MFA 2017 All Art ADMISSIONS freak-out forum!!!!!!!!

[Ragtag]

Hi everyone, 

Been lurking this thread for a while and never posted anything. But now... I just need to type my thoughts out for anyone who cares to read. I think this is more a purge for myself.

I am #3 on the waitlist for Painting & Drawing at Concordia (Montréal). This is my one and only school I applied to, I have known I wanted to go here for three years now. I moved to Quebec, waited one year to gain resident status, and applied this season. (Tuition is much more affordable as a resident) It's my first time applying to grad school and it's probably the most stress I've ever felt in my life. Especially in our field - everything in the arts is subjective. You present a portfolio of your best work and try not to take it personally whatever the decision. 

Waiting for a decision is hard enough. I would check my student portal multiple times a day. Until finally, a month later, it had updated! But alas, more waiting. Being on the waitlist is so so so much worse than the initial period of waiting. It's like someone telling you to sit down, shut up, and wait for the REAL artists to decide the course of their career, while you're left to take whatever leftovers they give you. I know this is not the university's intention, but it still feels really crummy. And of course, you can't help but wonder what the work of the artists who got accepted is like. Figurative? Abstract? Did they write a better statement? Work on a larger scale? It picks away at your artistic identity and drives you mad. 

Long story short, today I spoke with the MFA program assistant, who told me that although the deadline was April 1st, 2 out of the 6 people who were accepted have still not responded with a decision, asking for more time. Listen, (and I really am trying not to be overly dramatic) I am in agony every subsequent day that I have to wait for these lucky people to decide between schools. You don't need more time to decide. What you need is to be clear on what you want, and execute that plan. I'm tired of reading forums of people applying to 10+ schools and taking their plan B or C. Who are you helping? Certainly not yourself, if you know you're heart was in another program. Definitely not the school, who gains a half-loyal student. And most certainly not the people who are clear on their academic path of where they want to study and specifically why and how it will help their future research. 

I apologize if this rant comes across overly bitchy. I am almost at wits end trying to sit here and wait longer. Also, all of you seem like very lovely people who are making your decisions on time and very considerate of people waiting. It's probably the people who don't post on grad cafe who should read this, because I feel like they don't have as complete a view of the admissions process.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and I am sending all the good vibes to everyone who is still waiting on their top school!

Edited April 6, 2017 by aapnoiniav

[LingX22]

On 2017/4/5 at 2:30 AM, akuyakuneko said:

Congrats! It's a great school at a great location as far as i have heard! If you cannot visit the school in person you can always conduct research online xD

 

 

On 2017/3/31 at 5:42 PM, YayYayYay said:

I emailed them about results and they said while it was originally supposed to come out today it looks like it'll be next week instead. I'm not quite sure of exactly when though :/

Have you guys heard back from NYU? 

[YayYayYay]

24 minutes ago, LingX22 said:

 

Have you guys heard back from NYU? 

Yeah! I was offered admissions over the weekend. Told them I'll be accepting. 

Have you guys heard word? It seemed at the time they were still in the process of making decisions.

[LingX22]

8 minutes ago, YayYayYay said:

Yeah! I was offered admissions over the weekend. Told them I'll be accepting. 

Have you guys heard word? It seemed at the time they were still in the process of making decisions.

Congrats! I just got informed that I am on the waitlist, so fingers cross. I have not been able to get in contact with them through email at all. I want to ask how many people there are on the waitlist. 

[YayYayYay]

35 minutes ago, LingX22 said:

Congrats! I just got informed that I am on the waitlist, so fingers cross. I have not been able to get in contact with them through email at all. I want to ask how many people there are on the waitlist. 

Thank you! And I hope I will be meeting you soon. Yeah they seemed pretty busy. For myself I just decided to wait til next week for questions.

::cross fingers::

[This guy]

22 hours ago, dunton said:

I got a check in email from Carl Ostendarp the other day.  Just saying that I'm still on the waitlist and that they will inform people after acceptance offers come back in April 15.  I've just accepted a spot at UIC though, so I had home take me off of the list. 

I emailed them a week ago but my response was from Stephanie.  NotvCarl, I don't know

[StarryNight_1]

On 3/21/2017 at 2:41 AM, mikeyyates said:

Got rejections from Minnesota, Tulane, and University of Washington for painting  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Low key hurt but currently making lots of work i'm really into. Appreciate everyone in the forum for all the advice and updates.

I got my BFA in December of 2016; applying next year with some new work. 

Congrats to everyone who got accepted!

Hey, I never went to art school for my undergrad and was considering applying for an MFA this year. I was torn between doing a second undergrad this time in visual arts or applying for a masters? How did the BFA help you, was the learning mostly skill based or was it more to do with developing the thoughts that go in the process? I'm really confused. 

