MFA Sculpture Applications for 2014

[agrobaby]

Anyone else applying for sculpture programs? if so, which programs? and WHY!?

[bandito]

Guess I am super late for this thread. Where are all the sculptors at? Petersons must be kind of accurate... apparently with SAIC sculpture, we have very different odds than the painters... 150 applicants compared to the painters 524 is wild.

 

Where did you end up applying agro? 

[marzipanned]

Sculptor, here -- sort of. My portfolio is about 3/4 sculpture, though the programs I'm applying to are mostly interdisciplinary. 

 

What's your list, bandito?

[kafralal]

Hi mazipanned,

 

Did you apply to ID or sculpture for UCLA?

[bandito]

Hey marzipanned, welcome to the sculpture thread! You have motivated me to make a signature lol. I submitted applications to SAIC, UCI, UCLA, and Columbia. Good Luck with your Glasgow interview and hopefully the rest of your schools follow suit. 

 

 

The printmakers have me on edge since they are reporting interview requests from SAIC on the freak out forum. Randomly...I had a job interview today and they asked me about my art portfolio and where I see myself in 5 years... Felt kind of how I have been imagining MFA interviews going.

[marzipanned]

kafralal: For UCLA I chose sculpture. All I really had to go off of was the bit on the website where ID described itself as being about "site- and debate-specific forms of institutional critique," which doesn't really sound like what I do. Maybe I should have done more research, though. 

 

bandito: Hey, good luck to you, too! I actually did my BFA at SAIC, so I might be able to answer questions about the school. I don't know too much about their admissions process, though. But I do remember from scanning last year's freak out forum that all the departments seem to make decisions on totally separate timelines. 

[kafralal]

"For UCLA I chose sculpture. All I really had to go off of was the bit on the website where ID described itself as being about "site- and debate-specific forms of institutional critique," which doesn't really sound like what I do. Maybe I should have done more research, though."

 

No, you probably made the right decision then; it is a very specific program.

[bandito]

Thanks! That's cool. How'd you like SAIC? Did you talk to many of the grad students? I only know a couple of people who were in the MFA photo program and they didn't really enjoy it. But I know someone who did their BFA in fiber & material studies and loved it. 

 

I went to the winter MFA open studios at UCLA and had a great talk with a 2nd year in the program... was the first person I have talked to who had nothing but good things to say about their grad school experience. All of the professors are great, their individual studios are awesome, and they get to TA as much as they want.  

 

Hi Kafralal, where did you apply?

[herki]

I interviewed with SAIC sculpture last year, though I wound up getting wait-listed there. Perhaps I could help answer questions about the application process too; sort of fill-in where marzipanned can't answer.

[kafralal]

Hi Bandito. I applied to UCSD, UCLA, CalArts, USC, Bard and UBC (in Canada). I had the same experience at UCLA...I visited twice and talked to different people each time and only heard good things. The folks at USC were also pretty happy with their program.

[bandito]

Herki: That would be great! Your signature is very thorough. Do you remember who was on your jury? What were some of the hard hitting questions that they asked? How many sculptors were invited to interview? Thanks, I really appreciate it.

 

 

Kafralal: That's cool you wanna stay on the west. Probably will be hearing from UCSD pretty soon since they had an early deadline. I was really close to applying to USC but after researching and discovering I would fit in better at Irvine... I had to edit them out. Plus if I don't get into UCLA it will be fun to apply to USC instead next year. Long live the rivalry. 

[Yellow Magnet]

Hello fellow sculptors! 

 

My decisions to apply vary from the capabilities of the program, notoriety, faculty, and facilities. Facilities were most important to me (wanted foundry access, 3D printing, CnC routing, etc) but could be trumped by faculty I wanted to work with directly or the fact that they have been known to provide hefty funding.  My list is in my signature below.

 

But I also applied to both SAIC's Sculpture Program and Art Administration program. I have an preliminary interview for Art Administration tomorrow but have not heard back from Sculpture yet. Columbia and Carnegie Mellon also have an Art Administration program I'm interested in, but I want to wait to see if i am admitted.  If i decide to go there I will submit to their Art Admin next year.  I want a dual degree, i'm not crazy... i'm just a workaholic. 

 

I threw in The Royal College of Art because I wanted at least one international option in case one of my external fellowships came through.

 

I did not apply to VCU sculpture only because I have already attended that program in undergrad and want to get out of Virginia.  I love that program and wish anyone who is applying there the best of luck.  My favorite professors who are currently there:  Michael Mckean, Liz King and Carlton Newton.  I wish I was able to work with Kendall Buster but she was always on sabbatical when my schedule was free for her classes. 

[bathtub]

I applied to painting (if interdisciplinary wasnt offered) because painting seems open enough these days to get 3dimensional. also because I had more paintings to apply with than sculpture.

[marzipanned]

"For UCLA I chose sculpture. All I really had to go off of was the bit on the website where ID described itself as being about "site- and debate-specific forms of institutional critique," which doesn't really sound like what I do. Maybe I should have done more research, though."

 

No, you probably made the right decision then; it is a very specific program.

 

Ah! Well, that's good to know.

[marzipanned]

Thanks! That's cool. How'd you like SAIC? Did you talk to many of the grad students? I only know a couple of people who were in the MFA photo program and they didn't really enjoy it. But I know someone who did their BFA in fiber & material studies and loved it. 

 

I went to the winter MFA open studios at UCLA and had a great talk with a 2nd year in the program... was the first person I have talked to who had nothing but good things to say about their grad school experience. All of the professors are great, their individual studios are awesome, and they get to TA as much as they want.  

 

Hi Kafralal, where did you apply?

