MFA 2021 Freak Out Forum

[srishty94]

5 hours ago, koolart said:

Has anyone heard from UT Austin? 

not yet.. still waiting on my PhD application for Health behav. and Health education program

[dgrkrk]

6 hours ago, geemun said:

Did you interview for Georgia State? I haven't heard anything 

I haven't ? 

[Wwwildatheart]

CalArts sent out invites to a photo history class or critique. Anyone have thoughts on which one would be better to go to? Or is there any CalArts candidates who have decided on one or the other? Or lastly anyone have experience doing these things through another program? Thanks

Edited February 28, 2021 by Wwwildatheart

[nobodyok]

1 hour ago, tszszsz said:

Curious if others are attending events for schools that they are waitlisted for?

Especially wondering about the more personal "drinks with students" events or smaller break out situations with faculty

I was waitlisted @ DoVA and am attending all of those exactly !

[yesterday100]

Anyone hear from CU Boulder? 

[artgradstudent49]

Anyone have any advice on the following mfa in interior design programs/ which one you would choose out of them? 

Pratt (3 yr)

Parsons (2 yr)

New york school of interior design (3 yr) 

Any input would be appreciated!

Edited March 1, 2021 by artgradstudent49

[geeeeebie]

4 hours ago, teetertotter said:

HALP! 

 

I got into SVA and SAIC low res. I'm so back and forth on where to go. SAIC still hasn't offered a financial package, but SVA offered 20% off. Any thoughts? NYC vs Chicago? Program directors are very different!! Which program do you think is better?? ANY thoughts welcome at this point... I'm utterly torn.

 

I personally visited the MFA studios at SVA a few years back and was really unimpressed... and as someone currently living in New York i really rarely meet artists with grad degrees from there/ no one is talking about that program highly. This is my personal experience, but I've just heard sooo much good stuff about SAIC - and that community would transfer to NY for sure

[geeeeebie]

3 hours ago, dgrkrk said:

I haven't ? 

Me neither but it seems like they did interviews already Heres hoping for a second round aha 

[SocialKonstruct]

20 minutes ago, geemun said:

I personally visited the MFA studios at SVA a few years back and was really unimpressed... and as someone currently living in New York i really rarely meet artists with grad degrees from there/ no one is talking about that program highly. This is my personal experience, but I've just heard sooo much good stuff about SAIC - and that community would transfer to NY for sure

I actually think SVA studios have gotten a lot better since then. I have done their online residencies last summer and this winter. 

[antlore]

On 2/27/2021 at 11:56 AM, CSElli said:

I just finished my Hunter interview... and it went great! Andrea Blum and Tom Weaver asked thought provoking questions and were great listeners. I was required to screen share five images and walk them through the work. They had great follow-up questions and while they were on a time crunch, they were very polite about it. I asked almost all the same questions as I did in my MICA interview and they responded very positively. Even letting me know that if enough students are interested in a new program (like inviting alumni back for artist talks) then they are open to it. The interview was short (20 minutes) but the time felt valuable to me. I feel inspired and I may even start a new painting today!
If anyone has a Hunter interview coming up, I hope you have a similar experience! 

Hi! Very exciting your interview went well! I have one tomorrow & am pretty nervous! I was wondering if they asked you to talk about ur specific interest in the program at Hunter? 

[CSElli]

33 minutes ago, antlore said:

Hi! Very exciting your interview went well! I have one tomorrow & am pretty nervous! I was wondering if they asked you to talk about ur specific interest in the program at Hunter? 

Actually... now that I think about it... not really. We ended up talking about the program when I asked questions, but the interview goes by so fast. I would suggest prepping for the question just in case. For example, in my case I enjoy the work the current students are making. I also researched the TriBeCa area. I hope your interview goes well. They really seem to be invested in their students! 

[Maldoror]

Hi everyone, I got accepted into SAIC, UMN, UIC, and Alfred (interviewed with CMU, MICA and Austin and still waiting to hear back). So all of these programs offered a tuition waiver and a living stipend except for SAIC whose financial package only covered 50%-60% of the tuition. Realistically speaking, going to a funded program will allow me to keep paying mortgage on my condo so that my parents have a place to live... However, SAIC is my dream school and I feel that I might regret in the future if I went to a different program due to funding. I come from a financially challenged background so I'm wondering if it's worth taking out a 50k student loan to attend SAIC? The 50k would pay for the remaining tuition, housing and health insurance. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!

