Miso

Thanks! This was great advice. I'm actually still going to apply to UGA because I recently found a way to reduce the file size of my portfolio without compromising the quality of the images. If you drag the high quality photos of your art into a google doc, then make a pdf, the file size comes out to around 10MB while keeping the quality pretty much the same. Idk how, but it's basically the same as the 80MB compressed portfolio I had. Was Tyler the first choice school you ended up choosing over UGA? If so, what made you not want to go with UGA?

i know....you must have not read the message I sent: "Okay so I called Yale's Art Department, their Registrar and Admissions to be exact, and spoke with a nice lady. She said the Yale School of Art isn't fully funded, it is need based and you find out how much you'll get after you interview and get accepted. The fully funded program at Yale is through their school of drama, which is completely different from the School of Art where students paint, draw, etc."

Glad I'm not the only one...this sh*t is overwhelming af LOL! You write the perfect statement of purpose/artist statement for one program that has a 1,000 word limit then the next program somehow thinks it's cool to have 500 word limit, how they expect people to cut they already perfect written statement in half. Then your also creating art and getting it photographed....then they have the audacity to want to interview you too as if all the work you put in isn't enough haha Thanks! And same : )

No problem! That's a very small and focused list, wishing you the best of luck : )

I would wrap up your written statements ASAP then take basic photos of your art with your iphone. Just let them know "This is everything that will be in my portfolio. I will get better photographs taken but this should give you a good idea of the artwork I make" Therefore, at least your recommenders will have a month to write your letters. Most likely, it will only take them a day but professors are usually really busy around this time of year. And assuming you already have a photographer, it should take 2-3 hours for them to photograph a 20 piece portfolio of 2D work...and about a week for editing them and sending you the final proofs, depending on how booked their schedule is. You are really only applying to two programs? Which ones? That January 9th deadline sounds like UCLA

Yes, this is why I am not applying to Yale lol. The Yale School of Art is a great place to apply if your parents are broke, then maybe they will give you a full ride. If both of your parents make over six figures combined then forget about it....you'll be over six figures in debt after 2 years of grad school....and let me tell you, you won't be paying that off with an adjunct professor position LMAO.

Exactly, hard to recover from what they did in 2014. For people that don't know, USC promised their art grad students funding and cut the funding...which made all the art grad students walkout and leave the program. Pretty messed up to promise something then go back on that promise, wouldn't trust USC, all artists should boycott that place. I'm also trying to place myself in big art cities, LA, Chicago, Atlanta.

Okay so I called Yale's Art Department, their Registrar and Admissions to be exact, and spoke with a nice lady. She said the Yale School of Art isn't fully funded, it is need based and you find out how much you'll get after you interview and get accepted. The fully funded program at Yale is through their school of drama, which is completely different from the School of Art where students paint, draw, etc.

You made a very smart choice trusting your gut and not going to usc. Glad I could help! I feel you...Idk what I'd do if I had to go through this process again...I only applied to 3 schools my first time doing this...I'm not messing around this time tho, I'm applying to 8. Hope we all get in to our top choices. Goodluck!

Sorry in advanced for the long novel I'm about to write. Couldn't agree more about the second to last sentence....how do I have my BA in Art but was never given a heads up about the correct way to photograph art for a grad school portfolio, important stuff to include in a statement of purpose/artist statement, etc....seems like that should be an entire course required for art majors but hey what do I know lol. You should definitely show your entire drawing. Artwork shouldn't be cropped to the edge or have a black boarder. I made the mistake of cropping my art the first time applying and although you still got accepted to one program, cropping to the edge is an unprofessional look that art committee's will definitely knock you for. Every school should let students know this under the "Portfolio Requirements" section but they don't. Only school that actually says it on their website is Yale. They say this: "In the review process, the admissions committee is concerned with scale and the tactility of the work. For this reason, paintings and drawings must be photographed showing the edge of the work. Paintings and drawings must not be digitally masked in black to the edges of the work. " ^^ This applies to any program you apply to. I suggest having a professional take pictures of your work, it'll cost around $300-$500 for a 20-piece portfolio but it's worth it. Or maybe you know a photography friend that can help you out. What program did you end up not going to? I'm just curious as to why you applied and realized it wasn't a good fit. Goodluck!

