Valleebb Posted January 14 Posted January 14 On 1/8/2026 at 1:57 PM, Foehn said: Hi everyone! This is my second time applying to sculpture/ceramics/fiber/interdisciplinary MFA programs. Learned a lot from the first time and I’m feeling a lot better about this round! Wishing everyone luck. I’m an LA local with friends who have graduated from or are currently attending different UCs, so I’m happy to answer any UC specific questions! I’m applying to: UC Irvine UC Davis UC San Diego UC Riverside University of Washington Virginia Commonwealth Last year I applied to: UCLA (rejected) Davis (rejected) San Diego (rejected) SAIC (accepted, declined due to cost) If you don't mind me asking, why are you reapplying to Davis, and not LA? are you looking to relocate?
goodboycerberus Posted January 14 Posted January 14 Anyone else receive an interview invite from Tyler?
Foehn Posted January 14 Posted January 14 (edited) 5 hours ago, Vondadon said: If you don't mind me asking, why are you reapplying to Davis, and not LA? are you looking to relocate? UCLA only accepts 2 people to their ceramics department every year and at this point I can recognize that my work isn't what they're looking for. It's just not worth the money to apply somewhere that I know wouldn't be a good fit, especially with such low odds. When I was looking at schools this time around, I compared my work to current and previous students and I felt like if I made a few minor changes to my portfolio, Davis would still be a good fit. Something to think about when you start to hear back from schools is that a rejection is rarely about the quality of your work and more often about 1) if they think you're ready for grad school 2) your work fits into the kind of cohort they're putting together the year you apply.* UCLA's 2025 cohort, from what I've seen, is politically engaged and interested in social practice. I don't make that kind of work so it makes sense that I didn't get in. *Edit to add: there are other reasons, of course, but I found these two helpful when reapplying. Edited January 14 by Foehn more info Valleebb 1
Valleebb Posted January 14 Posted January 14 15 hours ago, Foehn said: UCLA only accepts 2 people to their ceramics department every year and at this point I can recognize that my work isn't what they're looking for. It's just not worth the money to apply somewhere that I know wouldn't be a good fit, especially with such low odds. When I was looking at schools this time around, I compared my work to current and previous students and I felt like if I made a few minor changes to my portfolio, Davis would still be a good fit. Something to think about when you start to hear back from schools is that a rejection is rarely about the quality of your work and more often about 1) if they think you're ready for grad school 2) your work fits into the kind of cohort they're putting together the year you apply.* UCLA's 2025 cohort, from what I've seen, is politically engaged and interested in social practice. I don't make that kind of work so it makes sense that I didn't get in. *Edit to add: there are other reasons, of course, but I found these two helpful when reapplying. Thank you for sharing! 2 is a very slim pool of people, and makes sense to align the program with your needs. It's Also super reassuring to hear your experience/perspective on it. I myself am looking to make work more aimed at political and socioeconomic themes and topics, so this is good to hear. This is my first year applying for Grad school. Im coming from a mostly commercial background but have really found it quite fleeting, and I feel like I cant look back on my contributions happily, knowing how it's being used. I only applied to 3 schools, UC's, but I really love UCLA's 3 year time frame, which is a huge reason for my application there. We will see how things go. What was the timeline like for your application? Interview Announcements, Acceptance/Rejection Notifications, and such?
Foehn Posted January 15 Posted January 15 (edited) 18 hours ago, Vondadon said: Thank you for sharing! 2 is a very slim pool of people, and makes sense to align the program with your needs. It's Also super reassuring to hear your experience/perspective on it. I myself am looking to make work more aimed at political and socioeconomic themes and topics, so this is good to hear. This is my first year applying for Grad school. Im coming from a mostly commercial background but have really found it quite fleeting, and I feel like I cant look back on my contributions happily, knowing how it's being used. I only applied to 3 schools, UC's, but I really love UCLA's 3 year time frame, which is a huge reason for my application there. We will see how things go. What was the timeline like for your application? Interview Announcements, Acceptance/Rejection Notifications, and such? Interview requests for UCLA, Davis and San Diego went out last year between the last week of January and the first week in February. They start making final decisions in March and April. Edited January 15 by Foehn
arthurrussell Posted January 15 Posted January 15 32 minutes ago, Foehn said: Interview requests for UCLA, Davis and San Diego went out last year between the last week of January and the first week in February. They start making final decisions in March and April. Wait I have a quick question about the portfolio section for some of the UC apps -- the image previews for mine look so low in quality, while the video previews are normal. Is this the same for yall? They would still see the images in their uploaded qualities, right?
