caraa

totally agree, very well put.

I got into U Wisconsin in Madison. I visited when I interviewed for a TAship/scholarship. It is actually a reeeally great program, but neither me nor my bf really felt good enough about moving to Madison, and I didn't end up getting the scholarship, so those are the reasons I decided to decline. AND I was also waiting to hear from MICA, where I got waitlisted, to see if I eventually got in (I didn't).

I totally feel you, on all fronts. i am 25 and i applied to 9 schools last year, got into 1, which I eventually decided to decline. I am applying to 11 this year, and I feel like I have a much better grip on things this time around (for instance, I really researched the schools I applied to, and didn't just apply to top-tier schools, which was one of my mistakes last year). i graduated from undergrad in 2009 and moved to my hometown, got a part-time job working in a fine wine/beer store which I actually really enjoyed, thus making time for me to have some semblance of a studio practice at home, which has been reaaally key to my overall well being. a few months ago my boyfriend got a job in providence, ri and so we moved there and I haven't exactly been on the hunt for a new job seeing as I have been spending most of my time working on these apps...but then, within the past few weeks, he got a better job offer in louisville, ky and so we are going to be moving there soon. (doing the whole balancing act between my priorities and his has been challenging, but we are taking everything in stride. What happens if I get into grad school this year, far from ky? We'll cross that bridge when we get there). For me, the biggest challenge in living like this has been my disconnection with an art community/peers to interact with & get feedback from. I was living in smalltown massachusetts (where there weren't really any art communities within reach) since graduating, and haven't spent enough time in providence to really delve into the art scene here; now we are moving to louisville where I have no idea if there's an art scene, but I'm hoping... I think it's great that you are teaching art and it's an experience that will probably help you in the future, but I also know that working with kids is SO incredibly exhausting. i totally understand your not having enough energy leftover to make your own work. I think that now that you have that experience under your belt, it might be really beneficial to follow that idea of giving yourself a break--moving home, getting a part time gig that doesn't suck your energy, and working on your art as much as you can in the free time you have...I suggest just thinking about part-time stuff you could do that collides with any interest you have, since finding anything lucrative in the art field is pretty tough. I.e., for me, I am a craft beer&fine wine fanatic, so I looked for jobs in that field. I have worked in restaurants before, and, while that would definitely be a good option, it made me feel much more drained than I've felt by working in a high end store where its not all about fast-paced multitasking, and where I'm learning about something I'm actually interested in. anyway, that's my 2 cents. good luck with everything!

for pretty much all of my apps, I've been ordering my work chronologically (ordering them in a way that looks good within each year, but starting with 2008 and ending with 2011)...is that bad? there is a notable shift in my subject matter that happens in 2010, and i feel like seeing the older work first is a better way to show that maturation process...

dude, yale's prompt for the statement is ridiculous. "brief" and "life history" is basically an oxymoron along with the rest of the list, to be included in one page. the way i handle it is, and this is just my take, not necessarily exactly what they want, is flow comes first. a coherent, no-nonsense explanation of your artwork and a quick explanation of your own "why grad school now" answer, is what i'm prioritizing as the stuff i need to fit on the page. all the other stuff--influences, life history, etc.--can be implied in your description of your work. it is in my case anyway. i'm not stating where i'm from in the statement because i want to use the statement as the place to stick the stuff that they wont find anywhere else in the application (your address, your resume, etc. are all places where they will learn about that other stuff). not an informed answer, but one none the less. hope it helps!

Ah! It makes sense to me now. I was wondering, as I've been uploading images why, when you edit the image info, there is a little check box to the right that says "representational image." I assume it's kind of like a facebook photo album, where you check that box for the one image you want to be the album cover, except in this case they will put it with your statement when it is reviewed...glad i read this. thanks guys

That's what I have always done! It just sucks when stuff blows around in the wind and when it just wont get sunny for you. Other than that, I like photographing outside. im glad to hear you guys are applying to so many schools, I am going to attempt to apply to 11, but we'll see if i can get everything in on time. right now i'm working on the northwestern online app which is due at midnight (tonight of all nights!) I applied to 9 last year, including tyler. i dont remember them asking for such a long essay, but it's all a blur now. they sent me a very prompt rejection letter, which I learned was a blessing because waiting and waiting to hear back from schools is just torturous. i was disappointed, of course... what schools are you guys applying to? i'm hoping to get apps done for: slade (london), cca, pratt, uc irvine, yale, penndesign, mica, northwestern, uc san diego, risd, and mills college.

