gtakaoka

Some random thoughts from the couple of little interviews I did (one on the phone with OSU, one on Skype with Penn, both around 10-12 minutes each): They both asked "hard" questions first; like, the kind of questions that I was unprepared to answer right off the bat due to just having met these people and still being nervous. I feel like this may have been a strategy on their part...or maybe I'm reading too much into it. The questions were along the lines of "so you've written a good amount about your practice in your statement...can you expand a little more, and also tell us about some contemporary artists you're looking at lately who influence you?" and "so where do you see yourself heading artistically during your time at (school name), and who are some artists who interest you?". They're not such difficult questions but I wish they'd started with something like "how are you today?". Then there were ones like "why do you want to go to _____?", "what electives or other departments in the school are you interested in studying?", "how does (insert current job from resume) relate to/inform your art practice?". Both places asked if I had questions for them, and I am reeeally glad that I had some ready, because it kept the interview from feeling one-sided (and I think it might be kind of bad to say "no" to that question). Things like "what's the degree of permeability between the department's different studio areas?", "what do the teaching assistantship duties generally consist of? Will I be assisting a professor, or will I be teaching my own class?" yielded some informative answers. Reviewing the grad handbook (from the place that had one available) was helpful. So was looking up the faculty from the departments I applied to. I don't know if any of this is useful...and I know that an in-person interview has some additional facets that I fortunately did not have to deal with. But hey, if this helps one person, cool. Wishing all of you the best of luck on your interviews!

I just started a thread for 2016 interviews: Perhaps it will die a horrible death and I will have to make a moderator delete it in order to save face. But I added those questions on there too, so we can get to them more easily.

Hi All, I thought I would start a thread specifically for interview concerns, since many of us are now beginning to navigate the "OMG INTERVIEW" portion of the application process. It might be nice for anyone who has already completed the interview process with any of their schools to share info that might be helpful to other applicants (if you're willing), such as what questions were asked, format of the interview, length of the interview, etc. Additionally, it might be helpful to share what we are doing to prepare for upcoming interviews. Or we can all just post about how we're freaking out. Also, here's a list of interview questions that has been floating around this forum (not sure who originally posted this but bless you) How does your work fit in with the contemporary art world/scene? Why do you want to go to XXXXX? Why do you want to go to grad school? Why now? What resources of this program will be the biggest benefit to your development as an artist? What is your work about? What are your influences? What for you constitutes a good work of art? What draws you to a piece of work? What motivates your work? Who are your main influences? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? How does your work fit in with the contemporary art world/scene? What do you think is a good critique of your work/bad critique? Why/how did you choose the people who wrote letters for you? How will you contribute to this program? What do you do for fun? What artists do you like? (you can have a list prepared) What artists who are no longer living influence you? What book are you reading right now? What do you think about it? What are you working on right now? Please explain this work (xxxx03.jpg) What is your favorite piece of art? Why? (Title, artist,year) Can you describe yourself, such as personal habit, etc. Do you get along well with others ? What would you bring to a group dynamic ? What can you offer this program? Any special skills? What do you think is a good way of criting ? a bad way? What other aspects of culture influence your work besidesart/art history? How do you see yourself taking advantage of this school’s enviroment/program? What exhibition have you been to in the last year? What have you done since you’ve graduated? What contemporary artists are you into, and why? Tell us about the conceptual underpinnings of your work? Talk about your process. What do you think about *this essay*? (related to your work) How is your work related to *this movement*? Do you have any questions for us? What do you think about (artist, movement, subject/topic) What can't you stand? Why? What do you think about your own work? How do you want your work to develop? Why are you making the work you're making, and why do you want to keep doing it? Meaning behind your subject matter? influences Also, here's a link to the interview thread from last year: I've done a couple of short interview thus far and I'll add info about them in a bit.

Thank you for this info! I was beginning to have an obsessive freak-out. All of this madness in addition to a weird missed call on Skype from Penn today (interview was yesterday so I know it was a mistake, but it's making me crazy)...oy vey... @grandguignol I wouldn't fret just yet! We're still early in the process (even though it feels like forever already), and I am pretty sure silence is still better than an outright rejection because programs could still be doing some shuffling around as far as their crop of candidates goes. Sometimes I feel like gradcafe can make things more stressful because we're all banding together on here, trying to decode the top-secret workings of these selection committees from the outside. It might be helpful to be remember that, acceptances/interviews or not, we're all kind of kicking ass just by not drinking ourselves into a coma/jumping off bridges while we trudge through this insane rat race.

Well gosh, they moved fast. Congratulations!! Hope they're as prompt with their rejection emails

Wait Rutgers sent out interview emails?!

