Miso

so i received no email from Rutgers but decided to check my portal and there was a very short message saying "Your application has been reviewed, and the committee has denied admission." Lmaooo 😂 Not saying the longer copy and pasted rejection letters are any better, but this was a first...very blunt and cold lol

congrats on all the interviews! do you know if ucla reached out to other areas besides sculpture or did they only let you know about the 5 sculpture spots?

ucsb just invited me to their campus for a finalist interview and to see their studios, tour facilities, meet other faculty and grad students. they said they could cover some, if not all, of my expenses and they also invited me to their graduate critique seminar the night before. trying not to get too excited because it's not an acceptance letter, but feels good

Has anyone heard back from UIUC? I think I might be the only one here that applied there. Side note: A few people have interviewed at places I applied to and I am so happy for you all! But I'm just wondering why certain schools select finalists and go through the interview process with them...without sending out the rejection letters, why make rejected people wait lol (Talking about UCR, UT, and Stanford)

i was wrong, thought it would be tmrw but just got rejected from yale painting/printmaking

i think the only person offered an interview was sculpture. and there is 1 graphic design rejection and 2 painting/printmaking rejections in here. maybe this means there's a wave of painting/printmaking interview invites coming. i have a feeling we will not hear anything until tomorrow

same, i applied to painting/printmaking and i haven't received an email or rejection, and nothing about my portal has changed. now i am sitting here refreshing gmail like a crazy person this entire process has taken years off my life

Yes, also this is when Rutgers sent out interview invitations for the last 6 years according to previous grad cafe forums: 2023:1/31 2022: 2/9 2021: *no applications accepted this year* 2020: 2/4 2019: 2/12 2018: 2/9

For anyone who applied to UIC, someone who was accepted in 2022 told me this today, "UIC actually did not do an interview, I just received an offer by email at the end of February and then had a phone call with the Director of Graduate Services (DGS) to discuss program details, funding, etc. This year the DGS is Professor Nate Young. I expect that he will be reaching out to people later this month, or early March."

Nothing from Yale, but based on grad cafe this is when they sent interview invites for the last 6 years: 2023: 2/5 2022: 2/1 2021: 2/6 2020: 1/28 2019: 2/1 2018: 2/2 Besides the COVID year, they consistently send them out the first week of February, but that doesn't look like it's going to be the case this year. I'm guessing they received more applicants than ever this year, maybe we will hear back Monday or Tuesday 🤞

Thanks for sharing that, that's good to know. Someone from Chicago viewed my website a while back and I figured it was UIC, but I have no clue when they accept people. I have seen in the past that UIC has accepted people without interviewing them, but that was in 2019. There's not much info about their timeline in previous forums, do you happen to know anything?

Has anyone heard from UC Irvine, Rutgers, UCLA, or the University of Illinois–Chicago? Side note: Going to be hard to enjoy this weekend knowing Yale can send interview invites at any moment. Not sure what happened for Yale in 2020, but I know 3 of the last 4 years they sent invites on the first week of February and weekends aren't off limits for them. Hope everyone finds healthy things to do to keep anxiety under control. Best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back, wishing you all a stress-free weekend!

Wow congratulations!! Stanford is moving way faster this year, wasn't expecting people to interview with them this soon. Thanks for sharing though, now I know I am most likely rejected...which is much better than sitting here with hope lol

Based on grad cafe, last year someone got a Rutgers interview invite on January 31st so maybe they will send emails out tomorrow if they are on the same pace as last year. And for UC Irvine someone received an interview invite on Feb 3rd and for UCSD the interview invite was on Feb 9th. And I didn't apply to Cornell. Hoping we all hear back soon because I am getting tired of refreshing my email and checking my website analytics 🫠

Same, I think it is kinda weird to offer the options of in-person or Zoom. Everyone who is a finalist should receive the same interview experience, it's only fair. But last year I talked to someone who went in-person and they said Northwestern paid for their flight and room. I assumed I would have to pay so I chose Zoom, was surprised to learn that they covered the cost of everything. Maybe they are still doing it, wouldn't hurt to ask

Congrats on all the interview invites!! I am surprised UT Austin reached out already; I was expecting them to send invites next week. (maybe they are doing sculpture first and painting will be next week, but I am now assuming I must be rejected) But from my experience last year with Northwestern, it was like 8 people in the interview on Zoom, the main Professors like Caroline Kent, Rakowitz, Mike Cloud, and others, plus one or two were students. They asked about specific artworks in my portfolio, and I recall one question being like what have you read recently. But they may change their approach and it may be different if you are going in person. If I were you, I would choose the in-person option. It's unfortunate that the interviews with them are so far from the invite, I think it gives people too much time to sit with their nerves and over-prepare. Regardless, try not to be nervous, I'm sure you will do great!

