zelle

Hey guys!!! Just tagging along with your thread..
I also got into MICA MFAST and am SO enamored with the care and individual attention they’re putting towards their artists. My gut tells me just to accept already! 
But I also got into SAIC low-res and CCA (which is just a few blocks from my home in SF)
choices!!!!! I did not anticipate having such a difficult decision!! How are you thinking this through?
also, having 3 years a tight class of 9 is PRETTY attractive on top of the general MICA awesomeness .. so I’ll probably end up seeing you guys this June regardless of how much agonizing I do in the next few weeks!
But they’re all good choices!
Anyway! I had a good email exchange with a current student about creating sustainable community across distance and the schools support of professional development - good feedback all around. Seems like a genuinely awesome group.
 
also! Check out the podcast “Beyond the Studio” - tons of interviews of MICA grads and awesome honest conversation about the nitty gritty.

Hey, @zelle - awesome, congrats! I also got into SAIC and am feeling very torn. I have a MassArt interview coming up and am waiting on UArts, but they are both feeling secondary right now. I did have some brief outreach from the director of the UArts low res program when she saw my portfolio, but it’s been radio silence since she got my full application packet. So that saying, I totally agree - the attention and care MICA has been giving is phenomenal and it’s almost making the decision easier since 1) I’m in Virginia and it’s logistically such an easier option, and 2) the funding might end up being better.
Also, I totally agree with you on the current students’ perspectives - everything I’ve heard from them is only positive. Another thing I have learned from a current student is that MICA seems to really put an emphasis on making their students’ education in and introduction to professional practice extremely well rounded and useful. That is such a bonus. 
And thanks for the tip on the podcast! I’ll be sure to check it out!

Hey guys!!! Just tagging along with your thread..
I also got into MICA MFAST and am SO enamored with the care and individual attention they’re putting towards their artists. My gut tells me just to accept already! 
But I also got into SAIC low-res and CCA (which is just a few blocks from my home in SF)
choices!!!!! I did not anticipate having such a difficult decision!! How are you thinking this through?
also, having 3 years a tight class of 9 is PRETTY attractive on top of the general MICA awesomeness .. so I’ll probably end up seeing you guys this June regardless of how much agonizing I do in the next few weeks!
But they’re all good choices!
Anyway! I had a good email exchange with a current student about creating sustainable community across distance and the schools support of professional development - good feedback all around. Seems like a genuinely awesome group.
 
also! Check out the podcast “Beyond the Studio” - tons of interviews of MICA grads and awesome honest conversation about the nitty gritty.

Hey guys!!! Just tagging along with your thread..
I also got into MICA MFAST and am SO enamored with the care and individual attention they’re putting towards their artists. My gut tells me just to accept already! 
But I also got into SAIC low-res and CCA (which is just a few blocks from my home in SF)
choices!!!!! I did not anticipate having such a difficult decision!! How are you thinking this through?
also, having 3 years a tight class of 9 is PRETTY attractive on top of the general MICA awesomeness .. so I’ll probably end up seeing you guys this June regardless of how much agonizing I do in the next few weeks!
But they’re all good choices!
Anyway! I had a good email exchange with a current student about creating sustainable community across distance and the schools support of professional development - good feedback all around. Seems like a genuinely awesome group.
 
also! Check out the podcast “Beyond the Studio” - tons of interviews of MICA grads and awesome honest conversation about the nitty gritty.

Hey guys!!! Just tagging along with your thread..
I also got into MICA MFAST and am SO enamored with the care and individual attention they’re putting towards their artists. My gut tells me just to accept already! 
But I also got into SAIC low-res and CCA (which is just a few blocks from my home in SF)
choices!!!!! I did not anticipate having such a difficult decision!! How are you thinking this through?
also, having 3 years a tight class of 9 is PRETTY attractive on top of the general MICA awesomeness .. so I’ll probably end up seeing you guys this June regardless of how much agonizing I do in the next few weeks!
But they’re all good choices!
Anyway! I had a good email exchange with a current student about creating sustainable community across distance and the schools support of professional development - good feedback all around. Seems like a genuinely awesome group.
 
also! Check out the podcast “Beyond the Studio” - tons of interviews of MICA grads and awesome honest conversation about the nitty gritty.

