MFA 2021 Freak Out Forum

[everyonelikesbubbles]

FYI, received a RISD Sculpture interview request. 

 

Does anyone have an idea why SAIC Fiber application deadline is so late? It says April 1 online?

[kiddroy]

On 1/26/2021 at 10:22 PM, theundoing said:

Got it! I misunderstood and didn't see other comments on your comment. 

Could you possibly copy paste the email about yale having fewer applicants here or in a message. I applied painting/printmaking and didn't get it. Unless you applied in a different discipline. 

Just saw this post. Not sure if it has been pasted in this thread yet, but here is the portion in the email that mentioned the smaller applicant pool, which was sent out a couple days before deadline:

"Each year we also hear from admitted students who almost didn't apply, either because they doubted their chances at admission or they nearly lost the race against time in waiting for the literal eleventh hour (or last minute). Allowing uncertainty or procrastination to dictate one's potential future? That would be so silly! We truly hope to consider you in our applicant pool this year (which as of this writing is considerably smaller than it has been in years past), so don't miss it."

Not that I think it matters with the chances of acceptance, since they are also accepting half of what they usually do. But it is fascinating that Yale's admissions team would mention that in the emails.

Also thought about tagging @SpinTheWheel

[bearwallow]

45 minutes ago, everyonelikesbubbles said:

FYI, received a RISD Sculpture interview request. 

 

Does anyone have an idea why SAIC Fiber application deadline is so late? It says April 1 online?

Congrats on RISD! When did the email come through? 

[Niloosi]

Received an interview for SAIC, design program. Still waiting for RISD, Parson, Goldsmith and Glasgow. Is there anyone here applying for Industrial design programs? 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Niloosi

[everyonelikesbubbles]

6 hours ago, bearwallow said:

Congrats on RISD! When did the email come through? 

Thank you! Wednesday.

[everyonelikesbubbles]

7 hours ago, kiddroy said:

Just saw this post. Not sure if it has been pasted in this thread yet, but here is the portion in the email that mentioned the smaller applicant pool, which was sent out a couple days before deadline:

"Each year we also hear from admitted students who almost didn't apply, either because they doubted their chances at admission or they nearly lost the race against time in waiting for the literal eleventh hour (or last minute). Allowing uncertainty or procrastination to dictate one's potential future? That would be so silly! We truly hope to consider you in our applicant pool this year (which as of this writing is considerably smaller than it has been in years past), so don't miss it."

Not that I think it matters with the chances of acceptance, since they are also accepting half of what they usually do. But it is fascinating that Yale's admissions team would mention that in the emails.

Also thought about tagging @SpinTheWheel

I really appreciated that email! Yale has a very unpretentious tone that's a good sign and makes them approachable. In the zoom, they kept saying "Don't be afraid to apply..."

[artist wannabe]

did RISD already sent out interview invitations? I applied to painting.... is that a rejection for me then?

[mari11]

13 hours ago, everyonelikesbubbles said:

FYI, received a RISD Sculpture interview request. 

 

Does anyone have an idea why SAIC Fiber application deadline is so late? It says April 1 online?

Congratulations! And thank you for sharing, helps to cross one off the list! Best of luck in the interview!  

[acw97]

I have an interview with UCI this week, I was just wondering if anyone knows how many people they give interviews to each year and how many available spots they have in their program?

[mari11]

Has anyone heard anything from CalArts? Their application was one of the earlier ones (January 4th) so I'm feeling a bit nervous to have heard nothing back yet!

[joeyjoejoeshabbadoo]

On 1/15/2021 at 11:26 AM, Scrambledmegs said:

So does anyone know if NYAA just accepts everyone? I applied there and am now wondering if they are a total scam. For one, they let everyone interview AND they sent me an email asking me if I wanted to start Jan 11. Applications were not even due but they said they could “fast-track” my application and I could start right away. I said no obviously. I’m now dubious of the rigor of the program and the caliber of students. They don’t seem selective at all. I’m assuming the early start offer was on account of a desperate need for immediate tuition dollars. Am I right? 

could you expand on this? i'm pretty curious since I applied there. having seen some student work, i'm surprised you're in doubt of their quality.

has anyone else here applied to NYAA?