GREAT question, I've been wondering the same thing!!! At first I figured maybe the description was for people whose work is very conceptual or whose materials/assembly/etc. is difficult to understand, and thus needs a little blurb for viewers to get any meaning out of it....But what about people like me who do fairly straightforward paintings?

Well, I feel like I have only grazed the surface of what I still have left to do! It does suck, because I really DO want to chill for Christmas. Plus my grandfather just died, and I feel like spending time with family now more than ever. but here i am, sitting in my studio, trying to work... got my recs and transcripts all worked out most importantly, I want to squeak out a few more paintings before deadlines (at least two, but as many as possible is what I'm telling myself) then I have ELEVEN statements to write (!!) I did this last year too, so I at least have last year's statements to go off of, but I think they will be different this time around then I have to get to all the other nitty gritty details, like photographing recent work, resizing images, burning & mailing off cds, uploading, etc. oh yeah, and finding money to pay all those goddam app fees! fortunately (kind of), I am pretty much jobless at the moment so at least I don't have that distracting me. The way I see it, I just gotta bust my butt and be happy with whatever I get done. And then the wait begins...

Wow, thank you guys so much for your input; I had no idea. Looks like I'll be applying to some of the same schools as last year! Now I just need to figure out a way to narrow down the list of 20 schools I'm interested in to more like ten...

I'm just wondering if anyone has heard of anyone applying to a school one year and being rejected, then applying the next year and being accepted. I would like to have another chance at places I applied to last year like RISD (which rejected me) and MICA (which waitlisted me), but I have no idea if an admissions committee would really consider a re-applicant... any info/opinions are much appreciated!

I totally agree!! I have been trying to research RCA, Goldsmiths, Slade, and Glasgow School of Art, but it seems I have only the schools' websites to go by. And a few brief comments left by people in this forum... If anyone knows more about these schools, please FILL ME IN! I have pretty much already taken RCA off my list due to the horrendous cost.

Hmmm, I am glad I stumbled on this because I have been on their website and it really doesn't seem to describe the program much...there are no links to current students' work, which is the first thing i look for, and it seems as if they don't have their own library? is this true? and does anyone have any info about the studios?

I got rejected from Columbia, VCU, Hunter, RISD, Tyler, USC, and UCLA. Waitlisted at MICA Hoffberger. I was accepted to U Wisconsin-Madison, which I visited thereafter. It seemed to be a really great program with strong faculty who I found very personable and I really liked (and the studio building there is great too--brand new), but Madison itself didn't turn me on a ton, and I didn't end up getting the funding I wanted, so I decided to wait and try again until I get into somewhere that I am really in love with.

I too am a painter applying for 2011 mfa programs. I applied last year to 9 schools, got rejected from 7, waitlisted at 1, and accepted at1. Decided to give it another go again this year, but I've got a lot of work to do...still havent decided on my list of schools. I'm interested in schools on the west coast, nyc, and possibly the uk...

I am too, and, like zaquon, "making sure my portfolio doesn't suck" is top priority. this means I still need to make some more paintings, because my work has been in a very transitional period since last year, and I'd like it to appear as coherent body of work... i am also deciding on which schools to apply to with a bit more thought, and not just aiming for top-tier places, which I kind of did last year. this time around, I'm counting geography as a major factor, because that's really important to me (and to my boyfriend, who will be moving wherever I go, bless his heart). I'm mainly interested in urban areas, with a strong desire to be in nyc, the west coast, or perhaps the UK. So I'm letting that lead my decision making process on top of whatever other research I can do about different schools. I'm trying not to stress too hard about all of this; I learned last year that this kind of stress can be so consuming, and I don't want that again. I think it was mostly because I didn't prepare myself for the reality that hearing back from schools was a long, sloooow process, and the longer it drags, the worse the outlook becomes. I was rejected from 7 schools, waitlisted at 1, and accepted to 1 which I decided to decline because I just wasn't feeling the location...or the cost, for that matter. This year I've got to prepare myself for the worst (but sometimes it's impossible not to have your heart set on something). I will also know this time around that if it's taking a long time to hear back from a school, it probably means rejection.

