Loric

Are most people really under 130? I could be way off - I barely remember my GRE scores and only know vague details of my old SAT and such... But I'm fairly certain my IQ is " officially" in the 140's. That can't be the top 5% can it? I dunno. I thought it went up to like 160 or 180, no?

"Earn Your Business Degree - Your Way!" - at Rassmussen College. But I don't want a business degree..

That, and people are less likely to report their rejections.

We see every day - unless we have an adblocker, then shame on you for denying GradCafe their pennies per 100 views. What's the advertisement at the top of the page say RIGHT NOW for you? I'm looking at yet another advert for Penn State Online. Why? I have no idea. One does wonder how they choose what to advertise and to whom. I mean, person interested in college.. ok.. but Penn State Online? Never in a million years.

I think people drawn to the gradcafe are generally the more "test focused" individuals. They ended up here because they were studying for the 'test' of admission. The people who don't bother to study, have "ok" test scores, and may or may not end up in your next cohort are not here because they inherently don't have quite that many F's to give.

Hennessey is my new favorite person. "If you're a particularly unentertaining artist, offer adderall to visitors forced to listen to your self indulgent prattle."

Also any awarded aid comes out if the pot first. So you don't get a tuition waiver and the loans to cover tuition.

Once the financial aid office has your FAFSA they will have a number that is your total costs for the semester (estimated). This is your loan limit. Federal loans are first, then assuming you've not filed bankruptcy or defaulted there are grad plus loans. If you have no credit or very bad credit you need a consigner for grad plus. After that, anything else is a prvt loan. Between fed loans and grad plus you should hit the top if your "total cost" which you can't borrow past unless you use private loans (need good credit and it depends on major/degree and income - even then the terms are almost always a rip off.) On campus the amount you can get is higher but goes right to the school (cuz on campus housing is expensive. Plus dumb meal plans). Off campus will be less, but should pay for decent rent and living. Nothing glamorous. It'll be solid by semester as mentioned above. You don't get it until after the semester starts, usually aftr add/drop. So you need that savings to get moved and cover basic living. Books/supplies are estimated in the overall limit, but since you often need them before you get your payout (sign up for direct deposit btw) you might want to make sure you have a decent charge card limit to use if possible.

Ok. Gonna need to research a bit. I haven't had time to really look at the links. Met with a lawyer yesterday and I have been getting crap straight for a minor surgery next week. It's like - could you picked a worse time to put me in the spot? Lol. I think that admissions knows who I am is possibly the most encouraging part of all of this. Anywho, just gave a quick look at links. I can draw a chair. In fact I can legit draw a chair - I had to do it for history of architecture and furnishings. Weekly if not bi weekly I had to draw a room from the period we were on and fill it with furniture and accents to define the period. I think I'll go with empire high back, parrot back, wingback, klismos and maybe the detail of barrel or claw foot. Maybe Egyptian cuz I love their slender lines.

Much appreciated. I actually have drawings if skeletons, oddly enough from drawing classes but I'm afraid they'll be like "too much reliance in contour lines, shadowing is not developed" etc... Should I try to come up with new stuff or use the few old things I found and call it a day?

