stofo

tim riggins, congrats! I got rejected today from SAIC for painting/drawing, my wife got waitlisted for fibers. niu: rejected uc: rejected csulb: rejected claremont: accepted

I got 2 letters in the mail today and now all my results are in: SAIC: REJECTED, (interviewed 3/6, painting, drawing) NIU: rejected CSULB: rejected UC: rejected Claremont: accepted!! My wife's results: SAIC: waitlisted (interviewed 3/6, fibers) NIU: rejected CSULB: ? CSULA: ? UC: rejected So It looks like we are moving to LA, not Chicago. Hopefully she gets into one of those LA schools, or she will apply again next year.

I would tell anybody trying to become a grade level art teacher to get out of the program as soon as possible. In Washington state, when the economy was good, there were on average maybe 3 or 4 job openings a year for art teachers. I was competing against 20 other applicants with 10 years of experience and masters degrees. I felt very successful finding a job opening, getting an interview was sort of out of the question. I was able to be a middle school art teacher because I was a substitute in a district where the art teacher quit her job the first week because it was too difficult (she was fresh out of college in the lowest test scoring school in the lowest test scoring district). I should have quit too.

My art thoughts/practice have been scattered since graduating. I have had 7 jobs in the last 4 years, including 2 middle school art teaching jobs and I got married. So there have been extremely busy times where I went 6 months without doing art, when I had summers off from teaching I made art everyday. 10 months ago I realized I want to be an artist instead of a high school art teacher. I finished up my body of work and applied to grad school.

I interviewed at SAIC and I toured the campus a few weeks ago. The facilities are unbelievable. An art school literally attached to the art museum where ferris beulers day off was filmed, a floor of sewing machines, a movie theater on campus with siskels name on it, and a whole bunch of other crap i cant remember right now. I have heard negative things from the undergrad program, it sounds awful to go to a huge undergrad art school where the profs are all nationally/internationally know artists, of course they only care about the mfa candidates. They have very few options for funding, once I actually saw the numbers on paper, $70,000 for saic tuition compared to $30,00 state school tuition, I'm considering maybe not going to saic. I was at a lunch with the fiber department (not my department I aplied to) the current students went around the table and stated what they were working on. They all said almost the same thing, "i'm exploring concepts of self, place, and otherness". That gives me no clue as to what their art looks like. Using large or artsy sounding words does not, in anyway, make you seem smart or more artsy. I was very diappointed with what they said, but it made me realize that saic is looking for one specific type of artist to go to their school.

hello, I'm no expert, I've been rejected from 3 schools, accepted to 1 and waiting for 1 more I am 4 years out of undergrad and this is my first year applying to mfa and figure painting is not my specialty, but here is my opinion: If I had to guess, I'd say most schools are not interested in figure painters. I think there's another user on this site that is a figure painter, and they got accepted, I think the name is alizarin?? ask that person where they got in. I know cal state long beach has a figure painting department, separate from their contemporary painting practices department. Try applying there next time. that school teaches there grad students technical painting skills and their figure work is amazing! check out this figure painter who graduated from csulb: http://www.jonathanandersonpaintings.com/work/grounding/index.html There seems to be a ton of girls painting themselves a)naked, or b)looking in a mirror. Your statement is stating a lot of things the view can collect by viewing, especially in your painting 'skin deep' so perhaps the statement should say less about the subject of girls dealing with their dress size. I think being right out of undergrad makes it hard to get accepted. Being out in the real world and having to make art while working full time to pay rent, etc. proves your ability to work independently and in a few years your work will change and get even better. If you don't get in this year, it's ok. You have learned a lot from this application process and the paintings you do in 2010 will be even better.

Thanks for looking at my work! It means a lot. My body of work is something I developed after undergrad and it's never seen the light of day before applying and i'm just starting to get a sense of how others perceive the work. I like your stuff too, especially the mixed media/salvaged work.

I got sick of waiting. I called 3 schools this morning, they seemed nice on the phone and not too pissed that I was calling. Calling paid off! I learned I was rejected from Cal State Long Beach painting/contemporary practices (I think I applied to the wrong department), but I was accepted to Claremont Graduate University!! It's my first acceptance (I'll only go if my wife gets accepted to a school in California also). Northern Illinois U. told me to check the web after 4/1. U Chicago = rejected SAIC = My wife and I interviewed on 3/6, should get a decision in the mail by the end of the month.

