osprey

And might I just say that the amount of money it costs to go to some of these places is obscene. No wonder there is very little social mobility in this country.

Hi Bulba,

I'm in the same boat as you and am glad to have found your post. I graduated from SAIC last May with a BFA in painting and drawing. I did really well while I was there and took painting very seriously. I had a very good scholarship and senior year I was admitted into their advanced painting program (12 students a semester juried in out of the entire department conducted in ways similar to the graduate program). My life-plan was to take a year off after finishing my BFA and work part-time doing something art related while painting in the other half of my time to build up my portfolio for grad school. After that year off I would apply for competitive MFA programs in order to able to teach and make more work on the side.

Well to start out, since graduating I have had no luck finding an art-related job, and seriously regret staying here in Chicago (I had the opportunity to move). There is just nothing here job-wise. I know only 2 peers out of my entire AP class who have found artistic jobs- and they both moved to CA after school and found them there. I can't even count how many cover letters I've written, it's insane. I never get any responses back- and the few times I did receive responses for gallery jobs, I had 2 interviews and both places acted extremely flaky and left me hanging for weeks. The listings are so incredibly sparse- and 3/4 of the listings are for unpaid internships that never hire. I feel that unlike my peers, I am not comfortable with this attitude of bopping along working at a coffee shop for the rest of my life hoping to get a break from my painting. I grew up very poor and worked crappy jobs all through high school and the year after graduating. Pursuing a higher education at a reputable school was supposed to be a responsible decision on my part- but now I feel unsure about the path I took. Whenever I've asked my peers what they plan on doing, they just shrug. I think some people think it's romantic to be poor because it's part of the cliche artist image. However, I want to feel like I am on a path to doing something that requires my creative skills, technical abilities, and intelligence. I'd do anything to have a job with those qualities that pays well and that is also reasonably 'in demand'.

This experience so far of going through 8 months of unemployment has led me to really rethink everything I planned and look over it in detail. I am scared shitless of spending more time and money on school, only to get out and be in the same position as now- maybe even worse (it's harder to find a stupid low level job with a Masters...). When I've looked online about MFA's and what people say- it seems to boil down to claims that you do not get an MFA to be able to teach- you go to further your work. This really makes no sense to me- how can I make work if I cannot find a viable part-time job that I like after I leave? I would be miserable! There are hardly any job postings for post-secondary art professors in general- then you pigeon hole yourself into 'painting and drawing' or 'photography' and what are you left with? How many people are graduating from schools such as SAIC with MFAs: 300+ a year...On a few online forums I checked, there accounts from people who regretted getting their MFA because they felt like it was useless since they could not find any work after school. Many people even referred to it as a "luxury degree". There are little to no tenure tracks offered for art professors. Schools cut costs by only hiring adjuncts nowadays- so you have no stability and are always looking out for the next one semester class you were lucky enough to pick up. I had one professor that worked at Borders for 3 years even though he had a PHD and was teaching classes at "the #2 ranked school for art". That kind of money is never enough to live off of and it obviously provides little to no stability. You can forget trying to find a job in a preferable area too. Most of the time you have to be a successful artist to even be considered to work for a good college in addition to having an MFA- which again is not just about hard work- its about luck. It's not like this for all other fields: my boyfriend and I are moving this summer for his PoliSci PHD program and he can expect to get a job after his 6 years there and work to get on a tenure track. He gets paid to go to school- all the schools have offered him an amazing stipend and have even paid for him to check out each of their campuses. I am so jealous, it kills me, especially when I'm feeling so unsure about what I'm doing!

I have no intention of being a famous artist at 24- or a famous artist at all. I want to someday be able to live off my paintings- but seriously do not expect this until I am over 40 maybe. An MFA is not required to make great art, and an MFA does not guarantee a job after school. Some people will say that is true of all degrees- but I think it is genuinely harder for visual artists. After all the research I've done into this, I'm finding myself ruminating every day over what am I going to do in the meantime and where to go next. It's been a very hard year and I hope moving will provide me with a new start in a better location. I've started to look seriously into pursuing graphic design or animation- going for another BFA or getting into a certificate program. I've had a really hard time finding other people who can relate to switching into Graphic Design from fine art and already have their BFA's, so the search for answers has felt daunting. Like I said, I just want to do something on the side that still requires creativity, intelligence, and artistic skill. No matter what I do on the side, I will never stop painting- but I'd rather have better prospects making money in a job that's not related to working at Pete's Coffee or the Gap.

Strange, rejected from every school, but accepted to RISD!

