Itsem

Thanks for your thoughts. I think I've made a devision but I'm going to marinate in it until tomorrow before I let anyone know anything officially.

Today i am leaving NYC headed back home. Back home to make some decisions. SFAI is out. Didnt like the vibe of the place. Program is too big. So now my choices are between City College of New York or Brooklyn College. Any thoughts you guys have would be really helpful. They are both awesome programs and I am having a hard time deciding which one.

Notified today that i have been moved from waiting list to accepted at brooklyn college. Already scheduled a visit while I am up in NYC. off to SanFran tomorrow, then to NYC. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm going to see if they will tell me how far down on the waitlist I am; also going to see if I can come a visit while I'm up in NYC anyway. But in the letter they said they would let me know a final decision by April 30th, and my other two schools want answers by May 1st. But they are on spring break right now, so all this will have to wait until next week.

Snail mail.

Finally...notification from my last school. Waitlisted at Brooklyn College.

Oh Golly No! I'm not that naive. I was using that as a reason why I CAN'T quit my retail job. I know that I will be paying around double what I pay now for rent alone. And having a job to supply this money instead of a private loan is the best option. Most schools cap hours at 20 per week to work anyway, if they even have jobs. That's not nearly enough to live off of. So I'm going to have to supplement any income from an school/art field job with another job anyway, and why not just keep a job that is guaranteed when I relocate with flexible hours, overnight shifts, no responsibility once I leave the building, etc so I can concentrate on making art. It has worked for the past four years of undergrad.

Oh, of course, the retail job is going to be in addition to what i get with the school/art field. Stipends and loans don't cover all the expenses of grad school. SFAI only estimates living expenses at around $4000 per year to live in SF. i need more than that to live in alabama per year, and i dont know if there is any neighborhood in SF where i can pay $275 in rent like i do now.

Jacinto, a friend once told me that a fish it has no idea that it is water until its not. I firmly believe that one doesn't know their identity until they are away from what they are familiar with. Martijn van Wagtendonk once said in a guest lecture that he wasn't Dutch until he left the Netherlands and came to the United States, so maybe getting away from NYC is just what you need to have your processes/thoughts/concepts challenged by people with a new perspective. Being from the south, the east or west coast would satisfy the craving I have for these new perspectives. I'm flying to San Fran on April 17th, so I still have another week before traveling. I'm excited to spend some time in the cities outside of the school itself to find out if i truly want to spend the next two years of my life in that city. I'm also going to visit the branches of the retail company that I work for because I will be transferring to one of those stores. I officially turned down Hawaii and Iowa today, so it will be a choice between San Fran or New York. Which I feel like there is not a bad choice to be made. Have fun while your in San Fran!!!

Just booked a flight to NYC. I haven't been anywhere during the past 4 years of my undergrad and now I'm going to spend 8 days traveling ( 4 in San Fran and 4 in NYC with one day of work in between). Think I've narrowed it down to SFAI and City College. I know that this trip will give me the answer.

Supposedly the money needed beyond the $20,500 can be borrowed under the Graduate PLUS loan, but this amount is decided by the school based on how much they state it cost to attend their school for a year. For example, with my financial offer from SFAI, they say it costs about $40,000 a year to attend. I was offered a $12,000 grant. So that now brings my total to $28,000 and the Unsubsidized loan is for $20,500, and i could get a Graduate PLUS loan for the remaining $7,500. This is a loan that is still through the Dept of Ed. but you have to have a good credit score to qualify for it. It also has a fixed interest rate of around 7% that does start accruing as soon as the loan is dispersed. But this is where having a job during school can supplement most of the room and board cost, also. I personally haven't seen a stipend offered to anyone that would fully cover living expenses anyway. Retail is a good job to have since most are flexible with schedules, etc. I'm going to be transferring locations of my job where ever I go to school, otherwise I wouldn't be able to go.

CONGRATS!!!