Grad school, if you get in, is not the last art thing you will apply for that can discourage you and make you question your art, etc. Grad school is the first application in a career for an artist that will be plagued with applications for grants, residencies, and gallery representation. I'm sure all those things are quite filled with politics, board members with certain tastes, etc. You will be blindly competing against many other artists by putting a lot of time, effort, and money into art related applications for the rest of your art career. How will we deal with these issues?

intelly: I have not heard anything from NIU. Could we check on the "myniu" website? Most of the schools I applied to were not top ranked.

I'm pretty sure that Claremont Graduate University in Southern California has Spring admission, being a graduate only school, I would imagine no teaching or ta opportunities.

I have not yet heard anything from claremont or csulb. csulb's official communication is email, so that's where I expect to hear it from. I interviewed at SAIC this weekend and it seemed to go very well.

I just got a REJECTION letter in the mail from University of Chicago. SAIC=interview NIU=? Claremont=? CSULB=? Yes, SAIC interviews are March 6,7 for painting. I know someone interviewing for fibers, but was rejected for sculpture 2 weeks later via letter.

@DjStella: I also have a degree in Art Education and no BFA. I think that schools, in terms of admissions, don't care who we taught art too. The art teaching part, in my guess, will be benificial only in trying to get a teaching fellowship, which I am trying to do. The most important thing is to have a strong portfolio. I'm also guessing that different schools are looking for different types of artists and so your portfolio might look good to some schools, and others won't care. I think it is good that you are applying to state schools, seems like some people on here applied to schools with less than 10 percent acceptance rates and then acted suprised that they didn't get an interview. They usually having teaching positions for grad students at state schools. The advantage to being straight out of undergrad is that you can walk up to your profs. and show them your portfolio and have them edit your application much easier than I can, being out of school for 4 years and living a few states away.

@alizarin, cal state long beach has a good reputation for their figure painting department, my prof. went there. They have TWO painting departments, figurative painting, and contemporary painting practices. I applied for the contemporary.

http://joelloydart.blogspot.com/ here's a few examples of what i put in my portfolio

Does anybody have any info about how many applicants saic gets? how many interviews do they do for how many open spots? More generally, what are schools looking for when they interview someone, especially when these interviews are somewhat optional? Anybody have any thoughts about what questions we should be asking when they say to us, "do you have any questions for us?" perhaps something about their personal teaching philosophies? thanks!

I have an interview coming up. My main concern right now is what sort of questions I should be asking them. Any ideas? I think I should ask about how interdisciplinary the program is and what resources will be available.

I just got a letter in the mail for an interview at SAIC painting/drawing! This comes one week after my wife got her letter to interview at SAIC fibers. I was worried for a while, and now a whole new kind of worrying can start.

I was in the room while my wife did a SKYPE interview with cal state los angeles last week. I forgot most of the questions but some that stuck out to me were "what exhibitions have you been to in the last year" and "what artists influence your work" they also said "don't be nervouse, we've got a little kid here with us" they seemed VERY relaxed and laid back, makes me want to apply there next year.

I just got an interview at SAIC! Its for the painting/drawing department, letter came in the mail.

Applied for painting at: saic uc niu claremont cal state long beach i have not heard anything yet, but i know people are starting to get interviews/rejections from saic

So my wife got a letter to interview for SAIC and I have not gotten a rejection letter, does that mean there might still be a chance for me? Do all the letters come at the same time? Maybe they're thinking of wait listing me?

I applied to: cal state long beach claremont graduate school saic u chicago niu

Hi. I applied to painting programs for 2010, so I know it's too late but I am worrying now. My portfolio is abstract landscapes made of plaster/resin/salvaged wood, it is something I evolved from landscape painting and then mixed media work. The work, I guess, could be considered low relief sculpture, assemblage, constructions of some sort, and may not be considered paintings even though I am concerned mostly about what they are 2 dimensionally. do mfa painting programs want people that use actual paint?