[ruralpaintin]

Hey y'all!

I've been checking in on this forum for a little while now and felt compelled to create an account and add some content. Recently got my last application in for graduate school. I'm applying to painting and studio programs for this upcoming fall. Below is my list of programs I applied to:

1. Carnegie Mellon University
2. Yale University
3. University of Pennsylvania (Received an invitation to interview)
4. University of Iowa
5. Hunter College
6. Indiana University — Bloomington

Such great energy on here and hope folks get their picks! We'll keep manifesting our goals and update as we go along.

[graciej]

just got an interview request from Indiana univ ?

[SocialKonstruct]

On 1/27/2021 at 5:17 PM, aniben3 said:

Yes, it really is! My website is here, I would love to see yours as well! Do you have a website or insta? 

albertabdulbarrwang.art is my website; albertabdulbarrwang is my IG handle :)

[SocialKonstruct]

6 hours ago, joeyjoejoeshabbadoo said:

could you expand on this? i'm pretty curious since I applied there. having seen some student work, i'm surprised you're in doubt of their quality.

has anyone else here applied to NYAA?

I had a friend who went to NYAA and sadly enough it is now tainted by the horrid legacy of Jeffrey Epstein. My friend's career never recovered from the abuse she suffered at that school.

[Purplepinkey]

RE: Interviews

Don't know how much this helps, as maybe not all interviews requests don't go out in a batch (or maybe they do and I am just being a Don Quixote ???)? 

I did hear back with interview requests for U of Chicago (for this week) and UC San Diego (for week of Feb 22.) Good luck to all those prepping! And to those waiting, don't forget to check your Spam or Promotions inboxes (as one of my request emails did land there :/)

Edited February 1, 2021 by Purplepinkey

[everyonelikesbubbles]

Wow that's so exciting. Theaster Gates teaches at Chicago: he is such an icon and has such an inspirational social practice. Lucky!

[katkat]

33 minutes ago, Purplepinkey said:

RE: Interviews

Don't know how much this helps, as maybe not all interviews requests don't go out in a batch (or maybe they do and I am just being a Don Quixote ???)? 

I did hear back with interview requests for U of Chicago (for this week) and UC San Diego (for week of Feb 22.) Good luck to all those prepping! And to those waiting, don't forget to check your Spam or Promotions inboxes (as one of my request emails did land there :/)

Thank you so much for sharing about checking my promotions inbox, mine was in there too and I would never have thought to look!!

[bearwallow]

41 minutes ago, Purplepinkey said:

RE: Interviews

Don't know how much this helps, as maybe not all interviews requests don't go out in a batch (or maybe they do and I am just being a Don Quixote ???)? 

I did hear back with interview requests for U of Chicago (for this week) and UC San Diego (for week of Feb 22.) Good luck to all those prepping! And to those waiting, don't forget to check your Spam or Promotions inboxes (as one of my request emails did land there :/)

Hope so! I have been trying to find out the exact interview protocol for a few of my schools and I literally can't find anything concrete. Anyone know of common MFA practice for interview requests? Batches or not?

[Scrambledmegs]

17 hours ago, joeyjoejoeshabbadoo said:

could you expand on this? i'm pretty curious since I applied there. having seen some student work, i'm surprised you're in doubt of their quality.

has anyone else here applied to NYAA?

So this is the email I received January 2nd.

 "I wanted to let you know that we are allowing students to start the MFA program this spring. Essentially, you would take your fall first semester courses this spring 2021 and your spring second semester courses in summer 2021. You would then be all caught up with your required first year classes by the end of the summer and would continue into your second year in fall 2021. The semester enrollment dates are listed below.

