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jon cocktoe

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Everything posted by jon cocktoe

  1. any updates nathan? I'm curious to know how your visits went and also how the financial aid worked out.
  2. I applied to UMass Amherst too. I called the art dept this morning and the secretary said that they have all the admissions decisions and they're mailing out the letters today and tomorrow. She also implied that the online status would be updated soon. Either way, your wait will come to an end shortly. Re: $35k in loans. Personally, if it was me, I would skip it. I promised myself that I wouldn't take out any loans at all for an MFA nevermind a postbac. Debt adds up quickly, and I'm still struggling with some debt from undergrad. Adding to that is not an option for me. If you feel like you could improve your portfolio on your own, then that's the route to take. Other options include continuing ed classes if there are any good ones near you, or summer workshops with the right teachers. Each of those options won't (or shouldn't) cost more than $2,000, and if you choose your instructors wisely, and work hard, a lot can be accomplished.
  3. It's amazing how different first impressions can be. I know there are other photographers at SMFA, but I didn't get the impression that they work with grad students. Come to think of it, the whole website was a little unclear about just what goes on there. And just out of curiosity, are you funded? I got the impression that SMFA is pretty expensive, and I couldn't really find and specific information about assistantships and scholarships and such. I'm kind of feeling like I may have missed out, but oh well. And FWIW, I never actually met Laura McPhee, what I mentioned was just hearsay from the current grads. Regardless of her personality, her work is one of my favorites.
  4. I noticed this too when I got the school bulletin, and it definitely raised a red flag for me. The first thing that came to mind was "If Yale is #1, then nobody is more qualified to teach there than their own graduates." (Right?!) The other thing this indicates is a strong boys club mentality that leads to snottiness and a general dismissive attitude toward any other person or idea that doesn't originate there. To me, that is not a healthy, productive working environment. FWIW, this is all my own speculation, so I don't know if it's actually true.
  5. I think this is a great topic for a tread, though I've noticed a lot of people are rehashing the top 20 or so schools. From my perspective, it's a little hard to rank schools per se, because I really don't feel like I know enough about them, so I've got three lists: all the schools I considered and researched, all the schools I visited, and the places I applied. So, in approximate order: Schools I considered: MassArt - the faculty work is probably my favorite and I had visited years ago, so it was tops on my list. UConn - the faculty work on the website seemed pretty good, and from what I could gather, they had a very generous funding package with a stipend to the tune of $20K guaranteed for all admitted students RISD - I don't think I need to elaborate Yale - I had a professor that was a Yale grad, and she highly recommended it, but because of nearby negative family relations and it's supposed reputation for demoralizing competitiveness, I decided to skip it University of New Mexico - Solid and diverse faculty, and the art and ecology program really stood out for me University of Arizona - really interesting faculty work (Mark Klett), and good funding package University of Colorado Boulder - seemed like a good program, but ultimately I didn't apply because I couldn't really see myself working with the faculty there University of Washington - really interesting stuff going on there, but I've never been to Seattle, so I don't know much about the art scene there Syracuse - great faculty, interesting program, got passed over because of geography Cornell - more has been elaborated on here than I even knew about, also passed because of geography Maine College of Art - at first this seemed like a great option, but I couldn't find any info about funding, and I found a few web pages on the www that indicated some severe tension between the faculty and administration. I also later decided that I didn't want to do low residency Bard - everything seemed great, but it's expensive, and I didn't want low-res Art Institute of Boston - the more alumni work I saw, the less excited I was, plus lack of funding and low-residency were ultimately deal breakers SMFA - I really wanted to like it, but the program is 3 years, and almost all of the faculty work is political, which I'm really not into U Mass Amherst - Didn't know much about it, but one of my undergrad profs strongly encouraged me to apply U Mass Dartmouth - I really didn't know much about it, but decided to check it out anyway Schools I visited: 1. U Mass Dartmouth - All the alumni work I've seen is stuff that I strongly identify with, and they all seem to have great jobs to boot. The facilities are in a downtown building that was renovated in the last decade and are up to date and accessible. 