Curious12345

lurk

Ok, well, I only viewed what the faculty considered to be the top 30-40 (I forgot how many we looked at)...so don't be freaked out that I said dismal, it was mainly because a lot of the applications just were not a good fit for the program. There are only so many apps you can look at that are poorly put together or that are so overly industrial and commercial before you start to wonder if the art world knows that your program exists. If you showed understanding of contemporary art at large and didn't make any "rookie" mistakes, then you probably made it to the top 20, and I think they said they were taking 7 or 8 this year, so a 40% chance isn't that bad. Like I said, we only had one or two visitor(s), which I thought was weird, cause I visited almost every school I applied to (Yale, RISD, UCD, UCLA, USC, U of M (which i didn't apply), and a couple others), the only ones I didn't visit were UCSB, and UCSD..haha. If you want to PM me and ask any questions, go ahead. I'm glad you guys read my previous posts and decided to apply, I think its a great program. So my question still stands to others, why did you apply or why didn't you?

I came here (as a nameless current grad in the MFA Art program at UCSB) to ask why YOU didn't apply, do YOU even know that we have a program with crazy good facilities, great faculty, and an INSANE location with a pretty close proximity to LA? I know the deadline has passed for this year for us, so this may not be of use for a lot of you looking at programs. But the thing that gets me is that we had all of one person come to visit the program before applying and to be completely honest, our applications were pretty dismal this year (minus a few in my opinion). I decided to come here because I was getting crazy good funding, a huge studio, great faculty, and the program matched my needs as far as freedom was concerned. Its an open question to all, I'm not asking you to go to our website and criticize what you see. I'm asking if anyone recommended it to you, or if you ever saw "recruiters" at portfolio days, or anything at all. I'll be honest, I didn't at all, and I actually visited on a whim when I was accepted last year. What I saw blew my mind because I couldn't believe that no one had told me about this place..

I'm thinking we should do an inter-UC show of some sort somewhere...

Ya, def go to both...

holy crap, I was the only reply?

UC Santa Barbara, MFA Studio Art (I think I applied for Photo, but I dont think anyone in the program really identifies as a certain discipline) Full ride + ~27K (with no need to TA first year) + TA opportunity on day one. The program seems to be flying under the radar, sure it isn't in the top 10, but who really complains about than they got into a UC with full ride and a boatload of money? The faculty is great, as is the location, facilities, sand, opportunity, or the program as a whole. It has less than 20 students that are very tight knit and seem to be producing really good work.

With all that is being said, a lot of you are acting like going to a top tier school is a guaranteed spot at a top gallery or at a top teaching position. Don't you think that maybe Yale picks the talent and the talent takes them to these places? or maybe these people wanted to be the best and along with getting into Yale they went with the best gallery representation as well? I think a lot of people in this thread are discounting the people involved, by no means does just going to Yale mean that you have a better chance to be represented by Mary Boone. Ya, they have 3 Yale grads now, but that could be because of talent, drive, or whatever else comes along with creating things. I think if you want it bad enough, you will get it. Maybe these people wanted it that bad, I honestly think that the antiquated way of thinking of location or proximity is quickly being lost in the globalized society we are creating. My representation can be on any coast in the world, printed and hung within mins.

I had to realize the same question, I think all reputations have a cost. I think it is the person that will determine how much you will "need" that reputation to proceed you. Sometimes it is good to come out of left field if you are truly driven. If you aren't, then ya, you might want to have that "yale" on your resume.

27

Ya, I could see that. I dunno, while I was at SFAI they seemed to be dumping money into the school left and right.

Well, the thing you have to remember about these schools is that they are businesses. The product is education. They want to get off with providing you that product with the least amount spent on you. So your objective is to get them to spend more, the boyscout way of doing things is to wait for all of your funding packages to come through and hit your top choice with your best funding package and say hey can you match that? If they say yes, then go back to the other and say that another program is offering the same thing and you really need more from them if they want you. If that works out, then go back to your first choice and have them try to up the ante. Its kind of like buying a car. The other way of doing things is to make up an imaginary fellowship you got from a school saying that they are giving you a full ride plus X amount of dollars (Make it something reasonable like $15K first year and 10K second year with TAship), see what they say, they will probably lay all their cards out and give you the best they can possibly do.

I've heard good things about it. Couple of questions though, what do you mean out of the circle? Like you grew up in snow and now you will be located in the sun? Also, 50 students is less than what UCLA has. How small of a program did you want? For me, it seems that the small the program is (which I don't even really think matters in a university setting) the less networking opportunities you have.

UCLA Rejection email this morning.

No, it was a general statement made by one of the students when I visited last year.

Ya, throughout the year...its called the regents central fellowship or something like that

Thanks!

I've only heard back from a couple schools. Still waiting to hear back from RISD, UCLA, USC, Parsons, and Columbia. I know RISD and Columbia can't beat that package...and I'm fairly certain the rest can't either since UCLA said that I'd get a full ride, but no TAships my first year and multiple people at RISD said that funding wasn't their strong point, I don't know what Parsons funding looks like but if I had the choice, I'd still take UCSB. I've been rejected by UCD, UCSD, and Yale. I guess it really doesn't matter where I get in now since I'm lined up for UCSB.

I committed to UCSB couple days ago, I'm 100% positive that no one can even come close to the package they offered (tuition, fees, health + $27K fellowship). On top of that the faculty is stellar and the location can't be beat...I'll take sand over snow any day of the week.

Just in case anyone was wondering for future reference, this program is pretty awesome and they are super generous with funding. TAships and teaching opportunities were non-competitive and seemed to be simply if you wanted to do them they were available. Seems like this program has been flying under the radar. My two sentence review: Studios are pretty big (15'x15" at smallest, non-shared), the school is super nice, faculty is solid and very generous with their time. I recently visited and was very impressed, lots of opportunities for teaching and TAships.

Ya, if you read back in the thread, about 2 weeks ago a lot of people noticed that. I just checked back there and it got changed back to just "MFA Fine Arts (2011)"

I'm assuming that UCLA is a no go for me since so many people have heard back...

UCSD Rejection here as well.

Rejection to UCSD at midnight.

Most of the programs I applied to said that (while not a requirement) BFA was preferred...AKA: Your work better be a mind blowing game changer otherwise good luck with that BS in biology. To be honest, when I visited USC they pointed out two people who somehow got in, one was a lawyer and the other a scientist of some sort and their work was SUPER awkward and didn't really feel developed or like it had a clue as to where it was going. I'd hate to be in a program where I'd have to be having freshman undergrad type arguments with people who don't have the same education in art that I do. That was old hat by my senior year of undergrad, I could deal with it if I was teaching...but as a peer I wouldn't stand for it.