MFA 2022 Freak Out Forum

[KougamiAkane]

54 minutes ago, hibiscusleaves said:

Hey all!

Now that I have heard back from all of the unis I've applied to here is how my 2022 applications went:

applied to - mfa graphic design/mfa studio art with a concentration in graphic design

Profile - international student, first time application, undergrad in geophysical engineering, will be graduating in june. 4-5 internships, hackathon wins, strong motivation letter, good rec. letter from co-workers.

Yale - accepted, need based full tuition

VCU - accepted, full tuition, 10k a year

Cranbrook - accepted, 50% tuition

Umass Amherst - accepted, 11k a year, health, dental and vision insurance

MCAD - accepted, 50% tuition + 6k a year

CCA - accepted, 50% tuition

MICA - accepted, 25% tuition

SAIC - accepted, 20% tuition

RISD - rejected

SVA - rejected

GSU - rejected after interview

I remember writing a reddit post about how stupid i feel for applying to yale when i'm not qualified for it. Just a few minutes ago I accepted my Yale offer. No words can describe how happy I am! It was actually hard saying no to VCU as their program is as amazing as Yale's, but the resources and centers that Yale offers align with my career goals better, so i decided to choose it after a long time spent on comparison. They accepted only 8 people this year and i'm very very happy to be one of them.

RISD and SVA rejected me as their programs are more focused on commercial design whereas my work covers experimental design, so I completely understand. my GSU interview was very stale and boring, the professors had only 15 mins as they were in between classes and they didnt really seem interested in what i  have to say, so i knew i would be rejected. 

My advice to mfa applicants would be to talk to the alumni or the current students of your desired program. I spent 2 years getting my portfolio reviewed, working on improving it, talking to ppl studying at my top choices and i for sure know i wouldnt be able to get into my desired programs without it. 

i'm very thankful to the gradcafe community as you guys helped me stay sane during the waiting period! i hope all of you will get into the best program suited for you

CONGRATUATION!! What an amazing list...

I am also working on graphic design and an international student, and VCU is my dream school, but I didn't get a chance to get interview from them and they finally rejected me. And I really like your advice, talking to someone who is attending the program that you interested or someone who can help you is helpful!!

I believe that you will become an amazing graphic designer.. is there anyways for me to see your personal website??

[hibiscusleaves]

3 minutes ago, KougamiAkane said:

CONGRATUATION!! What an amazing list...

I am also working on graphic design and an international student, and VCU is my dream school, but I didn't get a chance to get interview from them and they finally rejected me. And I really like your advice, talking to someone who is attending the program that you interested or someone who can help you is helpful!!

I believe that you will become an amazing graphic designer.. is there anyways for me to see your personal website??

Thank you so much!! ❤️ and i wish you good luck, vcu has an extremely amazing program and the director nicole killain is a wonderful person and a wonderful designer. I dont have a website but I will pm you some examples

[Pickle555]

2 hours ago, Faxma said:

Hi all, 

 

Did anyone hear back from Yale regarding financial aid? 
 

Thanks ❤️

I received an email on March 10th with a financial aid letter. I'm in painting, btw.

[nobodyok]

On 2/28/2022 at 6:44 PM, KougamiAkane said:

If anyone are interested:

U-Florida: has interviews ,currently professor are still reviewing applications, needs 1-2 weeks to send out interview information. 

SVA:  Applicants who have completed the application will be emailed an admissions decision by March 15, 2022.

Pratt: Final decision will be made at March.

Hi KougamiAkane, did you wind up hearing from UF? I've still not heard anything, and nothing in the portal // sculpture applicant.

[Frank14]

Just got my snail mail rejection from VCU painting/printmaking today! I live in the west so it was delayed compared to some others I saw on the east coast. Not surprised as I haven't heard anything from them this whole time, kind of nice to just definitively rule them out tbh. 

Also talked to one of my professors today about my offer from MICA and have officially decided to turn down their offer based on her advice, just can't justify spending that much on grad school. 

[beeebeeeebeebeebo]

Long suffering painter checking in!

I sent emails because I got super impatient. Tyler and Purchase both say they will be sending decisions by the end of the week! UCONN has yet to reply, which is very frustrating. one way or the other i'll be back by the end of the week with an update for the other schools.

also here's a good image I found recently which summarizes my mental state

[tomatoriot]

2 minutes ago, beeebeeeebeebeebo said:

Long suffering painter checking in!

