dryheat

I had a very similar dilemma between two schools and ultimately decided on OSU. I spent two days on campus a couple of weeks ago and have been in contact with a few people in the department since then--if you have any questions, shoot me a direct message. congratulations by the way!

Seems like things are slowing down a bit on the Freak-out forum, so, with that in mind, I'm curious where everyone has decided to go and what factors drove those decisions. I'm heading to Ohio State, and the major selling points for me were: -Three-year program -Excellent facilities -Faculty that I was interested in working with -Full tuition funding -Assistantship with good stipend -Interested in what's happening in Columbus and like that there's access to other big cities (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, etc.) in the area

?? really great work--congrats on your acceptances (well deserved!)

congratulations, trapnado! is your work online anywhere that you'd be willing to share?

I have narrowed it down to two programs, but I'm very close to pulling the trigger on OSU. Still waiting on a little bit more information but hoping to have everything sorted out this week or, at the very latest, by the end of next. Good luck in California!

still considering OSU at all or do you feel stronger about the Berkeley/UCLA programs?

I've only had up-close-and-personal contact with a handful of programs, but, for what it's worth, this round of rankings does seem to have them situated more accurately (or at least closer to my personal experience/feelings) than the last round.

new grad school rankings for those who are interested. kind of interesting to see how the programs i applied to moved up or down since the last time the rankings were published... http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-fine-arts-schools/fine-arts-rankings

For quiet and safe, I would look in the Midtown/Old Southwest area (about 10 minutes from campus on the south side of downtown [UNR's campus is on the north side]). While it is definitely a little bit of a pricier neighborhood, there are still really amazing deals to be found. I just moved out of a really nice studio right in the heart of Midtown, and I only paid $460 with all of my utilities included. Shoot me a message if you have any other specific questions about the area!

Congratulations! I also got the CGU acceptance email this morning--quite a surprise as I assumed they would do some sort of interview before making their selections!

hi gtakaoka, i didn't apply to the painting and drawing program, but the letter i received says that they've selected the 15 candidates that the department, as a whole, are offering admission to. if you haven't received a definitive rejection at this point, it seems likely that you might be on the waitlist pending the decisions of those initial 15 applicants. just a guess.

it was an automatically generated email from the admissions department just saying that something has changed in my account and not an email directly from anyone in the art department. for that reason, it might have gone to your spam folder?

I haven't seen many people on here waiting to hear from UI-Chicago, but I just got an email to check my account and a rejection from them.

Anyone have any experience with the UMichigan presentation process?

i don't know if it helps, but I heard from Ohio State unofficially last week and officially by mail this week (sculpture not ceramics)

rejection here too

anxious about this one too! have either of you had a chance to visit the campus or meet the faculty/current grad students? thoughts?

congratulations!

it might be a little too early in the process to post this, but to those of you who are stressed because you haven't received good news from the schools you had your heart set on, i just wanted to say that i know exactly how you feel and maybe share a bit of my story, for what it's worth. this is my second year applying--last year, i applied to 5 schools, had interviews at 3, and got accepted to 2. of the two schools i was accepted to, the first gave me a terrible feeling from my interactions with the faculty, both in the interview and in email correspondence, and my gut told me that i would not be happy there. the second was USC, and even though it was obvious things were in flux there, i was still came very close to accepting their admissions offer (it would be a couple more months before the whole MFA class would drop out together). ultimately, there were too many unknowns (no set graduate faculty, funding offers that were changing from one call to the next, etc.), and i decided not to accept their offer either; with that, my hopes of going to grad school in 2015 went out the window. i was bummed, but i knew that i would be applying again this year and kept that in mind in all of things i did for the rest of 2015. I applied for more shows, more grant and funding opportunities, and a few residencies, and, while it may be too early to make this call, taking the extra year already seems to have paid off. i was able to apply with a portfolio of 75% new work, my interviews have gone better having done it once before, and the feedback and offers i've received so far are way beyond anything that came my way last year. i guess this is all to say i know how strange it feels to think you have a plan set out for the next two or three years and have that vaporize, but, if you don't get in anywhere you're excited about, that extra year might turn out to be a huge benefit. it was in my case.

thank you both! sorry if that comes as bad news, gtakaoka, but because of the departmental divisions, there's still a chance you might hear something, and it looks like you've got some really great options already!

just got an acceptance email a few minutes ago!

i know--i looked last night and they're about 800 bucks for me at this point! have you been in contact with anyone there? as you said, it might be an easier pill to swallow if we had some idea where in the process we are. i got the sense from one of the other posters on here that the visitation day invitation was extended to everyone that applied, but i have no more information than that. i think i might sit on it another couple of days (even though that won't help ticket prices) and see what the next email that they said we would receive shortly has to say. which discipline did you apply to?

Same here! Congratulations!

nothing official yet. I had an informal chat with one of the sculpture faculty members a couple of weeks ago, and then today I received an invitation to come to the visitation day. it doesn't say anywhere in the email I received whether this invitation has been extended to all applicants or just those who'd advanced to a certain stage in the process. if/when I hear anything more, I will let you know. in the meantime, good luck to you!

is anyone else going to the OSU MFA visitation day on the 19th?