MFA 2013 All Art ADMISSIONS freak-out forum!!!!!!!!

[nudibranches]

Anyone heard from Tyler or NYU or MassArt after being interviewed? Painters that is...

Edited March 28, 2013 by nudibranches

[aethiryn]

Has everyone heard from USC? Website nothing & no email notification!

I received a rejection letter the other day via email. I've heard that they interviewed earlier this month, did you interview?

[Mies23]

Hey guys, a random question open ended question. How much student debt would you consider too much for an MFA?

[jwu]

Hey guys, a random question open ended question. How much student debt would you consider too much for an MFA?

 

i just want to clarify, are you counting rent+food stuff, or tuition, fees, books, school supplies stuff? 

because no matter I go to grad school or not, I still have to pay rent (well, most of us do), buy food, and keep the car running

 

 

it is a tough question, because I don't really see myself making big $$ after graduating with an MFA in 2 years

 

[Mies23]

i just want to clarify, are you counting rent+food stuff, or tuition, fees, books, school supplies stuff? 

because no matter I go to grad school or not, I still have to pay rent (well, most of us do), buy food, and keep the car running

 

 

it is a tough question, because I don't really see myself making big $$ after graduating with an MFA in 2 years

 

Counting everything: food, rent, supplies, etc.

[jwu]

On 3/27/2013 at 10:30 PM, Mies23 said:

Counting everything: food, rent, supplies, etc.

 

i would say 30k is kind of affordable, because the monthly payment should be around $250(of course different loans are different)

if you go up to 40k, you are likely to pay more than $300 per month.

 

I saw that you got accepted to WashU, may I ask how well is their MFA program funded? I am curious since I am waitlisted there...

[schmann]

Is anyone applying for MFA Graphic Design at Aalto in Finland? Got a second round interview next friday.. freaaaaaking out

[Lucia Werd]

Hey guys, a random question open ended question. How much student debt would you consider too much for an MFA?

15k to 25k maximum. Especially since it's on top of undergrad loans.

[buddyholly]

hallelujah! finally got notifications from all schools.

 

final tally:

 

cal arts: accepted

cca: accepted

tyler: top of the waitlist

hunter: rejected

vcu: rejected

 

i'm 90% sure i'm going to cal arts. waiting on financial aid letter to see what's up. 

 

briecheese, will you be going to cca or cal arts?

Has anyone received their financial aid award from CCA yet? I was told it would arrive by end of month. They seem hesitant to answer any questions about it. Thing is, I was accepted to this program 3 weeks ago and I'm still not sure if it will even be possible for me to attend.....it's my top choice, and it's the only program that hasn't sent my financial aid letter. 

[buddyholly]

To quote Borat, "Wahwahweewah!"

 

But seriously that sucks. I've applied for the sculpture program, which is pretty tiny, so I imagine it might be a little less hectic figuring out whose coming or not. However, I do know that sometimes people decide to not go last minute and then they need to hurry up and get another candidate. In any case it's a bummer. If I haven't heard anything after another week or so, I'll call again. What program did you apply for and did you end up going? (I assume not if you're on the freak-out forum, unless you're just that nice )

If I were you, I'd just call to find out the deal. I personally don't like the way they do business there, but it's still a good education.

 

I'm applying to schools again this year because of funding. I was accepted to SVA but it would have bankrupted me, SMFA with 16k scholarship, but I still would have gone into about 60k in debt just for tuition alone (and they wouldn't let me defer), and UMass Amherst for free with living stipend, but I visited the program and didn't like it at all. So I couldn't justify going there, even with the money. 

 

I'm taking studio classes this year. I really, really want to go to CCA. As I understand it, they have a huge endowment, so I'm hoping they'll be able to offer me something. But we'll see. Columbia College, while relatively inexpensive in terms of tuition, didn't offer me a penny. That deal is off the table. I'm still not compelled to go into a massive amount of debt for an MFA. But at the same time, I want to go to a school that will offer the best education and professional opportunities, too. I think we're probably all in that boat....

 

They may be art schools, but they're businesses, too, plain and simple. Some of their practices I consider to be very shady (for example, offering everyone who isn't accepted into the MFA program the option of completing their BFA instead, as at SAIC--just read the MFA Photo thread to see what I mean). As someone who has worked in the corporate world and knows just what that's about, I approach these programs in that way, as businesses rather than organizations of wide-eyed artists. 

[jwu]

15k to 25k maximum. Especially since it's on top of undergrad loans.

good call, i forgot about undergrad loans....

so if i have to pay about $300/mo after grad school for undergrad/grad loans, there is still hope....

[Clay Nails]

It might be a good idea for some of you to look into one of fafsa's repayment plans now. I just did the income based repayment plan which locks you in for only 15% of your income. http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-based. Between my wife and I, we already owe well over $100K...and it looks like even more now with me going to grad school.

