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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, gdhopeful said:

Hi all!

I finally figured out how to post on here and wanted to share my current application status. I'm applying for graphic design programs and this is my first admissions cycle. My undergraduate degree is not in art so if any school offers a program with a preliminary year, that's the one I applied to.

Applied:

CalArts (interview)

RISD (interview)

Boston University (interview)

ArtCenter

Yale

MICA

OTIS

I'm super nervous for my interview at RISD and would appreciate any advice people could give!

3 pieces of advice:

. Show humility, which is not the same as flattery, just be someone who is kind and appreciative of the opportunity.

. when given the chance to talk about your work, be specific to a couple of pieces that best explain your direction, most interviews are short, and they may only ask broad open questions, so you need to speak about your work with insight beyond your artist statement

. When they give you a chance to ask them questions, you should defintely ask questions, it shows your prepared and interested in the program, but it's also your chance to clarify any gap in information you need to make your best decision in choosing a school.

Edited by No-Evidence8843
Posted (edited)

I spotted 3 people getting invites from UCLA DMA, so early this year! 

Anyone knows if DMA do more than one round of interviews? I personally start to lose hope

Edited by L4mp
Posted
15 hours ago, Emolibra97 said:

Hi All,

Been following this thread for a week and finally made an account. I wanted to share the schools I applied to were U of Oregon, UCLA, Berkeley, UC Irvine, U Chicago, Stanford, and Yale. So far I've interviewed for U of Oregon (felt it went great and I feel there is a big chance of being accepted here) and have my U Chicago interview tomorrow morning. 

For people that applied to Oregon I believe interviews have been finalized and they are getting together this upcoming week. Decisions will be out by end of February. 

I've seen a couple people here (and a reddit post) that Berkeley/Stanford have finalized their interviews. I feel bummed out since Berkeley was one of my top choices and it has been crickets since I applied. This is my second time applying here. I still have hope for UCLA and Yale as these are also my top choices so fingers crossed! I don't feel that I am the type of artist Yale is looking for, but it was worth a try :) 

Wish you all the best of luck and please don't loose hope! Everything happens for a reason and you'll be a great artist no matter who accepts or doesn't accept you.

Hi! if you dont mind me asking, what questions did they ask at your interviews and how did they go? I have an upcoming interview with SAIC and i just want to practice as many questions as possible. feel free to dm me if you are not comfortable sharing publicly!

Posted
5 minutes ago, sylvanian2000 said:

Hi! if you dont mind me asking, what questions did they ask at your interviews and how did they go? I have an upcoming interview with SAIC and i just want to practice as many questions as possible. feel free to dm me if you are not comfortable sharing publicly!

 

6 minutes ago, sylvanian2000 said:

Hi! if you dont mind me asking, what questions did they ask at your interviews and how did they go? I have an upcoming interview with SAIC and i just want to practice as many questions as possible. feel free to dm me if you are not comfortable sharing publicly!

Of Course! It's interesting because both if my interviews felt totally different. With Oregon it was such a more relaxed and longer interview. It felt more like a conversation. The sent me what they were going to ask a week before. All questions like, what questions or problems are currently driving your work? Is there a piece in your portfolio that best represents where your work is headed? Walk me through your process from idea to finished work? Why this program? Very straightforward questions. The interview lasted almost an hour.

 

For UChicago it was the opposite. Very quick 15 minutes. They lwk grilled me a bit on my work. They had very specific questions on my portfolio that I can't get into here, but the standard questions were also asked like why here? How did you became familiar with making art? As we are living in a world full of images, how would you as an artist deal with this? What is your targeted audience? This interview felt waaay more intense and quick. 

 

I hope this helps and best of luck! I'm still waiting to hear back from UCLA, Yale, and Irvine.

Posted

Just did UT Austin painting interview, I recieved the request on 1/26! Unfortunately, I think I flubbed it TT. I was told I wasn't specific enough about my influences, but that was at the end when there was no time left. It was a 25 min interview, I was asked a few typical, open-ended questions. This is the only school I've heard back from so far.

I also applied to:
Stanford, which I guess is a bust!

Northwestern, also a bust?

UConn, which is definitely a bust!

Rutgers

Yale

UCI

Columbia

I'm being overdramatic, but I'm preemptively mourning the fact that maybe I'm not gonna get into anythingg. Good luck to us all

Posted
5 minutes ago, smallfood said:

Just did UT Austin painting interview, I recieved the request on 1/26! Unfortunately, I think I flubbed it TT. I was told I wasn't specific enough about my influences, but that was at the end when there was no time left. It was a 25 min interview, I was asked a few typical, open-ended questions. This is the only school I've heard back from so far.

I also applied to:
Stanford, which I guess is a bust!