Hi all,  regarding UCLA: thanks to this discussion thread for explaining how to access the UCLA status at appstatus. grad. ucla. edu/ (just request a lost password to have a new one emailed).
I offhand logged in just now and discover the rejection letter (New Genres) dated today!
So for me:
Otis (Art & Social Practice): Accepted UCLA (New Genres): Rejected USC Roski: no word yet... (primary choice due to intriguing new faculty and revamped program) - Anyone else hear/not hear from Roski?

Ah very cool I should email them too. I feel the same way, the phone call and interview were both very personable and made me feel great. I'm close enough I could commute although it'd be long, plus I have a four year old I need to find daycare for and my husband works pretty long hours so those six weeks would be hellish. I have another program closer that might be more affordable and easier to get to, but not as well known as MICA. So I think its going to come down to logistics and funding. Ahhhh decisions!! 

That’s good to hear - I’ve been checking my mailbox nonstop! 
I asked the other students mostly general questions, like what made them choose MICA MFAST and how it has helped them. One student said she has been accepted into more nationally juried shows since starting the program - which is always good. She also said she felt MICA was really trying to make a connection from the beginning, with the interviews and phone calls (vs. other schools) - which I have to agree with. She also said she received some funding.
Her answers were pretty helpful, so far.

FULL RIDE TO SAIC !!!! (tuition wise that is)
That pretty much concludes my whole application process, SAIC was one of my top choices, went there, loved it and the finances make it an easy choice. After an early rejection/silence from Columbia, bad interviews at the start, thought I was done for but so glad and relieved it came out like this. 
 

Just got accepted to SAIC MFA Painting and Drawing Fall 18?? 

Hi! I got an acceptance call for SAIC painting and drawing yesterday. I also received the acceptance packet in the mail. 
I was offered a merit-based scholarship; my understanding is that the merit scholarships have all been chosen. However, based on your financial aid application you can get other funding. I was told to talk to the admissions counselor of the program for more info on this process. For painting and drawing, that's Patrick "Q" Quilao. 
Good luck!!

Did anyone hear from UCLA ceramics Mfa? 

Thanks for the detailed responses, littlenova and GreenPainter. I have spoken with both Renee and Zlata and had an excellent conversation with Zlata especially. She's excellent.
 
MICA definitely stands out. I've been recommending their program to many. 
 
I was originally wait listed at MICA after my interview with Renee, which initially broke my heart. They were #1 on my list. MassArt, which is also "high ranking" doesn't compare (for me, at least) in terms of their low residency program, staff, output, or even their handling of my application and interview.
 
I was called in from the wait list recently. In my second phone call, Zlata indicated that the program was worried that I was so focused on printmaking, that their printmaking facilities would disappoint me, or not be able to handle what I was doing. She was making sure I would be happy there. It sounded as though they factored this "print studio shortcoming" in early on, and bumped me to the wait list because of it (though she did not, at any time, say this directly).
 
I wish they had asked me if I was worried about the print facilities during my first interview. If I had been accepted in the first round, it may have changed my overall "taste." I let Zlata know that it would NOT be a problem and I'd be branching more into new media, anyway.
 
 
Edited to add:
 
I will be sharing details about my final decisions here in this thread, too. I think we've started quite a nice resource for future low residency students that would be nice to keep building. Our firsthand accounts, insights and experiences are incredibly helpful to each other and others, especially since other parts of the Visual Arts forum don't always discuss this kind of program. 

Hello All! 
Since we're inching towards the end of this journey, I thought I'd share a tiny anecdote. I never went to art school and have been following this community for two years, hoping to apply fr an MFA etc each year, to see the community be there when you're anxious af, and this year I did find the courage to apply. I applied to 7 places, have been rejected by two so far, and checking this forum has become a ritual. I don't know what the future holds in store but from being a passive observer to a participant in this process has in it's way been a moment of growth for me. I hope each one of us gets accepted to the school right for us, and I wish you all a tremendous amount of success in the years to come. 
Love

Due to the anxieties caused by the whole graduate application process, I've been checking this forum out everyday for the past month, but have not posted anything until now. I'd like to thank everyone on here for making me feel like I'm not alone with going mad waiting to here back from MFA programs. With all this said I just wanted to give the ones on here whom are waiting for a response from UCLA's sculpture department that I received an offer to UCLA yesterday afternoon. 

Got a phone call from SAIC today with an offer of acceptance into the ceramics program.

Just received my formal acceptance to UW Milwaukee - MFA in Film! Full tuition remission + teaching assistantship. Should hear more about funding in March. So happy and relieved. Still waiting to hear anything about my other two applications. Good luck to everyone who has been waiting and waiting and waiting like I've been.

Accepted into university of Delaware too! Free tuition! 

Also I have been practicing for my interview and came across these lists of questions on last years interview thread. Anyone else experience any other good questions or have any advice???
How does your work fit in with the contemporary art world/scene?
Why do you want to go to XXXXX?
Why do you want to go to grad school? Why now?
What resources of this program will be the biggest benefit to your development as an artist?
What is your work about?
What are your influences?
What for you constitutes a good work of art?
What draws you to a piece of work?
What motivates your work?
Who are your main influences?
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
How does your work fit in with the contemporary art world/scene?
What do you think is a good critique of your work/bad critique?
Why/how did you choose the people who wrote letters for you?
How will you contribute to this program?
What do you do for fun?
 
What artists do you like? (you can have a list prepared)
What artists who are no longer living influence you?
What book are you reading right now? What do you think about it?
What are you working on right now?
Please explain this work (xxxx03.jpg)
What is your favorite piece of art? Why? (Title, artist,year)
Can you describe yourself, such as personal habit, etc.
Do you get along well with others ?
What would you bring to a group dynamic ?
 
What can you offer this program? Any special skills?
What do you think is a good way of criting ? a bad way?
What other aspects of culture influence your work besidesart/art history?
How do you see yourself taking advantage of this school’s enviroment/program?
What exhibition have you been to in the last year?
What have you done since you’ve graduated?
What contemporary artists are you into, and why?
Tell us about the conceptual underpinnings of your work?
Talk about your process.
What do you think about *this essay*? (related to your work)
How is your work related to *this movement*?
Do you have any questions for us?
What do you think about (artist, movement, subject/topic)
What can't you stand? Why?
What do you think about your own work?
How do you want your work to develop?
Why are you making the work you're making, and why do you want to keep doing it?
Meaning behind your subject matter?
influences
so you've written a good amount about your practice in your statement...can you expand a little more
what was the last show you saw that had a profound effect on you?
 
 
Ideas for Questions to Ask During Your Interview
what's the degree of permeability between the department's different studio areas?
what do the teaching assistantship duties generally consist of?
Will I be assisting a professor, or will I be teaching my own class?
Have recent alumni stayed in the area or ventured elsewhere? 
What is the grad student to faculty ratio? 
Ask for more information about particular courses in the curriculum.
 
 
Other Tips
Be able to speak about the professors work and why you are influenced by it. 
Write a follow up Thank you email within 48 hours after your interview.

OMG super helpful. Thank you so much! Maybe I’ll see you on one of their finalist visit days. 

I think it went well. It was with Luca Buvoli, pretty casual. I have bad memory but here is what I remember:
-why do you want to go to grad school/MICA
-artistic and non-artistic influences
-what piece best represents your process?...talk about it
-what piece is your weakest..why
-have i read any art magazines/books
-how do i deal with critique
-ended with him asking if i had questions about the program
good luck

I really liked “Clear Seeing Place:Studio Visits” by Brian Rutenburg
and:
33 Artists In 3 Acts / 7 days in the Art World
(these are written for non artists but do include some neat details from her interviews and studio-visits)
and for fun!
“Provenance” by Salisbury and Sujo
 
Book reccomendations are a great idea for the waiting time! I can’t wait to hear what others are reading
 

Art Book Recommendations 
by Ted Seth Jacobs
Drawing with an Open Mind 
Drawing What the Eye Sees
Light for the Artist (Dover Art Instruction) 
Harold Speed
Oil Painting Techniques and Materials (Dover Art Instruction) 
Ryerson Margery A. The Art Spirit    by Brassaï, Jane Marie Todd Conversations with Picasso    by Harry Holtzman, Martin S. James The New Art--the New Life: The Collected Writings Of Piet Mondrian     
   
 
 

I haven't posted on here in a while, but I realized earlier today this was probably the night Yale interview decisions would be sent out. I applied last year and got rejected; that weekend was a total bummer, but in the subsequent weeks as I began producing new work I became really excited about the direction it was going in, and over the last year I feel my work was matured and progressed exponentially. I didn't apply this year but very likely will next year, but I wanted to write this post in case anyone here is feeling bummed out from a rejection to let them know that this feeling will pass, and please keep up the hard work. 
P.S., congrats to the users on here who've landed interviews thus far!

I got the interview invite from Yale!
A friendly message to haters and the rejected- yes, Yale is not everything. 
Best of luck to everyone!