We have a few spots remaining for this special group. Please let me know if you are interested and we can fast track your application. Otherwise, the early consideration deadline remains January 15, 2021 if you prefer the September 2021 start date. "

I'm not sure if everyone got this email, but I found it a little suspect that they would want me to start early.  I can't imagine why that could be unless they need tuition money.  I went ahead and had my interview with them last week.  Everyone there seems really nice.  I was a bit disappointed they didn't ask about anything having to do with the meaning of my work especially considering my work is quite controversial and grotesque at times.  

As far as the quality of their students goes, to my knowledge everyone they posted was a second year student.  So they are that good after a highly intensive atelier like year of education.  That doesn't necessarily mean the incoming students are any good at all which is my main concern.  It could easily be a situation in which they are not very selective but train up everyone to be good or weed out the ones that aren't in the first year. 

Still, there is a lot I like about the school.  I love love love the figurative focus and find it a good fit because I'm a very realistic painter.  Taken all together, if they give me a major scholarship (the largest is 20,000 according to my interviewer) I would consider it an option.  Final decisions should be out February 15th fyi.  

[Scrambledmegs]

11 hours ago, SocialKonstruct said:

I had a friend who went to NYAA and sadly enough it is now tainted by the horrid legacy of Jeffrey Epstein. My friend's career never recovered from the abuse she suffered at that school.

The Epstein thing is just awful.  And I'm sorry to hear your friend had a bad experience at the school.  If you don't mind me asking, was the school personally inappropriate or were they artistically damaging to your friend?

[mfaer]

22 hours ago, acw97 said:

I have an interview with UCI this week, I was just wondering if anyone knows how many people they give interviews to each year and how many available spots they have in their program?

Also interviewing this week. I heard that every cohort has about 10-11 people. What is your focus?

[joeyjoejoeshabbadoo]

@Scrambledmegs
i'd forgotten a similar offer was extended to me as well, even though I applied for the fall semester, AND I have yet to be accepted to the MFA program, AND I am still an undergrad this spring semester AND I already have a commitment with the academy this summer in their undergrad residency program!!! So I think it's safe to assume the accelerated timetable offer went out to a massively broad mailing list, to try to compensate for the huge mess (logistically and financially) that covid has left the academy with. They seem to just want people to know 2020 was fucked and they're trying to make moving forward easy for people. still odd though.

interesting to me as well they didn't remark on the controversial/grotesque aspect of your work, but I guess with people like Eric Fischl affiliated with the academy, they're used to it haha. that one painting with the guy jerking off in a kiddy pool comes to mind.

I'm not as concerned with the level of incoming talent; bodes well for my acceptance! I wonder if they do actually weed out first years who don't make the cut (and what that would look like). I saw last year's final thesis work and I was mostly pleased (in some cases, blown away!) so that's not as big a concern for me.

thank you so much for all the perspective and info! hopefully we'll know by the 15th as you say and will have a good valentine's day lol.

and yes @SocialKonstruct I would find it helpful to hear in what way it affected your friend's time at the academy

[joeyjoejoeshabbadoo]

@Scrambledmegs i'll also say they were very considerate to me last year; I was meant to be in the summer program last year (but covid), so they deferred that acceptance to this year, and I got to do some free zoom workshops in the meantime with Melanie Vote and Will Cotton, where I learned a lot! Painted along with Will Cotton twice. They also send weekly zoom links to a life drawing session, but I don't really see the value in life drawing online, after trying it once.

[Painfullywaiting]

Well I am definitely starting to freak out. I’ve had one interview with the Tyler ceramics dept. They said admission decisions should be out this month through March. I have not heard back from any of the other schools I’ve applied to. ? Has anyone heard from the following programs? 

Alfred (ceramics)

Cranbrook (ceramics)

Penn state (art)

UW (3D4M)

VCU (Craft and Material studies) 

UO (art)

University of Colorado Boulder (Art Practices)