MFA 2021 Freak Out Forum

[wambam]

I was reading about international students having trouble getting F1 Visas right now.  Is anyone experiencing this? If so, what’s your plan?

[xzg]

13 hours ago, wambam said:

I was reading about international students having trouble getting F1 Visas right now.  Is anyone experiencing this? If so, what’s your plan?

yes, here , i feel like it is unlikely for me to attend class in September. I can only try my best to apply for a visa and hope to get there not too late in the fall, which means i will likely miss few weeks or months of class. Also, I feel like should let the admission know about the situation, and see what they can accommodate and possibly reapply. Also wondering what is your situation and what are you plans?

Edited April 20, 2021 by xzg

[wambam]

7 hours ago, xzg said:

yes, here , i feel like it is unlikely for me to attend class in September. I can only try my best to apply for a visa and hope to get there not too late in the fall, which means i will likely miss few weeks or months of class. Also, I feel like should let the admission know about the situation, and see what they can accommodate and possibly reapply. Also wondering what is your situation and what are you plans?

I’m so sorry! What an awful predicament to be in.  I was reading about it yesterday, but it’s not my situation.  Here is the article:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/30/prospective-international-students-face-logistical-hurdles-related-visas-and-travel
 

Would a school even let a person start late?  Covid continues to really suck.  And applying to grad school during covid? A nightmare.  ?.  Just look how many more pages the forum is than on average! More applicants, less slots.  I’m going to try again next year.  At least I learned a lot.

[lizavetar96]

So here are my two cents with my results and observations. 

 

I applied for Photography, this was my first time applying and frankly, I was surprised by a positive response from the programs. 

 

SVA - accepted, no interview. (They called back in February for a “meeting” and told me I got in.) 50 per cent tuition reduction. 

 

Parsons - accepted, 2 interviews. 20 per cent tuition reduction. 

 

USC - accepted, 1 interview. No scholarship. 

 

CalArts - accepted, no interview. 42 per cent tuition reduction. 

 

University of Washington (Seattle) - accepted off the waitlist (I was told I was first person on the waitlist), 2 interviews. Full tuition remission plus teaching opportunities. 

 

University of Texas (Austin) - rejected, no interview. 

 

Tulane University (New Orleans) - rejected, no interview. 

 

I decided to go to University of Washington for the multitude of reasons. 

I think that the biggest deciding factor for me was reaching out to alumni and talking about their experiences. I reached out to recent alumni from 2019, but also to ones from 2017 whose experience is probably a bit more impartial as they graduated earlier. I asked Universities to connect me to some of them, but majority of emailing I did myself — I just cold emailed alumni whom I found through thesis showcase pages on those university webpages. 

I was incredibly lucky with people I met, they were not just talented artists, but also insightful and spoke honestly and seriously about their experiences. I am not going to go into details in order to respect privacy of what was said, but in short — I was astonished, to put it lightly, by the lack of professional encouragement and career tutoring that happens in the course of some of these MFA programs. And if my choice was at first between CalArts (for the faculty whom I absolutely love) and SVA (for their adjunct-faculty structure), knowing that no one actually teaches students the ways to potentially make it in the contemporary art world was a surprise to me. Especially, coupled with the stories about the debt that out of college might be 50k grows to 100k with interest and time was definitely a cold shower moment for me. And then comes a question — how can I make time to make art while I am a full-time student and work two or three jobs to pay off my tuition? Can I afford to make art after graduation with all the debt? Some other things to consider is that a lot of expensive private schools have really large classes (at a point SVA had 60 people in their Photo program) — how much of an intimate and personalized atmosphere can that be? While in a state fully-funded program your professors are more invested in you and your success and the professors actually keep tabs on you after graduation. 

I do not want anyone here to take my comments as an insult on the faculty of some of these bigger institutions -- I met some of them in person and they are lovely people, and work by others has been a formative influence on my visual practice. I am solely pointing at structural and institutional problems that in my opinion come from lack of fresh blood in management, lack of diverse voices amongst the administration and big bucks. 

University of Washington initially was my “bottom choice” school for the lower ranking (I still have no idea if it means anything at all) and how different the body of work of their Photomedia students is from mine. But taking in the factors that my MFA will be paid for, the fact that I will be teaching my own class and creating my own syllabus and how intimate my department is (they accept 3 people a year into the Photo program), I decided to accept.

