MFA 2025 Freak Out Forum

[nanaaaa]

Has anyone interviews with hunter before? I have my interview next week and im hella nervous 🙂 anyone got any tips? especially with the whole preparing 5-10 recent works to screen share 

[freshman2024]

On 2/13/2025 at 11:04 AM, Sleepyguy said:

Curious if anyone who’s having success this application cycle would be willing to share their SOP/portfolio?

This is my second unsuccessful application cycle, curious to see how successful applications are organized.

Hey hey, I applied last year to one program got the interview, and was rejected. This year I have three offers right now and two for funded programs that I am excited about. In hindsight I definitely was not ready last year, my work was old, and I was way out of practice both in writing and speaking about my work. One thing I did other than really shifting my life focus onto my practice was I did an artist residency at SVA over the summer. Yes, I made some new work during it that ended up in my applications but more importantly, I got back into the swing of speaking about my work, and writing about it. A few of the studio visit professors from that residency also wrote my letters of rec and that made me feel really confident versus digging someone up from undergrad who maybe is not as familiar with what my practice currently is. 

In a more literal sense, make sure your work is documented well and definitely show any mentors / crit groups your work practice practice practice speaking about it, writing about it, show folks that too. I'm sure having a residency on my resume didn't hurt in applications, but it was really more for me about what I got out of the program than having it as a resume highlight. Also, last year I took that rejection HARD, but it definitely wasn't the right program for me, and I cast a wider net this time, and I feel like so far programs that have reached out not only would be a good fit but really want me and my work. Try try again, put yourself out there something will shake out how its meant to, and don't be afraid to apply to more/ different schools if you can afford to.  

[Jinnbottle]

Has anyone done the interview with UCLA? especially interdisciplinary? 

[boltcutter]

@Sleepyguy@Painter55 @prosthetic_head

I do think that making personal connections at programs where such a thing is possible is HUGE, but it doesn't need to be an in-person thing. I was able to do portfolio reviews with the four programs I applied to, 2 as part of the national portfolio review day and 2 offered reviews independently.I also attended every virtual open house/virtual Q&A session that these schools offered, and in two instances that meant I was able to talk "face to face" with program directors and to ask them questions. With all of this not only was my name at least on some vague list, I felt like I **KNEW** what these programs were looking for and was able to tailor my portfolio/writing accordingly. 

[Momentum]

I can finally comment on my computer ((( ipad' not working, not sure why. Thank you everyone for the posts. You help me through the anxious days. I graduated with my BFA last year and applied to grad schools. I don't have any experience exhibiting outside of my previous school.  

My School List:

Hunter: rejected

Rutgers: rejected (disappointed. I don't think they're accepting Asians these years...they even 'invite' me to transfer to the Design department... so confused and angry. My work's hardly relevant to design. Meanwhile, nothing from the Visual Art department. I saw people got their interviews so probably I am rejected.

Calarts: accepted without interview (too expensive, and I am not automatically considered for merit scholarship, need to apply for scholarship separately, not sure how it's going to work

saic: just interviewed (Sculpture's selecting 10 out of 56 through interviews. I was interviewed by a tenure professor, and an assistant professor. It's 30 min. Intense...)

Risd: nothing yet. (anyone receives interview for sculpture yet?

Goldsmith: nothing yet

Slade: rejected

UT Austin: accepted after interview. with stipend (so excited! There's no art scene in my hometown so it is so amazing to travel abroad, and continue my study in art without tuition and even with stipend. Unbelievable! 

I was going to apply to UCLA and saw on reddit someone accusing the chair of interdisciplinary art racist. I don't want to take any risk as an Asian International student.  (would like to know if that's true

After some kind of analysis of my results...Calarts, UT, saic emphasize on interdisciplinary art. I work across mediums so they will favor me. My professor recommended me to apply to Yale but I feel my style doesn't fit at all. I feel like art schools have their strong taste so it is not necessarily about the quality of artwork, personal experience or strength. In some way, my application also serves as a test for me to learn about the possible vibe of each school. 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 07:32 AM by Momentum

[Biru]

Has anyone applied for USC and got updates?

[painforever]

Has any of you applied to northwestern and got interview? 

Edited Monday at 12:05 PM by painforever

[boltcutter]

5 hours ago, Momentum said:

I can finally comment on my computer ((( ipad' not working, not sure why. Thank you everyone for the posts. You help me through the anxious days. I graduated with my BFA last year and applied to grad schools. I don't have any experience exhibiting outside of my previous school.  

