MFA 2020 Freak Out Forum

[emox4ever]

has anyone heard from NYU fine art?

 

[yuomisota]

On 3/19/2020 at 5:21 PM, eleven11 said:

Hi does anybody know what the hell is happening with Stanford Art Practice???? Zero answers for emails, zero contact, nothing. Of course at this point its 99.9% rejection but its really annoying that nothing official comes from them.

I finally got that rejection e-mail from Stanford; April fools day of all the days! I'm tempted to ask for feedback, but given the world pandemic, and their track record for communication, I'm sure it'll be radio silent. What do you think? Worth a shot? 

I'm currently finishing up a EdD degree at Columbia right now---and because of everything shutting down my research is on pause, so now my graduation date is pushed back. I'm trying to consider this to be a blessing in disguise, and it was obvious the rejection was coming, but damn it still sucks.  

If anyone has any questions or is debating about schools between elsewhere and NYC, I'm happy to let others pick my brain. 

 

https://www.cariannarredondo.com/

[latenightlatte]

On 3/31/2020 at 12:45 PM, Phthalo23 said:

My sense is that this is why they stagger / pad their Admissions window (early March to mid April), so they can interview as needed

Makes sense to me. Does throw a bit of a wrench in everything for me in my deliberations as I’m a bit of a Californian at heart. I’d guess if they they wanted to offer me any significant amount of funding I’d have been contacted earlier in the process... more waiting games I suppose. Anyway they said I’d probably hear back in about a week after the interview (the interview was brief and super pleasant if anyone’s waiting on the call still)

[eleven11]

6 hours ago, yuomisota said:

I finally got that rejection e-mail from Stanford; April fools day of all the days! I'm tempted to ask for feedback, but given the world pandemic, and their track record for communication, I'm sure it'll be radio silent. What do you think? Worth a shot? 

I'm currently finishing up a EdD degree at Columbia right now---and because of everything shutting down my research is on pause, so now my graduation date is pushed back. I'm trying to consider this to be a blessing in disguise, and it was obvious the rejection was coming, but damn it still sucks.  

If anyone has any questions or is debating about schools between elsewhere and NYC, I'm happy to let others pick my brain. 

 

https://www.cariannarredondo.com/

Me too. I think you can try, but at the same time I'm 99% sure they are not so much interested in interaction with the applicants. I still think that it would be better if they informed the applicants about not getting into the semi-finalists pool, so we could get the decision earlier and proceed with accepting offers from other schools.

[brho]

10 hours ago, emox4ever said:

has anyone heard from NYU fine art?

 

Still waiting and frustrated.

[babsi]

Accepted to CalArts! 

I think you're right @latenightlatte and I agree that the interview call was lovely however brief!

Probably won't accept since the funding from UCSD is hard to ignore. Hope everyone is doing alright amidst all this madness. 

[Referableorc]

12 hours ago, emox4ever said:

has anyone heard from NYU fine art?

 

Weren't you already accepted to the program on March 22? 

[emox4ever]

4 hours ago, Referableorc said:

Weren't you already accepted to the program on March 22? 

it  seem to be an oral acceptance

Edited April 2, 2020 by emox4ever

[latenightlatte]

21 hours ago, babsi said:

Accepted to CalArts! 

I think you're right @latenightlatte and I agree that the interview call was lovely however brief!

Probably won't accept since the funding from UCSD is hard to ignore. Hope everyone is doing alright amidst all this madness. 

Got the email as well, far shorter than the week they quoted. 

I have an old hub login from last go around (maybe they sent these out to everyone by now). It seems my financial aid is processing for 2020-2021 so if you submitted your FAFSA to them I'm sure its the same! Fingers crossed. Congrats on UCSD and the funding! 

Edited April 2, 2020 by latenightlatte

[babsi]

1 hour ago, latenightlatte said:

Got the email as well, far shorter than the week they quoted. 

I have an old hub login from last go around (maybe they sent these out to everyone by now). It seems my financial aid is processing for 2020-2021 so if you submitted your FAFSA to them I'm sure its the same! Fingers crossed. Congrats on UCSD and the funding! 

Congrats!

Yeah, same for me, but it was like that even before being accepted. Hope they're swift! and thank you!

