MFA 2024 Freak Out Forum

[ZenGarden]

2 minutes ago, DeltaG24 said:

Have you visited SVA and what is your impression? I am visiting next Friday. So far, it is my only NYC option. But also received no info on potential financial aid, and it is ridiculously expensive. 

i haven’t but I really should. As far as I know the quality of the SVA faculty is declining. It’s also a for-profit school, which naturally leads to them being more career-oriented than being academic and “finer” art. Although that’ actually align with my goal.
You could always use your other offers to haggle with SVA but I doubt they would give substantially more.

(Side note I do think school visit is very important. I used to think I LOVE SoCal but after visiting the Calarts campus I know I absolutely do not wanna go there. The building feels very depressing to me psychologically

[DeltaG24]

12 hours ago, ZenGarden said:

As far as I know the quality of the SVA faculty is declining. It’s also a for-profit school, which naturally leads to them being more career-oriented than being academic and “finer” art.

Thanks. These are my hesitations, but I look forward to visiting. By the way, I also reached out to Pratt Painting in case I am still under consideration.  They said they are still in the process of interviewing and encouraged me to visit, so I will do so next week as well. 

[g000by]

if i haven’t heard back from an interview in a couple weeks should i politely email them? the wait is killing me and i feel like i should have heard if i was accepted/rejected/waitlisted by now. any advice for how to reach out to them? 

[Dougie4life]

Does anyone here have opinions on USC Roski nowadays? Seems that no one on this forum has/does apply there...

[cammmm]

Hey, everyone 

I just got an acceptance letter from Parsons, and with a Scholarship!! I am very excited and still can't even process the fact that I was selected. Nevertheless, as an international student from a low-income country, I am still not sure if I will be able to cover the rest of my expenses, since NY is so expensive. I was talking to my friend and she told me to try and ask for more, since one of our friends did the same last year for another mfa.

Does someone have any experience in terms of asking them to increase the amount for the scholarship? Do you have any tips or recommendations?

Edited March 14 by cammmm
typo

[nanaaaa]

8 hours ago, cammmm said:

Hey, everyone 

I just got an acceptance letter from Parsons, and with a Scholarship!! I am very excited and still can't even process the fact that I was selected. Nevertheless, as an international student from a low-income country, I am still not sure if I will be able to cover the rest of my expenses, since NY is so expensive. I was talking to my friend and she told me to try and ask for more, since one of our friends did the same last year for another mfa.

Does someone have any experience in terms of asking them to increase the amount for the scholarship? Do you have any tips or recommendations?

first of all congratulations for getting into the program!!

I can't speak for an MFA but I am also an international student and when I was applying for BFA programs in NYC, I emailed the universities if they could help me out some more financially, in addition to my scholarship. and to my surprise they gave me a quite generous grant of 20k a year, however they did not increase the scholarship amount (that was at SVA tho). I just emailed them straightforward describing my financial situation and they immediately gave me a grant so I would just try and asking for more financial support  

[ArtsyAF]

Hey everyone!

I am debating Temple (Tyler SOA) for my MFA along with another school, however Tylers offer is far better financially.

Does anyone on here has any experience or thoughts on Temple (Alumni/current students/know someone/etc)?  I have seen stuff written about the BFA program but never seen much about the MFA there🤔I know the BFA and MFA are very different programs but any insight into the SOA as a whole would be interesting to hear! 

I also know the area around the school isn't the best and wondering if that should deter me from going? I have heard mixed responses on this. I wouldn't live near campus(commute) but people have told me they didn't even feel safe attending classes at times...

[btwnthetides]

15 minutes ago, ArtsyAF said:

Hey everyone!

I am debating Temple (Tyler SOA) for my MFA along with another school, however Tylers offer is far better financially.

Does anyone on here has any experience or thoughts on Temple (Alumni/current students/know someone/etc)?  I have seen stuff written about the BFA program but never seen much about the MFA there🤔I know the BFA and MFA are very different programs but any insight into the SOA as a whole would be interesting to hear! 

I also know the area around the school isn't the best and wondering if that should deter me from going? I have heard mixed responses on this. I wouldn't live near campus(commute) but people have told me they didn't even feel safe attending classes at times...

You should try to organize a visit if possible! I visited and was really impressed by the facilities. The neighborhood also didn't seem bad to me. If you're really worried, know that the art building does have security and everyone has to sign in. I probably won't attend because I have a better financial offer, but I think it is a really special place. 

[yosemite119]

1 hour ago, ArtsyAF said:

Hey everyone!

I am debating Temple (Tyler SOA) for my MFA along with another school, however Tylers offer is far better financially.

Does anyone on here has any experience or thoughts on Temple (Alumni/current students/know someone/etc)?  I have seen stuff written about the BFA program but never seen much about the MFA there🤔I know the BFA and MFA are very different programs but any insight into the SOA as a whole would be interesting to hear! 

I also know the area around the school isn't the best and wondering if that should deter me from going? I have heard mixed responses on this. I wouldn't live near campus(commute) but people have told me they didn't even feel safe attending classes at times...

Congrats on the offer! What dept are you in and did you interview? Still haven't heard from them...

[Abandonsleep]

did anyone hear from pratt interactive/ digital arts?