Foehn Posted January 15 Posted January 15 1 hour ago, arthurrussell said: Wait I have a quick question about the portfolio section for some of the UC apps -- the image previews for mine look so low in quality, while the video previews are normal. Is this the same for yall? They would still see the images in their uploaded qualities, right? How bad is the quality? I had an issue when I exported my photos from Lightroom with the color profile set to ProPhoto RGB instead of sRGB. The ProPhoto made all of my colors look washed out.
arthurrussell Posted January 15 Posted January 15 2 minutes ago, Foehn said: How bad is the quality? I had an issue when I exported my photos from Lightroom with the color profile set to ProPhoto RGB instead of sRGB. The ProPhoto made all of my colors look washed out. Like 360p resolution — the original photos were 1280p max on one side, same ones I used for all my SlideRoom applications, but for some reason the preview quality on the UC portfolio sections are so low in resolution… I don’t know if this is literally just the preview quality or if it downsized my file into this resolution
Foehn Posted January 15 Posted January 15 20 minutes ago, arthurrussell said: Like 360p resolution — the original photos were 1280p max on one side, same ones I used for all my SlideRoom applications, but for some reason the preview quality on the UC portfolio sections are so low in resolution… I don’t know if this is literally just the preview quality or if it downsized my file into this resolution I’ve always assumed the preview would look a little worse than the actual submission because the preview box is so small. That said, I think Davis specified that the portfolio files should be smaller than 3MB so I just followed that guidance for all my UC apps and didn’t really notice an issue.
MFA26 Posted January 16 Posted January 16 Has anyone heard back from any schools besides Northwestern? The waiting game is tough 😅
goodboycerberus Posted January 17 Posted January 17 5 hours ago, MFA26 said: Has anyone heard back from any schools besides Northwestern? The waiting game is tough 😅 Apart from the interview requests already mentioned, the only other activity I’ve seen personally is a bunch of hits on my website from different IPs in upstate NY, RI, MI, WI areas and around the west coast. Since Jan 15/16 deadlines just passed, I imagine we’ll be hearing more chatter end of the month. I had a couple requests for phone calls from department heads in December, but I also submitted my applications early.
paintstress Posted January 17 Posted January 17 7 hours ago, MFA26 said: Has anyone heard back from any schools besides Northwestern? The waiting game is tough 😅 youve heard back from northwestern?!
Zipperhead Posted January 17 Posted January 17 Hi! I received an interview request for CalArts' Photography and Media MFA today. Good luck to everyone else who heard from them! crash1996 and SocialKonstruct 1 1
kjkjkj1222 Posted January 17 Posted January 17 19 hours ago, MFA26 said: Has anyone heard back from any schools besides Northwestern? The waiting game is tough 😅 what?? Northwestern deadline is like this Monday and you've got the interview? good luck!
eatsomeveggies Posted January 17 Posted January 17 21 hours ago, MFA26 said: Has anyone heard back from any schools besides Northwestern? The waiting game is tough 😅 which program did you apply for at northwestern?
artworkaholic Posted January 17 Posted January 17 Hi guys! Do you know anything about funding/ta positions at Stony brook? It has a late deadline (March) so iam still looking into that but funding is an essential factor for me
No-Evidence8843 Posted January 17 Posted January 17 3 hours ago, artworkaholic said: Hi guys! Do you know anything about funding/ta positions at Stony brook? It has a late deadline (March) so iam still looking into that but funding is an essential factor for me If your'e prioritizing funding, many schools that are state universities, are usually fully funded through a stipend, which includes a tuition waiver + assistantship. A lot of these schools tend to have Feb 1 deadlines. To the best of my knowledge, Stony Brook and most New York Schools, are not fully funded. Also, if your'e attending out of state, even if tuition waiver is included, student fees still get increased for out of state purposes until you have residency. Which means fees can cost thousands of dollars instead of hundreds. I also think cost shouldn't be over emphasized when choosing a school. It's important, but there are many fully funded programs and almost every grad student takes out loans for tuition or indirect costs like living expenses.
arthurrussell Posted January 18 Posted January 18 I just received an interview request for UCSB and Stanford!
kjkjkj1222 Posted January 18 Posted January 18 1 hour ago, arthurrussell said: I just received an interview request for UCSB and Stanford! Good for you! which program did you apply at Stanford?
arthurrussell Posted January 18 Posted January 18 17 minutes ago, kjkjkj1222 said: Good for you! which program did you apply at Stanford? Studio Practice! The interviews are on Jan 22 and 23 — but I don’t know which time slot to pick. I know it doesn’t really matter that much and I might be overthinking it lmao, but I’m international and all the slots will be from 2am-5am in my time zone 😭
crash1996 Posted January 18 Posted January 18 10 hours ago, arthurrussell said: Studio Practice! The interviews are on Jan 22 and 23 — but I don’t know which time slot to pick. I know it doesn’t really matter that much and I might be overthinking it lmao, but I’m international and all the slots will be from 2am-5am in my time zone 😭 hmm, i feel like it depends on if you're a morning person or not--for me i feel like waking up early for 5am would be easier than staying up until 2am, but that could just be me LOL. congrats on your interview requests, i hope both go well!! arthurrussell 1
MFA26 Posted January 18 Posted January 18 On 1/16/2026 at 11:52 PM, paintstress said: youve heard back from northwestern?! I’ve receive an interview request from them last week
artworkaholic Posted January 18 Posted January 18 3 hours ago, MFA26 said: I’ve receive an interview request from them last week Congratulations mate!!! I hope you nail it. Did you received it before 6 Jan deadline? Do you mind saying when did you applied? I finished mine just a few hours before the portal closed 😅😅
Indigoshale Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Anybody else apply to any DC area schools? I'm most interested in UMD College Park. Any insights or previous experiences?
sylvanian2000 Posted January 19 Posted January 19 (edited) Has anyone else heard back from Northwestern, Uchicago and UW Madison? I submitted my applications on the day of the deadlines too and have not heard back. Edited January 19 by sylvanian2000
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