nongfuspring1

What do you mean specifically by employment? If you're talking solely about how useful an MFA from Ireland is for finding a US job then probably not much different from a US MFA, though arguably an MFA in art won't help much for getting a job in any profession anyway (though many schools are eager to say otherwise). If by employment you mean the development of an art career in the US then it's a bit more complicated. IMO the most useful thing about doing an MFA is the connections you make and the exposure you get during your studies. Unless a school is well connected internationally or has a global reputation, shifting countries immediately after study means you end up loosing a lot of the advantages an MFA will give you. I'm not familiar with Burren so I can't speak to your case, but I do know of graduates even from top schools like Goldsmiths, the RCA, Yale, etc., that left the country after graduating and had significant setbacks when it came to setting up networks in their respective countries in comparison to their classmates that stayed.

All schools mentioned so far are US based but I think it's certainly worth looking abroad as well. All German MFA equivalent programs are tuition free and students can apply for government sponsored DAAD studentships that cover cost of living (something like 750 euro per month) regardless of wether the student is foreign or local. Quite a few German schools have excellent reputations. RMIT (Melbourne) offers stipend and tuition to Australasian MFA students, and have a number of studentships for internationals. TNUA (Taipei) has a joint studentship program with the government for international students which covers fees and stipend. Last I heard they were also running a joint program with Aalto (Helsinki), though not sure if the studentship would cover the exchange semesters in Finland. CAFA (Beijing) I believe has a similar govt. scholarship arrangement.

The problem I find with your piece so far is that it doesn't tell us why you're interested in these themes at all, or how you became interested in them. You really must talk about why you care if you want anyone else to, otherwise this essay will just be a vague list of things you're interested in. For example, why sound? How is the history of art galleries related to the idea of power? Why astrophysics? How do any of your interests relate to you as a person?

Firstly, what kind of statement is this? Personal statement, artist statement, statement of intent? It would be much more useful to see the whole draft rather than just the paragraph about your work. Ideally the explanation of your artistic interests should blend more into the broader narrative of the essay and explain not just what you're interested in but how also you came to be motivated to work with these ideas and why art is a suitable means to develop them.

Google them first; if an academic/artist doesn't have a website, reviews, or a publication listing online they don't have a career. Maybe not a bad idea to email about facilities though. Re: costs, I wouldn't necessarily discount a program based on their advertised fees - a lot of programs inflate their fees artificially to seem "extra generous" with their financial support as a means of appearing more attractive to the prospective students they really want (and squeezing the ones that don't but can afford it).

Hard to say given I don't know your options or your background, but personally I would suggest holding off and trying to get into the program you think best suits the career trajectory you want to take. Doing an MFA is generally pretty gruelling and what ever lack of enthusiasm you have now has a good chance to snowball as the course goes on.

Thanks coach. Those are good points, especially about the costs relating to being an international student. I think my plan is that if I am going to do any further study it would only be on the condition I were able to graduate debt free, which I suppose is pretty unlikely. Looking over the admissions materials for Yale it seems I have nearly all of it already so I will give it a shot anyway, but I will definitely weight my efforts towards residencies/grants. And thanks Eliza, I hope I didn't come across as abrasive with my comment.

It would be best to contact the universities directly, the process and the opportunities can be contingent on a wide range of factors and differ from school to school. I was looking into PhD programs in the UK two years ago and I was a bit disappointed by the lack of funding available - virtually all of the schools I was interested in wouldn't even offer a fee reduction let alone the free ride I'd expect for doctoral study. Hopefully that won't be the case with your search, but as you may have heard the funding situation in the UK for the arts and academia has been very dire for a while now. If you're interested in studying in Europe I would consider Germany; there are quite a few famous programs, no fees, and tenured stipends for international students. There are also interesting programs in Scandinavia that are well supported.

Thanks, that's a handy website. It seems you're really happy with your program (as opposed to the usual MFA despair) and I'm pleased to hear there are others in a similar-ish boat using your program to leverage open opportunities in the city. I'll investigate Purchase, some of the faculty seem interesting but I'm not so hot on the student work on the website.

I had a professor that graduated from SUNY Buffalo some time ago, and met one of the faculty members a few years back. Both nice people, but wasn't especially interested partly because it was a fairly new program and partly because it seems at the time they had an emphasis on research relating to gender studies, sexuality, the body etc., none of which are interests of mine. Have you considered University of Rochester? I've repeatedly heard they have the best and oldest visual studies PhD program.

I've artist friends that have done Fulbrights. A year away in a foreign country with a decent stipend, support and plenty of time to work - great package. Some guys I knew were paired up with local universities and ended up being invited to do some adjunct teaching once their fellowship ended, but YMMV. Otherwise residencies in general are a good way of subsidising living costs while developing international networks and making your CV look better.

Thanks for the reply cpw. By post-studio I mean conceptual artists that aren't tied to a particular material practice and don't personally produce objects. I assume this to be the case since I've heard their working spaces are cubicles and there at least seems to be quite a lean to theoretical research. While I'd love to get it I might be a bit too hands on to make an ideal fit - that said I'll probably give it a go anyway. That's good advice re: residencies vs. MFAs, I'll definitely do more research into opportunities around NY, thanks for the suggestions so far.

Next year my partner and I will be moving to NYC and I've been thinking of trying to start out my time in the city with an MFA or decent residency. Since I'm a foreigner I'm a bit apprehensive about diving into a city where I don't know anyone and has a reputation for having such an overcrowded art scene so I'm really looking for ways to develop networks, especially since my CV is full of European and Asia-Pacific names that won't have much street cred in the states. I thought that a well regarded postgrad program/residency might be a way of developing that foothold more rapidly, with the added benefit of developing my practice in the process. In terms of my background I'm 28, a painter, have done 6+ funded international residencies, have a dealer, won a major national award, a decent press kit, have an MFA already though technically it was by dissertation not practice, and half a PhD in philosophy (awkward). At the moment (like quite a few other people it seems...) I'm eyeing up the Yale MFA program in painting, but I'm also open to other programs providing they have sufficient funding and would actually be worth doing (NYU? Hunter?). Would that previous written MFA be enough to automatically take me out of the running for a painting specific program? And, aside from the post-grad stuff, how about residencies? I'm interested in the Whitney ISP, though I get the feeling (correct me if I'm wrong) that the ISP seems more geared towards post-studio practice which probably wouldn't make for a great match for me. Are there any similar programs in or around NYC that might be worth looking into? Thanks so much in advance, and sorry if the post is a bit vague. It seems I've still a lot to figure out, so any opinions greatly appreciated.

Actually, forget about the accreditation issue. It was approved by the US state department in 2009.

I was recently accepted into the EGS Ph.D in Communications program and was wondering if anyone else had any experiences with the school. It seems to have incredible faculty, but after hearing rumors about shaky accreditation in the U.S. and it being a low residency program of only around 3 weeks a year, I'm a little nervous about pulling the trigger on it. I know of a few faculty in Columbia, SUNY, Brown and a few professors in Asia who have very high opinions of the school, but also a few people (kicking around on forums) with less than favorable opinions. Does anyone have any thoughts on the school?