MFA 2021 Freak Out Forum

[NoraEllie]

On 2/6/2021 at 1:37 PM, Scrambledmegs said:

Honestly this is so true. After that rejection, I was sure my grad school dreams were completely sunk. But that advice should comfort anyone who received a Yale rejection too. This is an extremely RANDOM roll the dice kind of process. No one should take a rejection or an acceptance too much to heart. We all know who we are. When it comes downs to it, getting in or not is a reflection of individual fit with a school not value of our work. 

I agree! I really do believe that art schools that are super hard to get into choose students at random— I believe they don’t even look at all students once they’ve reached the max students they want to interview which I don’t really believe is fair. But I definitely agree with you!

Edited February 8, 2021 by NoraEllie

[NoraEllie]

On 1/30/2021 at 12:30 PM, JellyRoll said:

Especially eager to hear about any news from BU painting. Of course, I’ll share, too, if I’m lucky enough to get any!

Sorry wrong reply. 

Edited February 8, 2021 by NoraEllie

[NoraEllie]

On 1/30/2021 at 11:53 AM, joeyjoejoeshabbadoo said:

Hi diddily ho stressed-erinos!

I applied to the painting/fine arts MFA programs at:

NYAA
LCAD
Boston U
Texas Christian U
PAFA

I will post here again when I hear back from them, if that is helpful
I also have an interview with NYAA, which I can share questions from if anyone would like that

Ahh! I just applied to New York Academy of art? Please enlighten me! How did it go?

Also, is their deadline until February or March? I had schools mail my transcripts since they do not not receive any other way or format. 

Edited February 8, 2021 by NoraEllie

[bearwallow]

It sounded like they have been doing them in stages and that they will be done inviting people to interview this week. So they are doing rounds, and the rounds will conclude this week. The person I talked to said they’d send me a timeline at tomorrow the latest, I will post it here when I get it! 

[NoraEllie]

8 minutes ago, bearwallow said:

It sounded like they have been doing them in stages and that they will be done inviting people to interview this week. So they are doing rounds, and the rounds will conclude this week. The person I talked to said they’d send me a timeline at tomorrow the latest, I will post it here when I get it! 

What school is this for? 

[Hphphphp]

26 minutes ago, NoraEllie said:

I agree! I really do believe that art schools that are super hard to get into choose students at random— I believe they don’t even look at all students once they’ve reached the max students they want to interview which I don’t really believe is fair. But I definitely agree with you!

For really selective schools, what I’ve heard they do (I heard this from a senior critic at Yale) is they go through your portfolio very rapidly to figure out whether they will interview you or not, and they only read your statement and recs if you are selected to interview. That’s why your portfolio is hands down the most important element in your application !!  

[Finn2021]

1 hour ago, papayalalala said:

Could you tell me when you heard from U of Chicago for an interview? Good luck for your interviews! 

Yeah, they requested an interview Jan 15, scheduled me for Feb 5, and said they would give answers by the end of Feb. Hope that helped ? 

[NoraEllie]

15 minutes ago, Hphphphp said:

For really selective schools, what I’ve heard they do (I heard this from a senior critic at Yale) is they go through your portfolio very rapidly to figure out whether they will interview you or not, and they only read your statement and recs if you are selected to interview. That’s why your portfolio is hands down the most important element in your application !!  

My art is very abstract/realistic? I really thought I had a good chance when it came to Yale because their past students, about 80% from what I have seen focus more on 3D and abstract rather than realism. I've seen VERY few that students that paint within realism at Yale. My art also focused around middle eastern culture so I guess it wasn't what they were looking for! 

[CABClay]

Has anyone heard from Alfred Ceramics for an interview yet?

[vitbit]

How long does it usually take for decisions to be sent out after interviews? I had an interview with MICA last week and completely forgot to ask about timeline

[ruralpaintin]

Jumping on the band wagon with a rejection from Yale for painting ? ? From reading past forums other programs I applied to should be sending out notifications soon. Projected timeline for Hunter Painting applicants? I assume with their pushback date of submission, notifications will be later than expected. 

Waiting to hear back from Hunter College, Indiana University, and University of Iowa. I have an interview with the University of Pennsylvania this week. A friend who interviewed there told me notifications would come out the second week of March for them. 

[bearwallow]

1 hour ago, NoraEllie said:

What school is this for? 

MICA Mount Royal 

[Gahhhhhhh]

3 hours ago, lizavetar96 said:

Hey! I just had an interview with SVA for Photography and it went extremely well, I am pretty sure from what the professor told me on Zoom, I am going to get an offer this week. 
 

