zaquon

1 University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison, WI 2 Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 4 University of Tennessee--Knoxville Knoxville, TN 5 Indiana University--Bloomington (Hope) Bloomington, IN 6 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey--New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ 7 Arizona State University Tempe, AZ Cranbrook Academy of Art Bloomfield Hills, MI 9 School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL 10 University of Georgia Athens, GA 11 University of Nebraska--Lincoln Lincoln, NE University of New Mexico Albuquerque , NM University of Texas--Austin Austin, TX 14 Columbia University New York, NY Washington University in St. Louis Saint Louis, MO 16 Yale University New Haven, CT 17 Temple University Elkins Park, PA Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA 19 Herron School of Art & Design Indianapolis, IN 20 Iowa State University Ames, IA Ohio University Athens, OH University of South Florida Tampa, FL

I'm reapplying to 3 schools. There's a chance it may be a completely different admissions committee. Especially in the first round if it's made up of group students. I'm reapplying to SMFA and have had conversations with them where I mentioned I was reapplying after turning down their post-bacc offer. They warmed up a little after I mentioned that, since they knew I was really serious about the shcool. I think the fact I'm reapplying AND opened a dialogue with them will actually help me. Most schools ignore that you reapplied. And if they don't they'll expect you to show some growth in the past year, but primarily they'll evaluate you on your new credentials. Personally, I'd like them to rememeber me from last year, it's going to be night and day. Also, you were waitlisted at a very competative school, it means they thought you were ready, but didn't have space for you. They'll be expecting your app. These schools get a bazzilion apps a year, I'm pretty sure some who've been admitted have applied a second or third time. And yes, if seen people on this board reapply and get in.

I've gotten the "where do you plan to go with this?" question too from a couple of schools I had reviews with. They seemed vey pleased that I already had plans to make my work bigger and turn it into installations. I think they really want to see that you'll grow in the program and that you're constantly thinking about what you're trying to say with your work. I've got my work cut out for me for my statements because my work is very process oriented and everyone who's reviewed my port has asked be to describe my process, but after they understand what I'm doing they want to know why I make the choices I make with it and what I'm trying to say and how I plan to deploy the process in the future. I don't want to burn a whole paragraph in my statements talking about process, but it's important to show how I got to the ideas that I'm exploring as a result of that process. I wouldn't decribe my work as highly conceptual, but I've identified the issues that it engages and there's plenty to talk about in a statement and in interviews, I'm just stuggling with the best way to say it. My gf is in an English Ph.D. program, but I don't think this anecdote doesn't apply to us: early in her program her advisor told her that he was the one who approved her application. He said to her "I liked the way you think". I view my statement as way to show how I think about my work and about art in general.

We're in the same boat! I was rejected from 6.5/7. Got a post-Bac offer from SMFA. I drove my girlfriend crazy with all the nerves and the worry about me moving away. We haven't really been looking forward to the discussion we'll have to have if I get into a school on the other side of the country. I learned the same thing about hearing back. But, this board is good since at least you know when other people are getting interviews you've been rejected. The big envelope with the post-Bac offer was just cruel.

Those were the numbers I got last year for UCSD and SCSB. SMFA told me about 200 when I was there during the summer. So that seems to agree with what caraa says about sub-top 10 schools. For top 10 schools 200 is the approximate numbers for the individual disciplines. RISD said on their website last year photo gets 200 for 7 spots. I'm sure it was much higher. I was at UCLA yesterday and they said they got 750 apps last year and they take about 22 for all disciplines. The odds are pretty slim, but I saw most people on this board got in last year. It's a different kind of person who is obsessed about this enough to post on something like this.

What do you mean by technically oriented? Do you mean they teach you how to shoot portraits and catalogue photos? Or do you meant that they emphasize technique in the service of your artistic vision? For the former check out Rochester Institute of Technology and Savannah College of Art and Design. Possible MassArt and California College of Arts who all see to be a little more on technical side, but are still art schools. For the latter pick up copies of American Photo, Art Forum, or B+W magazines and see what shcools are advertising. Those schools are going to give a more technical education, probably one step above a trade school, and they'll call the degree you get an MFA. Most top schools consider the MFA an art degree, not a technical degree, so they train conceptual artists not craftspeople. They'll make foundation courses available to you where you can improve your technique, but they may not require them. For a large part you're on your own to make sure your technique is up to snuff. Also, I know there's a least one school out there, I can't remember which, that calls their photogrpahy degree a Master of Science.

I wouldn't count on the number of applicants being low, last year was a record year. most universities had 200+ applicants for 5-10 spots, art schools about 300 for 15-20. Who knows what this year will be like, but they will have no trouble filling seats. But if I'm wrong, they can lower their standards as much as they want if it means I get in.

I did not like the 2 people I talked to from CCA at the portfolio day. They didn't seem as smart and engaged as the other schools I talked to. They seem biased toward people who use film and use it well. They seemed to like that I have experience with film, but they did not like at all that I use digital in my work and didn't really want to hear that it was a choice. The general piece of advise I hear about portfolios is keep it to one series. Keep it tightly focused. Many school require the one page statement, you can't say as much about each series if you have more than one. I made that mistake last year. But, CCA seemed to want to see range, and also to relate yourself to other photographers. You could probably write a statement where all you do is name drop and they'll be happy as clam at high tide. But, I have no idea if the people I talked to are on the Ad Com, so I'd take that with a grain of salt.