My School List:

Hunter: rejected

Rutgers: rejected (disappointed. I don't think they're accepting Asians these years...they even 'invite' me to transfer to the Design department... so confused and angry. My work's hardly relevant to design. Meanwhile, nothing from the Visual Art department. I saw people got their interviews so probably I am rejected.

Calarts: accepted without interview (too expensive, and I am not automatically considered for merit scholarship, need to apply for scholarship separately, not sure how it's going to work

saic: just interviewed (Sculpture's selecting 10 out of 56 through interviews. I was interviewed by a tenure professor, and an assistant professor. It's 30 min. Intense...)

Risd: nothing yet. (anyone receives interview for sculpture yet?

Goldsmith: nothing yet

Slade: rejected

UT Austin: accepted after interview. with stipend (so excited! There's no art scene in my hometown so it is so amazing to travel abroad, and continue my study in art without tuition and even with stipend. Unbelievable! 

I was going to apply to UCLA and saw on reddit someone accusing the chair of interdisciplinary art racist. I don't want to take any risk as an Asian International student.  (would like to know if that's true

After some kind of analysis of my results...Calarts, UT, saic emphasize on interdisciplinary art. I work across mediums so they will favor me. My professor recommended me to apply to Yale but I feel my style doesn't fit at all. I feel like art schools have their strong taste so it is not necessarily about the quality of artwork, personal experience or strength. In some way, my application also serves as a test for me to learn about the possible vibe of each school. 

 

 

 

 

I had an interview for RISD sculpture last week, so sorry you didn't get an invite. I've been there when I applied to schools in the past and I know that is really hard. 

[manti]

On 2/16/2025 at 8:13 AM, nanaaaa said:

Has anyone interviews with hunter before? I have my interview next week and im hella nervous 🙂 anyone got any tips? especially with the whole preparing 5-10 recent works to screen share 

Same I'm nervous. I am trying to finish some pieces so that I can show new work but I'm probably going to have to show a mix of new and old. What about you?

[frogpainter]

I have an interview with Herron (IU Indianapolis) on Wednesday!! Was emailed about it on the 13th. I'm very nervous but also excited, thank you to everyone posting about interview questions I've been reading them to prepare!

Still haven't heard anything from VCU, Michigan, or UT Knoxville so assuming rejections, at least for VCU since they've been sending out interviews/acceptances. 

[nanaaaa]

2 hours ago, manti said:

Same I'm nervous. I am trying to finish some pieces so that I can show new work but I'm probably going to have to show a mix of new and old. What about you?

I unfortunately work around one month on one piece so I only have one new and the others I will have to select some older but still recent ones (that are definitely not the same quality as the ones I used for my portfolio on the application imo). So yeah also a mix of old and new. I'm just hoping they don't bring them up and it's just going to talk about the pieces I submitted on my portfolio 😭 But good luck for your interview tomorrow!! 

[manti]

8 minutes ago, nanaaaa said:

I unfortunately work around one month on one piece so I only have one new and the others I will have to select some older but still recent ones (that are definitely not the same quality as the ones I used for my portfolio on the application imo). So yeah also a mix of old and new. I'm just hoping they don't bring them up and it's just going to talk about the pieces I submitted on my portfolio 😭 But good luck for your interview tomorrow!! 

I agree, if I had recent work that I thought was good enough to show, I would've included it in the portfolio! But luckily Hunter asked for less work in the initial portfolio than some of my other schools, so I do have work to submit. It just feels like going a step back by showing older work, but nothing we can do about it at this point. Good luck to you too!

[mmav]

On 2/16/2025 at 8:34 AM, freshman2024 said:

Hey hey, I applied last year to one program got the interview, and was rejected. This year I have three offers right now and two for funded programs that I am excited about. In hindsight I definitely was not ready last year, my work was old, and I was way out of practice both in writing and speaking about my work. One thing I did other than really shifting my life focus onto my practice was I did an artist residency at SVA over the summer. Yes, I made some new work during it that ended up in my applications but more importantly, I got back into the swing of speaking about my work, and writing about it. A few of the studio visit professors from that residency also wrote my letters of rec and that made me feel really confident versus digging someone up from undergrad who maybe is not as familiar with what my practice currently is. 

In a more literal sense, make sure your work is documented well and definitely show any mentors / crit groups your work practice practice practice speaking about it, writing about it, show folks that too. I'm sure having a residency on my resume didn't hurt in applications, but it was really more for me about what I got out of the program than having it as a resume highlight. Also, last year I took that rejection HARD, but it definitely wasn't the right program for me, and I cast a wider net this time, and I feel like so far programs that have reached out not only would be a good fit but really want me and my work. Try try again, put yourself out there something will shake out how its meant to, and don't be afraid to apply to more/ different schools if you can afford to.  