[paintpaintpaintpaint]

anyone else thinking about deferring until next year because of the uncertainty about covid-19?

I’ve heard from multiple grad students and some faculty (in NY & the UC system) that have been advised to be ready to teach remotely in the fall. 

Been feeling like this year might be so hectic. It’s def making my decision making process way more stressful. 

 

[Squirrel8296]

4 hours ago, paintpaintpaintpaint said:

anyone else thinking about deferring until next year because of the uncertainty about covid-19?

I’ve heard from multiple grad students and some faculty (in NY & the UC system) that have been advised to be ready to teach remotely in the fall. 

Been feeling like this year might be so hectic. It’s def making my decision making process way more stressful. 

 

I wanted to defer but some schools won't let you. I would contact the places you got in to see if it is even a possibility before you you make that decision, otherwise it may turn into whether or not you want to have to go through the whole application process again.

For example, IU wouldn't even budge on our decision deadline so I ended up deciding to just reapply for grad school in a few years.

[kaymacface]

On 3/31/2020 at 3:06 PM, Painfullywaiting said:

Has anyone heard back from the University of Washington 3D4M program? ?

I've been accepted to Painting. It was an interesting time though. I emailed to check on my application, they said I would hear by a certain date. The date came and went and nothing. Then I get a call asking if I was still available and how many other schools I had been accepted to. I was kind of caught off guard so after the phone call I emailed and said that I was very interested in the program and reiterated that I was still available. Then he called me back soon after and said that they decided to accept me. It almost felt like they kept getting people saying that they were no longer available (probably because they took so long to get back to us + COVID19), but that's just an assumption. A professor in Painting is the one who I've been in contact with so obviously the two departments aren't on a synced schedule, but I would recommend getting in contact.

[SpillToBuilt]

21 hours ago, paintpaintpaintpaint said:

anyone else thinking about deferring until next year because of the uncertainty about covid-19?

I’ve heard from multiple grad students and some faculty (in NY & the UC system) that have been advised to be ready to teach remotely in the fall. 

Been feeling like this year might be so hectic. It’s def making my decision making process way more stressful. 

 

Just my two cents. MFA from home is kind of great. Way more time to focus on making work, and Zoom meetings for classes and advisor meetings go surprisingly well. The only downside is critique class kind of sucks. Oh, and the work you make is obviously limited to what you have access to outside of school, but this is forcing me way outside of my comfort zone, in a great way. So if it were me, I would start this year if you can, unless maybe if you have something better to do?

[Loleagle]

On 4/3/2020 at 12:19 PM, paintpaintpaintpaint said:

anyone else thinking about deferring until next year because of the uncertainty about covid-19?

I’ve heard from multiple grad students and some faculty (in NY & the UC system) that have been advised to be ready to teach remotely in the fall. 

Been feeling like this year might be so hectic. It’s def making my decision making process way more stressful. 

 

I asked to be accepted to Hunter in the Spring (but Hunter has both fall and spring admission) 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Googlyeyes

[ColumbiaCurrentStudent]

If you are accepted to Columbia’s MFA program and want answers/perspectives from the current student’s- contact us at columbia.covid2022@gmail.com ASAP. 
 

For All- online learning for your MFA’s is not comparable to in-person engagement, IMO. My advice is to look at how your possible programs are dealing with this current situation to gage how this might be handled in the Fall (if a resurgence happens). 
 

Good Luck to ALL! 

[columbiamfa]

Hey, current visual arts MFA at Columbia University here. The administration isn't being transparent with those of you who've been admitted and we current students feel you have the right to know what you're potentially getting into; Columbia's COV-19 recovery plan will affect the incoming MFA class of 2022.

To anyone who is considering accepting Columbia's offer, please contact columbia.covid2022@gmail.com.