[YayYayYay]

@StarryNight_1

While I don't believe the BFA is absolutely necessary, it is still definitely very helpful. I think a BFA can help with not only skill and artistic maturity but also helping you hone in creative instinct as well. But that being said, there are lots of people who do great without one, it all depends on the individual quite frankly.

@sylviecerise 

Hey thank you for letting us know about the portfolio review VCFA was conducting. I would have never known otherwise. I just received their feedback today and it was immensely helpful. It was nice to also get some of my confidence back after a brutal application season. 

[YayYayYay]

On 4/6/2017 at 9:58 AM, aapnoiniav said:

Long story short, today I spoke with the MFA program assistant, who told me that although the deadline was April 1st, 2 out of the 6 people who were accepted have still not responded with a decision, asking for more time. Listen, (and I really am trying not to be overly dramatic) I am in agony every subsequent day that I have to wait for these lucky people to decide between schools. You don't need more time to decide. What you need is to be clear on what you want, and execute that plan. I'm tired of reading forums of people applying to 10+ schools and taking their plan B or C. Who are you helping? Certainly not yourself, if you know you're heart was in another program. Definitely not the school, who gains a half-loyal student. And most certainly not the people who are clear on their academic path of where they want to study and specifically why and how it will help their future research.

 

I respectfully and deeply disagree. People earned their time to decide longer if the school offers that to them. 

Your comment undermines the fact that every applicant who received an invitation earned that opportunity. There are surprises and many things to consider once all the offers are in. But most importantly, this is an endeavor each of us individually are pursuing that which most of us will only get to try once. We would be cheating ourselves if we don't consider all of our options carefully. 

Getting on the waitlist is amazing, and congratulations for making onto it. A lot of people would appreciate that peace of mind that their work is respected at their dream school. 

[7edkim]

Turned down the offers from Hunter, St. Louis, PSU, Syracuse, UT Austin, Cornell, UChicago and SMFA Boston. Truly, best of luck for those in any of their waitlist! You deserve the opportunity to study at these schools than I do. They all offered me some pretty incredible scholarship packages except Hunter, including two full rides, so I hope it goes to those who truly deserve and need... I will be joining University of Illinois at Chicago in the coming fall! Hope everyone's making decisions that will help achieve their academic and professional goals. Xo

Edited April 7, 2017 by 7edkim

[AnniKatt]

I think this Monday I'm going to ask MICA if they can extend my deadline. I'd hate to make a decision without having all my options laid out.

[Waiters123]

3 hours ago, YayYayYay said:

@StarryNight_1

While I don't believe the BFA is absolutely necessary, it is still definitely very helpful. I think a BFA can help with not only skill and artistic maturity but also helping you hone in creative instinct as well. But that being said, there are lots of people who do great without one, it all depends on the individual quite frankly.

@sylviecerise 

Hey thank you for letting us know about the portfolio review VCFA was conducting. I would have never known otherwise. I just received their feedback today and it was immensely helpful. It was nice to also get some of my confidence back after a brutal application season. 

Would you mind sharing a bit of what VCFA told you? I received my feedback as well and feel as if my work wasn't mentioned as much as my artist statement. Which did they focus on with your review? 

[sylviecerise]

9 hours ago, YayYayYay said:

@StarryNight_1

While I don't believe the BFA is absolutely necessary, it is still definitely very helpful. I think a BFA can help with not only skill and artistic maturity but also helping you hone in creative instinct as well. But that being said, there are lots of people who do great without one, it all depends on the individual quite frankly.

@sylviecerise 

Hey thank you for letting us know about the portfolio review VCFA was conducting. I would have never known otherwise. I just received their feedback today and it was immensely helpful. It was nice to also get some of my confidence back after a brutal application season. 

For sure!!! I just got mine today as well—I'm really impressed they put so much time into it.  It's really generous of their faculty. And the way they wrote the critiques was really positive, but specific enough to feel helpful & meaningful. 

5 hours ago, Waiters123 said:

Would you mind sharing a bit of what VCFA told you? I received my feedback as well and feel as if my work wasn't mentioned as much as my artist statement. Which did they focus on with your review? 

The feedback they gave me focused on my work, but a lot of what they talked about felt very directed by my artist statement. They mentioned an essay (Cyborg Manifesto) and several artists (all very canonical) which they felt were relevant to my work. 

[sylviecerise]

On 4/6/2017 at 11:58 AM, Ragtag said:

Long story short, today I spoke with the MFA program assistant, who told me that although the deadline was April 1st, 2 out of the 6 people who were accepted have still not responded with a decision, asking for more time. Listen, (and I really am trying not to be overly dramatic) I am in agony every subsequent day that I have to wait for these lucky people to decide between schools. You don't need more time to decide. What you need is to be clear on what you want, and execute that plan. I'm tired of reading forums of people applying to 10+ schools and taking their plan B or C. Who are you helping? Certainly not yourself, if you know you're heart was in another program. Definitely not the school, who gains a half-loyal student. And most certainly not the people who are clear on their academic path of where they want to study and specifically why and how it will help their future research. 

