Strawberrycat

Your work is great! I think you'd like Diane Williams' work a lot if you haven't seen it yet. She's one of the current mfa students there and she does a lot of awesome text and textile art.

Yay, congratulations! Would you like to share websites or social media through message as well? ? If not, no worries!

Congrats too! I have one that I'm working on updating a bit. I'll send it to you in a message!

I just got an interview request from USC with slots for 3/12, so they're still sending requests out as of today! I'm so nervous about interviews. If anyone knows specifically how USC conducts their interviews and what questions I should prepare for, I would appreciate advice so much. It looks like the slots are only 15 minutes long, so not a very long one.

Sometimes the app servers run on Eastern time even though the program and actual deadline is PST. Did you turn it in right before the deadline? That happened to me for a different school and they said it was fine still. Also did you have your official transcripts sent to them? I was checking my yousc account thing and saw some generic checklist saying they were supposed to be sent in, but I thought they were fine with the unofficial ones until you get in? So I haven't sent them and I hope that doesn't mess me up either. ?

Another thing to think about is that a 50k loan means paying back way more than 50k. Not that you wouldn't know that, but sometimes it's easy to forget how much interest adds on over the life of a loan that large. I don't have experience with this directly, but an admissions counselor from a school told me that you can always ask for more aid. They may say no since I think 50-60 percent is pretty good as far as SAIC is concerned, but they also may be able to give you a bit more if they have the budget for it and you let them know you have multiple fully funded offers, but that SAIC is somewhere you'd love to be if you could make it happen financially. If it's your dream school, I totally understand wanting to go for it. That's an incredibly tough decision. I think I would personally take one of the fully funded offers if it were me choosing, just because I would be afraid of that kind of debt and I also come from a financially challenged background. But big congrats on all of those acceptances, no matter what you decide!

I applied to USC as well and haven't heard anything either. This wait is so hard!

Yeah, they said that that is possible, especially between those two disciplines since they overlap so much.

Congrats on your interview!! I would hope they'd be understanding about that sort of thing. I'm sure it happens. Do you have a website or Instagram with your work you'd be willing to share? Interested to see what they're looking for in their program, but if not no worries!

Thanks for your reply! I watched a really nice zoom presentation + q/a that they did for prospective students, so they went over a lot of stuff already thankfully, but I'll definitely be asking about faculty on sabbatical and the thesis shows if I get an interview!

Thank you! I'll post here when I hear anything! It's one of my top choices too and I do some figurative work as well. (I'd love to see your work if you'd wanna share and have a website or insta!) Ahhh I skipped applying to UCSD and UC Berkeley for that reason. Fit like that really makes all the difference, it seems. I hope you get good news from everywhere else and find a great place to be soon!

Best of luck to everyone else too! So far I've applied to UC Davis, UCLA, and USC Roski, with a painting and drawing focus, but I do sculpture too. I got an email from Davis today saying they refunded my application fee. I almost had a heart attack thinking my application was canceled somehow, but kept reading and it said that it was because I was eligible for a fee waiver after all, thank goodness. ? Last year I got an interview request from them on Jan 27th, though, so I'm anxiously checking my emails. I'm almost finished with SF State, CSULA, and Mills apps, and then I think I'm calling it for this round and just keeping it to California schools probably. Does anyone have tips on what kind of questions are good to pose to interview committees? I know it's always best to ask them something when given the opportunity, but I tend to blank and worry I'm asking something that could be found online or makes it seem like I didn't research the school enough by asking it.

They don't always send all of the interview requests out at the same time. I would wait a couple of days before calling it a rejection. Best of luck to you, though!