How do art schools stay in business? Most big universities only have 10-20 MFA students, which mean they only accept 5-10 a year, out of upwards of 300 applications. Art schools take 25 or more a year, out of about the same amount of applicants. It's true the funding is so much better, but since the faculty is so small, your only chance of getting in is to be doing work that your potential advisor likes. So, it's a great thing if you can get it, but the odds are so much less in your favor. Also, do you really think the top applicants at some of these art schools are paying $30k a year? They vary, but a good portion offer some very generous packages. Some even waive tuition completly for the top people in each discipline. So they give funding to about as many people as the universities do, but also accept people who are willing to pay the money since the resources at these schools are pretty vast.

The best part about the day was that there was NO ONE THERE. For some reason this was pooly attended. My guess is that the UCs don't play ball with the art schools, and most people in the west are wanting to apply to a UC. The upshot is I got to talk to the schools I wanted to talk to (SMFA, SAIC, CalArts, CCA) for at least 30 min each. We were able to talk at length as to how I can present my port to increase my chances of getting in. I was able to talk about the ideas contained in my work and see what resonated with them I can now focsus my port around the pieces that really had an impact. I'm photo-based artist so I have time to produce new work around some now rock-solid ideas. Also, I got tipped off to what kind of theory I should base my work around, for example, one school told me their faculty like to talk about perception and how we see, so include that in my statement. Another told me there are some faculty that really share my "photography as artifice" sympathies, so put it in my statement. I learned a lot about the general demeanor of the shcools too. I got a very bad feeling from CCA. They were more interested in name dropping and trying to show me up than talking about my work and actively tried to shut down any ideas I had instead of challenging me. Their attitude was a complete 180 from the other schools whose give and take was envigorating. I've very happy they saved me the $70 application fee.

I am! The big thing I'm doing this is making sure my portfolio doesn't suck. Last year I came up with my projects that made up my portfolio less than 6 months before I applied. I had never really though about what it meant to be an artist vs. being a photographer and so all the pretty picures I'd made before that were useless for creating a cohesive body of work. The work I showed reflected that lack. This year I'm only showing one project (I showed two last year) and I'll have enough good pieces to fill it out. Second, I've taken several art history courses which have helped me be able talk about my work. I can now saw in one or two sentances, what I'm doing and in the language that artists talk in. One of my letters of recommendation will be from one of the profs who loves how I think about art and will write a glowing letter for me. Also, all my supporting documents (SOP, letters) will focuss on why I work the way I do and how I think about what I'm doing. I'm going to make sure all my recommenders see my current series and i'll ask them to focus on my ideas and how I show them. Finally, I'm reaching out to my top pick schools. I visited the SMFA and had a portfolio review and I'll be going to the portfolio review day will show my work to as many schools as I have time for. I didn't do any of that last year becuase at that point I only had about 4 photos to show them. I still don't have as big of a body of work as most people who've been doing this longer, or very many shows on my CV (I had none last year, vs 3 so far this year), but my current work shows focus and a commitment to ideas. That's gotta be worth something, right? FYI-last year I applied to 7 schools and got half an acceptance, post-bacc at the SMFA, which i had to decline for financial reasons.

I'm going to CalArts on Sunday too. I do photographic work, so I'll be bringing my 13"x19" prints in a portfolio book to show. Did the schools you talked to read over your artist's statement? I don't have mine written out yet, but I can talk really well about my work. I guess I'll bring some CDs too. I visited the SMFA this last summer and had a review with the assistant dean of admissions. She said they'd be sending the grad students who are on the admissions committee. It sounds like they do have some authority.

All it says, that I can find, is something about "detailed rankings" for those areas. I don't know for sure if they're updateing these ranking as well (perhaps not "detailed"?)

new rankings come out on thursday. you probably have to get behind their pay wall to get more than just the top 10. I don't know how high painting goes, photo only went to 18, and 1-10 was available for free.

It's not so much the tuition costs ($18k after scholarships/grants) as having to take out loans for living expenses. Also, I'd pay $35k a year if was toward a degree. This is the grey area I didn't plan on. I'm still waiting on one school (UMass Amherst) but I got a total of 6 rejections. My portfolio is inconsistent right now, but I'm told it shows a lot of promise. I just don't have the time, with a full time job and no one to help support me, to improve as fast as I'm capable of. I did a post-mortem on my port last night with one of my teachers and his assessment was that it wasn't quite finished. I feel like doing this would stack the deck for me next year, but on the other hand, I've still got a lot of growth I can do on my own. If my port was rock-solid I'd be looking at residencies, etc. And I didn't really ask my parents for money, but when I brought up the possibility of moving to boston all we ended up talking about was scarves. Then there was an earthquake (guess where I live), so there wasn’t much more talk of it. BTW-I loved reading your posts these past few months, as I’ve been lurking the whole time. Congrats on your acceptances! I plan to participate more here next year.

I got accepted to the SMFA's Post-Bac program (photo). I really want to go and I know it would really help my work and drastically improve my changes of getting into an MFA program. I just got my aid package and they made me a very reasonable offer. I would still need to come up with about $35k for the year (to pay for the rest and living/moving expenses). So, I'm trying to decide if I should go. Is there anyone out there who's done this? How did you get by? Do people work while going? Do you just get loans and hope to get into a fully-funded MFA program? I seemed to have blown through my trust fund in my 20s and when I asked my parents for money over Easter dinner they pretended not to hear me, so I've exhausted those options. I didn't expect the decision to be this hard.

That's good to hear. I haven't contacted them since I got the letter late last week, and I still have two shcools to hear from. Do you know how many people go on to their MFA program from the post-Bac? I really like their program, I'm just worried about adding more the the already outrageous cost of an MFA.

@littlemels: Me too! All I've gotten is a post-bac offer from the SMFA, also for photo. Does any one have any thoughts on these? How do people come up with the $30k if they don't have a rich family? It's looking like I'll be active on here next year. Is it too early to start a 2011 thread?