I sent emails because I got super impatient. Tyler and Purchase both say they will be sending decisions by the end of the week! UCONN has yet to reply, which is very frustrating. one way or the other i'll be back by the end of the week with an update for the other schools.

also here's a good image I found recently which summarizes my mental state

UCONN is killing my right now. I sent an email last week and a fellow applicant sent one two weeks ago. Neither of us have heard back. Are they just not taking a cohort this year?

[tomatoriot]

My options are currently Washington University in St. Louis or University of Michigan Ann Arbor. It’s so hard to decide. Anyone go to these schools or know anyone that does? 

[The-Fourth-Dimension]

This guy.

Edited March 16, 2022 by The-Fourth-Dimension
I wish I was a pancake because they are not risk dismal all the time.

[KougamiAkane]

19 hours ago, nobodyok said:

Hi KougamiAkane, did you wind up hearing from UF? I've still not heard anything, and nothing in the portal // sculpture applicant.

Hi! I received my result as a graphic design applicant on 3/3: waitlist. When I received my result, I immediantely replied them and showed my interested in UF MFA graphic design, but later I received another offer with scholarship, so I think I would not choose UF.

I am not sure about protal/sculpture, maybe you can send an email to ask them!! But as I know, some MFA applicant in other majors received their offer.

[Pickle555]

 Tried asking Yale for more funding. No go, which I guess doesn't really surprise me. It's looking like this decision is becoming a bit easier to make..

[friendlyvoidcritter]

15 hours ago, tomatoriot said:

UCONN is killing my right now. I sent an email last week and a fellow applicant sent one two weeks ago. Neither of us have heard back. Are they just not taking a cohort this year?

Still waiting on a response from cranbrook

[Hjuoollpphhfcvn]

51 minutes ago, Pickle95 said:

 Tried asking Yale for more funding. No go, which I guess doesn't really surprise me. It's looking like this decision is becoming a bit easier to make..

sorry about that! how come? how do they evaluate needs? 

[Pickle555]

37 minutes ago, Hjuoollpphhfcvn said:

sorry about that! how come? how do they evaluate needs? 

I actually feel okay about it, but thanks! Their funding is need based (determined by tax returns and such), and they offer work study. I believe that is all, for the first year. They don't give merit based scholarships. Apparently they can increase funding to students with financial need in their second year to off-set living expenses, and I think I read somewhere on their website that 2nd years can also apply to specific scholarships??? which is all cool but like what about the first year lol....? Anyway, the funding they are offering isn't too bad, I would just have to take out loans either way and I can't really justify doing that right now. Well like I guess the justification is that its Yale, I'm just not sure that's enough for me. I did the broke undergrad art student thing in NY and it wasn't very fun lol... I'll have to sit on it a little more, but it's definitely making me lean away from accepting. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Pickle95

[CactusWren22]

On 3/15/2022 at 11:22 AM, nobodyok said:

Hi CactusWren22, I meant to ask you. When you heard last Monday about Penn, was it by a phone call? I just spoke with someone else who asked what faculty called me to deliver my acceptance, but I only found out via the portal on Thursday. I didn't have any missed voicemails, but am paranoid I missed a call somehow.  

On Monday I received a phone call and email from one of the faculty members (one of my interviewers actually). That's how I found out before the 10th.

[Eric from America]

On 3/13/2022 at 7:40 PM, Itty Bitty said:

Hi Eric, 

Thank you so much for thoughtful response. It is very helpful.

Did you feel like you got enough one on one and hands on time and attention from your SAIC mentor during the fall and winter sessions of the Low Residency program?

This is such a tough call because I like each school for various reasons. Both will be about the same financial commitment when considering duration of the program, granted monies, and relocating to the respective cities. Both are highly regarded schoolds. Both have professors I would like to study with. 

The biggest difference I can see so far is:

1. The size of the program. SAIC has 22-30 people in their low res program, which will give more exposure to colleagues but seems like less attention from Mentors during the summer. MICA has 8 students in the program which would seemingly give a lot more attention and exposure to the students, but is a smaller pool of people one meeets during the summer. 

2. The SAIC mentor program when arriving home (Los Angeles) will be someone potentially from a different field, and we cannot meet these mentors until the fall, but they will be in ones region so they will be home site visits. At MICA my mentor would be one of the people with whom I interviewed. That mentor will be at the program in the summer (and in my field), along with others and the students can have three in one summer. Then in the fall the student continues to have the same mentor with them virtually, and brings progress to Baltimore in January but no home visits All in all that mentor will be with the same student for all four year. So they get to know the work better, but they are not in your home location at all. 

3. Length, and of course SAIC is 3 summers and MICA is 4 summers. 4 summers seems like a long time. 

Thank you again for all of your input. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your respone.

Best, 

Leah 

 

Hi, Leah! I ended up going to VCU, not SAIC. (I had a lot of great options, could only pick one.)

To your SAIC and MICA comparisons:

1) I think the size of the programs are pretty close, with MICA a little bigger? https://www.saic.edu/academics/departments/low-residency/students lists 20 total current students SAIC low res, 9 in class of 2022 and 11 in class of 2023. https://www.mica.edu/graduate-programs/studio-art-summer-low-residency-mfa/students/class-of-2021/ lists 10 students in MICA's low res class of 2021, so around 30 across their whole 3-year low res program. 

2) Regarding the SAIC low res mentor, yeah, SAIC does seem more interdisciplinary so maybe you might get matched with someone who seems like a stretch, but you being in a major urban area like Los Angeles and SAIC having such a wide alumni network that it would seem fairly easy to match you up, easier than if you were living in a far more remote area. I was living in Detroit, and I was thinking of a few SAIC alumni that I knew of in the area that I might suggest they let me work with. Maybe you might think of your dream SAIC alum in Los Angeles that could be your mentor and see if they think they can make it happen.

3) Yeah, length of the program seems like the big difference. When I was applying, I made the decision that I wanted to apply to only two year programs, so I could get out of grad school and do other things ASAP.  I know some other people who chose only three year programs thinking that people usually only go to grad school once and so they wanted to get as much of it as they could. 

And yeah, if the programs seem roughly similar otherwise, you could pick any one of those differences that is most important to you and make your decision based on it. 

Best of luck! Having two great choices is a great problem to have! Send me a DM any time if you want. 

[eg.mccoy]

Hello everyone!

I am primarily a figure painter and because of life circumstances I can only do a Low-Res MFA. So I have been offered the following, all of them for Low-Res MFA programs:

SVA - 25% tuition

PAFA - 25% tuition 

Pacific Northwest College of Art - 25% tuition

MassArt

SAIC 

Does anyone have any experience or advice on what is a better program or place to build the connections needed for a good career? Any and all suggestions are helpful, thank you!

Edited March 17, 2022 by eg.mccoy
updating info

[Salsasanasa]

Waitlisted to VCU paint/print! Anyone know if getting off a waitlist is really plausible?

[tomatoriot]

4 hours ago, Salsasanasa said:

Waitlisted to VCU paint/print! Anyone know if getting off a waitlist is really plausible?

I just got off the waitlist for University of Iowa printmaking — it’s possible. I hope it works out for you!

[Antisocialprintmaker]

On 3/15/2022 at 7:42 PM, nobodyok said:

Hi KougamiAkane, did you wind up hearing from UF? I've still not heard anything, and nothing in the portal // sculpture applicant.

I just got rejected from UF as a painting applicant. They’re really behind this year on decisions I feel like and I think each department is on a different timeline rn

[foundobjectlife]

Waitlisted UCSD - if anyone else was waiting:) 

[JessieK]

First post to GradCafe (Hope I'm in the right place/forum! Any advice of other places to look welcome and appreciated), but has anyone heard anything from UCLA'S MFA in Screenwriting program? It's getting to late March, so I'm preparing for bad news... but I haven't heard of anyone getting in yet either, so?

[nobodyok]

3 hours ago, Antisocialprintmaker said:

I just got rejected from UF as a painting applicant. They’re really behind this year on decisions I feel like and I think each department is on a different timeline rn

Thank you for sharing your update, but sorry for your rejection! I think you're right about being late and on different timelines. Was the rejection just a portal update, or also an email? I had seen a hit on my website from Gainesville around Feb 21st, assuming that's when they viewed my application, but that's almost a month ago lol. Not sure at this point if there's still a chance for interview..

[Strawberrycat]

2 hours ago, JessieK said:

First post to GradCafe (Hope I'm in the right place/forum! Any advice of other places to look welcome and appreciated), but has anyone heard anything from UCLA'S MFA in Screenwriting program? It's getting to late March, so I'm preparing for bad news... but I haven't heard of anyone getting in yet either, so?

Hey there, this is the visual art forum, so idk if anyone here would have any info on the screenwriting program, unfortunately! You might have better luck in the literary forum, though, but not sure.  https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/80-literary/ 

Good luck with your apps though!

[DawkT]

I wanted to deliver some hope to the ones of you still in the dark. In the past 18 hours I have been contacted by 3 schools. 1 acceptance flat-out, 1 acceptance off of waitlist, and 1 interview that inferred I was the only one being interviewed. These 3 schools are on the smaller spectrum but I’m sure their timelines are around the same as everyone else! They all had to get their funding in order before making decisions