Northwestern, also a bust?

UConn, which is definitely a bust!

Rutgers

Yale

UCI

Columbia

I'm being overdramatic, but I'm preemptively mourning the fact that maybe I'm not gonna get into anythingg. Good luck to us all

Apply to at least one state school. Kent State, Bowling Green State, Florida State, LSU, all of these are fully funded with assistantships, and they have February 1 deadlines. App costs are generally between $30-$50 each school. Apply to at least one today before the deadline closes. There are so many schools like these with feb 1 deadlines, so choose one in a state you'd be able to go to and would enjoy.

Posted
Just now, No-Evidence8843 said:

Apply to at least one state school. Kent State, Bowling Green State, Florida State, LSU, all of these are fully funded with assistantships, and they have February 1 deadlines. App costs are generally between $30-$50 each school. Apply to at least one today before the deadline closes. There are so many schools like these with feb 1 deadlines, so choose one in a state you'd be able to go to and would enjoy.

Wait realness thank you I'll look into it

Posted
15 hours ago, TwhowantsanMFA said:

Fingers crossed that you get the Oregon offer (and that it's well-funded, as I read on a Reddit thread that it's no longer fully funded). Thanks for letting us know!

Not sure what kind of art you're making or what your essay focus was, but Berkeley seems to really want multidisciplinary, experimental artists who can lean heavily into academic research speak. I paint but put all my paintings at the end of the portfolio and put installation and sculptural work up front, and used more than half of my essay to talk about research plans, connecting them to various non-art faculty and campus think tanks. No idea if that will get me an offer! But it got the interview, which is better than last year's crickets. 

Yea! My interviewer did hint that they were struggling this year (like many), but that it could still be fully funded so we'll see! I'm lens based artist! I feel that's what happening with Berkeley, my work is not as experimental so then it's not a good fit!  I have a colleague that went to Stanford MFA and it's very research focused. I feel my work falls in the middle so I can see now why these programs didn't reach out. I read in a forum that we should not try to fit into a program rather go to one that they know we are a good fit for it. If my work is not for their program then I shouldn't be going there! 

Posted
5 minutes ago, smallfood said:

Wait realness thank you I'll look into it

If you apply to at least two schools, definitely consider applying to at least 1 school in-state because you have in-state versus out state fees.  The difference in costs can be a lot of money.

Of the programs I mentioned, Kent State is spoken really highly off. It's an hour away from Philidelphia, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, so you're not too far from some big cities. 

Posted
44 minutes ago, sylvanian2000 said:

Hi! if you dont mind me asking, what questions did they ask at your interviews and how did they go? I have an upcoming interview with SAIC and i just want to practice as many questions as possible. feel free to dm me if you are not comfortable sharing publicly!

There is a great thread on interview Qs here on Gradcafe in a few places that you can find easily with a long list of potential Qs that it's good to prep for. I've found that so helpful. Berkeley just asked the straightforward ones like: What are you working on now that we might not have seen in the portfolio? Who inspires you? What do you see yourself doing your first semester here? Why an MFA and why this program? How do you feel about the program's focus on interdisciplinarity, especially pushing artists to work in different media and forms? 

Posted

Hey all, I also wanted to note I just got an interview for MICA Hoffberger school of painting if that is helpful for anyone. 

As for RISD painting- I remember them saying in an info session for this year that they would be rolling out interviews in batches this year. Not sure what the reason for that would be. Not giving up hope yet! 

Posted

hey everyone for painting so far i heard back from

risd (interview)

Mica (interview)

but im still waiting on

Yale

Bard

penn

rutgers

Has anyone heard back from any of these schools for painting yet?

Posted

just got an interview request for SAIC (comics)! delivered via ominous email saying there was an update to my portal LOL

Posted
15 hours ago, Emolibra97 said:

 

Of Course! It's interesting because both if my interviews felt totally different. With Oregon it was such a more relaxed and longer interview. It felt more like a conversation. The sent me what they were going to ask a week before. All questions like, what questions or problems are currently driving your work? Is there a piece in your portfolio that best represents where your work is headed? Walk me through your process from idea to finished work? Why this program? Very straightforward questions. The interview lasted almost an hour.

 

For UChicago it was the opposite. Very quick 15 minutes. They lwk grilled me a bit on my work. They had very specific questions on my portfolio that I can't get into here, but the standard questions were also asked like why here? How did you became familiar with making art? As we are living in a world full of images, how would you as an artist deal with this? What is your targeted audience? This interview felt waaay more intense and quick. 

 

I hope this helps and best of luck! I'm still waiting to hear back from UCLA, Yale, and Irvine.

Ahh i see! thank you so much for your reply. hopefully my interview with SAIC will be more like your Oregon experience 

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