Yale's MFA programs are tuition free? I was almost 100% sure that they only give need based scholarships and maybe 1 full ride to someone with an outstanding portfolio. Their website: "Scholarship is need-based and only awarded to accepted students who’ve applied for aid and have demonstrated need. The maximum scholarship for first-year students does not exceed tuition costs."

Update on the UGA situation for anyone applying: They said this is their first year going away from SlideRoom. And now that they are going through Slate where they want a pdf no larger than 10MB....it is significantly lowering the quality of the photos I took of my art. If you have detailed work like myself this is probably a dealbreaker for you. They literally said I can be the "guinea pig" and risk uploading a portfolio to Slate that is larger than the requested 10MB limit. Sucks because UGA was one of my safer fully funded schools that I felt I had a good chance of getting into, but oh well...it is what it is, don't think I'll be applying.

Personally, if I was looking for a golden ticket I would apply to one school only until I get in and that school would be UCLA. The LA art scene is arguably not just the best in the U.S. but the best in the world. If you get into UCLA your entire career is set. As opposed to Yale where maybe one person out of every class makes it.

Hi everyone! Does anyone know why UGA doesn't use slideroom? Every other school either uses slideroom where the file size can be 5MB for each image. Or they use an area on their application where each image can be up to 5MB. UGA is the only program where they have you upload a pdf of your 20 piece portfolio and they limit the entire file size to 10MB. This seems extremely old school and it limits the quality of the photos you've taken of your art. I'm going to call the school about it, but if anyone knows anything then please let me know. I might end up taking them off my list of schools.

I don't see anything wrong in re-using some of the same artwork. But I also don't think it would be good for anyone to submit the exact same portfolio because they probably can view your previous application and see that you didn't do anything new. I am in a similar re-applying situation and out of the 20 pieces in my portfolio, 5 were in the previous application and 15 are new. Same to you, goodluck! It's been quiet in this forum lately, everyone must be locked in on their applications, don't stress too much...what's meant for us will happen. Happy Holidays : )

This is for everyone: The Student loan forgiveness application is open and literally takes 30 seconds to complete. You technically have until December 2023 to fill it out and get up to 20k in debt relief, but just do it now and get it out the way. I know for some people 20k is more than all their debt. https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/debt-relief-info

Ahhh I see, definitely would avoid that place especially seeing that a successful alumni advises against it. I was thinking about applying to Yale for painting/printmaking. Class of 2022 for painting/printmaking looks like it was around 50 students and I heard they get around 1,000+ applicants for each area of focus. So basically the typical 5% acceptance rate....for every 20 applicants 1 gets in. And of those accepted, most will receive little to no scholarship as they state on the website, “Most students pursuing Master's degrees do not receive financial support from the Graduate School and are responsible for paying tuition, but some programs offer limited funding.” So for 9 months it will legit be like 75k….program is 2 years so 150k:/ I like 2 out of the 3 painting/printmaking professors at Yale. I tried convincing myself to apply to Yale because I love all the stories about how cut throat and brutally honest critique is, but it just doesn’t seem worth it for me. Other programs have insanely talented professors without the debt. Does anyone know why artists are so obsessed with Yale? Would love to know

Ohhh this whole time I thought you were applying to 11 different schools lol. But it's 6, just multiple areas of focus. Is there a reason Otis ended up being removed from the list?

