everyonelikesbubbles

Hey! Thanks everyone for the support. Accepted my place at MIT, so at least 1 spot will be opening up in Columbia and RISD sculpture.

Maybe try Europe next year?The price ranges from FREE up to 10 K USD...

Yale reported that 'significantly less' students applied to their grad MFA program this year, so I doubt there's an excess of applications. MFA programs are typically seen as a money-maker for universities and many top schools (like CalArts & VCU) offered "rolling" or "extended" deadlines this year--and as we all know, most schools are looking at budget shortfalls for the near future. I wouldn't be concerned about Pratt.

QS Rankings are actually from UK. I used to think it was Chinese, too, for some reason. It's sort of the benchmark ranking, as US News and World Report is not so relevant outside of the US. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, when they give scholarships to students to study abroad, the target university has to rank higher than a cut-off on the QS list--so this list is hardly obscure. The ranking you posted is for Art & DESIGN--which explains a lot of that ranking. It's not a"MFA" list. MIT, for instance, has the most famous architecture school in the world (and the oldest in the US), while Parsons is obviously a fashion powerhouse--hence they rank highly. QS also has a hard-on for research / publishing to generate their lists. It's hard to do but you have to take all of these rankings with a grain of salt.

One more thing! I had a really interesting call with a rad curatorial team. They've worked as head curators for several biennials, as well as pavilions for Venice. I was asking for advice on what school I should choose. This is a paraphrasing of what they said: "Don't think about prestige. Go with where you want to live and what will benefit you to learn. No one cares about where you went to grad school or even if you went to grad school. They care about the practice. Artists these days can come from anywhere." That doesn't mean prestige doesn't matter for teaching or for your personal sense of self-worth--that's surely a thing, for better or worse! Anyway, not everyone is brainwashed and don't let the people on this forum brainwash you!

Since I've been posting here a lot, thought I'd share the final tally: Columbia - sculpture - accepted MIT - art, culture & technology - accepted RISD - sculpture - accepted Goldsmiths - fine art - accepted Bard - sculpture - interviewed / waitlisted UCLA - sculpture -rejected (no interview, requested info from my recommenders) Yale - sculpture -rejected Having difficulty making the final decision! Let's see! Hearing so much drama from Columbia definitely doesn't inspire confidence there.

From what I understand CalArts is super interdisciplinary, so I think you'd come out of that program a more interesting photographer. Do you want to be a grad student for 2 years or 3? Or live in NY or LA? Those are 2 huge things that may be easy to answer. I'm curious that you said one of your goals is to get a "well-paid job after graduation." Getting a Photo MFA is an interesting way to go about that. It's certainly possible to blow-up, get an agent, and make it as a fashion photographer but not sure an MFA is required for that. What sort of job do you mean? Congrats on the acceptances!

25-35 people in the same discipline sounds like a lot. I don't know about these programs specifically, but any difference in alleged "prestige" would seem negligible in these 2 schools. I'd choose based on price and which school has cooler faculty and more student support. I'd assume the connections would be the same, as they likely recruit/compete for the same teachers (unless they have a specific structure for studio visits that makes them unique). Also you're in NY--make your own connections.

RCA is an excellent program! Congratulations! As for making your decision, I think the biggest concern would be that RCA’s program is a MA and not a MFA, so I’m not sure if it’s terminal equivalent, although the teaching hours are the same as a 2-year program. Might have trouble getting on tenure track if you are ultimately trying to be US-based. Definitely worth checking into if you care about such things...

Hey! I'm not sure any program is worth going into debt for. But RISD painting is an excellent program with awesome faculty who are all quite prominent and active (and mostly live in NY). I think Providence is such a cute college town. You could likely live downtown and walk to class/your studio. Lots of cool gay bars. You have constituent access to Brown, if you want to do research. RISD has a cool little research center for biomorphic design with animal specimen called the Natural Lab, a good museum, and a nice art library. You can take lots of classes outside the department, which is nice if your work is interdisciplinary. RISD definitely has some of the nicest and largest maker spaces out there. The painting department has their final show in the city's exhibition center and another final show is organized in NYC.

For sure still ask for more.

Good luck! I think sometimes the long process after-interview may be because they are applying for funding for you, and want to give you their funding offer with their acceptance. That’s what happened with me and MIT.

I think this would be a good indication to not attend there...

My sculpture interview with Columbia is tomorrow. Invites went out a month ago.

I submitted mostly installation and video work. I think it helped that my work was on a website, which allowed me to add lots of installation shots as well as reference and research images, so they had plenty of context. The program is quite research-heavy so I think it's important for them to see where that comes in. As for financial aid, I think it hovers between 25-75% depending on the year. There's only 3-5 people in the program every year so I'm assuming everyone is automatically subsidized at least partially by the department--maybe at the same amount?