Speaking more generally as someone living in New York City right now, I would advise all prospective MFAs (no matter the school) to tread very carefully right now and consider deferral if it is an option for you. Nothing in the arts will return to "business as usual" anytime soon. There is no guarantee that course requirements such as studio visits and group critique will resume normally in the fall. Even if shelter in place orders are suspended, understand that the range of visiting artists/critics/curators willing to travel your way and conduct studio visits/give lectures/attend crits in person will be greatly reduced. Events like open studios and thesis shows will see vastly decreased attendance volume. These interactions are where your opportunities for professional development post-grad school would have ostensibly gotten their start-- you will find them increasingly unavailable in the immediate aftermath of this current global health crisis. That leads me to my last point, a broad one but it seems necessary to reiterate in case the severity and far reaching implications of our current situation still aren't clear to everyone: the aftermath of this pandemic will see catastrophic blows to opportunities in the art world as we know it. Mid-tier galleries and museums without generous endowments will likely remain closed even after the smoke clears. Artist assistantships, fabrication jobs and art handling gigs will be all but gone as we hurtle towards a recession worse than the Great Depression, decimating production demand within the art market (art becomes a "nonessential" frivolity to moneyed collectors who will instead turn their investment efforts towards outfitting their pandemic-proof underground bunkers).

All of this is to say, investing in your professional future as an artist has always involved accepting a great degree of precarity and risk. Our current moment increases that uncertainty tenfold, to a point where I feel personally compelled to address those for whom an MFA would mean assuming a lifetime of student loan debt. If you want to maximize the opportunities that an MFA experience could afford you, now is not the time to enroll.

[Loleagle]

--just realized Columbia MFAs had already posted

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by Googlyeyes

[aguascalientes]

8 hours ago, MFA Troll said:

 Making art is the best therapy so keep taking your art practice seriously . Please Please  Please do not give any art institution your money. If you a are trust fund artist (it's fine most people on here are wildly privileged), please give your tuition money to a local food bank.  I've been trolling this forum since 2009 because I find the delusion on here to be wildly entertaining. However, given the current devastation I feel compelled to chime in now. 10 years ago I was in your boat, so I get it (kind of). I went to a fully funded program in the NYC area and was able to save enough money from the TAship to move to NYC.  BUT I still regret it.... I have a ton of friends with 'top' degrees and .25 mil of debt that they have never made a single payment towards. During the pre-covid19 era art world jobs were complete garbage and my colleagues (now approaching their 40) still live with 3+ roomates in grimmy conditions. Today, the art economy that was always built on exploitation is completely cratering. The art world is OVER. Pretty much every single museum fired their entire staff, despite billion dollar endowments. Most art world jobs are contracted, so artists don't qualify for any type of assistance. Art schools are pyramid schemes. What's more, they instill mental complexes in their graduates. 'Emerging' artists internalize their lack of financial success in the same way MLM 'entrepreneurs' process their own financial struggles. "I just need to network more, work harder and believe in myself." Sorry, believing in yourself is not enough. Professors are delusional ego maniacs who can't comprehend their own privileges, so don't believe anything they feed you. Their entire lifestyle depends on swindeling vulnerable aspiring artists.  The good news? You are already are an artist!! I'm sorry to say however that your are not the 'elite, special' candidate that these scammers make you believe. Thousands of people are dying in NYC right now.  My co-workers 39 year old sister died this week. The funeral home up the block rented a refrigeration truck. NYC is terrifying.  I went to grad school because I thought it would help me. It didn't. Maybe now is the magic moment when artists drop the capitalistic, 'genius' model and actually start building communities. There's basically nothing left to aspire to at this point, so why not start looking outward and think of ways to help the world rather than calcify our individual artistic egos. What is next for art?

Thanks for speaking the truth here and now. 

Living hell. With death looming over it's hard to care about the artificial and contrived world of art MFA. 

When I researched MFA programs in the US, I looked at the faculty and student work at many top schools and came to the conclusion that grad school life would be essentially having to critique mediocre artists' work and having mediocre artists' critique my work, which isn't exactly productive to my own practice. I still applied because I thought having an MFA degree and connections would make my professional life easier. That's out of the picture now, and I believe more than ever in just working on my own.