I also didn't get any merit aid for CCA, and am not expecting any financial aid. I really, really, really, would love to attend. However, when I think about how much money $80,000 is - enough to buy a house in many places - it's difficult to justify paying or taking out massive loans when I could wait and apply again. I mean, $80,000 buys a lot of art supplies - and depending on the price and your age, a lifetime of studio rent. I'm in it for the long run. I want to make choices that optimize my drive and ability to devote time to making art. I think the loans would hold me back.

My plan for the next year? Make lots of art. Go to lots of openings and artist lectures. Basically pretend I'm in grad school, but with a part-time job, and less debt. Then, apply widely next year - wiser and a stronger candidate.

If you are young and can stomach a 25-year car-payment-sized student loan payment, and get into a top 3 through 5 program then perhaps big loans are not terribly bad. But I'm not sure it makes much sense to borrow $80K-$100K for a lower ranked program or for those closer to say age 30 or more. That big student loan payment may make qualifying for a home loan really difficult unless you are sure your present or future spouse is always going to bring in good money. What happens when kids come along and your spouse isn't working and you've still got that those student loan payments, plus a car payment or two, plus a mortgage, plus credit card debts, etc? I guess there is always food stamps so you won't starve. Oh... but I forgot that you are going to make it big in the art world... never mind... borrow it all.

There is around 20 or so programs that are low cost or no cost. If I got into Yale or RISD then perhaps I'd borrow for the privilege, but I'm thrilled that I'm going to be paid to study and make art for three years. I found out that besides the best medical/dental/vision insurance coverage I've ever seen, OSU also has retirement pension plan that TA's qualify for. I can have 10% of my stipend but into it and OSU adds 14%. I can roll it into another plan if I don't stay in Ohio after graduation. Other state schools may have similar benefits that small private schools cannot match. It's something to consider verses being crippled with debt.

I also didn't get any merit aid for CCA, and am not expecting any financial aid. I really, really, really, would love to attend. However, when I think about how much money $80,000 is - enough to buy a house in many places - it's difficult to justify paying or taking out massive loans when I could wait and apply again. I mean, $80,000 buys a lot of art supplies - and depending on the price and your age, a lifetime of studio rent. I'm in it for the long run. I want to make choices that optimize my drive and ability to devote time to making art. I think the loans would hold me back.

My plan for the next year? Make lots of art. Go to lots of openings and artist lectures. Basically pretend I'm in grad school, but with a part-time job, and less debt. Then, apply widely next year - wiser and a stronger candidate.

I also didn't get any merit aid for CCA, and am not expecting any financial aid. I really, really, really, would love to attend. However, when I think about how much money $80,000 is - enough to buy a house in many places - it's difficult to justify paying or taking out massive loans when I could wait and apply again. I mean, $80,000 buys a lot of art supplies - and depending on the price and your age, a lifetime of studio rent. I'm in it for the long run. I want to make choices that optimize my drive and ability to devote time to making art. I think the loans would hold me back.

My plan for the next year? Make lots of art. Go to lots of openings and artist lectures. Basically pretend I'm in grad school, but with a part-time job, and less debt. Then, apply widely next year - wiser and a stronger candidate.

I remembered I was talking to my professor about grad school -

He was like, see that bike over there? Paint it white and tell them you made it out of plaster.

lol

Thanks for your perspective!
I agree. Personally I don't feel discouraged, more just like i'm in this weird limbo where I don't know whether to move on to the next battle, or hold out hope for this round. The silence is deafening, and without wanting to, I put a huge part of my energy into waiting, which is taking away from my time painting, creating etc. Any one else feel this way? I've been on the edge of my seat for over a month and a half, every day hoping for good news.

Yeah, you never know about the mysterious ways. Maybe something bad. Maybe something good. I guess we'll never know.

I'm selling a kidney

UCLA is torturing us with these Summer Sessions emails.

This is us:

http://youtu.be/uLrnOYJ0Vmo

PSA from a long time lurker:

I applied to four schools, recieved a soft rejection from one, but heard nothing from the other three. I saw on these forums that applicants had already heard back from these other schools, at least for interviews (from UCLA, USC, and CCA) - and prepared myself for what I assumed to be inevitable rejection. To the point that I missed the fafsa deadline for my state. So incredibly, pathetically stupid. Today, I checked my online status for CCA and saw that I am admitted. Obviously, I'm kicking myself, and filling out the necessary forms.

I'm not sure what the lesson is in this - but the part that propelled me to comment is that none of us really know what's going to happen until we hear back directly from the schools to which we've applied. Emotions run high while waiting to hear these big decisions - but we should all strive to be level headed and not cave to the temptation of seeing the results that filter in on this forum as a talisman to our own fates in this process. Real people are out there looking over our applications, and real people are not perfectly predictable. Apparently, myself included. I don't know why I sabotauged myself - I can't know what will happen with the other schools. Not yet. Not until I've heard from them.