I'm trying to see if I can get a "cheap" trip to NYC for the week after I travel to San Francisco to see it for myself. I'm really excited about an opportunity to study art in New York City. Plus the email I received was from Tom Thayer, and he is awesome!! (just happens to be in the Whitney Biennial this year).

Thanks!!! Now I have to book a trip to NYC.

Accepted to City College of New York via email today.

You will receive a letter in the mail in a couple of days. That's the same scenario that happened to me.

All this talk of borrowing, loans, "full-rides" have put me somewhat edge. I know that it is due to the heavy task of deciding if the debt is worth it. At this point for me, i have an opportunity to what makes me really happy (getting out of the current city I live in is one of them). In many ways, it feels like now or never, there are many factors where if I don't seize an opportunity now, another will not come along. Plus, life it just way too short to not act on a chance to change your life. I mentor of mine was accepted to Yale, but turned it down because another school offered him a full-ride, and wonders where he could be if he took that acceptance, but he told me, "Education is priceless" I am at the point (due to outside factors) it's either take out the loans now and go to school, or don't go to school at all. I know for a fact that I have had too many people (outside of the art world) giving me their two cents about education, grad school, loans, stipends, etc. And I know that it will only be me carrying the weight of my own decisions. I know that a career in art is that path that I want to take, and if that means that I'll have an extra "car payment" every month, then it is mine to make. (I want to move somewhere I don't need a car anyway). But I do really appreciate everyone's comments about their thoughts about the money factor in all of this, I definitely feel that having multiple perspectives lets me make a more educated decision especially from people who are pursuing the same path as me.

You made me feel better about not getting full-funding. I also received an email that SFAI is going to let me attend one of their graduate critiques when I am visiting. I know that it will help me decide everything. And the way I interpreted what you were saying that anywhere besides RISD and Yale are NOT worth borrowing money to go to. I feel like this is very defeating to most of us, or at least to me. Your saying that schools, like MICA, CMU, SAIC, etc, which are REALLY good schools are not worth going to if they don't pay your way for you. I'm leaning toward going to SFAI , but I will have to borrow money to do so, because I don't want to pass up an opportunity that I probably won't receive again. And yes, I am 30 years old. Plus, if we wanted to make the BIG BUCKS, I think most of us would not be getting into this field. I think we would have sacrificed our happiness to make money and we would be applying for MBA, etc. programs. I've been doing research about the loans, and the income-based repayment options sounds pretty reasonable. I'm really lucky and have only borrowed money from the Dept of Education so interest rates are always regulated.

I'm under consideration for 1 of 2 assistantships which is tuition remission and 14k, but if I don't get one of those, I'm stuck with what I already was offered.

I think that the same can be applied for funding. Someone told me when talking about this process, "If they don't offer you a full-ride, they just want your money." That's been bouncing around the skull about receiving little to no funding from schools and hearing people getting full-funding plus stipends. Making me considering reapplying next year. I have also sent emails to all the schools that I received rejections from to ask why I was rejected. We shall see what they say.

I was fretting for a while there too. I received an email at the end of February that stated, "your application is complete and has been forwarded to your department for review. Decisions will be made in about six weeks" that is when I looked at last years thread to see when people had heard from them. Plus I knew decisions had to be made on my end around that time too. They are the last two schools that I have to hear from. And then the hardest part will start....deciding where to go.

I know that Brooklyn and City College don't notify until end of March/beginning of April. I peeked at last years thread and the earliest I could pinpoint someone getting notified from either of those schools was March 30th from Brooklyn College. Don't lose hope yet. I'm sitting in the same boat waiting responses from them too.

I completely understand, that is exactly how I feel about SFAI. They have over 100 grad students. I haven't really decided how i feel about being in a program that large.

YAY!!! Congrats!!

Its funny you mention that because i got an email from Hawaii this afternoon that they received funding for two more assistantships, so I'm in the running again to get one of those. So once again, when i thought i had solidified a hierarchy of the schools, they throw me another curve ball.