The MFA program at UPenn (PennDesign) is "interdisciplinary", so in applying for the visual art program you are essentially applying for an MFA in interdisciplinary art. Not sure if I explained that well. But congrats on the interview request! On that note, I just finished my interview with Penn over Skype, and I think it went okay!! It was much easier than the phone interview with OSU; I think it helped to be able to read people's expressions and body language, etc. I don't think I sounded like a complete idiot. Now to follow through with that animal sacrifice I promised I'd do if everything went well...

Yeah, when I talked to the graduate assistant (Matt) he said around 100 apply and they enroll about 5. So we were competing for precious few spots. Even though it's not strictly a numbers game, it's pretty crazy to step back and think of how those numbers crunch out. It definitely helps to put it into perspective and not to take it too personally.

Alas! Rejected as well. Very nicely-worded email, though.

Oh man, I have been sitting here panicking because I know 9am has already passed in Illinois, so I was beginning to get the dread that I would not hear anything. I love how my brain selectively misinterprets critical information.

It's my understanding that Northwestern is sending out interview requests...tomorrow?! I think someone a few pages back said they finalized interview requests last Friday and they will notify on Monday. Which is tomorrow!

So I'm still sitting here on a mental merry-go-round about the Penn interview and wanted to ask fellow interview preparers: what are y'all doing to get ready? Maybe this should be posted to a different thread, but we're all reading this one regularly so why not. My current plans involve going over that handy interview question sheet that has floated around for a year or two on this forum, re-reading my statement of purpose/artist statement/etc that I sent to that school (since each school wanted slightly different information), and preparing some questions for the interviewers in case they ask (they always seem to). Also...praying to every deity that I can think of and asking them to help me not sound dumb. P.S. congrats on everyone who's getting good news!

Congrats to everyone with more news on interviews and acceptances!!! Woohoo!! On an unrelated note, the woman I spoke to yesterday about scheduling an interview for Penn (a.k.a. the worst conversation ever where I sounded like the biggest idiot ever) said she would email me with the details about the upcoming interview schedule, as well as reserving a time for Monday evening regarding a Skype interview. I have not been emailed, and now it's the weekend. Even if Monday rolls around and the email goes out, due to the time difference between Pennsylvania and California I will have a couple of hours to get ready and that's it. I am now sitting here wondering if it's possible to have such a terrible phone presence that an admissions coordinator purposely "forgets" to send the required email. I can email the admissions email address to follow up, but it's basically a robot, or I can call back the number of the person I spoke with, but that could be a number at the school or someone's personal cell phone. I am beginning to think it was a prank call. </panic rant>

You guys I just got a phone call from UPenn to schedule an interview and I have NEVER sounded so stupid on the phone in my life. Oh my gawd I wish I had let that go to voicemail. Kicking myself right now!!

Congrats!! You'll be in my neighborhood (basically)! If you have any questions about the area or anything, let me know. I've lived here forever

Thanks dryheat! I am trying not to be disappointed by any rejections/presumed rejections since I am super excited about University of Minnesota. That said, my ego might be a little bruised if I don't get into ANY other places, but that's another story ;-[

Woohoo!! Congrats!!

Not sure if this helps, but I applied (and did a brief phone interview with drawing and painting faculty), and definitely did not get the invite to the MFA visitation day- so you guys might be further along than just the general applicant pool!!

Congrats on Michigan interviews guys!!!

Thank you for the info! Good luck to you as well, and enjoy the visit

Did you hear back from them about anything yet? After phone interviews for Drawing and Painting I was told that they'd notify people "soon" but that was over 3 weeks ago now, so I am assuming they already notified the accepted people.

Aw, crap. I just got invited to interview for The Slade but my funding fell through weeks ago, so now I have to have an awkward conversation with them. After many emails back and forth with their admissions department regarding transatlantic application confusion (and almost a hundred dollars to ship a freaking portfolio cd over the pond), I am at a bit of a loss for what to do. Why is there no vomiting emoticon?

So I would have posted this earlier but I was at the Grand Canyon and had spotty service. Got an email from University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) saying I've been accepted for their Interdisciplinary Art and Social Practice program! Got a phone call later in the evening to follow up on the email. Thank gawd I heard something back. I feel so relieved now that I got in somewhere (and one of the schools that was high on my list). Booking a ticket sometime soonish for an open studio visit in late March to check out the school!

Rutgers is non-disciplinary specific and their deadline is February 1st (you'd definitely want to hurry, though, because you have to fill out the graduate application first and then they send you the supplementary application a few days later). University of Delaware has a later deadline as well: February 15th. If I remember correctly from visiting, they have separate studio areas but I don't think it's a very strict thing. Their focus is more on making sure you end up with a good studio for the type of work you're making (ie painting studios have nice natural light, sculpture studios are bigger and closer to the shop areas, etc). They also have great funding (tuition waiver and approx. 18k teaching stipend for all incoming grads, with possible 18k merit-based fellowships) so they are definitely worth checking out.

Are you possibly looking at this forum from a cell phone? When I check gradcafe from a cell phone, it doesn't seem to show people's signatures.