Ancient Quail

hi y'all! long time snooper, first time poster. I'm very glad it's not too early to freak out, because I'm certainly freaking out! I finished my undergrad back in 2018, and now I'm finally feeling ready and excited to apply for an MFA program starting fall 2023. I'm primarily a printmaker, but I also do a lot of hand-drawn, stop-motion animation. I'm only interested in applying to places where I have a strong (if not 100%) chance of being fully funded with a stipend. A friend of mine also advised me not to apply for any 2-year programs. He said that grad school is like a really awesome, paid residency, and for that reason, it's something I'll want to have for as long as possible. He also doesn't feel that 2 years is enough time to develop your work. Do you all have any thoughts on that? There are a few programs (like Stanford) that I was interested in and bummed to realize they only offer 2 years. I feel like I know very little about what my "statements of purpose" should be like, and I was wondering if anyone here has resources/suggestions concerning that. My biggest question is whether or not mentioning faculty/resources in other departments would be helpful/harmful. In my case, a lot of my recent work is inspired by Jewish manuscript, folk, and ceremonial art. I've spent a lot of time already identifying specific Jewish Studies faculty members and special collection material with similar research interests to me. While learning about these resources definitely makes me more interested in certain schools, I still feel unsure to what extent I should push this kind of cross-disciplinary interest in my statements of purpose. Here's a list of the schools I've been looking into so far: Top 2: University of Wisconsin, Madison & University of Minnesota UCLA University of Arizona (does anyone know about the funding situation here?) (maybe) UMass Amherst Looking forward to learning more about you all.