2. RISD - I met a couple of students and some support staff, and got a really positive inclusive vibe. The photo facilities are great, but are in a state of analog/digital transition so there's a bit of unused space, and people are just setting up in whatever room is available to do what they need to. 3. MassArt - The facilities are impressive, about the same as RISD as far as I could tell, but I was really disappointed to find out that Abe Morell is retiring, and word on the street is that while Laura McPhee is a great professor, she "has a tendency to instill fear in people." (from a current grad student). It also seemed like there was a lot of inertia if the work the students were making didn't look quite like everyone thought that contemporary photography should. I didn't feel like it was a working environment where I could thrive. 4. UConn - I was really disappointed by this one. The campus is in the middle of nowhere (which I knew), and the photo facilities consist of a few iMacs in the basement and some printers of questionable operational status (nobody knew if they worked). The darkrooms were cramped and messy and shared with undergrads, and there was a private darkroom in the grad studio building (on the other side of campus) that had some nice equipment, but nobody was using it. Overall, this led to a general feeling of isolation. The students I met were disorganized and inarticulate and seemed to have a tough time working on anything. The faculty were a really mixed bag. There was one standout who I loved, but there was one other who was combative, opinionated and just generally snotty and mean, and the others were somewhere in between. It also turns out that funding was cut across the university so the $20k stipend is actually more like $7k (which is still great w/full tuition, but they are definitely guilty of false advertising on this one). Schools I applied to (in order of preference): 1. U Mass Dartmouth 2. RISD 3. UNM - I currently live in New Mexico and wanted to stay here, and the school seemed great, so I figured I would visit if I got in, which I didn't. 4. MassArt - Despite my aforementioned feeling about the program, I knew some other grads who were really positive about it, and decided to give it a chance 5. U Mass Amherst - It's in a region where I'd like to be, and the program seems really solid. Upon further research, I really like the work the photo grads are doing, but it doesn't look anything like mine, so I don't know how well I would have actually fit in the program. Phew, that's the most succinct summary I think I could write of a year of research and application work. I hope this list is useful to someone applying in future years. Oh, and I was only really looking for photography, if that wasn't made clear already.
  6. @littlenova: I would have to agree that out of those three, Penn would be my first choice. Provided funding was roughly equivalent, it would be impossible to match the benefits of having people like Charlotte Cotton and An-My Le on the faculty. But then again, I haven't been to any of those schools, so it's really hard to say. As far as my choices, I haven't made a final decision yet because I'm still waiting to hear back from two schools. I was accepted to my first choice, but if RISD or UMass Amherst admit me with better funding (not likely for RISD, but I'd like to know for sure), then it will be a tough choice.
  7. I think you'll find that where you live greatly affects the kind of work you make, even if it's still conceptually related to what you intend to do. The fact is that unless you're working strictly in a studio, the look of your photographs will probably be very different in Nevada vs. Pennsylvania. My advice would be to try and be as open to your intuitions and impressions when you visit each school. Talk to students and faculty there and see how fluid or natural it feels to be there. Visiting schools before I applied was a bit more difficult because I didn't know yet where I would get in, so I just pretended that I'd already been accepted and was trying to picture myself working there. At the end of it all, there was one clear choice where I really felt like I belonged, almost like coming home, even though it was a place I had never been to before. At other places I felt a lot of inertia. It seemed like students were running into a lot of barriers that made it more difficult than necessary to do the kind of work they wanted to do. At another school it seemed like some of the students just couldn't get going on a project as if they'd been left out in the cold. All in all, I think it's great that you've got some ideas for projects going (I do too!), but don't try to force it because once you're there, there will be a lot of other variables that might change your direction a bit, not to mention the guidance of the faculty and community of other students. Take some time to get to know the new place that you're living in, and just pay attention to how you're feeling and act accordingly. At least that's what worked for me both times that I've made drastic moves in my life. p.s. please report back after you've visited all three schools, I'm very curious about all of those places but didn't have a chance to visit/apply for various reasons.
  8. I guess I missed the general fine arts list the first time around. I was only looking at the rankings for photography, and even with the premium paid access, the list only goes to about 20. The other problem is that rankings change a lot depending on discipline. For example, UNM is listed as #50 overall, but #5 for photo. That's a huge difference.
