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MFA 2014 All Art ADMISSIONS freak-out forum!!!!!!!!


kafralal

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Just finished my phone interview with Glasgow School of Art. Ooof. Not that they asked anything exceptionally tricky or unusual -- I just alternately freeze up and talk myself into a corner in these sorts of situations.

 

Questions: Pick a piece in your portfolio and tell us what you were thinking about when you made it. Can you expand upon x thing in your statement. Which thinkers/writers/artists influence you. Why this program. (When I mentioned I'd looked at & enjoyed recent student work, they asked if I meant anyone in particular. I couldn't remember specific names.) Any questions for us.

Thanks for the interview information. It's nice to hear what kind of questions might come up. Good luck!

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I am in the same boat!  I want to go to the open house at Oregon but I live all the way in Massachusetts.  Why can't they have the open house afterwards!  I am not sure if it is worth it..I am still thinking about it though.

Hipmunk and tripadvisor are where I've been looking for flights. Its best to go to Portland and take the bus down for cost now/cost on the trip budgeting. Bus down there is 26ish dollars. From Newark to Portland it's 260 round trip leaving on a Monday returning Saturday. The biggest concern is the hostel is usually booked solid in Eugene :|

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Hello all,

 Just finished my final MFA app! Jesus, that was a bit stressfull, didn't decide to apply to grad school until late December (awful idea). Which means I have been doing a lot of scrambling the last couple months to get all my transcripts (from 4 different schools), lettes of rec, portfolio ready, etc. Feels good to finally be done and out of my hands at this point.  I've two phone interviews so far, Univ Oregon and WUSTL.  I guess that they went well, hard to say though. I think I kind of talked in circles a few times not really answering the question.  Just hoping that that my photography that leans on the documentary side versus conceptual won't hurt my chances of being accepted.  Just waiting now, checking my email 180 times a day. Fun.

 

 

Applied:

 

University of Oregon- phone interview 1/17

UGA

Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) - phone interview 1/26

ASU

UNM

VCU

Tulane

LSU

Duke

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On 1/31/2014 at 12:48 PM, bdepps said:

Hello all,

 Just finished my final MFA app! Jesus, that was a bit stressfull, didn't decide to apply to grad school until late December (awful idea). Which means I have been doing a lot of scrambling the last couple months to get all my transcripts (from 4 different schools), lettes of rec, portfolio ready, etc. Feels good to finally be done and out of my hands at this point.  I've two phone interviews so far, Univ Oregon and Washington Univ.  I guess that they went well, hard to say though. I think I kind of talked in circles a few times not really answering the question.  Just hoping that that my photography that leans on the documentary side versus conceptual won't hurt my chances of being accepted.  Just waiting now, checking my email 180 times a day. Fun.

 

 

Applied:

 

Univ Oregon- phone interview 1/17

UGA

Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) - phone interview 1/26

ASU

UNM

VCU

Tulane

LSU

Duke

 

I was in the same boat, except I waited longer. Not because I didn't want to go to grad school though- for other considerations. Looks like you got a good list there though with some well funded programs. I thought the UGA photo program looked pretty sweet (I also do photo, but not my main focus) and Athens looks amazing (and affordable) to me. Good luck!

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Just had my Skype interview with Davis today and I'm hopeful. I hope I talked enough about my work itself, since a lot of it was research and the story of taking the photo. Here are the questions they gave me - I assume they sent them to everyone, though I could be wrong. You had to pick two:

 

How did this piece change from your initial conceptualization to the finished piece?

What aspects of this piece gave you moments of struggle and doubt? How did you deal with this?

What do you particularly like about this piece? Tell us with some detail.

What characteristics will you or did you carry forward to other pieces?

How do you deal with failure? When it is clear something is not working? Is there any area on this piece you can point to that can help illustrate your response?

Where in this piece is there an example of an unexpected but fortunate development in the work?

If you had the chance to redo this piece what would you do differently?

Did you do any outside research in preparation for this piece?

 

There was only really time for you to talk up the work and then they asked me one more unrelated question. I thought that they were very reasonable questions. It didn't feel like they were trying to quiz you on the history of art. If you have some handle on your process and have thought about what your work means, I think they are straightforward to answer. I thought it went okay, though it's hard to tell without any body language cues. Skype is still a bit weird, with random glitchy sounds here and there, but they were very friendly.

 

Nothing from Berkeley. Sigh. I realized there was a typo in the SOP - one of those that spellcheck doesn't catch cuz the typo is also a word. I corrected it for my Jan apps, but geez. Oh well!

 

Now for "you will hear from us soon." Gaaaaaaaaaaah!

Edited by iomarch
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I really really like UGA's program and Athens too. I think it might be a long shot for photo this year though. I talked to someone in the art admissions department at UGA and she said that they admitted 4 peolpe to the photo program last year, so the number that get in the program this year will be very limited, 1 or 2.  Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

Applied:

 

Univ Oregon- phone interview 1/17

UGA

Washington Univ- phone interview 1/26

ASU

UNM

VCU

Tulane

LSU

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I'm freaking out. Applications have been finished and there is always that nagging feeling that you're just not good enough or that subjectivity is going to be your downfall and your work just won't be appreciated. I've had my friends reassure me but I'm sure they're sick of me talking about it by now. Can we fast forward a month and just find out? This waiting game may just kill me.