[SocialKonstruct]

5 minutes ago, Maldoror said:

Hi everyone, I got accepted into SAIC, UMN, UIC, and Alfred (interviewed with CMU, MICA and Austin and still waiting to hear back). So all of these programs offered a tuition waiver and a living stipend except for SAIC whose financial package only covered 50%-60% of the tuition. Realistically speaking, going to a funded program will allow me to keep paying mortgage on my condo so that my parents have a place to live... However, SAIC is my dream school and I feel that I might regret in the future if I went to a different program due to funding. I come from a financially challenged background so I'm wondering if it's worth taking out a 50k student loan to attend SAIC? The 50k would pay for the remaining tuition, housing and health insurance. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!

I would vote heavily in favor of SAIC. But that's just me.

[aniben3]

23 minutes ago, Maldoror said:

Hi everyone, I got accepted into SAIC, UMN, UIC, and Alfred (interviewed with CMU, MICA and Austin and still waiting to hear back). So all of these programs offered a tuition waiver and a living stipend except for SAIC whose financial package only covered 50%-60% of the tuition. Realistically speaking, going to a funded program will allow me to keep paying mortgage on my condo so that my parents have a place to live... However, SAIC is my dream school and I feel that I might regret in the future if I went to a different program due to funding. I come from a financially challenged background so I'm wondering if it's worth taking out a 50k student loan to attend SAIC? The 50k would pay for the remaining tuition, housing and health insurance. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!

My thought would be the funded programs - if you’re so in debt after getting your MFA that you can’t afford to make art and you’re too busy working to survive, then it kinda cancels out why you went in the first place. 
 

My other thought is what are you planning to do after? If it’s teaching, SAIC doesn’t have that many TAships so you won’t get as much experience. 
 

It is your dream school so that’s a tough call, but getting an MFA with less debt would be the option I would take. 

[berries]

1 hour ago, Maldoror said:

Hi everyone, I got accepted into SAIC, UMN, UIC, and Alfred (interviewed with CMU, MICA and Austin and still waiting to hear back). So all of these programs offered a tuition waiver and a living stipend except for SAIC whose financial package only covered 50%-60% of the tuition. Realistically speaking, going to a funded program will allow me to keep paying mortgage on my condo so that my parents have a place to live... However, SAIC is my dream school and I feel that I might regret in the future if I went to a different program due to funding. I come from a financially challenged background so I'm wondering if it's worth taking out a 50k student loan to attend SAIC? The 50k would pay for the remaining tuition, housing and health insurance. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!

I have a close friend who got her MFA at SAIC. She has been helping me with the application process and her advice to me was to go to a school that gives me a full ride. Or at least pays most of my tuition. If I were in your position, I would probably go to UIC but it's just me. I have a few friends who went to UIC as well and they said it was a good experience. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by berries

[sunnydelightt]

Just checked my USC application and my application wasn’t processed until after the deadline but I sent it in before. Did this happen to anyone else?

 

I’m hoping this doesn’t change their decision.

[Strawberrycat]

4 hours ago, Maldoror said:

Hi everyone, I got accepted into SAIC, UMN, UIC, and Alfred (interviewed with CMU, MICA and Austin and still waiting to hear back). So all of these programs offered a tuition waiver and a living stipend except for SAIC whose financial package only covered 50%-60% of the tuition. Realistically speaking, going to a funded program will allow me to keep paying mortgage on my condo so that my parents have a place to live... However, SAIC is my dream school and I feel that I might regret in the future if I went to a different program due to funding. I come from a financially challenged background so I'm wondering if it's worth taking out a 50k student loan to attend SAIC? The 50k would pay for the remaining tuition, housing and health insurance. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!

Another thing to think about is that a 50k loan means paying back way more than 50k. Not that you wouldn't know that, but sometimes it's easy to forget how much interest adds on over the life of a loan that large. I don't have experience with this directly, but an admissions counselor from a school told me that you can always ask for more aid. They may say no since I think 50-60 percent is pretty good as far as SAIC is concerned, but they also may be able to give you a bit more if they have the budget for it and you let them know you have multiple fully funded offers, but that SAIC is somewhere you'd love to be if you could make it happen financially. If it's your dream school, I totally understand wanting to go for it. That's an incredibly tough decision. I think I would personally take one of the fully funded offers if it were me choosing, just because I would be afraid of that kind of debt and I also come from a financially challenged background. But big congrats on all of those acceptances, no matter what you decide! 

[Strawberrycat]

30 minutes ago, sunnydelightt said:

Just checked my USC application and my application wasn’t processed until after the deadline but I sent it in before. Did this happen to anyone else?

 

I’m hoping this doesn’t change their decision.

Sometimes the app servers run on Eastern time even though the program and actual deadline is PST. Did you turn it in right before the deadline? That happened to me for a different school and they said it was fine still. 