Take care 

[Loleagle]

15 hours ago, MFA Troll said:

 Making art is the best therapy so keep taking your art practice seriously . Please Please  Please do not give any art institution your money. If you a are trust fund artist (it's fine most people on here are wildly privileged), please give your tuition money to a local food bank.  I've been trolling this forum since 2009 because I find the delusion on here to be wildly entertaining. However, given the current devastation I feel compelled to chime in now. 10 years ago I was in your boat, so I get it (kind of). I went to a fully funded program in the NYC area and was able to save enough money from the TAship to move to NYC.  BUT I still regret it.... I have a ton of friends with 'top' degrees and .25 mil of debt that they have never made a single payment towards. During the pre-covid19 era art world jobs were complete garbage and my colleagues (now approaching their 40) still live with 3+ roomates in grimmy conditions. Today, the art economy that was always built on exploitation is completely cratering. The art world is OVER. Pretty much every single museum fired their entire staff, despite billion dollar endowments. Most art world jobs are contracted, so artists don't qualify for any type of assistance. Art schools are pyramid schemes. What's more, they instill mental complexes in their graduates. 'Emerging' artists internalize their lack of financial success in the same way MLM 'entrepreneurs' process their own financial struggles. "I just need to network more, work harder and believe in myself." Sorry, believing in yourself is not enough. Professors are delusional ego maniacs who can't comprehend their own privileges, so don't believe anything they feed you. Their entire lifestyle depends on swindeling vulnerable aspiring artists.  The good news? You are already are an artist!! I'm sorry to say however that your are not the 'elite, special' candidate that these scammers make you believe. Thousands of people are dying in NYC right now.  My co-workers 39 year old sister died this week. The funeral home up the block rented a refrigeration truck. NYC is terrifying.  I went to grad school because I thought it would help me. It didn't. Maybe now is the magic moment when artists drop the capitalistic, 'genius' model and actually start building communities. There's basically nothing left to aspire to at this point, so why not start looking outward and think of ways to help the world rather than calcify our individual artistic egos. What is next for art?

I see your point/have previously heard your point but this isn't really more true for MFA than for any other non STEM graduate degree. I mean have you read "The Death of an Adjunct."  People just love to harp on MFA for being a worthless degree but really most degrees (including a BA) are pretty "worthless" if you aren't majoring in STEM. But that doesn't mean people shouldn't study these things.

I think it is good for people to remember that is is very very unlikely you will have a big career in art (MFA or no MFA)  and to not take on an immense amount of debt because they feel the program will give them fame or wealth. Art is really the wrong field to get into if you think you will make money.  If you are reading this blog you will see that a lot of people are already turning down more "prestigious" offers because they would take on more debt.  

[emox4ever]

11 hours ago, MFA Troll said:

I hear you Googlyeyes. Sadly, many human beings need money to eat and pay rent. People go into 'fields' because they have bills. An untold percentage of artworld people are independently wealthy, so eating food is not an issue for them. It's time to be real about this and stop romanticizing suffering.  At one point I was an adjunct and living in a moldy basement apartment and I got phenomena. Last summer, my artist friend was killed by a truck while riding her bike to work (she couldn't afford to take the subway). Getting an MFA (even a low cost one) is a high end hobby. I'm a huge fan of learning and I believe that arts education is vital for all students. STEM graduates need art education. I know military scientists and tech geniuses that are complete block heads in terms of their ideologies because they have never read a single philosopher. If an institution is going to take  time and or money from a student they need to support them holistically and help them find ways to survive. As I see it, the biggest problem with art schools is they turn their students into aspirational class traitors. Looking back, I wish I had a mentor that encouraged me to find a way to make an ok living. The only direction I got was towards precarious artist assistant, art handling, non-profit, food service, garbage gigs and now those are all gone. At this point in history, I think working artists need to start identifying with their working class neighbors around the world. The ruling class is on top of this art pyramid, these trusties are currently dumping the artists in the sewers.  Arts schools at the moment are not places for radical thought, they are factories that mold fresh art slaves for entertaining the overlords. 

You're talking about capitalism. You're talking about reality. an art degree is not in itself a salary guarantee, nor  a golden key. being in MFA doesn't mean you have to do arty art. the elite art is shrinking, anyone could post their works online and get their oppotunities. and street artists became famous due to the the weight of media and popularity but not the "ruling class". No one turns anyone into a mouse man.  you can't be sure that the people who choose the moon rather than six pence are happy or not.  for me, If it makes me worse, it's because I didn't succeed in becoming an autonomous artist.then I will get a job and make art a lifelong hobby.