  9. I found out over 4 weeks ago that I've been accepted to my top choice, but I have yet to hear about funding, and of course if I don't get it, I can't go. Everyone keeps telling me that I'll hear 'soon' but that's been the case for at least 3 weeks so I'm starting to lose hope.
  10. I think that's great advice, but how exactly do you figure out rankings for schools 20-100? The top 10-20 are easy enough to find in USnews, but is there another list published somewhere that I'm missing? All in all it seems like there's are pretty strong consensus as to who the top 10 are, but things get ambiguous when you get past #20.
  11. I applied to RISD as well, but I haven't heard a peep since January when they confirmed that my application had been received. It says on their website that they're going to mail decisions on or before March 24th. My guess is that they're gonna cut it close, so I'm not expecting anything for at least a few more weeks : (
  12. @intelly: don't be so sure about UNM. I applied to the photo department and was rejected promptly on the 1st of February. Sounds like they're considering your application so don't count yourself out yet.
  13. @krixa Congrats on the UMass acceptance. I applied there as well, but to the design department for photo. I got an email that said I've been accepted, but no official letter yet, and no word on funding. Just out of curiosity, how were you notified, and did you get a funding offer?
  14. Perhaps it might work to rephrase the question to "how do your students usually address you?"
  15. Have you considered just asking how they prefer to be addressed? At my undergrad, everyone called everyone by their first name whether they were a professor, student, or administrator (even the president of the college!), so it was quite odd to start writing "Professor X" in all of my email correspondence. When I visited a few of the schools, I just asked the professors directly how I should address them, and they all opted for first name. So, now in all of my correspondence I just write "Dear so and so," and it feels way more natural. To each his own I suppose.
  16. I've lately become more aware of how the academic world is portrayed in movies. Perhaps it's just because I'm in the middle of the app process, but I find it interesting nonetheless. I also wonder how accurate some of these portrayals are because a general audience has no way of knowing, and in some cases I would imagine that the filmmakers don't have a lot of experience in the academic world either (of course I could be wrong). Here are a few that I've seen recently: 1. I've Loved you so Long. French drama about a woman who was recently released from prison and goes to live with her sister's family. The sister is a professor of literature at what looks to be a large university. Sis laments about how she hasn't had time to go to conferences and publish since she adopted two kids, teaches both lecture and seminar classes, is periodically harassed about minor department issues, but otherwise seems pretty close with most of her colleagues. It seems like a reasonable image to me, and being an academic in France seems like a sweet deal. 2. Away We Go. A young couple travels around the country looking for a place to call home before they have their baby. In the search, they visit a cousin in Madison named L.N. who is a professor of gender studies. I thought this was a particularly cruel portrayal of academics as overly opinionated, liberal to a fault, judgmental, and at times vacuous ("I have a great quote about that by Simone de Beauvoir... somewhere!"). On the other hand, L.N. has an absolutely beautiful office, and Madison looks like a story book university setting (the caveat is that I heard most of the movie was filmed in CT). 3. The Squid and The Whale. A family with two boys going through a divorce. The father is an English professor whose academic pretension and opinions rub off on his teenage son. His life is generally a mess, and in the scenes where he is shown in class, he seems less than inspired with the exception of his attractive female students. That's all I can think of for now. Feel free to list any movies you've seen that portray any aspect of academic life.
  17. Ok, I'm dumb. The 98% was really 54%. I have no idea how I got that number, but I got to be all happy for at least a few minutes!
  18. I was hoping for a higher number , that's not much better than a coin toss. But, if I take out the school that I already got rejected from, and only use my top 3 choices, then I get 98%. I like those odds! Re: independent variables. There are so many variables across the board, I think its just easier to treat it this way. The percentages I figured out were based on my subfield with only one exception, so I'm going to just pretend that these results reflect reality, even if it's only to get me by until March. I suppose once I get all my responses, I can come back here and check the accuracy of these%
  19. Sorry about SAIC mbadger. Rejection totally blows, thanks for commiserating with me. My husband gave me 24 hours to mope about it, but now that it's over it's not so bad. Since all the rest of my apps were to east coast schools, having the rejection from UNM completely eliminates an entire "what if" scenario that I don't have to worry about anymore. And it turns out that he has some really great career opportunities there that we just found out about, and he'll be able to take advantage of it no matter where I get in. So I'm trying to look on the bright side, and hopefully I can find something to occupy myself with until the rest of the letters come in. Hopefully they won't all be rejections.
