MFA 2025 Freak Out Forum

[mmav]

10 hours ago, blasphemousbunny said:

Update:

- SAIC is giving me 35% merit & grant money, leaving me to take out 65% in loans.

- CalArts is giving me 60% in merit-scholarship money, leaving me to take out 40% in loans. 
 

- Hunter is financially feasible. I’m still worried that it’s not going to have facilities to support the full extent of sculpture/performance/installation that I work in. 
 

Can someone who’s gone through these schools add perspective?  

If you can, maybe reach out to the graduate coordinators at both schools and ask them to connect you with current grads who are in similar disciplines. Talking to current grad students really helped me get the real unpolished picture of the realities of a program. 

[spider16]

I was accepted to 3 programs and got merit scholarships from 2 of them ($25k and $9k) but no merit scholarship at the third, which is by far my top choice. Only found out I didn’t get any funding at my top choice program today, and the deposit deadline is in 2 weeks. Is it too late to try to negotiate? the school that gave me $25k is ranked higher, can I use it as leverage? is it even worth trying to negotiate if I wasn’t offered any merit scholarship to begin with? taking any and all advice on negotiating funding 

[Leee3]

4 hours ago, spider16 said:

I was accepted to 3 programs and got merit scholarships from 2 of them ($25k and $9k) but no merit scholarship at the third, which is by far my top choice. Only found out I didn’t get any funding at my top choice program today, and the deposit deadline is in 2 weeks. Is it too late to try to negotiate? the school that gave me $25k is ranked higher, can I use it as leverage? is it even worth trying to negotiate if I wasn’t offered any merit scholarship to begin with? taking any and all advice on negotiating funding 

no harm to try, I would say just go for it.

[nanaaaa]

has anyone heard back from parsons for fine arts? I'm still waiting on a decision and it already feels very late considering its already April 😭

[sillygooseart]

nvm

Edited April 2 by sillygooseart
Problem solved

[Cowbot]

Anyone else committing to Yale?

[boltcutter]

Anyone committed to RISD Sculpture? 

[tryinggg]

Has anyone been accepted at UF? I'm waitlisted there and trying to gauge how close they are to finalizing their cohort for next year. Any information would be so helpful

[kamlee]

Anyone committed to RISD Graphic Design? 

[weatherrelated]

Is anyone passing on Yale painting? Asking for a friend on the waitlist.

[intheclerb]

I'm right on the edge of declining my offer to Columbia, but I'm worried it's the wrong call. I just can't stomach the debt- I would be taking out like 100k in addition to my 40k in undergrad debt. Am I making a huge mistake if I back out?

[tooold4artschool]

On 4/2/2025 at 2:19 AM, nanaaaa said:

has anyone heard back from parsons for fine arts? I'm still waiting on a decision and it already feels very late considering its already April 😭

Yes, admitted a couple of weeks ago.  

[Rosebud510]

On 4/4/2025 at 9:07 PM, intheclerb said:

I'm right on the edge of declining my offer to Columbia, but I'm worried it's the wrong call. I just can't stomach the debt- I would be taking out like 100k in addition to my 40k in undergrad debt. Am I making a huge mistake if I back out?

Oh man that's tough. Is the 100k just for tuition? There is also the cost of living in New York City to consider (maybe you already live here, but if not, its brutal!). 

I am sure you're paying attention to what's going on at Columbia right now, there is a lot of tension in leadership and according to Democracy Now the percentage of students accepting their admissions offer is down this year. Thats likely for undergrad and may not be relevant to the MFA program - but if Columbia is what you want, you may have more leverage than you think.

If you haven't already, maybe just be aggressive in asking for money letting them know you can't otherwise accept, which sucks, but the worst they can do is say no. (I have a friend who negotiated a full ride at UPENN after not being offered anything - its definitely worth a try!).

And who knows, if they say no and you decline, maybe next year you get into a fully funded program - go with your gut!

[intheclerb]

2 hours ago, Rosebud510 said:

Oh man that's tough. Is the 100k just for tuition? There is also the cost of living in New York City to consider (maybe you already live here, but if not, its brutal!). 

I am sure you're paying attention to what's going on at Columbia right now, there is a lot of tension in leadership and according to Democracy Now the percentage of students accepting their admissions offer is down this year. Thats likely for undergrad and may not be relevant to the MFA program - but if Columbia is what you want, you may have more leverage than you think.

If you haven't already, maybe just be aggressive in asking for money letting them know you can't otherwise accept, which sucks, but the worst they can do is say no. (I have a friend who negotiated a full ride at UPENN after not being offered anything - its definitely worth a try!).

And who knows, if they say no and you decline, maybe next year you get into a fully funded program - go with your gut!

Thanks for your reply, that's a great idea! I tried negotiating once already and they didn't even read my email, ignored my specific questions and just replied with a generic message declining further funding (i found that very disrespectful tbh considering the gravity of the cost on my end) but I might as well try again since I'll probably not go at this price anyways.