Congratulations!! Finishing apps is an accomplishment in itself. Hope we all get into our top choices. What 5 other schools did you end up applying to? (besides the ones you told us about: UCLA, Yale, SAIC, ArtCenter, Otis, Calarts)

Hellooo, I feel like most schools prefer focused portfolios, gives them a sense of what direction you will go at their program. (but some may like variety) Maybe wouldn't hurt to email each school to find out...because most schools websites give very vague information about what's expected in the portfolio. To me it would seem completely understandable to include a few videos or installation pieces because applications always make you choose a first and second choice major. Like if my first choice was painting/drawing and my second was photography....how would I be considered for my second choice if I didn't include a few photographs. Seeing that most portfolios are 20 pieces....I would either do all 20 in my speciality/first choice major OR do 17 in my first choice and 3 in my second for a little sneak peek. But to play it safe, you should probably ask the schools you're applying to....be prepared for a vague answer tho lol. ps: I am also applying for painting+drawing, all my work is in graphite, charcoal, etc. I don't want to have to settle for a second choice major so I'm going all in on my first choice...I could include videos and photography I have but I'd rather not.

Hiii welcome to the squad! lol Great list of schools! No need to be nervous and stress yourself out...I am also stubborn about going somewhere fully funded and I've noticed basically all fully funded programs have an extremely low acceptance rate. (100-200 applicants w/ class sizes of mostly 10 or less)...pretty sure they receive more than 10 great applicants and have very tough decisions to make so it really just comes down to getting lucky. We all shouldn't be nervous about things that are out of our control. But since you work in admissions for an art school, what have you seen reviewers judge or say about applications? Curious to know about your behind the scenes experience in the admissions office.

I have emailed faculty a few times, but only when the website left out information. Then I'd email the programs graduate advisor. For example, some programs may not give a specific word count for written responses....instead of guessing and over writing, it is a good idea to reach out and ask. But I would avoid reaching out to professors hoping that will give you a better chance of being accepted. I think it's a common myth that reaching out gives you any type of advantage over students that don't. The typical "My name is [ ], and I am very interested in your guys program....blah blah blah"....can be risky, people that do this show a lack of confidence in themselves. So unless you have a specific question that wasn't answered on their website, I would avoid looking thirsty and sending a 'pick me' email. So basically to answer your question, I think it's only acceptable to email a graduate advisor with a specific question that wasn't answered through the website OR perhaps email a professor to ask them about their own work. Depending on how you email a professor about their own work, they will either be flattered and think you're genuinely interested in the program and perhaps maybe remember your name when reviewing applications, or they will be too busy around this time w/ critiques and grading finals so don't be shocked if they just don't reply, and it is also a possibility you word the email poorly and they are tired of pick me emails because it is the 30th one they've received this month. (Risky game to play) Lemme know if you need advice with anything else, glad to help

Are you being paid for the 3 TA positions you currently hold? If so, how much? I personally don't plan on applying to Otis, I just think this information could help people reading this forum. Thanks

I've heard UC Irvine has a great fully funded program + stipend. Only reason I'm not applying there is because the average cost of rent is around 3k a month in Irvine. I'm sure someone could find a roommate and pay 1.5k instead, but I really don't want a roommate. Plus, UC Irvine's program is 3 years...3k a month for 3 years...sheesh...my wallet is having a heart attack just thinking about it lol. But i'll have to look into Long Beach, haven't seen anything about them. Does Otis give stipend for TA-ing or teaching an undergraduate course? or do they have ya'll do these things for free? Sounds like maybe you guys don't do this at all and the program is more focused on critique, getting work in galleries, and understanding how to talk about your art.

Thank you for coming back here to give us this insight! Personally, I have only considered fully funded programs. Recently, I've been thinking of adding another school (that isn't fully funded) to my current list and just hope they decide to give me a full ride because you never know. How much funding did you receive from Otis? I know Otis is nearly 50k a year, unless someone is a trust fund baby idk why they would choose to take on more debt. Even if they gave a 50% tuition waiver you would still be graduating in 2 years with 50k in debt. Also, what's your opinion on the ArtCenter vs. Otis debate? From the outside looking in, I've read a lot and it seems like people favor ArtCenter.