My decision on going or not going is highly dependent on ability to get funds. I applied to Fafsa several months ago, how do I find out if Fafsa will allot me any funds to go to a specific school or if I am qualified for a work study? Also, is it too late to apply for grants for 2021 fall academic year? Or is it even realistic to think that i can raise around 13k in grants? (I am hoping that I can get an assistantship in SVA and that will shave off half of tuition). I know that I will NEVER take out loans or go into debt in order to afford grad school. 

Congratulations! When did you hear from them about the interview? Was it via an email? 

Also what was the interview like? How long was it and what kind of questions did they ask? 

 

Thanks! 

[somethingaboutdslrs]

3 hours ago, Hphphphp said:

They started sending interview invites early last week I don’t know if they are done sending them though  

Thank you! I hope they haven't finished lol because that confirms my rejection.

[Hphphphp]

2 minutes ago, somethingaboutdslrs said:

Thank you! I hope they haven't finished lol because that confirms my rejection.

I have applied to atp twice, last time I didn’t get an interview and I had a rejection by late Jan, so if you haven’t received any rejection notice then maybe they are doing two rounds of interviews? You could call and ask  

[dgrkrk]

When submitting portfolios on SlideRoom do you guys actually put descriptions of your works in the "Additional Details" section, or do you just leave it blank? (Especially for abstract works)

[Painfullywaiting]

This doesn’t seem like a popular school on the thread, but I just received an interview for PNCA visual studies.
 

Still waiting on PSU, U of Oregon, U of washington, VCU, U of Colorado Boulder and Alfred. 

 

[Painfullywaiting]

1 hour ago, dgrkrk said:

When submitting portfolios on SlideRoom do you guys actually put descriptions of your works in the "Additional Details" section, or do you just leave it blank? (Especially for abstract works)

I did for each piece. For detail photos I put “photo showing detail” or something along those lines. 

[Paintyface]

1 hour ago, dgrkrk said:

When submitting portfolios on SlideRoom do you guys actually put descriptions of your works in the "Additional Details" section, or do you just leave it blank? (Especially for abstract works)

I did for one program because it didn't require a personal or artist statement so that was the only opportunity I had to explain my process. For programs where I had to submit statements it seemed repetitive so I didn't...

[cabindweller]

1 hour ago, dgrkrk said:

When submitting portfolios on SlideRoom do you guys actually put descriptions of your works in the "Additional Details" section, or do you just leave it blank? (Especially for abstract works)

When talking to schools (in portfolio reviews etc.) I heard from multiple people to always put in descriptions. This could be about the artwork, the materials, the concept, questions or challenges you encountered, a story about it, etc. So...yeah!!

[joeyjoejoeshabbadoo]

5 hours ago, NoraEllie said:

Ahh! I just applied to New York Academy of art? Please enlighten me! How did it go?

Also, is their deadline until February or March? I had schools mail my transcripts since they do not not receive any other way or format. 

I got in their early deadline. I think the hard one is feb.

it's gone well so far! I elected to do an interview (you can simply sign up) and it was pleasant. I made a post about it ITT

[joeyjoejoeshabbadoo]

1 hour ago, dgrkrk said:

When submitting portfolios on SlideRoom do you guys actually put descriptions of your works in the "Additional Details" section, or do you just leave it blank? (Especially for abstract works)

I generally left it blank, but there were a couple instances of noteworthy info; one of my paintings was done en plein air and I went on location 12 times, carrying out a big ass easel and 4 foot canvas. so I thought that would be cool to mention.

[Popopopo]

1 hour ago, dgrkrk said:

When submitting portfolios on SlideRoom do you guys actually put descriptions of your works in the "Additional Details" section, or do you just leave it blank? (Especially for abstract works)

I will put the description on the first work of each programs, I don’t know if I should put the same description through all slides of one program. I’m also very curious

[Hphphphp]

1 hour ago, dgrkrk said:

When submitting portfolios on SlideRoom do you guys actually put descriptions of your works in the "Additional Details" section, or do you just leave it blank? (Especially for abstract works)

I wrote essential information and in some cases sort of poetic descriptions of what the paintings are. They don’t always read them tho

[gradschool124]

Did eveyones Yale rejection letter include this?:

Please note that while admission decisions for Fall 2021 are final, the committee requested that a message with regards to your potential for future candidacy be included in this letter. Our faculty took interest in your work and ideas noting that with some more development and time, they would like to see you reapply.