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boston is such a big college town that i'm sure there are a lot of resources on neighborhoods, best places to look, etc. there are also probably some housing scams because of the high volume of students that come so be wary! fb groups are the best way to find sublets/rooms at a good rate, tbh. do a search and see if there's like a "boston affordable housing" group or something of that end. allston and somerville are great places to live; quieter and less expensive while still being accessible to the city. good luck!

i honestly didn't research much about funding before i applied to places, but realized about 1/3 of the way down the line how expensive everything really is. personally, i made the executive decision to rule out the programs that were going to put me in debt. it'll follow you around and hinder your ability to pursue the thing that you went to school FOR; a lot of people get a less satisfying or grunt job to keep up with the bills and it's just not worth it imo. i think these financial decisions really depend on what your 5 year plan is, basically. if you want to be a gallery artist, don't do it for anyone other than a top 3 school. if you're looking to pursue more steady work, like graphic design, or maybe teach, then it's probably a safer bet. if it were like 20k, that'd be more manageable, but 80-100k has little chance of getting paid off. that being said---NYU is a probably well connected enough program to actually facilitate your goals, which could be worth it. don't know anything about goldsmiths. and who knows! maybe there will be a political future down the line with college debt forgiveness. we can dream! lol if you do re-apply next year, look at state schools and def canada. i didn't see that mentioned much on this board but even without the scholarship i got (and i'm american, so they offer it to international kids) it's much cheaper. i ended up choosing emily carr in vancouver because it'll be 7500 a year (after funding + dollar conversion rate), and it's a solid school. that's how much an mfa SHOULD cost imo and i had a hard time justifying any of my other options in the face of that.

you can ask for extensions! just send them an email asking if you can have a little more time. i got two myself, it was v easy!

at this point have now heard from everyone---i've pretty much narrowed my choices down to a local state school program (sfsu) or an international program (emily carr in vancouver) because i just am not going to go into debt over this. after funding, both are about the same price (6 and 8k a year) but one would basically upend my life to move. i'm also a freelancer full time so i'm concerned about a fuller course load vs. this local school where i wouldn't have to move and is a 3 year program vs 2, so more easy to juggle with my work. however, emily carr is a better school in many regards, and more intellectually stimulating, more creative, and would allow me to teach/TA in my working field of illustration, which is really the endgame reason i applied to grad school (to teach illo, in particular, ideally). sfsu would let me teach as well, but a more general class. i'm really conflicted. i feel like emily carr is the better choice but i also hadn't fully anticipated moving. i'm based in a good situation currently. it'd been an abstract concept till now. and of course both of these schools have early april deadlines to inform. lmao. anyone have any advice?

woke up to same. i expected it considering i hadn't heard anything, but it is a bummer! there was an email telling me about an update, etc.

hearing that some (all?) risd rejections have come out. i haven't heard a peep out of them, interview or otherwise. not sure what to be thinking at the moment!

painting. so there also may be that difference!

i interviewed with pratt a few weeks ago, but i also applied at their original deadline, which was 1/5. (my portfolio/essay tightened up by the time the others were due, so it was a little frustrating, but. i digress) when did you submit to pratt? perhaps that has to do with it, and the order in which they get back to people. additionally, does anyone know if UCLA always does interviews? i've heard the state system doesn't always. trying to gauge if i have much hope for that program if info is going out this week, lmao.

that's good advice!! they're pretty vague in the acceptance email, though talked quite a bit about the ways i can visit the program to make my decision. unsure if i should expect anything else based on this phrasing tbh...i've only heard back from two schools so far, but they were quite differently formatted. the first outlined the funding options right away, and then this one makes no mention other than a guaranteed TA position and the deadline to accept the admission offer or not. i am local to the area, so it's easy for me to pop over and talk to them but phrasing a question for funding feels like something possibly more tactfully done over an email? given i'm also waiting to hear back about my options from other programs, i wonder if i should also wait to see if i have any leverage, so to speak. idk. it's where i'd really like to go, but def can't afford full tuition. ?

thank you!!! this is actually quite reassuring to hear. do you recommend waiting a bit to see what funding options come through, or asking sooner? was it also from cca, or another school? thanks again. also---i haven't seen anyone else mention emily carr here, but i did get an email from them today that they are having a delay in admission results due to "unforeseen circumstances" so...just an update if anyone was looking for it.

was accepted into my ideal first choice today (location mostly! don't really want to move lmao) but there was no mention of funding in the email. a good moment and a sad one as well...this process is so up and down. cheers to everyone still waiting for more info!

was accepted to pnca today! i was reading through the last board and saw some people mention there's a way to ask for more funding...obviously i'm gonna wait to see what some of my other options are in terms of scholarships but they're offering basically a third and it's still pretty expensive. ? has anyone done this yet? have any experience with it? would love love some advice on this.

i interviewed with painting this week. not sure what department you applied to. apparently they extended their deadline till recently (? or so i hear, i wish i'd known that lol) so it's possible they'll be interviewing for a while! good luck!

i applied to painting on 1/5, i believe. it was the earliest deadline and i do feel like by the feb deadlines rolled around, i'd really tightened my essays up and even added a few pieces, so....sigh. anyway, yeah, very different deadlines, that's interesting. sorry, i misread the IxD as like the old xD emoticon and didn't realize you were asking about a specific department. lmaoo

i interviewed with them today. it was shorter than my other interviews and i'm not entirely sure how it went, which is an odd feeling to say the least. i hope you guys hear soon!