michaelwebster

You should apply to SAIC, Chicago has plenty of things going on that you don't need to be a part of a university to be involved in dialogue about whatever your interests are. Also, the crossing of mediums, using found objects, and focus on social issues are all things that have a history at SAIC (more so than almost all of the schools you listed above.)

UNC Greensboro is free + 10k assistantship, and is not very competitive to get into. Good safe school. Youve got to go for the interview though.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/31176262/SOP-SAIC Here is mine. The intro was the toughest part for me. I wouldn't advise starting with a quote or childhood experience, too cliche. One thing I wish I had included was my answer during interviews as to "why graduate school now" which I got great responses from the faculty in all places. Try to find the best critique of your work, and try to incorporate that as why you need graduate school now.

maybe I missed it, but i believe the new rankings were only for a few areas, like law, education, health, etc. I read it in an article on their website.

Nope, it seems like the sculpture dept has a pretty set income, only the one free ride. Any other aid that goes to MFA students is based on need and comes from the school, not the dept. Or at least thats what they are telling us all. They just found out about my offer from UNC, but UNC is no Yale, so I dont expect a raise in aid.

I have decided on SAIC over UNC and CCA. mnchick if you end up there I will see you in the fall!

Yes, they have signed the resolution, and offered funding in the form of a tuition waiver and assistantship. Maybe those dont count as a funding offer, but the director seemed completely unaware of the April 15 deadline resolution.

@gradwannabe: that is awesome! Congrats

I was thinking, we have such a great resource in this forum, to communicate with so many other applicants, we could create our own school ranking system. Let me know your thoughts on this. If it is something worthwhile, I could compile the data. Each person could rate schools they have spent at least one day touring/meeting faculty/seeing facilities/meeting students etc, excluding the schools they have attended or will definitely be attending. It could be stuctured for an all-in-one category like US news, or grouped by approach (figurative painting, video, public sculpture, etc.) Maybe we dont need another system of ranking, or maybe we would be offering a different relationship. Instead of the ratings only being determined by two top admins at each school, probably based mostly on reputation, we can make our rankings based on actual visits, from a students perspective. Let me know if your interested or if it would be a waste of time. It could be fun.

One and the same. Every student gets tuition waiver( in state) or reduction to in state and 10,000 dollar assistantship. But I think even an award should be tied to this deadline as well, as it is a major part of the descision process.

A school called me last week to tell my I was accepted and let me know they would give me one week to decide on accepting their offer. This is a state school that is part of the Council of Graduate schools, and has therefore agreed not to set their deadline earlier than April 15. I asked the program director about this, and she said, "I am sorry, I dont know what that is." She said that her program sets their deadline whenever they want. Well, as my last choice I turned them down, but I would feel bad for students who had a tougher descision. What do you think?

Anyone recieved an aid letter from CCA yet?

I am 22 and graduated from East Carolina University last may. I decided to take one year off so I could apply to a residency and include all of my senior work in my portfolio. I have met one person that was finishing their senior year at SAIC and had also been accepted to CCA and was interviewing at Calarts. She was 21. Most everyone else was in their late 20s or early 30s. The only way I was able to do this was I was in a dozen shows and studying art history and theory constantly while I was in high school. I also did alot of open studio classes in undergrad to make what I wanted to make. I still really really needed a year off for my portfolio. And some of my older work held down my portfolio a little. I got rejected to CalArts, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia. I got in to CCA, SAIC, UNC, and UNCG. I think age and experiences play a huge role in a schools descision, and your work and conceptual skills are usually tied to age. I was able to get into the schools I interviewed with, so I feel like my ability to talk about the future of my work helped my chances.

I believe I will be turning down SAIC unless the person with the free ride declines it and I happen to be the next on the list (.005% likely). I will probably be going to UNC and not have to take out a single loan.