There has been follow up since, and it appears I didn't sink the ship. There were apologies for implying that my work was not my own, not what they meant, etc.. but at the same time tempered with "but many students do try to pass off collaborative or other people's work as their own." Eww. Well, good thing I'm not one of them. We also talked about how my SOP states all that and it's on my resume, and I was confused as to why it was questioned. "Well, they may have overlooked it.." "It's the primary/leading point of the SOP. It's not a footnote, it's the fundamental thesis. Like "look at this amazing thing I did after leaving grad school" - that was the point of it." "Well these were the notes from just one person, and I should have caught that, I'll let them know." That aside, had a decent discussion about the requirements being vague, possibly off the mark for the actual major, and that the program is tiny, new, and no one really knows what to do with it - so admissions is learning what to look for from the applicants and professors as they go. They want to change the prompts and requirements to fit better. And I was assured my application would be reviewed in whole, holistically, and that they look at the entire student/applicant, and no one thing would sink me. Also, that my lack of "SCUBA" (as per my ridiculous example) would not put me on the reject heap, that I was not already on the reject heap or the cusp of the reject heap, and that I could supply more materials to show my ability for SCUBA - If I wanted to. That my app would be considered fully as it was, and it was entirely optional on my part to provide more stuff, and not doing so would not be held against me. So obviously I'm giving them what they asked for. I figure this last minute lack of sleep random "assignment" is like grad school prep. I'm telling myself if I can't handle this level of stress without cracking I wont last a week back in school. So far it's going ok. Thank god for google for the bits of the process I've essentially forgotten how to do. It's like riding a bike.. if bikes were completely awful and more difficult than you remember them being. Oh, and apparently the dean of admissions knows my app exists because of the drawn out timeline - the looong time in limbo with the committee has raised his eyebrows from what I was told. He's watching it to see how it plays out. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I can't afford to think like that right now. I need to come up with a plan to save Peta and off the careers while still appearing sympathetic to the audience... err, "prove SCUBA ability." Five pieces?!?! Five pieces... by Monday? "Entirely optional" my butt.. *walks off muttering, pencils in hair*

No, contacted by my rep to the committee. Second convo since then has clarified a lot, and there's going to be some "talking about" the point I brought up about apparently ignoring my SOP and such. I guess I should be happy they're willing to debate and asking for clarification instead if coming to the wrong conclusion. It was mentioned it is very common for applicants to claim other people's work when it comes to publications. Being offended/mortified by the insinuation is apparently the proper response.

It's probably a harder job to get than into grad school - I had perfect proficiency scores in pre testing and didn't even get an interview - but if you love books and academia you can try to be a librarian. I'll admit, the tests to be a librarian occasionally made the GRE look fun.

That sounds like a good plan of attack. Thanks.

I don't think you'll find many around these parts sadly. It's funny you should ask though. Was talking to admissions about the portfolio for a multidisciplinary field and asked "what are you going to if a sound designer applies?" Since their portfolio system is all visual based. Programs like URTA are good for sound designers since they get a lot if people in front if your work (aka laptop with headphones) in a short period. Keep it in mind.

Well if that's the end if your resume I'd think they'd figure it out - possibly not even notice. But send an email to be safe. It won't hurt you. You won't be "bothering" them.

A) it might not happen so you're needlessly worrying. B ) The truth is always a good place to start. If a second school asks for the 7th tell them you have comitted to another interview that day, ask if they can they schedule you for another day. C) The 7th/8th shouldn't be a big deal. I did it, albeit it without flight, but roughly the same travel time you'd have in a short flight. You just need yourself, clothes, and some essentials. Don't book the last flight that route for a particular airline. Leave early. Go direct to hotel to check in and prep. You should be fine. School A lets you at what? 5pm at worst? Probably much earlier. Catch flight, hit hotel, sleep until like 8am, get up and go, yadda yadda.

Answer the Q: "What is the current state of American Theater?" That's all the advice and forewarning I can give you.

Would sending a different school an example of RISD's "bicycle" portfolio requirement be in bad taste? I think I can draw a decent bicycle. I really have no idea. I've never tried. How hard can it be? (three days later..) OMG BIKES ARE HARD!!!!

