andimags

Get a book on grad schools from the College Art Association. Don't expect people here to tell you anything about your work/odds/etc. It's a competition on here, don't give yourself away as fresh fish so early.

I went to SVA for undergrad and RCA for Masters. I don't really understand your question. The schools and the cities are completely different scenes. Look at the faculty profiles, email questions to tutors and administrators if they're SPECIFIC, and talk to current students and recent grads.

The end or beginning is near nigh!

I have two questions: Is everyone slavering away at the Yale website? Am I the only one perverted enough to admit it?

I feel kind of bad that this question is lonely, but you know how they say there are no questions of a certain variety? Sometimes, in certain contexts, there are.

RKSim, I just checked out your website. I am sorry I was jealous. Your work is killer and I am super stoked for you to go to the awesomest grad school EVER. If you don't get in to all of them, I will be so personally offended that I will write them eloquently angry letters on your behalf.

Addendum- If you "warn" me for using swear words on this message board, you are a shitty motherfucking artist and should go cry and slit your wrists like a good little poseur. It's the stress talking. Also, it's really fun to type. I feel better now! OK, everybody on here should be using lots and lots of curse words, otherwise, what in the fuck is this board good for?

Also, I have a plan for diverting my anxiety in the mid-Feb letter time. From the 11th to the 22nd I'm taking a trip to AZ and New Mexico. Tickets were dirt cheap, I had the time off from teaching (Jewish school is awesome!), my homeslice is there, and i wanted tp see the anthropomorphic ass-mountains for myself. Fuck you, letters! I don't even want to read you! (My boyfriend will be diligently checking the mail, or I will kill him.)

I am insanely jealous of you, that's why it took so long for me to respond. That's so freaking awesome that you already know that you got in (and a mother-effing fellowship consideration??? crikey). So, yeah, I would love to get into the same schools and check out your work, holmes! Let's bro up!

Every time I send something off or think about it, I get extremely freaked out and feel like I might have to barf, but other than that, it's nice knowing that my end of the deal is done.

I don't think where you got your degree really matters. What will matter is your portfolio.

Awesome reply, thanks Lazycatfish. My UT Austin application just went with a blow on the dice. Can I get a BOO-YAH?

I have a feeling that this is going to be a "less" year for some reason. It was reasonably filled up for the open house/open studios, but not nearly as zoo-like as last year.

I also wanted to address an earlier comment by RKSim, when I mentioned tailoring my SOP to individual schools... Here's what was said: I think that tailoring your SOP for each school is a must. The way I wrote mine last year, and plan on doing so this year, is having a ready-made statement about my personal work, and a little additional material on "why grad school now?" (which every school seems to ask). But from there, you need to sell yourself to the specific school. Mention what you like specifically about their program and show them that you have done the research on their school and that you are serious about applying. ^ That's exactly what I did. I don't think that having a ready-made statement about your work and then cutting and pasting various reasons why you want to attend a particular school is necessarily wise. What I intended when I said "tailoring" was something more akin to linguistic shifts. Some schools might prefer you have a command of postmodern language in order to lightly discuss particular elements of your work in a contemporary context, while other schools might imagine that to do so is unnecessary for a painter (after all, isn't it the critic supposedly the one with the verbal firepower? [not my viewpoint, but one I could possibly play along with to attain my preferred ends]). I would love to hear some commentary on this...

What essays? You mean your statement of purpose or essays for particular schools (I know ut austin requires an essay particularly about why you want to apply to their program, but that's it)? I think that particular person was/is a good enough painter, but she had a very narrow and inflexible way of approaching her work, which was rather loosely structured. She had tons and tons of paintings about the same subject matter. So, basically, the problem was most likely that she should have spent some time out of school thinking about her work, thpughtfully continuing to produce (especially drawings and sketches leading to more complete work), that expressed her desired subject matter, instead of the multitudes of finished but seemingly "sloppy" work, before applying for an MFA. More than anything, the problem seemed to stem from a personal inflexibility regarding how she approached her paintings, which is an indication to me that she wouldn't feel comfortable in a higher-level critique as she seemed to have no true wish to change or "better" her work.

Look earlier in this thread. Posted 05 May 2009 - 10:38 AM I believe their acceptance rate is about 4%, 22 out of around 600 more or less depending on the year.. Manugonza

Also, the people you want to ask are all working professionals in the art world, so you should be totally fine.

I have 15 schools on my list this year, but only 7 new ones that need recs. I knew a girl last year who applied to 30 schools and got into ONE. So, having more schools is better than fewer. Your recommenders might not be completely stoked, but they should appreciate your dedication to actually getting in somewhere and going.

If I were you I wouldn't bother putting together a website when you can throw your images and artist's statement into the Irving Sandler Artist File Online or make a really simple blog. As long as it remains professional looking with good photos of your work, there should be no problem.

You can find several examples of statements of purpose/artist's statements in white columns or the irving sandler artist's file online, although they won't be the same structure as a regular SOP (that an MFA program is looking for) they will, however, have the basis of what you're looking for. Keep a notebook next to you while you make work. Take notes on things that go through your mind. Write write write, and don't be afraid to curse or make fart jokes. That's what taking notes is for: purging your mind puke before you can reconstitute it into filet mignon for your committee.

Definitely: Yale Columbia MICA Hunter RISD Otis CalArts UT Austin Perhaps: UCLA SVA U SoCal and others I can't remember right now. Would consider applying to SFAI but at Grad Portfolio Day in NYC, the man that I spoke to as SFAI's representative gave me a lot of really wankery advice and said things like my figures were "too centered," which is a load of subjective aesthetic bullcrap that implies a rule-based artmaking structure. The woman from Otis, on the other hand, was DOPE. She seemed genuinely interested in my thoughts and was willing to answer all of my questions and even go on a couple tangents about the program with me, which was probably the most helpful thing she could have done. The man I spoke to from CalArts was a European gentleman slightly uncomfortable with the idea of promoting the school to an avowed painter such as myself, even though he himself was a painter. To be expected from a theory-based program. The younger man I spoke to from MICA was smart and funny and didn't seem to take the reputation of MICA too seriously, but obviously wanted to see things that pushed the envelope aesthetically and theoretically. Favorite quote, "Anyone can make a dick joke." And, of course, no one from the other schools on my list bothered to come to grad portfolio day because they would cause a riot and clog up the works.

I think resume only matters in the sense that if you have an artist in residence gig, teaching art gig, recent shows, art assistantship work--ANY of the above, it means you're actively trying to pursue the art thing with your whole BEING. No Sunday painters allowed!

Ehhh I really enjoy my kidneys...

SFAI is interesting, I've heard so much about the quality of the program, but I'm unfamiliar with the work of the faculty members. On the other hand, the galleries on the website are quite good, the site is VERY professional (you might be surprised how many of them haven't been updated in years... which is just piss-poor marketing) and I like the depth of their mission statement. So, yeah, I'm going to have to look into it more deeply. Anybody know anything about Otis? I've been sniffing around it and really liked their visiting artists list.

RISD too, of course. Now I'm going through all my files trying to figure out the last one...