Miso

exactly! couldn't have said it better myself, if someone is accepted to NW and somehow wants to decline because of poor studio lighting, I'll gladly come off the waitlist and take that spot lol Hopefully, we don't get waitlisted tho, would be cool if the 3 GradCafe NW finalists were all accepted. I'm shocked it's 18 other finalists that just aren't on this forum

Exactly! You shouldn't give people the option of Zoom or in-person. Either pay for all 21 finalists' travel expenses OR tell everyone that Zoom is the only option. Everyone should be on the same playing field. How can Zoom people possibly compete when their interviews were cut off at 20 minutes on the dot.....as opposed to people in-person having the chance for one on ones and going well over 20 minutes. There's nothing fair about that LMAOOOO IM DEADDD🤣💀🤣💀...I'm with you on that, you giving me 24k-32k in stipend, tuition covered, I can make art in my room at that point....I don't need the perfect lighting and a fancy studio

Wow I never knew that, seems pretty messed up....whether you feel someone is likely to accept your offer or not...if they have done nothing wrong and deserve an acceptance letter then they should still get one

That seems like a very bad question to ask. Idk why certain programs feel the need to ask applicants what other schools they applied to, it's not relevant at all and seems really inappropriate. It would be extremely messed up if the answer to that question impacted their decision. But don't be disappointed, first-year applying...9 schools and 3 interviews...is a huge success! This is my second year applying, I've applied to 8 schools, had 3 rejections, 4 pending rejections based on the info in this forum, and 1 interview. Remember it could always be worse, you're doing great!

First off, thank you so much for sharing all of this info! I think it's so unfair that people in person met with current students and faculty and had one-on-one convos. How can they make a decision on who to pick when your experience sounds like they had hours to feel you out as a person and we Zoom people had 20 minutes. Having hours could be a disadvantage for someone with social anxiety but it could also be a huge advantage for people that have amazing social skills. They said there was no advantage over coming in-person vs. Zoom but I just don't see how that's actually true. 21 is crazy tho 😭 that gives each of us about a 5% chance of getting picked. I was hoping it was 10 finalists LOL, of the 21 applicants, how many did you see interviewing in person? And no problem! This could be a life-changing experience for anyone, I'll do anything I can to help even if that means someone being picked over me. I've noticed that NW's studios with poor lighting have been a dealbreaker for people in the past. Out of the 5 people they accept, I'm sure at least 2 will end up declining the offer because of the studios. Personally, I'm a night owl, I'm used to drawing at 2 AM while using unnatural light

My messages also disappeared because GradCafe shut down today and some messages were gone when it started back up. I answered someone's question and said I believe Northwestern will contact us next week on March 1st according to what has happened in previous forums, but I could be wrong. I also wanted to know if anyone has heard back from UNC-Chapel Hill? I feel like I might be the only person who applied to UNC in this forum. Their application deadline was Dec. 13th, I feel like I should have heard something by now. If you know anyone that applied or have any info please let me know

THANK YOUUU!! Feels very good to let go and confirm my UCLA rejection. I'm pretty sure I won't be waitlisted either because it makes more sense for them to waitlist people they interviewed.

The standard for sending thank you emails is to send it within 24 hours after the interview and never later than a week. Sending a thank you email 3 weeks after the interview can come off as sloppy or rude. Maybe you can reach out asking a thoughtful question about the program and incorporate your thank you smoothly at the end. But 3 weeks is a long time, I'm sure the program already knows who they want to accept. If you think the email can push you over the edge from being waitlisted to being accepted, then by all means go for it. This is just my honest thoughts on your situation but my opinion could be completely wrong. You can kind of think of the interview process like online dating. If you go on a date and really like the girl, would you still reach out after you let 3 weeks go by without texting her? She may be offended that you didn't think to let her know how much you enjoyed the date sooner. In this case the date is the interview and the girl is the interviewers. (Maybe a bad comparison but you know what I mean LOL)

Yeah you right! I honestly don't think it's a big deal, I don't expect someone to thank my thank you lol....it was probably over 10 finalists competing for 5 spots, they probably don't respond to thank you emails intentionally.