I do encourage people to look at such factor such as teaching opportunities - as you come out of an MFA with a hirable skill that can somehow help you finance your art practice (you will be paid very little, but knowing that practically no MFA’s in East Coast provide teaching opportunities, teaching a University course is huge). 

 

I am very grateful for this Forum as I met some lovely and talented artists who helped me through these incredibly stressful times. As an international person (I am from Russia where there are more avenues for free higher education) it pains me to see when artists feel bad to ask a giant and wealthy institution for several more thousand dollars in financial aid or when they feel like they are not worthy of it. Because they are. Absolutely everyone is worthy of free education, it is our human right. Unfortunately, a lot of universities are not being honest when they say they can’t give people a full ride or, god forbid, several more thousands dollars for a scholarship. I got my BFA from New York University, where administration would rather buy more property in West Village rather than get new video equipment for students or give them higher scholarship. 

 

I am relocating to Seattle in September with my husband and two cats, Stanley and Peace Walker. Here is a link to my website https://erakhilkina.squarespace.com and my IG handle is @erakhilkina

Though Seattle definitely won’t be my final destination as I am planning to move to Berlin in several years. 

 

I will love to connect to fellow photo or/and queer artists! 

[sfhwol]

Hi everyone, thanks for all of your helpful posts over this very long journey! 

I am in the middle of making a final selection between 2 programs and could use some help: 

1. RCA (Royal College of Art) MA in Contemporary Art Practice (CAP) 
2. CalArts MFA in Art 

I am (mostly) a painter and am interested in expanding into installation with light, sound, and weaving/textile elements in addition to my paintings. I am currently based in San Francisco, CA. 

Does anyone have any insight into either program, especially the RCA CAP program? Or thoughts on these two programs and how they compare especially for a studio based practice? I am having a really tough time making a decision and am hopeful one of you might have some insight  

Financially they're going to cost about the same with the merit aid I received so that is not a major decision factor. 

I am mainly concerned about: 

1. Quality of program...to be honest don't have much info on RCA besides reputation  
2. Overall faculty + student culture...again don't have much info on RCA, for CalArts I was able to join their accepted students festival and some Zoom classes this spring which gave me a good sense 
3. City environment...what is it like to live in Valencia? how about the various campus environments at RCA? 
4. I heard the RCA program does not have classes...I am unclear on how the program is structured beyond weekly crits and individual tutors. It sounds like each person needs to have their own project ideas and then reach out to faculty that can help coach them on it? Having self-motivated project ideas sounds fine to me, but without the structure of classes I am a little concerned about faculty time availability...anyone have insight into this? 
5. Building a community and network...if I move to London to attend RCA, it's very possible I'd move back to San Francisco or somewhere else in the US after graduation. If this is the case, would it be better to build a network in the US by attending CalArts? Does an overseas MA "translate" in US contexts/environments? 

Thank you all in advance for your advice and comments! I appreciate you! 

[guitarhero]

On 4/20/2021 at 11:54 AM, xzg said:

yes, here , i feel like it is unlikely for me to attend class in September. I can only try my best to apply for a visa and hope to get there not too late in the fall, which means i will likely miss few weeks or months of class. Also, I feel like should let the admission know about the situation, and see what they can accommodate and possibly reapply. Also wondering what is your situation and what are you plans?

Wait what's going on with your visa? Is the embassy closed in your area?  Damn, I haven't started the visa process yet but I assumed it wouldn't take too long since the embassies are open again.

[wambam]

2 hours ago, guitarhero said:

Wait what's going on with your visa? Is the embassy closed in your area?  Damn, I haven't started the visa process yet but I assumed it wouldn't take too long since the embassies are open again.

It depends on where you live... 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html#

[guitarhero]

3 hours ago, wambam said:

It depends on where you live... 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html#

?

[FreakinOut24]

On 4/5/2021 at 3:04 PM, elix said:

Any accepted VCU Photo and Film prospective students out there? I'm currently waitlisted at UofArk and got accepted into VCU (Still waiting to hear back about funding) and don't know what to doooo. The april 15th deadline is stressing me out because i have to let VCU know while i still might not know about Arkansas

. 

 

Edited March 20 by FreakinOut24