after graduation. Most likely you'd be applying to schools with 3-year programs, as those are for people without a background in design (although it's not unheard of to be accepted to a 2-year program if you show a lot of promise). There's no blanket rule for experience vs. acceptance, it's really about the quality of your work and how it fits with the program. Which schools are you interested in? What does your work look like? What is it about? Why are you interested in grad school?

What universities? What's your background? What graphic design course? More info needed.

Still up in the air for me...

Might as well add graphic design to the wishlist! NB: my interview notice had this line at the end: "Notification of final decision on your application will be sent prior to 5 April." So at least we're getting there... best of luck to all!

I don't know how they do things at SVA schedule-wise (rolling admissions, etc.), but I know of at least one person who's already been admitted to that program.

From the "accepted students" page: "Throughout the month of April, Financial Aid Awards will be available for students to view on our secure online student site. You will receive an email at the email address listed on your fafsa, providing a link to your award with instructions for viewing and responding to your offer."

Are you talking about Design & Technology at Parsons? Huge red flags went up when you mentioned the "graphic design program", because Parsons doesn't have one at the graduate level... the DT program is a completely different animal. If you're familiar with NYU's ITP, DT at Parsons is more along those lines (though again, not quite). I don't know much about CCA, so nothing to add there (though I'll venture a guess that it's closer to graphic design). PS: you're right to take the rankings with a grain of salt; it's like saying "Damien Hirst is better than Paul Rand" - fine/good and potentially valid, but in what context? Too much depends on you and your specific interests for the rankings to mean much more than "here are 10 schools for you to look at first"

Congrats! Any strong preference(s) at this point or are you still waiting for all results to come in?

Accepted at CalArts today by email, waiting for funding info...

Accepted to CalArts by email (Graphic Design) - no word on funding.

Did you also interview or have you heard nothing at all?

Yale notifications were emailed last Friday (2/4) - just log in to your application for results. I think RISD decisions come out later in the month (I didn't apply there) - not sure about the others. Good luck!