dramallama_07

Thats disheartening. What else did the alum tell you? I too noticed that most students were Asian but couldnt figure out why lol. But yeah I definitely for one would need at least 40percent scholarship to be able to afford it.

Congrats! can I see your work anywhere?

Well idk if this will be of help but I did talk to a current student at fine arts and he said that most acceptances in the fine arts Dept come around mid- March along w financial letters. Although I got my acceptance way earlier in mid Feb which I assume was a sort of early acceptance. Maybe you could've received one of these early acceptances too. And maybe, just like me, you should too wait a bit before they send financial letters later.

Was this for the fine arts department?

When did you get the acceptance letter? Because I've also been accepted

Wait is this SVA Fine Arts? Because I received an acceptance too on 15th Feb but havent gotten any Financial Aid. I just assumed they'd be distributing that later in March

What did the mail for the second interview say? Did they state a reason for the interview?

No shit. I'm POC too. I'm well aware of what I'm talking about. If you see through my further posts, you'll find I've rectified my mistake in terms of adressing Meleko's works No need to be butthurt ?

Congratulations!

Yeah. I interviewed with Anthony Aziz, Sharmishtha Ray, Andrea Geyer and Lydia Matthew. For the second interview I'll be interviewing with them all again. Are you in it too?

You shouldn't worry. I think it should be different for different departments

Yeah. Have you applied for fine arts?

Just got a mail from Parsons Fine Arts for a second interview with the program director!!!

RCA sent me a mail saying they'll let us know on 24th March

Also, have you heard anything about Robert Storr? I'm a little disappointed I didn't get a chance to study under him. But then again, is he as good as I think he is?

Sorry. Not BLM but a little close. He explores colonialism in Africa

So this was my second time applying and I'll tell you what all things I did different but idk if that's gonna help you a lot since the first time I applied, I made some pretty obvious and glaring mistakes that shouldn't have been made in the first place. Firstly, I had only applied to a few UK schools last year and since they don't ask for recommendation letters themselves from our recommenders, we had to upload them ourselves. Ik. Weird. Anyway, I was so so stupid that I uploaded the recommendation letter on a plain paper and not on an official letterhead. Also, my SOP was very average and I unknowingly missed putting a few stuff on my CV. Even with my portfolio, I displayed my works as composite photos (which means putting many pics in the same slide- like a collage). Most US colleges make it a point to NOT do this EVER but I never saw this on any of the UK college websites and since it was my first time back then, I was pretty much an idiot about the whole process. But thankfully it was all free since there wasn't any application fees for those colleges. Basically I'd say that my approach was too casual and rushed last year in the process and the committee catches onto that. I also made some very very reckless mistakes like with the rec letter. The whole thing could've been avoided had I just included some trusted advisors into the admission process and not have the hubris of doing it all alone. Also, if I could've planned better so I wouldn't have to be hasty through the process- since the committee can catch on to this. This year I did things differently. I had good planning for my timeline, had IMPECCABLE recommendations attesting not only to my personality but also my achievements and my artistic language and why i should be pursuing grad school right now. I also widened my search to the US this year and applied to some very good colleges like SAIC, Yale, SVA, Parsons and MICA. But these colleges were very carefully selected. Unlike last year where I randomly applied to ALL the top colleges in UK, I was careful in selecting my picks this year. My work is sort of abstract representational and deals with some heavy philosophy of existentialism, trauma, decay and communal/institutional memory. Although I was very tempted to apply to places like RISD or even CalArts, I knew my kind of abstract works just wouldn't get me in. I therefore had to go through a long process of looking at ALL colleges I was interested in and looking through all faculty works and student works to see what fits me the most. Did the same with UK colleges as well. Also this year I applied to wayyyy more colleges than last time. This greatly increased my chances as I had applied to a lot of programs this time which might cater to my artistic languages. I can understand that applying to a lot of colleges can increase application costs but I've found that if you show keeen interest in the colleges you're planning to apply to by mailing them and attending their webinars, they're gracious enough to waive off the application fees. That's how I could apply to a whole lotta places at almost zero cost. Anyway, to sum it up what I did differently this time- I carefully curated my colleges instead of just randomly applying, I got impeccable recommendations, improved presentation of my portfolio, planned better. Oh and I also attended a lot of Portfolio review days. Anyway this really paid off cus although I wasnt able to secure a position in ALL the colleges I wanted, I still got interviewed by most of them. And for the ones I got rejected from, I already kinda expected and even knew what it would be that would lead the college to reject me. Here's my list: Early Acceptance- SVA Rejection- Yale, SAIC, Goldsmiths Interview- Parsons, MICA Rinehart, MICA Mount Royal, Glasgow School of Art, UAL Pending- RCA I know the list isn't as impressive but if anybody would like to comment on it, I'll be open to hearing what y'all have to say. Tbh SVA was my second choice and SAIC my first and that's why I'm just a lil disappointed. Ik I'm supposed to say Yale was my top choice but tbh I already kinda expected them to reject me. I've had a hard look at the faculty works and student works and even talked to some of the students there and I've found out that they REALLLY have a thing for representational and figurative works and need a lot of 'diversity' in their cohort. A LOT of students in their programs work on BLM or communal identity. They're all mostly very representational too. Hardly any abstraction- unless your works are based on color theory. And this has a good reason. From what I can figure, a lot of admission process is done by Meleko (works on BLM- figurative) or Anoka (abstract- works on color theory). I doubt if Robert storr is involved in the admission process which is a shame because he was the reason I'd applied to Yale. Anyway, I realized I digressed a lot lol but here are my 2 cents. Lmk if you wanna know anything else