@Sleepyguy^^ this! I didn't do an undergrad BFA but right after graduation I worked in an art museum and did a new media residency in Austin/ freelance wrote for art mags and most of my letters of rec/ how I framed my app was deeply informed by those experiences! Also agree with the whole apply to more/ different schools, (make sure to take advantage of fee waivers-- out of the 10 schools I applied to I only had to pay the fees for 3). And do a little research into the specific resources a school might have outside of their studio art department that make them a good fit for you (like if you're into Mesoamerican art and they have a huge research collection there or something). 

[mermaidkt33]

On 2/15/2025 at 3:35 PM, paintstress said:

had my SAIC interview today and thought it went well but not amazingly, definitely started remembering important points i prepped for but completely forgot in the moment the second i left the interview haha. im now waiting to hear back from ucla on whether or not im getting an interview, rejcted from yale and northwestern and presumably columbia, interviewed for mica and saic. 

@paintstress What program(s) did you interview for and who was on on your panel? I interviewed for Painting & Drawing and interviewed with Judith Geichman and Cameron Martin. I felt like it was a good conversation but I have no idea if it will lead to an offer. I also interviewed for Low-Res last weekend. I felt like that went great, but there was very little discussion about my actual work.

[Kalonde]

I interviewed with SAIC with Shannon Stratton and Jim Lutes and I was very tired so I feel like i forgot to talk about some things because I ended up talking about individual pieces a lot by accident. I did try to tie it back to what my work was about overall though. I can't really tell how it went because of this but they were receptive and commented here and there about their interest in the work.

[paintstress]

2 hours ago, mermaidkt33 said:

@paintstress What program(s) did you interview for and who was on on your panel? I interviewed for Painting & Drawing and interviewed with Judith Geichman and Cameron Martin. I felt like it was a good conversation but I have no idea if it will lead to an offer. I also interviewed for Low-Res last weekend. I felt like that went great, but there was very little discussion about my actual work.

i interviewed for painting and drawing with Anne Harris and Robert Burnier  It kind of went in the direction of a mini crit which i was a little surprised by but i left with really good feedback and a renewed sense of excitement to make new work after the post apps slump lol. Now that im revisiting the interview in my head i really dont know how it went because they seemed to disagree with some of the directions im going in/ choices ive made with work but i feel like i was able to explain my decisions and concepts well. 

[Kalonde]

Also question for the group, would it be weird if I went to the school website and found the email addresses of the faculty who interviewed me to thank them directly?

[mermaidkt33]

Did anyone apply to UIC early deadline for fellowship consideration? And if so, have you heard anything back?

 

[freshman2024]

22 minutes ago, Kalonde said:

Also question for the group, would it be weird if I went to the school website and found the email addresses of the faculty who interviewed me to thank them directly?

No, I did this every time. 

[mermaidkt33]

13 minutes ago, Kalonde said:

Also question for the group, would it be weird if I went to the school website and found the email addresses of the faculty who interviewed me to thank them directly?

I don't thank that is weird at all. For job interviews that is very common.

[dandyline]

I'm also on team find the email of the interviewer. I've only gotten one response back so far, but I imagine a personalized thank you is generally appreciated.

[intheclerb]

Waitlisted at the 2 ceramics programs I would be able to afford, VCU and Alfred 💀 does anyone think I have a chance of being accepted off a waitlist? Hard to imagine anyone would decline a funded program esp. Alfred 😔 I don't want to get my hopes up for a complete long shot.

Lmk if anyone has experienced this, it's so stressful, I poured all my energy and savings into the work I made for these apps. Thank you all for posting it's honestly so helpful to share in our struggles 💗 

 

[artstudent555]

when do you think we will hear back from UCLA?

[prosthetic_head]

Had my CCA interview which went fine! I have a mutual friend with the faculty member I spoke to which was a nice surprise. 

I sure am ready for this whole process to be over!! but I expect it'll be another 3-4 weeks before decisions from everywhere I applied. asking again but has anyone heard from VCU painting/printmaking?

[nonamenon]

On 2/16/2025 at 12:16 AM, caliphoton said:

Has anyone applying for MFA Photo got interviews from RISD, UCLA, Columbia, Pratt and SVA yet? Dead silence so far and it's freaking me out 

Of the schools you mentioned I only applied to Columbia for photography and this past weekend they held all the interviews, so I hate to say it but you were probably rejected there  but idk about any of the other schools!!

Edited Tuesday at 01:56 AM by nonamenon