Lordy, I feel like I am very behind you all. I haven't decided on what schools I'm applying to yet! Fortunately, I have contacted my references and they agreed, thankfully, although I don't think it should be too difficult for them since all they need to do is update the letters they wrote last year. I applied to 9 schools last year, got into one (which I subsequently decided wasn't the right place for me--great program, but I wasn't digging the location or the cost), got waitlisted at another (and never progressed from that position), and flat out rejected from 7 others. I aimed a bit high, applying to mostly top tier schools, which I think was my mistake. This year, I'm trying to let geography be a major factor in where I consider applying, and trying to do a bit more in-depth research about the programs, although I don't have much more time to do so... I've always wanted to spend some time in NYC or the West coast, and I figure, if there's ever a time to do that, why not during grad school? So I'm researching a lot of schools in those areas, and a few in the UK, where I would also love to be. I didn't put too much work in to researching grad schools over the summer because I still wasn't sure whether I wanted to go through the whole app process again this year, or wait another year. I really like the work I've been making lately, and I got some positive feedback when I attended the Grad Portfolio Day at Parsons last weekend, so I recently decided I'd give it a go again this year, hence the sudden rush. On top of the actual applications, I still have quite a bit more work to do for my portfolio. I'm going to try to make as many paintings as I can in the next month, as I am at a very transitional stage in my work and I would like to make more pieces that reflect where I am currently. I've got my work cut out for me, that's for sure...

Thought I'd chime in here; when I first heard numbers like that, I too thought it sounded low, but the thing is, it's really not...chances of getting in are still so slim because of how few spots there are available in these programs. I applied last year and I remember that a lot of the places I applied to reported record application numbers, and they were a lot higher than 200-300, but I think for schools beyond the top ten that is the approximate number. I don't know for sure, but that's what I've gathered. A really good source for this kind of info is The CAA Directory of Graduate Programs in the Visual Arts, which you can get here: https://services.collegeart.org/eWeb/DynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=CSCPubsSearch It's pricey, but it's worth it. Some schools provided a lot of information for the directory, others provided very little, and some schools aren't even listed. But many schools have an "admissions" section under their listing, in which they report how many applications they received in 2007, how many were accepted, and then how many enrolled. It's a very helpful resource; the numbers give you a better perspective of your chances.

have any of the other MICA Hoffberger alternates heard anything? I am impatiently waiting to hear something...

got my rejection letter from columbia today, finally. now, just waiting to see if MICA Hoffberger lets me in off their waitlist...

Is anyone else going for a TA interview at UW Madison? I feel like a dummy because I got confused and thought my interview was Apr 16, but then I got a reminder yesterday and noticed it's scheduled for the 6th! Just worked out my flight & travel details, but have no idea where to start in preparing their requests of a sample course outline and answers to qs about my teaching philosophy, etc. Does anybody have any advice? Also, to update since my last post: got a rejection letter from RISD on saturday now, just waiting to get a rejection from Columbia in the mail (no interview, so I'm assuming); also waiting to see if my alternate status at MICA Hoffberger changes, and eventually to see if I get this TAship at Madison

Got word today from the following: MICA Hoffberger - alternate (this was my first choice...feeling pretty frustrated right now) MICA Mount Royal - rejected USC - rejected I also heard a few days ago that I'm a finalist for a TA position at UW Madison. They request my commitment by April 15, then do TA interviews April 16 (so I won't know if I'm getting $$ til after I commit...). Meanwhile, MICA Hoffberger says they won't be extending offers of asmission to alternates until after April 21. What to do???

Has anyone besides grad_wannabe heard from USC? I think its weird no one else has heard anything, considering that they supposedly sent letters out last week

got another rejection today via email from VCU Painting