Also did you have your official transcripts sent to them? I was checking my yousc account thing and saw some generic checklist saying they were supposed to be sent in, but I thought they were fine with the unofficial ones until you get in? So I haven't sent them and I hope that doesn't mess me up either. ?

Edited March 1, 2021 by Strawberrycat
Typo

[Scrambledmegs]

5 hours ago, Maldoror said:

Hi everyone, I got accepted into SAIC, UMN, UIC, and Alfred (interviewed with CMU, MICA and Austin and still waiting to hear back). So all of these programs offered a tuition waiver and a living stipend except for SAIC whose financial package only covered 50%-60% of the tuition. Realistically speaking, going to a funded program will allow me to keep paying mortgage on my condo so that my parents have a place to live... However, SAIC is my dream school and I feel that I might regret in the future if I went to a different program due to funding. I come from a financially challenged background so I'm wondering if it's worth taking out a 50k student loan to attend SAIC? The 50k would pay for the remaining tuition, housing and health insurance. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!

My fiancé chose MCAD over SAIC due to finances and has always regretted it. He still has a lot of debt anyway but his monthly payments are small and income adjusted. He feels like in the long run, taking out a little more wouldn’t have mattered. It’s a hard choice. I’d wait to hear from CMU too because I think they are of a similar caliber to SAIC. 

[sunnydelightt]

2 hours ago, Strawberrycat said:

Sometimes the app servers run on Eastern time even though the program and actual deadline is PST. Did you turn it in right before the deadline? That happened to me for a different school and they said it was fine still. 

Also did you have your official transcripts sent to them? I was checking my yousc account thing and saw some generic checklist saying they were supposed to be sent in, but I thought they were fine with the unofficial ones until you get in? So I haven't sent them and I hope that doesn't mess me up either. ?

Well I got a confirmation email on deadline day saying it was accepted so I’m not sure. I emailed them to check up on it to make sure it was okay. 
 

and yes I did official transcripts!

[kwemo]

3 hours ago, Scrambledmegs said:

My fiancé chose MCAD over SAIC due to finances and has always regretted it. He still has a lot of debt anyway but his monthly payments are small and income adjusted. He feels like in the long run, taking out a little more wouldn’t have mattered. It’s a hard choice. I’d wait to hear from CMU too because I think they are of a similar caliber to SAIC. 

Do you know why he regrets it? Is it more so that SAIC is a more elite school or is the MFA program at MCAD underwhelming?

Edited March 1, 2021 by kwemo

[geeeeebie]

11 hours ago, SocialKonstruct said:

I actually think SVA studios have gotten a lot better since then. I have done their online residencies last summer and this winter. 

I meant more about the quality of the work. but this was for painting/sculpture, so I cant speak to other departments. 

[slickjaketheruler]

9 hours ago, Maldoror said:

Hi everyone, I got accepted into SAIC, UMN, UIC, and Alfred (interviewed with CMU, MICA and Austin and still waiting to hear back). So all of these programs offered a tuition waiver and a living stipend except for SAIC whose financial package only covered 50%-60% of the tuition. Realistically speaking, going to a funded program will allow me to keep paying mortgage on my condo so that my parents have a place to live... However, SAIC is my dream school and I feel that I might regret in the future if I went to a different program due to funding. I come from a financially challenged background so I'm wondering if it's worth taking out a 50k student loan to attend SAIC? The 50k would pay for the remaining tuition, housing and health insurance. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated!

I would maybe start and think about the people you met at each university. Do you feel you have met enough grads and faculty at each school to make a good decision? One of the things I’m doing, is setting up virtual studio visits with the current grads now, so I can get a feel as to who would be looking at my work. They often have a lot more insight into the university than we give them credit for.

[SocialKonstruct]

9 hours ago, aniben3 said:

My thought would be the funded programs - if you’re so in debt after getting your MFA that you can’t afford to make art and you’re too busy working to survive, then it kinda cancels out why you went in the first place. 
 

My other thought is what are you planning to do after? If it’s teaching, SAIC doesn’t have that many TAships so you won’t get as much experience. 
 

It is your dream school so that’s a tough call, but getting an MFA with less debt would be the option I would take. 

I think much of it hinges on whether you want to enter into the contemporary art gallery system more easily. Gallerists (who often are not artists themselves) will see SAIC and are going to be partial to that.

[SocialKonstruct]

1 hour ago, kwemo said:

Do you know why he regrets it? Is it more so that SAIC is a more elite school or is the MFA program at MCAD underwhelming?

I suspect that he felt that going to SAIC would have opened up more doors of opportunity in the art world than MCAD would have?