[Ouiallo]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:29 AM, freshman2024 said:

anyone that interviewed with rutgers have a timeline? they're on break this week so kind of assuming it won't be until at least next. 

Rutgers sent me an acceptance on the Monday after interview weekend, so March 11th. I was in the Fine Arts program interviews, not sure about Design. 
 

On 3/12/2024 at 3:36 PM, yosemite119 said:

Nope, still haven't heard anything...

UT Austin waitlisted me Feb 17th and AFAIK their waitlist is still open, I talked to them a week ago. 

[yosemite119]

14 minutes ago, Ouiallo said:

Rutgers sent me an acceptance on the Monday after interview weekend, so March 11th. I was in the Fine Arts program interviews, not sure about Design. 
 

UT Austin waitlisted me Feb 17th and AFAIK their waitlist is still open, I talked to them a week ago. 

Wow congratulations, that was so quick from Rutgers! You should be proud

[freshman2024]

18 minutes ago, Ouiallo said:

Rutgers sent me an acceptance on the Monday after interview weekend, so March 11th. I was in the Fine Arts program interviews, not sure about Design. 
 

UT Austin waitlisted me Feb 17th and AFAIK their waitlist is still open, I talked to them a week ago. 

Via email for Rutgers? Should just assume I've been rejected i suppose , no update. Congrats, are you accepting? 

 

[ArtsyAF]

53 minutes ago, yosemite119 said:

Congrats on the offer! What dept are you in and did you interview? Still haven't heard from them...

Hey there, thanks! I applied for Graphic/interactive design:) They reached out and set up a  "meeting"/ "wanted to connect" with me...they never called it an "interview" which was very odd but I guess that was my interview for the program? I'm so sorry you haven't heard anything! I wish all these schools were better about keeping us in the loop and staying on similar timelines to one another, it would make the process far less stressful

[Ouiallo]

8 minutes ago, freshman2024 said:

Via email for Rutgers? Should just assume I've been rejected i suppose , no update. Congrats, are you accepting? 

 

Assume nothing! I got into my BFA program from a waitlist long after I expected a call. 

Rutgers called me by phone for the acceptance, but you never know. The programs move around a lot and people accept/reject right up until April 15. 

12 minutes ago, yosemite119 said:

Wow congratulations, that was so quick from Rutgers! You should be proud

Thanks! I'm happy, they seemed like great people and the facilities were shockingly excellent. Still waiting for my waitlists to shake out before I accept though, I'm on a couple waitlists for better funded programs. 

Edited March 15 by Ouiallo

[Ouiallo]

Everybody holding up okay? 

This is always the least fun part of the process, I had an unsuccessful round last year so I know all too well. If this shit is hitting you hard just DM me and rant, I've been through it and don't mind hearing about it. 

[Wherearethelettersomfg]

Anyone got into RISD Digital+Media? They offered me $30,000 per year and it obviously doesn’t cover that much so was wondering if anyone received other offers or has any advice on how to get more?

[Wherearethelettersomfg]

Also, has anyone heard from Columbia Moving Image? Or UCLA New Genres? 

[slimgin]

Anyone planning on attending Bard this year? DM me if you are

[gghiccup]

I feel like I am going insane waiting for letters with looming deadlines from other schools

[miamelonbabygirlmiao]

1 hour ago, Wherearethelettersomfg said:

Anyone got into RISD Digital+Media? They offered me $30,000 per year and it obviously doesn’t cover that much so was wondering if anyone received other offers or has any advice on how to get more?

hey -- they offered me 40k per year. I emailed the fin aid department asking for more aid + told them I had other offers w more substantial aid. I heard back yesterday that they were unable to increase my aid  

[miamelonbabygirlmiao]

just curious has anyone heard from UCLA DMA? -- the wait is killing me 🥸

[Wherearethelettersomfg]

17 minutes ago, miamelonbabygirlmiao said:

hey -- they offered me 40k per year. I emailed the fin aid department asking for more aid + told them I had other offers w more substantial aid. I heard back yesterday that they were unable to increase my aid  

Hey! I have a feeling they won’t give me more either; are you going to enroll anyway? I’m not sure I will, it’s a lot of money for a degree you can get for free in other universities😭

[Miso]

does anyone mind sharing what they plan on doing after getting their mfa? i feel like i'm going crazy because i've worked at this for years and now it's finally happening, but the uncertainty around art careers is making me hesitant about doing this now. like i've heard the adjunct professor life is terrible...and other options besides teaching after your mfa (like gallery work, full time artist, etc..) whatever it may be...they all just seem unstable especially considering how inflation has impacted everything

[Ouiallo]

1 minute ago, Miso said:

does anyone mind sharing what they plan on doing after getting their mfa? i feel like i'm going crazy because i've worked at this for years and now it's finally happening, but the uncertainty around art careers is making me hesitant about doing this now. like i've heard the adjunct professor life is terrible...and other options besides teaching after your mfa (like gallery work, full time artist, etc..) whatever it may be...they all just seem unstable especially considering how inflation has impacted everything

I have some friends who had a pretty good experience with adjunct professorships. Don't limit yourself to the main cities fi you're worried. Better yet, don't limit yourself to north America.