Radford University Design Thinking MFA or Clark University/other Low-Residency Fine Art MFA?

[Squirrel8296]

I'm looking at low residency and fully remote MFA programs. A full residency program is not in the cards, nor are the low-residency programs like Bard that require multi-month long in person commitments every year. Radford's Design Thinking program and Clark's new Fine Art MFA programs both piqued my interest and I am drawn to them for different reasons.

Radford Design Thinking

• Aligns better with my current role and industry career trajectory (advertising)
• More academic/research and writing based
• Established program that is well enough known 
• Design Thinking is hot right now
• Fully remote - no in person at all

Clark Low Residency MFA

• More aligned with the direction I want to go (full time arts position)
• Interdisciplinary creative program
• Highly individualized
• It's a new program
• Faculty I wanted to work with at Lesley moved to start this one
• 2x 10 day residencies per year which is super doable
• Thesis exhibition is at Mass MoCA

edit: forgot to add. I’ve looked at other programs as well, like the Media Design MFA at Full Sail, but Full Sail feels questionable to me.

Edited April 9, 2024 by Squirrel8296
Forgot to add something; it’s under “edit” in the post