I've seen a fair amount of mfa students who didn't get their undergrad in art. As long as your portfolio is well-developed, I think a lot of places don't care. Most grad programs in the US aren't devoted to training or developing skill, so I think most places expect students to come in with a solid background in their chosen discipline(s) so they can focus on developing their work and ideas, but that can definitely be achieved without a ba/bfa. You could also spin your studies/experience outside of art as an asset and influence to it. I think a strong portfolio and consistent work + you believing it yourself will make it clear that it's not just a hobby, without you even having to say so. For recommendations, you could do a few things. I would consider reaching out to your past studio art teachers, even though it's been a while. You could send a nice email reminding them of who you are and when you took their classes. Let them know you have become interested in pursuing an mfa in art and that they had an impact on you (if they did) and show them what you have been working on, as well as ask if it's okay if you could reach out to them if you have any questions about it, and try to build up a relationship with them again. After I graduated, I reached out to a past professor of mine and asked if I could volunteer as a teacher's assistant for some classes, to stay involved in a community of artists. That was really really important for me and opened the door to new skills, stuff for my cv, and over time, additional recommendations. I know the pandemic has made that way harder to do, and it's hard to seek out recommendations in general, but if you can, I would just get involved in anything art-related that you can and build real working relationships with people and recommendation opportunities will come from that.

Also just to clarify, I might ask an admissions counselor at the school(s) some general questions about if it's a possibility, but probably wouldn't talk to the actual program about it until after he gets in.

Hi Hannah, I'm pretty certain that nowhere would give you an early decision, unless it's a school that has an early acceptance program or early application period or something and specifies that. I'm not even sure if anywhere does that for grad school. I don't know much about writing programs, though. I'd say there's more of a chance that they'd extend his deadline. I would ask for that. The worst that they can do is say no. Times are also weird right now, so there's a chance that they may be more understanding than in past years, but who knows. I would just be cautious about how the request is phrased, because some schools might not think the reasoning is professional, even though it's a real life, real world issue/reason to want an extension. Good luck with everything though!

Thank you, but I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise.

This was really helpful, thank you for sharing it! Last year, I wrote and spoke about wanting to one day teach as one of my motivations for applying to MFA programs. I didn't know that was a faux pas at the time. I understand that it shouldn't be the main or only reason, but I think it's interesting that you absolutely need to do it to be able to teach, but have to be quiet about wanting to teach until you're already in.

Ohh okay! I think I read that some were through zoom, but chat room ones seem less stressful for me, haha. Yeah, I keep in contact with a few of them. I'll try to ask them, thank you!

Hi everyone! Have any of you participated in the national grad portfolio review days? I recommend it if you have questions about your portfolio, the process, different schools or programs, and want to talk one on one with faculty or admissions people. I also got some app fee waivers from some schools last year when I went to the one in SF. (idk if that would be different this year since they're all online and things are weird in general, though.) I'm very nervous to do it through zoom. Video calls feel so awkward to me, but I guess it will be good practice because I'm sure a lot of schools will be interviewing that way. I paint/sculpt/draw and I'm aiming to primarily apply to schools in California with TAships and good funding (scary, because they're all small and competitive), but I really liked the way some of MICA's programs were described too (just not the price). Is anyone else applying with a mixed or interdisciplinary portfolio? How do you plan to break it up and organize it? I applied last year and didn't get in anywhere, and I think that might have been something that hurt me during the process. Good luck to everyone and please stay safe in these strange times! ♡

I think this thread is a nice idea! I would probably put it as an online exhibit. Not sure if others might have a different opinion, though. Good luck with your application prep!

Edit: I just reread your post more thoroughly and realized you were asking specifically about the TAship pay. I don't actually know the answer to that, I'm sorry! But I'll leave my answer for the rest of it. I was told by an admissions person from a grad school at National Portfolio Day to always ask for more funding. She said that the worst they can do is say no, but often if the funding is available, they'll work with you. She did preface it with "you didn't hear it from me, but..." though, so take that as you will. ? I think if you wrote to them or spoke with them in a polite, professional, and earnest-about-their-school way, explaining that you going there depends on your financial situation, then you wouldn't seem ungrateful or needy. They know very well that they're expensive and a big investment. Also, congrats!

Good luck on the waitlist! I've been told it moves quite a bit.

Just got a waitlist email from them this evening. A friend of mine got in, though!

Oooh, that's good to hear for sure. All important things to consider.