The fact that no one has heard from UCLA Painting/Drawing gives me a lil hope. But someone could've heard back from Painting/Drawing and they just aren't in this forum. I feel like it's very rare to do an interview in March, interviews seem to be for February for most schools but I could be wrong. At this point I would be shocked if I got good news from UCLA, UCSD, or U of O. The best thing that could happen is me being on their waitlist //// On another note: Does anyone know if it's normal for a school to not reply to your thank you email after your interview? I emailed the professor that seemed to be leading the interview. I did the typical thank you email and got no response. Idk how the professor would even respond to it so I don't think it's a big deal ?‍♂️

Yeah that offer is amazing, I'm glad more and more artists are applying to fully funded programs. Shouldn't be going in debt over an MFA....we should be getting paid! Exactly!!! Hope we all get some answers soon ?

Congratulations! These are great results with very good stipend ? I wonder why U of O hasn't sent my rejection letter yet. If they have notified accepted and waitlisted applicants, why not notify the people rejected too....instead of having us hopelessly refresh our emails all day long ?LOL

Wow that's interesting, thanks for adding that info to this forum! I hope that isn't the case either, hopefully we hear back this week. Looks like they are getting back to everyone except us Painting & Drawing applicants ? If I was ID or ceramics at least I would know I wasn't chosen, the fact that no one has heard back for Painting & Drawing is giving me false hope lol

In this forum someone was invited to interview with UCLA for Interdisciplinary Studio(ID) on Feb. 14th. Someone else also claimed UCLA did interviews around the last week of January/first week of February. UCLA seems to prioritize ID because of Andrea Fraser so I'm not surprised someone heard back from them for that area of concentration. But how did you find out someone was invited to interview for ceramics? I also applied to UCLA for Painting/Drawing and I'm getting the vibe that it's going to be one of those years where they drag this out until mid-March....in past forums I've seen people saying they've heard nothing from UCLA around April

@reallyfamousartist how was your in person interview with Northwestern? Hope it went well : ) I'm wondering how the in person experience was different from people who had their NW interview on Zoom.

I would love for everyone to see my work but I honestly want to stay anonymous on this site

I went in having an idea of where NW ranked on my list but they definitely impressed me with their thoughtful questions. They would be my top choice as well depending on if I get interviews with UCLA or UCSD, and how they go. But as of now, it would be extremely tough to say no to NW. I would also want to visit before making a final decision because I heard NW's studios don't have natural lighting because it's underground or something like that. It was my first MFA interview ever but they really made me feel like I wasn't an after thought. I'm glad they didn't ask basic MFA interview questions, it showed me they actually cared and put in effort.

I don't think I should help my competition LOL jkjk ? My zoom interview went well, there was like 8 professors there, it's kind of intimidating, I couldn't imagine doing that in person. They seemed very interested in my art and asked very thoughtful questions tailored to who I am as an artist, I can tell every interview goes differently. They don't do the basic order of tell me about yourself? why us? etc....the questions are specific to YOU and your art. So if you know who you are as an artist then it should flow like any regular conversation. They were all very laid back and chill though. Best advice I can give you is just be yourself. But damn that 20 minutes goes by so fast.

It's fine, I'm still very excited about the interview I have with Northwestern University tmrw, I love everything about their program and they are top 4 on my list of 8. Only reason they aren't number 1 is because of the weather in that Chicago area lol

I also just received my $135 rejection letter from Stanford LMAO ? Once I seen the email and it said "An update has been posted to your Stanford application", I knew immediately I was rejected because I figured if they wanted to interview me then they would just say it in the email. They were the number 2 school on my list but I'm just glad I don't have to stress about it anymore.

Someone recently heard back from UCLA for Interdisciplinary Studio (ID), but I believe that's it. Hoping Painting & Drawing is next for UCLA ?

Thanks for letting us know! @Forms Without Formulamaybe U of O only did photo concentration interviews. Sculpture and Painting & Drawing could be up next, you never know ?‍♂️ Some schools release interview invites in waves.

I feel you, this is my second year and there's no way I wanna go through this process again. Majority of the schools I applied to are taking way longer than I expected. Compared to last years forum, a lot of schools on my list are behind schedule. Idk if @Mar-Kieceinterviewed at U of O for sculpture or photography so if it was photography maybe there's still a chance for you. But stay strong and don't lose hope, you could just be on the waitlist, you never know.

LOL seeing that list made me think the same thing but for University of Oregon and UCSD. Hoping they only interviewed sculpture or photography applicants, maybe painting & drawing receive interview invites last ? But it's looking like I was rejected or waitlisted to U of O and UCSD:/

Congratulations! This is amazing news, hopefully this is a sign that other areas of focus will be dropped throughout this week as well : )