cabot245

i still haven't heard anything....if I don't hear by end of business day today I'm going to send an email asking what's up. maybe they rolled out based on scheduling preferences? I selected dates in august/september...

oof...it didn't even occur to me that that was a possibility until reading your post. I don't know who are these people who can afford 1k/week to attend a residency...definitely not me, honestly even a free residency is expensive when you factor in material costs, time away from work, paying rent for my apartment that I won't be living in for the time... I still applied to skowhegan and vsc knowing either would be tough/impossible financially if I got in. I hope I hear back from both this week, I want to start planning my summer either way!

curious... I applied to both and haven't heard anything from either yet. A facebook acquaintance of mine posted yesterday that they would be going to VSC this summer, so I guess acceptances are out..at least to some? Wonder why I haven't heard yet if both rejections and acceptances are out. The mysteries of admissions panels I suppose. Maybe one day in the future I can be on a panel and have some clue about wtf happens behind closed doors

Yeah - I've also heard that even though the minimum age is technically 21, that they take very few people under 25ish each year, I think the average age is probably closer to 30, so if you are young, each year passing might also just make you a more competitive applicant by virtue of age. On another note, one question I had looking over the website again today (since this thread has piqued my interested) was that in the FAQ it says: "Who should I ask to be a reference on my application? The names of your references are not revealed to the admissions panel and are not a considered in the admissions process. Identify individuals who can speak to your commitment and openness as an artist and your ability to work well in a communal setting. Skowhegan does not accept letters of recommendation. " what is the point of references if they are not considered? is it just to get more art world people's emails to spam?? (seriously why should I to donate to skowhegan - they rejected me the last two years!!) Or is this FAQ a lie? When would they be asked to "speak to my commitment" as an artist if not in the admissions process??

Hi I'm starting my MFA research, thinking about applying next winter. I notice that Stanford's MFA art practice program requires GRE scores. I haven't seen this anywhere else, and I'm not sure I want to dish out the money/effort to take the test to apply to just one school where my odds are probably low to begin with. Are there any other MFA programs that ask for GRE test scores??

Damn, that is disappointing to hear. This is a real priority for me in my search. Personally, I can't imagine a school that doesn't consider diversity in admissions being a place where really rich conversations and ideas can happen. :/ I say that as someone who makes abstract work but who ultimately believes in transformative social potential in art and thinks that all art is to some degree about seeing the world differently and offering new perspectives.

I’m sorry to hear about your experience so far. Have you and your peers been able to address the faculty issue with any admin or the dean/chair of your program/department? Do you know if the problem will persist into your second year, or if some kind of hiring search is underway? It is worth getting together with your peers to see what can be done, and if the faculty is not available, you may have to get together and rely mostly on one another for support and advice, unfortunately. It is likely you aren’t the only one feeling orphaned and if your program is small enough an email around asking for an informal discussion / check in / dinner get-together to discuss either/both the problems in the program or the direction of one anothers work might be worthwhile. As for your work, the first place I might start is your university library, and specifically I would talk to an actual human librarian. They are there to help, and at every library I have ever been to, public, private, college or otherwise, librarians are under-used and amazing resources. They are professional researchers and can help you find resources that will be interesting to your work as well has help you develop your research skills if you feel those need improvement. Because you’re dealing with plants and insects, there is likely a lot of science writing about plants/insect life generally, and also perhaps about the specific species you are looking at. I’m not sure what kind of science background you have, but texts about this kind of thing range from popular science to technical papers published in science journals. A librarian will help you navigate to sources that are understandable to you depending on your specific background/knowledge and also interesting for your practice. Personally, I know there are a lot of art/theory texts that are popular right now around the idea of “ecology” as it relates to the anthropocene, and that could be one research path to relate your work to a corner of the “contemporary art conversation” that is happening right now, but I think it’s important to conduct your research in a way where you are pulling on threads that are actually interesting to you, and not trying to project a thesis onto your work just because it sounds good. If your university has a biology department, I’d see if you can stop by the labs or reach out to professors or students in that department, particularly if there are entomologists or botany students, just to see what they’re working on, at a minimum. Perhaps you could even photograph specimens they are working with, or have them identify species in your photos? Idk, if I were in your shoes, I’d try to find a friendly biology student who seems knowledgable, offer to buy them a cup of coffee, bring some prints of your photos to the meeting and just kind of start talking and try to see what jumps out at you as interesting. Good Luck!!!

I'm looking into applying for schools next year and the admissions process is such a mystery for so many reasons. One thing I haven't seen discussed too explicitly on these forums is diversity--in the broadest sense- racial, gender, national, geographic background, economic status, diversity of work/materials/ideas/content. In small grad programs that are often <20 people per year, I feel this is a huge factor in the kind of education one would receive in the ideas and conversations one is exposed to... but also I wonder how much and in what ways it factors into admissions. Particularly I wonder if it is typical for schools to have diversity quotas they must meet? Does anyone know which schools do/don't consider this in admissions? One example is that a quick look at the list of current MFA candidates at UCONN reveals that they are almost overwhelmingly White Women. :/ this is somewhat alarming... I also wonder how this factors in different major/department models. I've noticed three kinds of admissions models: 1) Department based admissions for a program divided by majors --- (examples: Yale, RISD, SAIC, Bard) In these cases, it sounds like the sculpture, painting, etc departments operate like totally separate schools, picking their classes independently and upon admission being a Sculpture student is a very different experience than being a Painting student, often in different buildings, with different degree requirements. I'm not even sure how much interaction students of different majors have at these programs, and if diversity across the groups is a factor. 2) Department based admissions for a mixed/interdisciplinary program -- (example: Columbia...not sure if there are others) At Columbia, my understanding is that you apply through a major, but that the major doesn't matter / departments don't exist when you actually go there, it is an interdisciplinary program and all studios/facilities/classes are open to all equally. In a case like that, I wonder if the painting panel convenes with the sculpture panel to ensure a diverse class, or if they combine all their picks blindly after review? If painting has 12 spots, does the painting department self-organize so that those spots must be 6-6 male-female, x number POC, etc, or do conversations actually happen where, say, the painting panel says "our top applicants are all white women and we really want them, hey Photo department can you try to go heavy on dudes of color to balance out the class??" Is this a real conversation that might happen? 3) Interdisciplinary Programs where you don't apply under any major -- (examples: Rutgers, University of Chicago, Upenn, NYU) I have heard from friends who have applied to major-less interdisciplinary programs that during interviews they will tend to divide you up anyway according to your portfolio and have you interview with a professor who works in/teaches a similar medium (e.g if your portfolio is half video they will group in an unofficial "video group", My impression/guess is that the video professor will get a few picks of who to accept, the painting professor a few picks, etc, but I'm not sure how real that is... I'm just very curious about this aspect of what happens behind closed doors. Some schools are open about wanting diverse classes, while others seem really oblivious :/ This seems like a really important part of one's experience and I just wonder if anyone has any insight into the logistics of it behind closed doors.. Beyond that, has anyone had a thoughts about their personal experience applying? Have you felt disadvantaged or advantaged based on your identity in any part of the admissions process??