Edited April 7, 2020 by emox4ever

[aniben3]

Honestly, I'm not one for dramatics. I'm of the opinion that most of the people in this forum, at least the 2020 one, are pragmatic people. Otherwise, financials wouldn't be such a popular topic of discussion. I know that I turned down both SAIC and Cranbrook because they were too expensive. 

I'm five years out of undergrad (I do rec waiting and getting life experience before applying,) and I'm still in contact with my profs who are all dedicated, down-to-earth people. They've shown me real-life examples of what to do with an MFA degree. For those that are turning down offers and are wondering what to do with the next year, this is some of the stuff that I found helpful from my prof's recs: dig in deep, because your work is the most important thing. Keep exploring. Dig into the artists you admire, read their statements, read more critical theory. It will help you to articulate your thoughts about your art better. And, to wait for better funding because you'll have more options after. The big name schools are definitely for gallery careers later. It's good to think about what type of artist you want to be in 5 years. How can you start taking steps now to get there? Do you want to live in a big city? (You might've heard some of this before, but you never know!)

Maybe that seems too simplistic, but that's honestly what it's all about. Doing the work. (And yeah, you can do that from home. I live in a shoebox overseas, ahaha, and I've never expected to make it big because of the nature of my medium, nor do I want that from my life.) I want to get an MFA for many faceted reasons. I also find inherit value in education and being in an art environment. And to be honest? That's okay, lol. And no, I don't have a trust-fund. We probably shouldn't be engaging with someone who is a self-declared troll anyway, but discussion seems to have majorly stalled & that's a bummer. I wanna hear about people making work, what are y'all up to, what are ya reading? 

[Please Shut Up]

1 hour ago, MFA Troll said:

I recently found this fantastic article by Wayne Au. Vygotsky is hands down my favorite educational theorist. This article is the first time I've seen his work connected to Marxism, but it totally makes sense. I'm a crusader for art education, I just think it needs to transform.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/13d0/fcb79f96b21f4bb5741403a75df658c67036.pdf?_ga=2.209403986.1563997437.1586290958-2038418985.1586290958

Artists are people who have material needs. Gallery careers are an illusion. I graduated undergrad during the peek of the art market and my friend became legitimately famous and very influential. For the last 15 years he's employed a cadre of artists. He's at the very top of the artworld. It's a house of cards. He has close to a million in credit card debt and is facing bankruptcy (something students can't do).  My 26 year old self would totally ignore this advice but I'll go on to your chagrin. Three years ago, 36 artists died in a warehouse fire in Oakland, and since then I've became super concerned about the well being of artists. Max Harris is an artist who was charged and later acquitted of manslaughter in the case. In a New York Times Mag article Harris describes imagining that his former MICA professor would be proud of the enclave he built. Yes, the Ghost Ship artists were victims of the hyper-commodified housing market but the answer is not building a community in a tinderbox. Housing scarcity is an issue that affects all working class people, and the way to fight it is through grass-roots community organising.  In the art school model, universities are major drivers of the speculative real-estate market. Artist residency programs are created to art wash the reputations of the real-estate conglomerates that fund them. I know I'm coming off as harsh, but I'm trying in a very clumsy way, to radicalize your idea of what art is. The entire world is currently transforming, and I think imagination is the  key to the survival of the human race. Developing class-consciousness is painful, but think of it like a Yale critique for your political ideology. I hope everyone is making great art, I can't imagine dealing with without art. Solidarity!! 

Yes, you are doing it quite clumsily indeed. Some of us are not insecure egomaniacs like you and do not want the market to validate us. Wanting to get an MFA is fine. Get over the fact that your friend hit the art world jackpot and you didn't. Of course art is speculative, so are a million other things. Unless you are writing this out of your forest hermitage where all you partake in is some wholesome art pour l'lart, get off your high horse and ideally start a different thread so we can discuss the waiting period and waitlists here. 

[aniben3]

afkshdflaskjfaasdfajsdf

omfg it's like talking to a wall, but @Please Shut Up I choked on my tea when I saw your username, I love it ?

[dr. t]

I know we're all bored from staying inside, so in the interest of keeping sanity I've handed out some week-long silences. PM me if you have questions.