I'm writing this for the grad cafe people who may see this in the future. UC Santa Barbara's interview today was like no interview I have ever experienced. Usually, Zoom interviews are awkward/intimidating and full of poker faces, and anxiety can be through the roof because it's like 1 vs 8 people. This one was only two people, and they were so genuine and friendly, making me feel very comfortable from the jump. There was a bunch of smiling to the point where it felt like I was just talking to two people I already knew and just having a normal conversation. The overall vibe makes me feel like they want me at their program and that if I went my art future would be in good hands. I have other more prestigious MFA programs on the list of schools I applied to, but if I am offered a spot at UCSB it would be tough to turn it down based on their energy alone. At the end, I expressed how much I look forward to hearing from them and one of them said "you will be hearing from us very soon"....in a tone that basically sounded like we want you and you will be accepted. Very positive experience overall, I don't believe a lot of people know about UCSB but it is fully funded and building your network in Southern California is huge for any artist. If you're reading this in 2025 or beyond, definitely apply.

Lol yeah we definitely all got the same email. Last year I was only accepted into SJSU and it was my safe school and wasn't fully funded. I really didn't want to go and being waitlisted by Northwestern made me feel like my portfolio must be really close to getting better results. So I ended up saying why not try this out one last time.

Same, I'm surprised because I was a finalist last year for them with a worse portfolio, but now my portfolio improved, and this time I was rejected lol. Sometimes it's not even worth stressing about things out of our control. But I do know someone who was accepted last year deferred so they will be starting this fall. Because of this, they are probably only taking 4 people due to 1 spot already being decided.

Received an interview invite from UCSB today. The interview will be this Friday

This is so true, it surprises me how each year it's probably only around 30 people in grad cafe and it seems like multiple people in here always get Yale interviews. ////// Also, this is for the people who have interviews with Tyler. I was thinking about applying but talked to a current student who said this: "Funding has kind of gone down the deep end since the graduate workers union strike (TUGSA) that Temple University had last spring. They recently cut a big funding opportunity for most students to complete their thesis semester. Since Temple has done this, I cannot in good faith recommend Tyler to you. It may be better to wait a year or so if you are committed to the program. I wish I could recommend the program to you because I do truly believe that the curriculum is doing a lot of the work of unpacking how damaging the art world and academia can be for artists. " Tyler is a great program, I would just make sure I ask about the current state of the program if I were you.

Yes, because last year in the forum people received interview invitations on the first Sunday of Feburary, which was Feb. 5th. So I went to that exact spot on the calendar for 2024 and it is Feburary 4th. Some schools stick to the same schedule so that is my guess for Yale 2024. I am also applying to Rutgers like you and this is what I have for them: 2023: - Interview Invitation: Jan 31 - Interview: Feb 24 - Acceptance: Feb 28 2024❓: - Interview Invitation: Jan 30 - Interview: Feb 23 - Acceptance: Feb 27

I did that for almost all of the schools I applied to. It's not like knowing changes anything but my days are more peaceful knowing the dates I can expect to hear back instead of just not knowing at all. What schools did you apply to? I can probably save you some time if you applied to some of the same schools as me. Like this is what I have for Yale based on the past forum: 2023: - Interview Invitation: Feb 5 - Interview: Feb 22 - Acceptance: March 4 2024❓: - Interview Invitation: Feb 4 - Interview: Feb 21 - Acceptance: March 2

I've already submitted my application, so I can't check the work history section. If it's not required, I typically leave it blank since the information is already in my CV/Resume.

No problem, Grad Cafe didn't allow me to include the link but if you google "prof lieu discord", her service called "Artist doc Editing" is the first thing that pops up. (warning: it is pricey) I feel you, the timing of the holidays and application deadlines makes things complicated. I would advise people to ask for help at least 2-3 months in advance. My discipline is painting/drawing, and I applied to 15 programs. These were my final choices: Yale UCLA Stanford Rutgers UCSD UC Santa Barbara Northwestern University University of Illinois—Chicago University of Texas—Austin UC Irvine UC Riverside CSULB GSU Uconn University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign