seeingeyeduck

It might be possible for you to get a special allowance to withdraw from the class late given your circumstances. If it's a required class you could retake it and the W wouldn't count toward your GPA. It can't hurt to ask.

I am also planning to never have kids. I respect anyone else's desire to have them but I've never even felt an iota of desire to have kids. Partly because I'm an only child and never had siblings and partly because growing up was just no fun with my parents' terrible marriage. But mostly it just seems biological. I just feel weird when around babies and kids cuz everyone else finds them so adorable and they just have no effect on me. I don't dislike them but I just can't feel what the fuss is about. I just turned 31, so I've been in the stage where my parents bug me about it despite my having informed them of my decision. I don't know if the in-laws are aware but they are more polite and are unlikely to pressure us. My friends aren't pushy but they give me the "oh but you never know, you could change your mind." I know some people do but at this point, having never felt any different and having never felt warm and fuzzy about babies, I'm pretty sure it's forever! I'm happy with it, since I'd be miserable and probably a terrible parent on top of that. That combo would result in such a miserable kid. I'm sticking to my decision.

Do you need the course to graduate or can you withdraw from it? Also, is it possible to retake it in the summer if it doesn't work out?

I started putting together my schedule but it doesn't look like any of the books are submitted yet. Wish the spring semester was up too so I can plan my whole year!! I'm also going to have to start figuring out the independent study I need to arrange too... I created a student ID and set up my school email - feels unreal still!

About 60-70 every week and a half for two people but we also eat out occasionally. It's just an expensive area - we spend that much shopping at ethnic stores and Trader Joes...

I'm nervous since my last degree took me 10 years! I really want to go in prepared and hit the ground running so I stay on top of things this time. I'm nervous about being able to perform at that level but I'm so excited that I'm already planning my schedule and trying to get some independent work and research done. I take that as a good sign that I really want this.

I'm a fan of messengers too. I dislike backpacks since I'm short and most backpacks are too long or hang too low to actually be good for my back. They tend to make me hunch so I usually carry them with one strap anyway. Messengers are fairly decent at weight distribution if you carry them high on the hip instead of flopping low. Timbuk2 also has those cross the body sling type bags that are a cross between backpack and messenger. Those actually look like they'd be great. But my plan is just to not carry so much. Paper notebook, tablet, water, wallet, any required reading. That's it for me. I love new text books that are split into volumes. If I get a big course reader, I hack it up into smaller chunks and use gaff tape as a new binding. Crossing my fingers I don't get assigned huge books!

Do you like the other school? Why not go with the one that didn't notify you last minute?

While I think you're being a bit inflammatory and rude, I agree. The general advice in the rest of the forums is to never take on a grad degree that isn't paid for or has a stipend, even for the fields that will lead to decent paying careers. Somehow in the art forum however, people seem willing to even consider 100k of debt. I honestly think it's a lack of realization of how much money it actually is and the fact that by the time you've paid up with all the interest, you've actually paid more like 200k. Maybe it's because people get into other fields for practical reasons more often whereas most artists are in it for love of craft and it seems somehow not classy to care about money. I have seen someone get into 100+k of debt to go to their dream school for a non-lucrative career and years later, they are stressed and pinned down by debt. So I have to say that people really need to run the numbers - how much will your monthly payments be, how long will it take to pay it off or get loan forgiveness, and can you afford that on a small or unstable salary in two years...

Yeah, spend your money on a real MFA and just work on your app and portfolio on your own for a year. You'll need to figure out how to learn and develop on your own once you're an artist anyway, so why not just get right to it? On the other hand, double check me on this, but I think CCA is still taking rolling admissions into June...

I guess what you're saying is that you want to meet more friends and find ones that like to travel!

I got some navy ones today! What's the brand of socks? I sometimes wear those socks with sneakers but they almost always do show. White is really obvious and nude looks like grandma when it's visible...

I think Michael Pollan's advice still holds up - "eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I think someone did a study of all diets and found that no one diet had superior benefits: http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/science-compared-every-diet-and-the-winner-is-real-food/284595/ You're doing pretty well if you don't over eat, avoid processed food and sugar, and have a mostly veggie diet. (I once saw a stat that the average American eats 90lbs of sugar a year, most of it through sodas and corn syrup in foods that you wouldn't think had corn syrup in them.) It's good to change things up a bit too. A nutritionist once told me that sometimes you can start to develop food sensitivities from simply eating the same food all the time with no variation. I don't know how true that is but there's no harm in having a varied diet. I don't consider things like cheese or yogurt or hummus to be processed foods since the processing seems to be mostly physical, not chemical and is more about saving you time. Eating premade hummus is a far cry from eating Cheetos! As for chicken, has anyone heard that there's trace amounts of arsenic in most of it from the processing? Somehow the FDA doesn't regulate it or so I've read. I'd like to see a serious study on it though...

I've accepted an offer this week and declined one. Have to decline another but have been putting it off because it involves personal emails instead of a form...

Maybe calculate how long it would actually take to pay off that debt. Then see how you would feel about that. Sometimes those numbers are very abstract until it comes time to actually pay it off...

I understand you mean someone like Durer. I'm not saying people shouldn't reinvent traditional media but that's the key word - reinvent, and that's where "conceptual" comes in. IMO that word is just a way of saying "reworking ideas." It's not that you can't use traditional media, it's just that if you have nothing to add to bringing it into the future, then you are working within established templates. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not what contemporary art is about. I mean, a lot of those media were groundbreaking in their time too and contemporary practice is about that too. Last year I saw an art show where one guy had etched fairly traditional images of saints into bath tubs that were shown upright. He didn't invent a new field or anything but it was an interesting take on altars. I don't think it's really a matter of what kind of media is better but a certain sector of the art world is specifically interested in the new. And I wouldn't even say that's near everything. As far as I can tell a lot more work that's fairly traditional sell much better.

Had a really good time this weekend and I really liked my cohort. I didn't get to go to the uni-wide mixer but I'm hoping to go to some mixers in the fall. I'm pretty sure I want to go here!!

Agree with a lot of the above ^ Also want to say that a lot depends on the culture of your location. For example, there would absolutely be no homophobia in the Bay Area (at least in art programs). There is a lot of LGBT friendly activism and thinking here so the art scene is going to reflect that. But then the reception to religious themes may be lukewarm on the other hand. So I think it is a balance of both challenging yourself and practically speaking finding the scene that is most receptive to what you are doing. I do think it would be smart to go to a place where your ideas would get at the very least a neutral reception. There's no point in banging your head against the wall at a location where the culture is aggressively anti-your-identity.

I dunno, I think if you are going to stay in the area after graduation, knowing people helps immensely, at least for a while. You'll still need to build some momentum with your work but I know that even in undergrad prof saying nice things to curators gets you group shows and that it's easier when people recognize people and places on your cv because they are locally well known even if not nationally. So I wouldn't say it's the end all be all, but it's worth taking it into consideration. But only if you're at a place where you actually have the chance to have faculty contact. If it's big names but you can never get in to see them, doesn't matter!

Here's the thing. Why would Albert Durer need to go to grad school? That sort of work has already been done extensively in the history of art and grad school is expressly for contemporary art (ie forms like new media, social practice and ways of looking at traditional media in a new way). If you are already happy with your practice then why still go to school? Why not keep making as you have been, as it's obviously been working for you? One professor told me that they want students who are interested in challenging themselves and pushing into new territory because otherwise it's just a funded residency, not an education. If you really want to keep making the work you're making, then perhaps residencies are the answer. I think they are more designed to provide space for artists to do what they want, and don't involve as much of a push to experiment. Quite frankly I think that the newer stuff needs more support because it's less established and artists have much less of a chance finding any commercial outlet / getting paid for things that deal with sociopolitical issues. I've never been in grad critiques but I have been in undergrad ones, and I can't imagine the teachers I've had standing for a negative atmosphere. They made it clear that bringing people down for no reason was unacceptable and their comments were observations of different options you have for developing the work further. It really depends on the culture of the school. Have you considered just showing your faith based work and seeing what happens? Have you actually tried to engage them in a conversation about it? It's one thing if they lash out and pan your work and prevent you from expressing an opinion, but if you've never attempted to make your disagreement explicit or stand up for your views, then I don't see how you can really say that they were actively discouraging you. Sometimes I think we have to be brave and actually start a difficult conversation. After all, if none of us can expect people in the real world to just accept our work and be encouraging of everything we want to do either.

Can you wear toms without socks without getting stinky feet? I have some cheap ass canvas flats and I think the insole must be synthetic cuz they don't breathe well...

In my experience classes with that many books usually don't expect you to read the entire books. Do the syllabi list chapters or is it really the whole books? I suppose it depends on the field you're in (sorry - I can't tell in mobile view). I don't know if you go on public transit at all but I find that you can actually get a substantial amount done just commuting or going out and running errands. An hour here and there adds up!

Lol maybe they should've been applying to creative writing programs!

I agree. It's almost self hate and arrogance at the same time. I mean, I was surprised when one of my ideal schools admitted me but I didn't think less of them for doing so! Whenever I start doubting I just ask. On my visit day or after I start attending I'll just ask my profs why they found my app compelling. Why not just find out instead of falling prey to irrational thoughts?

Go to the one that's cheaper after you apply the scholarships!