atrawickb

If you're doing more experimental work, especially in sound or video, and you want to find a way to get over to Europe to do it, check out: http://www.mondaynews.net/c A lot of good calls on this primarily Berlin-based information station, with great links to the rest of Europe (mostly Continental, and Northern), and Turkey as well.

Anybody adventurous enough to try to take their career to Europe might want to think about the various German HDK programs. They are next to free compared to US programs, and also tend to have later application deadlines (early March). They claim to require proficiency in German, though at what actual level is in question--inasmuch as many of the programs have prominent American and/or British faculty. Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Hamburg all have very strong programs. For example, have a look at some of the faculty at Hamburg: Matt Mullican (Sculpture), Ingo Offermanns (Graphic Art), Dr. Michaela Ott, Anselm Reyle (Painting), Andreas Slominski (Sculpture), Pia Stadtbäumer (Sculpture), Wim Wenders (Film) http://www.hfbk-hamburg.de

As it seems there is a persistent east coast/west coast divide, I'll offer up USC's program for the east coasters who don't know that it's gone from nowhere to basically the top, challenging UCLA for the pole position out west. Their program is highly funded, many students receiving not only a full-ride but also stipends on top of that. Their program is small, ensuring plenty of contact with a faculty studded with all-stars as Andrea Zittel, Charlie White, and Sharon Lockhart. Plus the Los Angeles art scene is always growing in terms of both size and influence, it's a lot cheaper to live in than New York. Gets a lot of sunshine too, if you like that.

The "Alternate Schools Ranking" post was a good idea that went sideways, and then got hijacked by people writing about totally different stuff. Part of the problem with it from the beginning was that most of the attempts to re-rank the programs amounted to a re-organization of what were already considered to be the top schools. (I too, am guilty as charged.) But there is a reason for that. The top schools don't go down easy. Most of the top programs have earned a great deal of respect in the art community over a long period of time. Of course there will be some shuffling up and down, and even though some of us may think that many of the private, pure art colleges will fade in the sun of the big universities, it's not like RISD is about to become irrelevant anytime soon. That said, there are a number of other programs out there that are up-and-coming, and/or offer and interesting alternative to the classic MFA model--like New Mexico's new Art and Ecology MFA, http://art.unm.edu/ecology/ I am thankful for all the opinions and information I've read on this forum, and only wish I'd found it earlier so that I could have been better informed when I was applying. So that's what this thread is for--it's a gift to those that are applying in 2011, from those of us who have already gone through it. I'll start it off by bringing up PennDesign's program. Their facilities are not top-notch, but the university it's attached to certainly is. Joshua Mosely is the acting chair and so if you're into stop-motion you should have a look. Terry Adkins is there for sculptors, Luis Gispert for photography, and Jakie Tileston for painting. Interdisciplinary-thinking Matthew Ritchie is already on the faculty and is rumored to be taking over the chair, and so it looks like Penn is making a run for it. http://www.design.upenn.edu/fine-arts/faculty-fine-arts You can hop a bus right from campus and be in downtown New York in less than 2 hours. Philly is cheap, has a growing art scene, and Penn has the endowment to throw a lot of money behind a burgeoning MFA program with a major art star about to take the helm. Check it out.

Yep, I'm wondering too. What DID people think of CCA after visiting on the 4th, and where else are they considering going? I'm on the fence right now between CCA and Penn, but leaning towards Penn as it looks like Matthew Ritchie is getting primed to take the chair.

(seemingly) final results: yale: interview, rejected saic: interview, rejected risd: interview, (haven't heard back, assuming rejected) --must be doing something wrong in these interviews... ucsd, cornell, usc--simply rejected cca: accepted, with some funding penndesign: accepted, with some funding all torn up and on the fence about it. east coast/west coast, major university versus pure art school. anybody with any thoughts or ideas about it, i'm all ears. thanks.

well 100k is a lot. on the other hand, you'd be coming out on the back end with a degree from a top program, and ready to launch (or continue) your career in the commercial art world where your job opportunities are much more likely to make a lot of money (as a graphic designer) than, say, someone coming out of calarts with an mfa in performance art, or video--areas in which it is very difficult to make money beyond garnering a teaching post somewhere.

well i guess that means crapola for the rest of us who interviewed at risd but didn't get a call... good luck and congrats on your acceptances.

congratulations. i'd recommend that you visit both, and go with your gut. --how and when did you hear from risd?

hey. i haven't heard back yet either (painting, interview). i don't think the painting department bothers too much with a wait-list. everybody who's accepted, goes, basically. when i was there i asked about that stuff and they said that one person has declined their offer in the past two years--deciding on columbia instead.

oh, i forgot about bard. of course, they're going to take over a lot of other programs...and soon. i disagree about saic though, i think they're fading. cranbrook too. i think in general the small, pure art schools are all going to suffer, especially in a down economy, because they're so expensive and don't offer as much funding. about cornell perhaps you're right that it's going nowhwere--i never visited and so never saw what was going on there with my own two eyes. but you can't deny that it is strapped to a world-class university with a massive endowment, and that they seem to be serious about making their program competitive with the decision to make their entire program fully funded for all students--and everybody knows what that's going to do...strip some of the best candidates away from the top programs. look at usc ten years ago, where were they on the mfa landscape? (ask an older artist)--nowhere! they funded up their program, offered a bunch of top artists nice paychecks to come around and presto! rock n' roll program. they're even stealing people away from ucla these days. anyhow, this is fun. more fun anyways than chewing my lower lip off waiting to hear back from risd and yale.

ha. great idea. --i only disagree with the exclusion of schools that people are going to go to, or have already attended--those are the schools that students would know most about! my two cents, from what i've seen (i didn't apply everywhere i've been)...plus of course a bit from what i've heard from recent mfa grads who are seeing and feeling the real effects of graduating from this program or that, and talking about it. --my list is in terms of primarily 2-D stuff --this is also in terms of trying to project how seriously are people in the art world are actually going to take you when you get out, in a couple of years. 1. yale 2. columbia 3. ucla 4. risd 5. calarts 6. mica 7. saic 8. usc (free) 9. hunter 10. vcu and then so on and so forth. watch out for stanford (free), cornell (free), ucsd, and upenn to drastically increase their relevance in the coming years.

i don't know if you realize this or not, but you are responding to a message from 2009.

anybody been to djerassi? somebody cancelled and i was the first alternate. heading there on april 20th and would love to hear about what it's like. thanks.