[Briecheese]

Has anyone received their financial aid award from CCA yet? I was told it would arrive by end of month. They seem hesitant to answer any questions about it. Thing is, I was accepted to this program 3 weeks ago and I'm still not sure if it will even be possible for me to attend.....it's my top choice, and it's the only program that hasn't sent my financial aid letter. 

Curious why you are more interested in CCA than CalArts? I'm debating between schools.

[honeycleaner]

Hi all, been reading this thing for a little while. for those of you relocating out-of-state and into urban areas, how far in advance are you looking into housing?

[buddyholly]

Curious why you are more interested in CCA than CalArts? I'm debating between schools.

I didn't actually apply to CalArts. It's an awesome school, but I figured I wouldn't be able to afford it even if I were accepted. 

 

Congrats on your acceptances; it does seem to be a difficult decision, though.

[jwu]

Student Loan Calculator

found this, you can get a general idea how much to borrow, how much you will need to pay after school

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

hope it helps for the folks out there thinking about loans.... in additional to undergrad loans.... myself included...

[bots]

A good site to check out in regards to making financial choices is mrmoneymustache.com...not specifically for grad school, but for life in general. Even if you have to take out loans, living by some of the ideas laid out on that site will reduce the amount of debt you end up with.

 

 

 

It might be a good idea for some of you to look into one of fafsa's repayment plans now. I just did the income based repayment plan which locks you in for only 15% of your income. http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-based. Between my wife and I, we already owe well over $100K...and it looks like even more now with me going to grad school.

[woodworked]

briecheese, what's your take on both cal arts and cca? i feel for me what's weighing cca down is that i don't know of any recognizable alumni? does anyone?

[honeycleaner]

this calculator might be more indicative (and less terrifying) of MFA debt repayment: 

http://www.ibrinfo.org/calculator.php

[jwu]

while we are waiting/deciding... 

what's everyone's opinion on "MFA is the new MBA"???

since we all gonna face the real world in 2/3 years (if you have not already done it): get some income to pay for rent, food, loans, while keep making art, chase whatever dream you have

[Lucia Werd]

while we are waiting/deciding...

what's everyone's opinion on "MFA is the new MBA"???

since we all gonna face the real world in 2/3 years (if you have not already done it): get some income to pay for rent, food, loans, while keep making art, chase whatever dream you have

I couldn't find the original article quickly on the web to re-read it, but I think that this article is getting old and with the financial situation being what it is, companies are not willing to take risks with a creative MFA graduate. I believe however that MFAs could be the new entrepreneurs, business creators and self-employed. To learn how to be a professional artist is very close to running your own business in some ways. To make it in the art world you need to be hardworking, to have discipline (still working on that one...), to network, to make your own promotion, etc.

Of all the jobs posting I've seen in the business world not directly linked to the arts, I have yet to see "MFA diploma an asset"...

[mrkojit]

Has anyone received their financial aid award from CCA yet? I was told it would arrive by end of month. They seem hesitant to answer any questions about it. Thing is, I was accepted to this program 3 weeks ago and I'm still not sure if it will even be possible for me to attend.....it's my top choice, and it's the only program that hasn't sent my financial aid letter. 

 

I am also still waiting for funding options at cca and sfai to decide. Haven't heard from any of them

[breather]

Hi,

I've already wrote a thread about SAIC. But nobody commented. 

Am I really the only one who applied to SAIC FVNMA and haven't heard back yet ?

[Emoree]

while we are waiting/deciding... 

what's everyone's opinion on "MFA is the new MBA"???

since we all gonna face the real world in 2/3 years (if you have not already done it): get some income to pay for rent, food, loans, while keep making art, chase whatever dream you have

 

I hadn't heard of this before so i did some searching and came across this awesome blog post:

 

http://incertus.blogspot.com/2008/04/if-mfa-is-new-mba-i-am-underpaid.html

 

My favorite part:

 

"You want big picture? You want art? That's going to have your company go the way of green tech and industries that use waste as raw material. Mine the central Pacific garbage flotilla. Engineer bacteria that eat the Viagra residue in our piss, and keep it out of our rivers. Integrate new cultures and perspectives into your company -- for real, not just at some hoodoo seminar -- putting primacy on bringing happiness to a great number of humans, not profits to your shareholders -- on serving, not fleecing, the public. I could go on, but why bother? These ****mongers don't really care about their employees' brains. They'd grind their employees' brains into stew if that would inflate their stock price. This is just the new fad that this frightened herd of mind-bogglingly UN-original thinkers will follow until the next stupid fad comes along."

 

Although i think birth control pills (and other hormone treatments) have a bigger polluting effect, but i guess that wouldn't sound as good.  Anyway, i like the way this person thinks

Edited March 29, 2013 by Emoree

[nirvana4me2]

yep, that definitely happened to me when I applied there for painting last year.  I finally called the last week of March when I saw other people had been accepted and rejected and they told me they were still deciding on some people.  I didn't actually get a real answer from them until the second week of April when I called again and they emailed me my notification.  

Thanks for the tip. I'm giving them one more week before I commit to Herron.