[mmav]

^^^ Hyperallergic just reported a few days ago that there's a growing movement of artist scholars and professors who are boycotting Columbia due to their capitulations to the Trump admin -- seems like this might directly impact the opportunities/exposure the MFA grads might get to other academics

[nanaaaa]

Hello, might be a bit of a different question, but to all prospective international students, what is your current attitude in starting a new course of study? I have been accepted after two years of unsuccessful rounds and was really looking forward to studying in the US, but with everything that is going on currently, I am somewhat starting to rethink my decision. I have already committed and payed my enrollment fee which is kind of a bummer. Anyone else struggling to make a decision right now? 😭

[Calcifer]

31 minutes ago, nanaaaa said:

Hello, might be a bit of a different question, but to all prospective international students, what is your current attitude in starting a new course of study? I have been accepted after two years of unsuccessful rounds and was really looking forward to studying in the US, but with everything that is going on currently, I am somewhat starting to rethink my decision. I have already committed and payed my enrollment fee which is kind of a bummer. Anyone else struggling to make a decision right now? 😭

I feel you! I am from europe and always wanted to do my mfa in america so I could get some teaching experience alongside it. I got waitlisted from all my top choices and just now committed to a smaller school in the midwest. I am glad i just got some next steps of my life confirmed, but it feels really scary and unclear. Especially regarding quality of life, im just doubting it now! i think theres a lot of pro’s to studying in the usa, but I’m also losing sight of them now. I’m sorry I can’t be more of a positive voice, but maybe misery loves company! 

[nanaaaa]

20 minutes ago, Calcifer said:

I feel you! I am from europe and always wanted to do my mfa in america so I could get some teaching experience alongside it. I got waitlisted from all my top choices and just now committed to a smaller school in the midwest. I am glad i just got some next steps of my life confirmed, but it feels really scary and unclear. Especially regarding quality of life, im just doubting it now! i think theres a lot of pro’s to studying in the usa, but I’m also losing sight of them now. I’m sorry I can’t be more of a positive voice, but maybe misery loves company! 

I'm from Europe too!  Yeah it's tough, especially since now, most of the application periods for universities here in Europe are already closed too, so it feels like there isn't really any alternative left either. It would just feel like I'm wasting yet another year.

I got accepted into a school in NYC and just the sheer amount of exposure you could get there and opportunities to network and showcase work, I can't even compare it to where I'm from. But the quality of life is a big concern for me too, that and the inflations which doesn't seem to be going down any time soon either. 

[hotshots]

9 hours ago, nanaaaa said:

Hello, might be a bit of a different question, but to all prospective international students, what is your current attitude in starting a new course of study? I have been accepted after two years of unsuccessful rounds and was really looking forward to studying in the US, but with everything that is going on currently, I am somewhat starting to rethink my decision. I have already committed and payed my enrollment fee which is kind of a bummer. Anyone else struggling to make a decision right now? 😭

It's becoming quite concerning. I've been hearing student visas getting revoked for nonsense reasons more and more, and of course, on top of that, the economic turmoil... US universities used to be exempted from tax for the endowments they receive but now that seems to be changing which will put them in another cycle of financial and resource shortage, and in extension, more hiring freezes, less academic jobs.. Sadly not the best time  I've decided to decline my US offers and stick to the Europe. Good luck to everyone, hope things turn out well!

[april9991]

hi! just wanted to see if anyone got an offer from uw-madison or utk (specifically in sculpture) and knows if they are going to decline/accept? trying to get an idea of how likely it is I get off the waitlist for either, feel free to dm me if you prefer!

[thenightowl212]

On 4/2/2025 at 1:38 PM, Cowbot said:

Anyone else committing to Yale?

I have, for painting

 

[Noreligion24]

Im beating a dead horse here but has anyone heard back from nyu?

[Cowbot]

10 hours ago, thenightowl212 said:

I have, for painting

 

Yay!! See you next year! (Going for photo)

[zaline]

Hello I am once again looking to start a dialogue on taking out debt. To go to the school that I would like to, I would have to take out about $40,000 in loans. I am super paralyzed in making this decision because I'm super motivated to pursue this program and get an MFA, but am having a really hard time feeling good about taking on that much debt. I know many people take on more than that, but I am calculating a minimum of a $400 monthly payment for at least 10 years in order to pay that back. That is a really overwhelming thing to consider. I'm super disheartened because I was really hoping that this would be the year that I get to go back to school. 

I would really appreciate any thoughts from anyone who is planning to take out loans for their program! With the current state of affairs, I fear graduate funding is only going to become less available so part of me is thinking that maybe I should just accept the partial finding that I received? I worry that this is may be my best shot at this. I would really appreciate some insight !

[Inthestu]

21 hours ago, Noreligion24 said:

Im beating a dead horse here but has anyone heard back from nyu?

I heard back from them on April 3rd!