  20. So being as inept at math as I usually am, I was trying to figure out what my chances are of being accepted by at least one school, but the best I could figure out is my average chance of admission overall. Is there some way to figure out what the likelihood is of getting at least one acceptance based on the admission rates of all the schools that I applied to? For example, I applied to 5 schools with acceptance rates of 3%, 20%, 24%, 16%, and 22%. Is there are formula I can use? Is there a way to figure out the chance of getting into two schools? I've already been rejected by the school with the 16% admit rate, so does that change anything? I realize this is a somewhat pointless endeavor, but I'm hoping it might ease my nerves (assuming, of course that I have a pretty high chance of getting one admit). Thanks for your help!
  21. Well, I officially got my first rejection yesterday from UNM. I was kind of expecting it, but what really stings is that I talked to the admissions coordinator for the art department the day before I got the letter, and she told me that my application is marked as complete and that I would be hearing about the decision sometime in mid March. The letter I got was dated 2/1/10 so she must have known! They must have really not liked me to reject me so early. Boo. Now I have a month and half to wait for any good news while I sit on this one. I'm really wishing I had applied to Syracuse. I didn't really know anything about it until you all started chatting it up. Oh well, four more to go, I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens.
  22. I applied to the studio art program at UMass in mid January, but since the deadline wasn't until Feb 1, I don't think we'll be hearing anything soon. On the application status page, it says it usually takes 6 to 10 weeks for departments to make their decisions, which puts the notification date anywhere between mid March and mid April. It's anyone's guess when the art department will make their decision.
  23. The reason you never heard of it is that it's a brand spakin' new program- this is its first year. I would be a bit scared about it too, but the faculty all seem to be top notch professionals in the field, and thus far, the program itself has gotten favorable press from the upper echelons of the academic photo world. If you're seriously interested, I would just call them up and ask them about all the details that you can think of. I'm sure that because it's a new program, they're expecting to answer all sorts of questions.
  24. littlenova: Doug Dubois + Low residency = http://www.hartfordphotomfa.org/ the deadline isn't until March, so you'll have some time to figure things out and get an application together if you're interested. I would totally apply, but low residency just isn't going to work for me. That said, I only know what they tell you on the website, so if you find out any additional info, I'd be curious to know. Good luck!
  25. jojobee: mostly what I discovered from visits was quirks in the curriculum that weren't clear on the website, and major personality clashes that you just don't know about until you meet someone. At one school I visited, my potential advisor was combative and aggressive and really threw me off guard. She began the conversation by listing off other places I should or shouldn't apply including directly insulting some of my choices. On top of which, she showed me her new work that isn't published anywhere, and it's completely different than her old work, and frankly I'm not a fan. Needless to say, the visit was very enlightening and that school was immediately crossed off the list. littlenova: MassArt has a full time MFA program in Boston with some great faculty (Laura Mcfee and Abelardo Morell), and from what I can figure it's about the same size as RISD's photo program. But, word on the street is that Morell is retiring soon, so if I'm admitted, I'll have to do some more investigating. On a different note, low-residency is an interesting option that I considered. Ultimately though, I figured out that funding is a lot more limited and I wouldn't get any teaching experience so I decided to skip it. I was going to apply to all the same places (Bard, AIB, MECA) but one thing I kept running into again and again was lack of photo faculty (with the exception of Bard). I'm not opposed to a general studio art program, but there are certain things about photography that just don't apply to the rest of the studio arts, and I think it's necessary to have supportive faculty in that regard. I think it would be useful for future users of this forum if we compiled a list of small, virtually unknown MFA programs that turned out to be awesome. I'm thinking of UMass Dartmouth and FSU because they've already been mentioned here, but are there others? The biggest difficulty I had in researching schools was that there are so many small programs that I just didn't have the time to thoroughly investigate all of them, much less travel around the country visiting all of them. There are probably tons of fabulous programs that aren't on the US News list, and if you found one, I'd love to hear about it!
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