Ok, if you've followed the overly dramatic and plot-twisty Kabuki epic that is my life and application cycle.. you know I've been "asked" to show off my drawing chops to cement my position in a design program. Bizarre requests from an adcom aside (and after talking today, it seems one person on the adcom is responsible for all of this..) I need some legit help/advice on what "looks good" as a hand drawn show of skill. Why am I here appealing to the visual arts folks..? Because I am "teh suk" at hand drawing. I'm not entirely hopeless, but I'm not great at it. Thus I don't readily have a small pile of quality sketches to just photograph/scan and send out to the committee. In my defense I got my BA and took all my drawing classes 3+ years ago, so it's not like I just recently had a bonfire and discarded all my old assignments and doodles. I need to pull something out of my butt before next week. Preferably around 5 somethings apparently. (That's oddly specific, i know, i thought so too.) It's also supposedly optional and supposedly will not make/break my application (supposedly.) I "supposedly" have a choice in simply choosing not to submit the requested proof of my drawing ability. So.... Ideas? Suggestions? Something that says "Hi, i'm not a complete amateur - I understand basic principles enough to pass the barometer of whatever that one person on the committee deems appropriate so they'll stop standing in my way of my dreams, degree, future high paying internship, and eventual life success." I do, to an extent, actually understand those principles but I was hoping there'd be some ideas on a good plan of attack. Something landscape-y is probably a good starting point as it's for a design program. Even a chair or vague interior would probably be better than "rose in vase" ya know? Gah, those all sound so awful and boring to draw - which is probably why I never drew them. Part of me feels like I'm being Tippy Turtle'd ("Draw Me!") and the other part suggests there's one hardcore fine art basis person on my committee who will damned if they're going to allow in someone to their newly formed design program who can barely doodle a stick person. "He can draft? He knows CAD? He can do scenic painting? He can program lighting cues? He can 3D model and animated? Screw all that - he needs to draw an apple with vine charcoal and draw it WELL!!" So, group brainstorming - what can I realistically pull off in the hours I have left with a 40hr/wk job that's passably presentable? Something conceptually that doesn't say "Last minute class project" nor "I'm just doing this because you told me to." Help.. please.. Obi Wan Art People.. you're my only hope.

I had a dream someone tried to smother me in my sleep.

Well apparently my adcom somehow had the ability to write to my admissions adviser that "the consensus is.." (that phrase will haunt me forever) that they didn't have enough info on topics clearly and blatantly covered in my SOP and resume. It's one of those times you point blank know someone didn't read something. Like, someone asking you if Jurassic Park is about dinosaurs.. "Oh, I loved reading Jurassic Park! The characters. the places.. were there dinosaurs in it? The "Jurassic" bit makes me think there might have been.. "

I did, well, they called, asked, said "ok, just need you to write even two lines saying that for your file.." and i was like "ok.." and the other stuff he said he'd get a firm answer from the adcom on what they'd want to see and how. But after the "WTF" wore off, i sent a follow up email where I addressed most things - and stated that I was.. I used the words "aghast" "mortified" etc.. I said i was confused as to why it needed to be restated my book was my own work when my SOP, resume, etc.. all say as much. Haven't heard anything back yet.

I thought I'd start this post over here, because it's worth pointing out. The adcom at the program I applied to appears to not even have read the SOP I submitted. In their defense, they seem to have also ignored my resume which had some overlapping information. I say this with confidence as I was contacted about providing clarification for my portfolio and the questions posed to me were blatantly answered in my SOP and resume. We're not even talking something they may have overlooked or that I was vague about - we're talking the meaty information I put front and center. My "proud" points as it were. And perplexed by my application - despite having those documents - the adcom asked questions that were practically insulting given the circumstances. Like they had no idea what my SOP or resume even said. I come from the arts, so a lot of time it's hard to convey the right sort of idea to others here who work in the other humanities and sciences.. but to give a vague idea, imagine your body of work was something like, I dunno, tight rope walking. Yes, your skill is tight rope walking and you apply to Tight-Rope U for their Masters of Rope Walking. You submit a portfolio, resume, and SOP that talk about your tightrope work, experience, etc.. The AdCom in turn asks "Did you walk on the rope yourself?" and "Can you give us more information about any SCUBA certification?" Le sigh. So.. just keep in mind, your SOP might not even get read. Try to keep your whole app "good" as having a good SOP and resume wont mean diddly if they don't read it.