Curious12345

Good observation, I have gotten my MFA since I last posted - I stand behind my words and think that people should apply to the program because it has a lot to offer! It is so small and gets a good amount of applicants, so treating it as a safety school is not very smart.

You have to realize that Jane Chapman (who was the person giving the presentation) has always been somewhat unfriendly to the idea of a MFA. Almost all of those statistics are skewed in one way or another. Look at all of the artists who have work in the major collections, who show at the other 90% of galleries in LA she didn't include in her stats, they don't even look at you if you don't have a MFA. With that said...is it worth the TIME, not the money, but the TIME. I'd say it is, I'd say the connections are crucial, the polishing, the professionalism...it is all very important.

I think your work would fit in at UCSB, talk to Jane Callister and Phil Argent there.

Yes, there are plenty of TA opportunities, as every school will tell you though, nothing is guaranteed. None of the grads work besides TAing...so that should tell you something. Family housing is great, its like a 10 min WALK to campus, I can see the studios from my front porch and the rent is super cheap. I live in the best one you can get, 2 story, 2 bedroom, and its only $1200 a month including ALL utilities and everything.

Hello fellow Norcalian, I grew up in Rohnert Park. I'd heavily suggest taking a look at SFAI. Do you know Cathy Ellis? She just started here at UCSB.

Figure it out, deadline is approaching, email it to me.

UCSB has good family housing that is close to the graduate studios along with an on campus child care center for students. I'm not blogging about my MFA per-se...but I blog in general about what I'm doing in art. I'm a current grad at UCSB, ask me anything you want.

Ima current grad at UCSB if you have any questions, I made a couple posts about the program if you wanna search my past posts. Funding is great, studios are awesome, program is pretty sweet all around.

SFAI has awesome facilities, UCLA had decent ones when I visited, RISD had good equipment and facilities, USC doesn't...at least not at their grad studios...CCA does...those are all I can remember right now.

The San Francisco Art Institute (where I went for undergrad) has excellent film facilities...hell, they even had a working color processor until a couple years ago.

Sent you a PM!

I'd say very competitive. Any program worth its time - I would imagine would snap you up.

From my UCSB thread, this is what I described as "rookie mistakes": "Rookie mistakes: Not having coherent work, IE: pieces that don't work together, are wildly different, look like they came straight from an undergrad project, and so on. Having documentation/pieces that you can't tell which are which, I saw a video that someone submitted for documentation of their project that we couldn't tell if it was documentation of the project, or if the video was the piece itself. It was dual channel and had all kinds of "artistic" effects going on and TONS of jump-cuts to abstract video documentation of what the person was doing. In that same vein, Poor documentation: Bad lighting, weird angles, close ups of big projects when the shot should include something for scale, and so on... Concepts for projects: I kid you not, there were people who included google sketch ups of things they made or were planning on making. Copying and pasting whatever school you were applying to into your statement, it comes through when you are talking about the school and there are things that don't line up. Like saying this or that dept. when neither of those depts. exist at that school, or even worse, forgetting to copy/paste one out. I read multiple statements that had OTHER school's names in them. If you are interested in a school, do some research and don't be lazy. I don't know, there are a few others, but the gist of it is to be authentic and honest." That'd be my advice, keep it tight and focused, get another set of eyes on everything as well.

If you truly believe that, how come you aren't applying to any that have better reputations than the ones you've selected? IE: Yale, UCLA, UCI, RISD, CalArts, SFAI, CCA, etc etc. I'd say getting a job "blind" would be about reputation, but most teaching positions are granted on face to face interaction and networking, or possibly the schools you graduated from. Personally, I'd go for a school that gives you massive amounts of teaching experience. I'm going to UCSB and I'm TAing 2 classes or more for the rest of my stay here. As an employer, I'd think I'd want a candidate that has experience, not someone fresh from a "reputable" program that has 1 TA'ed class under their belt. Just my 2 pennies!

Some schools do it, some don't, I don't know, it all depends on the person. Here at UCSB I know the professors encourage people to contact them beforehand.