Well I don't think they'd have sent out financial aid letters as of now anyway because I'm assuming they've only sent out a few acceptance letters yet. This is my guess though

Please let me know if you hear something and you can send me a private message too if you don't wanna share it here. Also, when did you get this offer from SVA? It is afterall a little weird that we're already getting offers especially since they mentioned clearly that they'll be sending them out by 1st April

Well that's what my plan was and although SVA says that the deadline to accept the place is 15th April, they also say that my position is subject to availability and that they can't be sure when the class fills up. This has gotten me a little nervous, considering that all the other colleges will be sending acceptance letters only after mid-March, which is a month from now and that I can't count on SVA if "the program fills up" I'm left behind

So I have a question and I'm very desperate- any answers regarding this will be appreciated. I have received an acceptance letter from SVA Fine Arts however theres been no mention of financial aid from their side. I've been told to secure my place in the program by paying 1000 USD and to do it asap as "There is no way for them to predict when a program will close." I have tried asking the SVA Admissions about details of financial aid and they said that 'Scholarships are awarded upon acceptance' (But aren't I already accepted?) However they're also insinuating that I must pay the 1000 dollars to secure my position first. So my question is- Does the college expect me to pay the 1000 USD and then they'd award some sort of scholarship? Because from what I know, don't most colleges give out some sort of financial award letter along with the acceptance letter even before you've 'secured' a place in the program? Any answers will be greatly appreciated. Also, I'm an international student and not eligible for FAFSA in case thats relevant to you guys. I'm just being a little cautious regarding 'securing' my seat at SVA right now. Although I love the college and want to go there, its very very expensive and if I get a better offer with financial assistance at other colleges, I might be open to those. But then again, the final acceptance letters from all the colleges I've applied to are due late March and SVA is already freaking me out by saying things like "There is no way for us to predict when a program will close."

Idk but I just got a rejection from them lol. Not that I'm taking it badly because I wasn't planning to go anyway after what's been happening recently at Goldsmiths

Oohhh. Sva MFA fine arts or low res? And final acceptance or interview call?

Hopefully that's the case because then they might be open to giving out financial aid to me

So I'm just very curious. Did anyone else here who applied for SVA Fine Arts receive an admit or are they still doing their interviews? I just found it a little unbelievable that they'd send an acceptance to me in the middle of Feb when they clearly specified its going to be by 1st April. Plus I just got an email. Don't most colleges send a postal mail and some sort of package?