 

I loved it, overall. Grad students: I don't remember ever straight-up asking any of them how they liked the program, but they seemed generally really engaged, and occasionally crazily impressive.

 

The sculpture department bleeds into film/video/performance/etc a lot. Also a good place to do relational aesthetics or social practice-type projects. Definitely also can do 3D work in other departments -- I did a lot in fiber. This is too late for anyone applying this year, but if anyone in the future is reading this, I'd recommend applying via any and all departments that seem vaguely relevant. I met a guy who was accepted through printmedia, for instance, with an entirely collage-based portfolio (and a sculpture background). Once you're in, you can work however you want.

 

Studios are on the small end, I understand, but a lot of the shared facilities (wood, metal) are enormous. TA positions seemed really low-key and undemanding -- basically just participating in crits and providing some technical help here and there. (Unless there was more going on behind the scenes that I didn't see.)

 

Good to hear all the UCLA love!...buuuut I'm trying not to get too emotionally invested in it, since it seems like such a long shot. :|

[kafralal]

Agreed. I don't want to get too emotionally invested in any one program, UCLA or otherwise—all are very competitive. I would be happy with any of them.

[herki]

Herki: That would be great! Your signature is very thorough. Do you remember who was on your jury? What were some of the hard hitting questions that they asked? How many sculptors were invited to interview? Thanks, I really appreciate it.

Unfortunately, I don't remember who interviewed me. It was a faculty member (part-time?) and a second year student. We basically discussed the project that I was working on at the time, though I sort of directed the discussion there, so I'm not sure if that was usually how the interviews went. They didn't really have any hard-hitting questions.

I think there were around 20 or 30 people there to interview with sculpture that day. I got the impression that the faculty had pretty much already made their choices, and interviews were a way to make sure they made the right decisions and to weed out the crazy people. Most of the day we toured the department and just sort of stood around and mingled. That was actually my favorite part of the day, I got to meet some pretty awesome people, and we all went out to dinner at the end of the day. Some of the grad students were throwing a party at their apartment that we got invited to, though I didn't go.

[colow]

I feel like visiting schools really helped me decide what programs I was really interested in. During the tours I paid close attention to what the facilities and studio situations were like.. important to me. Not much faculty interaction during my visits though. I was hoping to meet more of them to get an impression.

 

The Remodel Symposium might be interesting for people interested in California sculpture programs. 

 

http://youtu.be/cM74zRz120M

[ismewilde]

I guess I should post here as well. I flew out to LA as well to visit UCLA and loved the place, although I wish I had gone a week later when they had their open studio. I was interested in their New Genres program and was actually at one point ONLY going to apply there. By the time the deadline was coming up, a series of unfortunate events occurred (weather, card got hacked) and I knew that the DVD's wouldn't make it on time (POLAR VORTEX)! So, I let it go... 

 

Oh well. It made me look more closely at FSU, which I hadn't even considered before and they have some pretty exciting things going on there. It is fully funded and all grads have to participate (in some fashion) in Art Basel every year in Miami. One of my professors went there for grad school and she couldn't say enough good things about it. 

 

I've always been interested in Mills due to its phenomenal electronic music program and the grad shows look pretty spectacular. Plus, the campus looks amazing. But not sure if I can afford it.

 

Carnegie Mellon's program looks incredible and I love that it is interdisciplinary with access to other programs as well (robotics, theatre, dance, etc.) However, very few admits and I haven't yet done much social, contextual practice.

 

University of Denver EDP is very unique, but I'm concerned that it will be TOO technical. However, it is really new and the possibilities are rather exciting to think about. And its in Denver- a great, liberal city with a lot of outdoor, interactive, progressive art. Downside- expensive I hear, and even if I get in, I probably won't be able to afford it. But keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Sigh.

 

Probably a month to go to find out from any of these. I need to focus on something else. 

 

Oh yeah, as amazing as Art Center looks, I went through the cost of attendance and its not a possibility for me- even after allowing for scholarships and loans.

 

blah, blah, blah- 

 

If nothing else, it made me more prepared for the next round if necessary.

[bandito]

Thanks marzipanned, herki and colow! All of that info was great. The symposium was cool! Parts were really geared towards undergrad but was nice to hear Hirsch Perlman and Jennifer Pastor speak, they were part of why I applied to UCLA and UCI. 

[bandito]

Hi ismewilde, your list is pretty interesting. I agree about art center... same deal with calarts and otis. I had thoughts about CMU. I spent a summer in Pittsburgh before and have an aunt there. Downtown is weird and corporate, but they have amazing parks, plus the warhol and the mattress factory are great. And yea, March can't come soon enough.

[ismewilde]

Hi ismewilde, your list is pretty interesting. I agree about art center... same deal with calarts and otis. I had thoughts about CMU. I spent a summer in Pittsburgh before and have an aunt there. Downtown is weird and corporate, but they have amazing parks, plus the warhol and the mattress factory are great. And yea, March can't come soon enough.

 

The more I look at their program, the more excited I become about it! There is the Studio for Creative Inquiry, Human Computer Interaction Institute, the Robotics Institute- it would be great to have access to such innovative technology! Biggest drawback that I can see is that it is in Pittsburgh and I really wanted to go somewhere where the sun keeps shining. Going to visit on their last MFA day this Thursday to become more informed- just in case. 

[bandito]

Oh awesome, hopefully you like CMU even better in person

[ismewilde]

The campus looks extraordinary, so I don't see that being an issue whatsoever. However, if we get the snowstorm they are expecting, I probably won't make it there

[Yellow Magnet]

Have you guys got any interview requests yet?