Advice for those Applying Again

[nikcav]

So it appears that I did not make it into any schools this time around, and I believe I'm not alone in that. In the freakout forum I've seen that many of you have applied two or three years in a row before being admitted. So I was hoping those of you who have had to experience the application process multiple times could offer up advice to those of us who didn't get in this year but plan to try again next year. General advice would be great. Also maybe speak on how much of your application changed from one year to the next (statements, LORs, work, etc.). And also, did you apply to the same schools, completely new ones, or a mixture of both?

[atinyspark]

Congratulations!  For real - having gone through this process once means that you are at a great advantage for next year.

The important thing to remember is that schools are not looking for the best artists, they are looking for people who will most benefit from their program.  If you didn't get in this year, it is because your schools thought they couldn't help you as much as they can help other applicants.  Maybe it's too early in your career, maybe your work doesn't fit with the kind of work that usually comes out of their program.  Being a good applicant means making a case for yourself as a student, not a superstar artist.  As a repeater, this is the best advice I can give you:

Start making new work now: If you are planning on reapplying to the schools that rejected you, you must present new work.  Finish up whatever you have in progress now, so that you can re-present it as a finished project.  Work all year - hard.  Show them what a year's worth of progress looks like for you.  Your portfolio should be almost entirely new work - schools are rarely interested in seeing work that is two years old or older.

Revise your list of schools: Hopefully you did some research on your schools before applying - did you visit them?  Do you feel differently about any of them now that you've gone through the application process?  Ask people on this forum what other schools you should apply to if you are primarily attracted to aspects of school X, etc.  Think hard about why you chose those schools and what about them is interesting to you - you may have overlooked some.  Do not apply to so many schools that your applications suffer a result.

Talk to as many artists as you can about their grad school experiences: After I wrapped my first year, I was surprised that I actually had multiple friends of friends who were alumni of the schools I had applied to - you probably do too!  Invite these people over for a studio visit, just to chat.  It will help you build confidence talking about your work, and they may help you refine your portfolio or offer insight as to what a particular school looks for.  Ask them about their interview experiences, how they decided it was time to go to grad school, what they got out of it.  People generally respond very positively to being asked advice, and you will grow your network.

Ask yourself if it's the right time for you:  It may be too early in your career for grad school.  Personally, I think grad school is a complete waste of time for those younger than 25.  Give yourself time to develop your work, find out what you are interested in, and meet other artists.  Spend more time in your artistic community, then apply.  Do not use grad school as a way to delay adulthood.

Rewrite your statement: This forum has a VERY BAD tendency of underplaying the importance of your artist statement.  Consider this part of your portfolio - if you cannot write about your work in an effective manner, it is a big red flag to admissions committees that you cannot contextualize your work within the scope of the contemporary art world.  If you do not know how to do this, go to a major museum website and look up a handful of artists that influence you.  Read how the museum writes about this work.  Go to major gallery websites and read how they write about their artists.  Once you've written your statement, have someone who writes about art read it and give you feedback.  Seriously, no one understands arts writing except artists, gallerists and art historians.  Your english major roommate will be no help here.  Additionally, to be competitive, you MUST write about what, specifically, attracts you to this school.  Mention faculty members by name, research their facilities, namedrop influential alumni - anything.  The school wants to know that you want to go there, not that you are spraying a bunch of applications into the world and waiting to see what happens.

[ashleighxcult]

On March 2, 2016 at 0:43 PM, atinyspark said:

The important thing to remember is that schools are not looking for the best artists, they are looking for people who will most benefit from their program.  If you didn't get in this year, it is because your schools thought they couldn't help you as much as they can help other applicants.  

Ask yourself if it's the right time for you:  It may be too early in your career for grad school.  Personally, I think grad school is a complete waste of time for those younger than 25.  Give yourself time to develop your work, find out what you are interested in, and meet other artists.  Spend more time in your artistic community, then apply.  Do not use grad school as a way to delay adulthood.

Rewrite your statement: This forum has a VERY BAD tendency of underplaying the importance of your artist statement.  Consider this part of your portfolio - if you cannot write about your work in an effective manner, it is a big red flag to admissions committees that you cannot contextualize your work within the scope of the contemporary art world. 

atinyspark, such great advice! These three pieces stood out to me the most.  I was EXTREMELY fortunate to get into the only school I applied to on my first try,  but I will say that I agree 100% with your first two statements.  It really is about the school thinking you are the right fit, which is hard to work with as an applicant since that can be very subjective.  

Also, applying right out of a BA/BFA program may honestly not be right time for many, if not most, MFA applicants.  I have been out of school for five years working on my own and growing on my own as an artist - I included this in my Statement of Purpose/Artist Statement so that MICA was able to understand I would really benefit from their program at this point.  

The final bit of advice re: the artist statement - it is very important in showing the grad school that you know how to write about your work.  But I think that most of the people reading your statement understand that it is not set in stone and more likely than not it will end up changing pretty drastically by the time you leave their program.  I think the most important aspect of the statement is to let them know where your work stands now and how you think grad school will help to develop/refine it further. Just my two cents!

Edited March 7, 2016 by ashleighxcult