Sorry that we are getting a little off topic here, I am interested in where this is going. I agree with you that the importance of what I would call "the individual" was smothered by Burgin unfortunately. But I do think that most of what is considered important in painting to those in the art world is irrelevant to those with little art history background. The element I believe you are referencing that Bas has that would not come across in a photo is the human/individualistic/gestural element. Where the brushwork adds a personal touch. If you place most people in front of a "abstract" painting with the same brushwork, I believe most of them would not be very interested in it. If you were to construct a photo that had the same composition, arrangement of figures, and surreal elements in it, the average person would still be interested in it. Essentially, the brushwork alone adds little to the peice for most people. To the art history trained viewer, the abstract work may be just as or more interesting than the photo. What I am trying to get at is that the essential element in painting is not likely as relevant to the average person as it is to the trained viewer. From my experience, most people enjoy realism over expressionism, unless they consider themselves artsy or cultured, and then their level of education in the arts allows for more enjoyment looking at more painterly, and then conceptual artworks. I work as a stockboy at a grocery store, so I have discussed artmaking with everyone from truckdrivers, to fellow stockers, managers, and customers within the last few months.

The ones I am aware of is Columbia about 1100 for 25 spots, SAIC Sculpture 150 for 10 spots, UNC Chapel Hill 110 for 8 spots, UNC Greensboro 40 for 8 spots.

I also agree with the general perceptions mentioned by previous posters. The one thing I would like to add that is a little different, and I wish this was discussed more at the undergraduate level and is often completely ignored by artists and schools with medium specific concentrations, is... do the materials you are using make sense for your subject matter/conceptual intrests? Is painting the best way to communicate what you want to communicate? I know most of us have or has had an intrest in a particular medium, for me it was painting as well. But at some point, I realized that painting had certain inherent associations in our culture that I didnt want a part of my artwork. I could make better artwork by changing materials. For you, painting may be perfect, but I think its also important to question it. Victor Burgin wrote an infamous critique of painting in the 70's, basically stating that painting references nothing in contemporary society except itself, whereas photography and video are a part of everyday culture and therefore people have the visual education to read photography. Painting requires an art history background to understand the act of painting. I am not saying that Burgin or I am necessarily correct, just wanted to offer my own viewpoint, from someone who painted for 10 years only to give it up. Burgin was a painter as well, and became a photographer.

I have had a phone interview with CCA and Calarts and in person with SAIC and UNCGreensboro. So far I have gotten in at CCA, SAIC, and I think I have gotten in at UNCG. I was confident going into UNCG and SAIC's interviews, and I think it helped. I knew I could answer any question they threw at me. Most programs will try to offer a critique/alternative idea, and if you can easily explain why you prefer what you did, then defend away. But if you think their suggestion is better, then admit it. Just dont make your defense sound defensive. If they mention something or someone you are unaware of, write it down, look it up later, and send a thank you email with a mention that you looked it up. It shows you want to learn. Dont think of an interview as a crit, because you want to be the one doing the most talking during an interview. Elaborate on their questions and make sure you say what you want to say about your work. Dont leave out an important part of your process just because they dont ask about it specifically. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. Dont look grungy(unless your work is about grungy) and dont dress in an expensive suit (unless your jeff koons), most people will dress it up a little from their everyday wear, but dont make it look like you tried too hard.

One of my top three. I really wanted Carnegie Mellon the most, but it wasnt reciprocal.

I just got a call, I am accepted to SAIC sculpture!

Here is the full list. http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-fine-arts-schools/rankings

If you reapply next year or in a few years, I would also recommend finding a wider variety of schools according to ranking. Find schools you could enjoy from top 10 schools to ones ranked over 100. Each one of the schools you applied to are so competitive, you may have gotten into many schools ranked in the 50-20 range this time around if you had applied to them. Then you get more options and a better feel of where your work sits.

I was called by my interviewer on Monday, but that was for social practice, they only usually take 5 people. Painting is probably a little bigger program, maybe they dont call. as far as a hotel goes, Ted Purves emailed me some answers and basically said no hotel room or flights paid for.

I also got a rejection letter from UCLA interdisciplinary today. This leaves me at: UCLA: Rej CalArts: interview CCA: Accepted SAIC: interview Carnegie Mellon: rej Columbia: ? prob rej UNC: accepted UNCG: ? prob accepted

I would agree. Rankings are voted on by top faculty/admins at each school. The rankings only give you an idea of how the collective art academia view each school, but if you are looking to teach after your MFA, the rank of the school will give you some idea of how everyone else will view your credentials. Not to say there aren't a million other things that go into choosing faculty, but having a RISD, Yale, or SIAC instead of a school ranked 134th will look much more impressive.