luckyfriend

I agree that if the school won't do a phone or Skype interview and insists that you spend lots of money for an in-person interview, it shows a lack of compassion for students and it would probably be a sign of things to come if you attended school there. One school wanted me to travel to the opposite coast of the US for an in-person interview. I told them I didn't think I could afford it, but I would try. They told me to please try, then I got back to them and said I just couldn't swing it, and now I have a phone interview scheduled.

Thanks; your advice about not letting myself be rushed actually makes me feel a little better. I'm sorry if I'm paranoid, but I don't want to name the schools, and I kind of cringe when I see everybody else naming theirs! I'm sure people on the graduate committees have better things to do than read these forums, but one never knows. Why would we want, for example, people from one school seeing how many other schools rejected us? Or, why would we want to reveal to one school the precise details of an offer from another school? It seems like it could only hurt us. Of course, we don't use real names, but still. Why take chances?

I have a similar thing going on. I'm being pressured to decide at one school where I've been accepted, even though I haven't heard back from all the schools to which I've applied yet. I was accepted at one other school, but they're not rushing me. I already got a small extension on their deadline, so I think you should try that. I figure if I accept, I can always un-accept later if a better offer comes through (although the offer is great, and I really like the school). I'm not sure what they could do to me. I'm not paying them anything because all my tuition is being waived, so I can't see how they could financially penalize me. I hope you're in a similar situation. Good luck!

Here's my dilemma, if anyone has any input: so far, I've had no rejections, one interview, one more scheduled for tomorrow, and two acceptances. Both acceptances are accompanied by really generous, almost identical offers. They include tuition waivers, fellowships, scholarships, assistantships, etc. They're essentially "full rides" and they're paying me on top of that. Way, way better than what I had expected. I feel really lucky. I would've been overjoyed to be accepted with just enough funding to allow me to attend. What's amazing is that after I told each of them that I had another offer, both schools are saying they can give me a bit more money. I'm freaking out though, because one school is really pressuring me to decide within the next couple of days. They just made me the offer about a week ago, and I feel pretty rushed, because I haven't heard back from all the schools yet. They already gave me a deadline that passed because I said I needed more time, and it was extended until next week. They didn't exactly say that the offer would be retracted if I didn't decide though, but they are starting to sound more stern about it and making me feel a bit guilty. Their program is really great, and I don't think it would be a mistake to go there, even if I was pressured into it. Any thoughts? Are they being too pushy too quickly? Am I being dumb allowing myself to be pressured, or am I being arrogant by thinking I could possibly get a better offer?

I agree with others that it's sufficient to reply with a well-phrased, "Thank you, this is great news," sort of thing without promising anything. That's what I did when responding to my 2 acceptance emails. They both said that more information would follow, so I also said something like, "I look forward to further information." So far, so good.

Some people would say I'm stupid, but I'm willing to take out whatever loan amount I need in order to make grad school happen. It's unfortunately how it works here in the US. School's expensive, and we either have to be rich or play along with the quasi indentured servitude system. A lot of people are broke because good jobs are scarce right now. It even seems that having a bachelor's degree is a liability when trying to get minimum-wage jobs (that's what my friends and I have experienced, anyway). I'm very lucky so far. I've been accepted to two programs, both of which offered lots of funding (around 90 percent with assistantships, give or take - I still need more details). However, I have no money saved up right now, so I'll need to take out loans for living expenses if I can't find part-time work. It would be difficult to work off-campus especially since my assistantships will take up around 20 hours per week already. Also, I might choose a school in a remote, small-town area of the country where jobs are scarce. I got my BFA last year, and my plan was to work and save up for grad school. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a steady job and what little money I've made this year has gone straight to my poverty-level current living expenses. So, please feel free to call me an idiot, but I want to go to grad school more than anything and the only way for me to do that right now is to take out loans. Corny as it sounds, I'm not going to let money stand between me and my dreams. After school, if I can't find work for a while, it's easy to get an unemployment deferment on the loans. When I do find work, I'll pay through the nose, but fortunately I'm used to being poor. Anyone who says they would never take out loans was either born rich or is simply lucky to have been working. For me, no loans = no grad school.

Thanks! That is fantastic advice and a really refreshing and sober way to look at things. Last year when I was rejected, I pretty much applied to schools that were considered prestigious; not necessarily ones where I thought I would fit in. This go-round, I took an entirely different approach. I paid no attention to the school's rankings, but I chose ones with facilities that fit my needs, with instructors whose work I actually liked, in locations that would inspire me. I tried to determine which departments had attitudes about art that were similar to my own: Multi-disciplinary, concerned with concept as well as technique (not snobby, printmaking purists). I know these all sound like rather obvious things to look for, but it took me a while to come up with my plan. The above worked for me this time. Ultimately though, the whole thing is kind of a crapshoot. Good luck to you!

Hey, thanks for the input; it's hard to know for sure with not much info to compare my offer to. FYInformation, the school's deadline was on Feb 2, and they gave me the good news on Feb 21, which probably won't help anybody because this was an unusually fast decision. Best of luck with the rest of your schools, and there's always next year if the unthinkable happens.

Thanks! I did, I completely re-vamped the portfolio with almost all new stuff. out of 20 images, only about three were from last time. I think having all new stuff made my body of work look more consistent and maybe it made me look prolific. I also did a completely new artist statement and statement of purpose/intent. That worked for me, so hopefully someone else can benefit from my experience. The school is in the very middle of the country.

Hi folks. I want everyone to know that I applied to six schools last year (my final undergrad semester) for Printmaking, and was roundly rejected from all six! I was devastated, naturally, and for far too long. OK, so I applied to five completely different schools this year, the earliest deadlines were February 1st. No rejections yet, but yesterday, I was notified that I was accepted into one of the schools, and I was pretty elated. There was a personal, rather informal congratulatory email from the Grad Coordinator with several attachments detailing my offer. Can I share this and see if people think this offer is good? It sounds pretty good to me, but my head is swimming and some "sensible" acquaintances and friends have talked me down a bit by using reason. I won't have to pay any tuition (I'm a non-resident) due to a combination of fee-waivers, a fellowship and a Graduate Teaching Assistantship with "salary/stipend" where I'll work 20 hours per week for all six semesters. All the money goes right to tuition, though, and I won't actually see any of it. It seems like a pretty good deal to me; really humbling and beyond my expectations, but I won't actually be paid so I won't have any living expenses, and I'm currently looking into whether federal loans will pay for my rent and food. Fortunately, the school is in an area where rent is super cheap, and it kind of looks like I might almost be able to swing it right now. Someone told me that a really good offer would include actual money for living expenses and even health insurance. Do they ever even do that for art programs? I'm trying to look on the bright side no matter what. Some people get accepted with no funding, and some don't even get accepted (like me last year). I haven't heard back from the other schools yet, so I'm not going to accept the offer until I have. I am super grateful to have even been accepted. Anyone have an opinion about this offer? I know, I'm being vague and not mentioning the schools because I don't want to jinx anything.