langley

Hi all- I just wanted to recommend everyone to look at UC Riverside if you are looking for a fully funded program with TAship. It's a great program and you can message me if you want more info. I feel it's a bit under the radar, but same distance from LA as UCI or CalArts. It's a tiny program so there's lot of attention from faculty. Not medium specific if that's your thing. I just started here and when I went through interviews last year, was most impressed with this school over the other UCs in southern california. Good luck to everyone!!

UCSD does not cover third year tuition FYI. UC Riverside gives a full ride plus stipend and TA ships.

They all structure their TA programs differently. From what I understand all UC's have a similar pay grade for it though, some schools offer only one type of TA ship, others offer a variety. They range from 25-50% TAships which dictates the amount of hours you're working a week. It seems to come out to about $600-2000/month depending on the school and hours. You can call and ask all these institutions how they structure it though. Are you looking at all these schools or just gathering info on it?

Also rejected! But I did find the letter to be the nicest rejection I've received, very encouraging and thoughtful! Pretty relived, it would have been stressful to try and scramble my life together before starting grad school.

I went to SMFA for undergrad, and I honestly don't think the MFA program is worth it. It was a great BFA program, but in my 3rd and 4th year I was taking classes with mainly grad students, which I always thought was odd that the MFA students were in so many undergrad classes for the amount they were paying. Maybe if it was a funded program, but no, I don't think going in debt is worth it for any program today, even the more prestigious programs. Also, the facilities are tiny if you are working in sculpture. But of course, everyone's position is different. Of course this is probably terrible advice this far into the admission process, but there are plenty of fully funded or partially funded programs to apply for outside of the private school realm. This is my second year applying, my first year I really wanted to go to Yale and I even got an interview there, but after visiting I realized it wasn't the right fit for me. This year I focused on the UC system schools because of their funding and I really didn't want to leave California. In the end, I'm happy with my decision and won't be taking out (hopefully if any) loans and be able to enter life post-MFA without mountainous debt. This article was helpful for me in this process: http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/989814/debating-an-mfa-the-lowdown-on-art-school-risks-and-returns If you have more questions about SMFA, I'd be happy to answer here or you can PM me. I did really love my experience there, and it's probably changed a bit since I was there. It is a great MFA program, don't get me wrong, but if you are concerned about debt I don't know if it is worth it.

I would go to UCSD, especially if they offered you full funding. It's probably worth it weigh what the total cost of SJSU is if you feel like overall you connected to it more. Someone recently gave me advice that if the school in question is over 20,000+ more than a fully funded program, it's probably not worth the increase in debt. Depends on your situation Also- check your PM

Can you contact any students at the TA school and see how reliable the TA positions are? I would be weary of administration promising something like a TA position that doesn't come through. Even if you can't get a written confirmation about it but the general sense from current students is that they happen, it might settle you enough to feel good about committing. Does the other school with expensive cost of living offer on-campus housing? Depending on where it is, I would try to see what kind of affordable areas are nearby the campus that you would want to live in. Also, and perhaps you have already done this, you should definitely tell these two schools the contrasting offers you are getting, the full tuition award might convince the TA school to give you more guaranteed funding, and vice-versa. Always negotiate!

Legally schools are supposed to give you by April 15th to make a decision on funding offers. Do you have a letter from Berkeley saying you have to decide by the 25th? They should have a sent a letter with the funding package that declares April 15th as the legal date, all UC's as far as I know abide by these common laws. I'll start this by saying I don't know a lot about tech-focused MFA programs, but living in Los Angeles I meet a lot of MFA students and my view of the Design Media Arts program is that a lot of students seem to have issues and negative experiences with it. I would strong urge you to try and visit, or at least contact current students and faculty and ask them tons of questions about the program and their experiences. Even from a few phone calls and emails, if that's all you an manage, you may learn enough to get a good sense of what you want. Congrats and good luck!

Yeah and honestly I think UCI is a better place for integrating into Los Angeles if you're new to the area. It's a lot closer than SD and therefore you'll probably spend more time there.

UCSD, contrary to the way they bill it, it's not tech-heavy! Sure, it exists, and in some ways the program sees a bit split between non-tech and tech faculty, but overall there seems to be a trend there right now of a lot of painters and sculptors doing some great things. I was also surprised the other candidates interviewing, I don't remember meeting anyone who was tech-centric in their practice. I only met with the faculty that were more 'maker' types while I was there and had some great conversations. I think even those faculty are a bit frustrated with that tech reputation. Historically it's been a very conceptually oriented school, I think the tech side comes from where the money is flowing into the school, and they want to justify the art school with promoting it that way. Overall it seemed the school had diverse artists working there, and mainly in somewhat more traditional media. I also was timid about applying at first, but I had a chance to visit last fall and was surprised by the reality of the situation. I did hear of some cross-UC courses that have happened between UCI and UCSD students, so if I do end up in SD perhaps we'll see each other in one of those! And you should definitely live on campus, it sounds like that's what most students do there. And perhaps you could sneak your shih tzu in there eventually.....

Congrats on accepting!! That has got to feel amazing in itself. I have a few friends there currently and know several graduates of the program and all have high remarks about their experiences! It's a hard decision for me as I have been living in LA for the past 5 years and would really love to stay as close by as possible, hence why I've clung on to all possible local schools. In general though, these three UC's I think are all fabulous programs and have amazing faculty at the moment. Are you planning to live in Irvine or do the crazy commute from LA?

I was accepted at UCR and (informally) to UCSD (still awaiting funding). I had Simon and Kevin too! And Jennifer. They were all great in the interview, Simon was the most engaging with me as well, it was more of the rest of the day there I guess, it didn't feel as amazing as the interview which made me second guess the optimism I had during it. I also have heard nothing since the interview, which now was three weeks ago. I interviewed on a day with other sculptors and have heard it is the more competitive medium there as there was a larger applicant pool, which is why I'm guessing none of the other sculptors seem to have heard yet? Maybe I'm getting too impatient, but I'm starting to focus on a decision between UCR and UCSD. Both very different programs, but also were amazing visits, and have since been more engaging since my visits. UCSD, even though I have to receive the official offer with funding, seems like it is going to offer more funding than UCR has, but I'm hoping to negotiate further once I get all offers. I have pros and cons going for both options and it's really starting to drain me how to make a final decision. If you, or anyone else, is starting to get multiple offers and having trouble deciding, I'd be curious to hear your process. Or if you have already decided, what it was that helped you make the decision? Most of my friends have already gone through MFA programs and say to focus on the faculty first, and then consider the financial implications. In my case, I wouldn't be stuck with very much (if any) in tuition fees, I will mainly be incurring cost of living debt. Curious what other people are thinking about in this, even though perhaps not all schools have made final decisions.

I found this to be true in both interviews I had this year! Even though, in the end, the interviews turned out to be great, at the beginning it felt like no one looked at the essays, images, or anything I had sent in my portfolio beforehand. I understand the whole process is probably somewhat equally exhausting for the admissions committees, but it was quite a surprise to me how the faculty seemed slightly disengaged in the whole interview process. Did you find your UCI interview this way at all? It seems like we interviewed different days with different panels, but I found the day I was there to be off-putting and the others I talked to that day felt similarly. UCI although still seems like a great program, and still awaiting the rest of their results....In the end I'm leaning towards the other two schools I've already been accepted to.

I see you got into UCI-- congrats! -- have they sent you more information? I talked to a friend of mine there an apparently they haven't made all decisions yet and are contacting people on a rolling basis....so far you're the only person I know who has interviewed and heard back!

I'm waiting to hear from UCI and UCSD