 

How is everyone else dealing with waiting? This is not my first time around the block with applications as I did a Post Bacc year at SFAI but I feel more invested this year. Any advice on how to make it less painful. I'm considering bombarding myself with hobbies for a while and doing a lot of hiking... 

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I feel like a crazy person but I am considering applying to Hunter's IMA program and the Dramatic Media program over at UGA.... I really like both programs and I'm 90% done with all of my other apps. Since I am already applying to 9 this would be 11, which feels like a lot to me. Then again, I don't know my chances and art is subjective so I'm not 100% sure that anyone will actually like my work or thesis proposal... Is anyone else applying to 10+ schools?

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Well, I think we are all in the same boat, tofutuesday. I think focusing on other enjoyable activities is a great idea. And maybe some meditation. And you are in a great location to distract yourself!

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Just finished my phone interview with Glasgow School of Art. Ooof. Not that they asked anything exceptionally tricky or unusual -- I just alternately freeze up and talk myself into a corner in these sorts of situations.

.

On the flip side I've had fabulous easy breasy interviews and didn't get the job. You just never really know. Good luck! Edited by bathtub
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I feel like a crazy person but I am considering applying to Hunter's IMA program and the Dramatic Media program over at UGA.... I really like both programs and I'm 90% done with all of my other apps. Since I am already applying to 9 this would be 11, which feels like a lot to me. Then again, I don't know my chances and art is subjective so I'm not 100% sure that anyone will actually like my work or thesis proposal... Is anyone else applying to 10+ schools?

 

I don't think that's crazy. There are people out there who have applied to more than 12 schools. Although it can be costly to apply to so many, it leaves you with more options. I only applied to 5 but I took a lot of factors into consideration. There's no right answer...as long as you can see yourself being happy and successful at each of the schools that you are applying to then I think you're making a smart decision.

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I feel like a crazy person but I am considering applying to Hunter's IMA program and the Dramatic Media program over at UGA.... I really like both programs and I'm 90% done with all of my other apps. Since I am already applying to 9 this would be 11, which feels like a lot to me. Then again, I don't know my chances and art is subjective so I'm not 100% sure that anyone will actually like my work or thesis proposal... Is anyone else applying to 10+ schools?

Those seem like two entirely different programs and I would seriously consider what you truly want to be focusing on. Hunter's IMA program looks pretty fascinating to me and actually has a lot in common with my artist's statement. I didn't even know about this program at all. It seems to list two different dates for admission deadlines. One page says February 1st for international and another for all. Maybe call and make sure?

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What's dramatic media..?

 

The full program info is here. There are actually 3 different focuses, which my interest lies in animation. From what I have gather from speaking with the department the program teaches approach along with technical skill.

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That's.. weird..

 

I come from a theatrical design background, my original MFA was "Theater - Design" so seeing a weird hybrid listed as another subject is.. confusing.

 

Reminds me of the old joke - what's the difference between performance art and theater? The color of the walls. (Theater has black walls, "art" is often in a gallery with white walls.)

Edited by Loric
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Those seem like two entirely different programs and I would seriously consider what you truly want to be focusing on. Hunter's IMA program looks pretty fascinating to me and actually has a lot in common with my artist's statement. I didn't even know about this program at all. It seems to list two different dates for admission deadlines. One page says February 1st for international and another for all. Maybe call and make sure?

 

My purpose for attending is more about the direction I want to take, which I think would fit nicely in both programs. I am thinking it is March 1 for domestic, but have not been able to get them on the phone quite yet.  

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Have any of you been presented with financial aid packages just yet? I'm really curious to hear about the more generous schools. 

 

Also, reading this thread makes me want to throw up. I'm not applying until next year but I feel for you guys, everything is a cliffhanger that just happens to determine the rest of your life (or at least what you're going to do for the next year if you aren't accepted). Good luck and remember that everything is subjective. If they don't like you, fuck 'em. 

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Gah..

 

Just.. gah...

 

I went back and reread the little update email from earlier this week from my admissions guy - for whatever reason (possibly a survival device) my brain filtered out the bit about "I know several people were looking at your additional portfolio materials last week" from his reply to "What sort of timeline are we looking at now?"

 

I had mentally blocked the whole "several people" looking at my shitty pencil drawings from boom-boom drawing classes since it was requested that i show more drawing work.

 

I guess if they were going to just up and reject me over that, it'd have happened already. But jeeze.. Ugh!!! Of all the things I really didn't want to be judged on and now people are staring at a crappy study of the reflective surface of an inflatable gym balance ball (to my credit, I did find some interesting reflections of light in that thing).

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last year was Friday Feb 1st in the evening. They always notify via email on friday evening. 

 

 

Apparently they reviewed already the applications ... So yes. We will have news very soon.

 

So do other people have the inclination Yale might be sending stuff out today/tonight? If last year was Feb 1, and they always notify on Fridays.... today might be that day, unless they really like February, then it could be next week?

 

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I wrote a whole book about the subject at hand (and which I thought I applied for) and was asked to be a speaker on the topic/field by a local library association when they were hosting an event chronicling the history of the area and it's arts/entertainment.. but hey.. focus on my crappy charcoal scribbles..

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So do other people have the inclination Yale might be sending stuff out today/tonight? If last year was Feb 1, and they always notify on Fridays.... today might be that day, unless they really like February, then it could be next week?

I HOPE SO

I am getting very antsy

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