To also add another dimension: some of these people may have been waiting on financial aid packages / other schools' results. I still haven't heard back from Yale with my financial aid package, and I know of others who are in similar situations with other schools.

I don't think it's productive to say it's as simple as knowing what you want & picking a single school that you are sure is perfect for you. There are so many variables that's it's impossible to pick a program that meets 100% of your needs; even 75% of your needs is pretty tough. Understanding of MFA programs also changes over time. If I had chosen one school to apply to a year ago it probably would have been Tyler. Six months ago, it would have been Rutgers. Two months ago, it would have been Yale. As I collected more and more information, my attachment to programs pretty wildly fluctuated. There are certain things that are impossible to find out about a school without going through the whole application process. I'd love a system where schools are completely transparent about what their programs are like, but as it is now it's a bit of a courtship dance between the program & applicant.

Hoping that you get off the waitlist!!

[BrainDamage]

1 hour ago, sylviecerise said:

To also add another dimension: some of these people may have been waiting on financial aid packages / other schools' results. I still haven't heard back from Yale with my financial aid package, and I know of others who are in similar situations with other schools.

I don't think it's productive to say it's as simple as knowing what you want & picking a single school that you are sure is perfect for you. There are so many variables that's it's impossible to pick a program that meets 100% of your needs; even 75% of your needs is pretty tough. Understanding of MFA programs also changes over time. If I had chosen one school to apply to a year ago it probably would have been Tyler. Six months ago, it would have been Rutgers. Two months ago, it would have been Yale. As I collected more and more information, my attachment to programs pretty wildly fluctuated. There are certain things that are impossible to find out about a school without going through the whole application process. I'd love a system where schools are completely transparent about what their programs are like, but as it is now it's a bit of a courtship dance between the program & applicant.

Hoping that you get off the waitlist!!

I heard back from Yale with my financial aid package a while ago. Have you checked your spam?

[sylviecerise]

14 minutes ago, BrainDamage said:

I heard back from Yale with my financial aid package a while ago. Have you checked your spam?

I've been in contact with David—I applied for a non-custodial parent CSS form waiver, they're just taking forever to process it. ~__~

Edited April 8, 2017 by sylviecerise

[Ragtag]

Thanks for the replies @sylviecerise and @YayYayYay

It's easy to get caught in a personal and perhaps selfish stance through this whole process. I like what you say about it being a courtship, I think I'm lucky in that I have always known what my dream school and city is. 

I wish everyone good luck with their decisions!

[YayYayYay]

@Waiters123

Mine was similar in that they depended on my artist statement to give me feedback on my portfolio, which made sense because I felt this whole thing they were doing was geared towards people who are applying. They talked about what made my work strong, and where I could focus on improving within my presentation. 

One weird thing is that when I was applying at the time, Slideroom wasn't allowing me to enter in my dimensions or materials; the boxes for it were not there.

Seeing as how I found out about what they were doing on the day of the deadline, I just sent it in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  So they did talk a little bit about why that information is important.

[icw]

On 4/7/2017 at 10:09 AM, StarryNight_1 said:

Hey, I never went to art school for my undergrad and was considering applying for an MFA this year. I was torn between doing a second undergrad this time in visual arts or applying for a masters? How did the BFA help you, was the learning mostly skill based or was it more to do with developing the thoughts that go in the process? I'm really confused. 

A bfa will help you conceptualize a medium of your choosing. You will also learn how to manipulate techniques to convey ideas. And speak about your work. A bfa is largely a studio based curriculum while a BA is more liberal arts based . Both are fine. You don't need to have gotten your undergrad in art to go to an mfa program.

[taumi]

On 4/6/2017 at 9:51 AM, Poodle-Doodle said:

So far I've turned down offers from UPENN, Hunter, Washington University Sam Fox and UCLA. Just FYI for anyone on the waitlist. 

May I ask why you turned down the offer from uPenn? A friend is thinking of accepting

[Gwhar1]

On 3/31/2017 at 9:35 PM, sylviecerise said:

Yup looks like Tyler decisions are up on the portal. Did indeed end up only getting into Yale. ?

bummer 

[junglemath]

Hello everyone,

Is there anyone who has applied for the MFA program in painting at UC San Diego? I am curious as to how many pieces they require you to submit as part of your portfolio.

Thank you

[Yetti]

On 4/7/2017 at 10:09 AM, StarryNight_1 said:

Hey, I never went to art school for my undergrad and was considering applying for an MFA this year. I was torn between doing a second undergrad this time in visual arts or applying for a masters? How did the BFA help you, was the learning mostly skill based or was it more to do with developing the thoughts that go in the process? I'm really confused. 

I had a Bachelor of Science degree and though my portfolio got me into some really great interviews (Columbia, Yale, Goldsmiths) some interviewers verbalized their issues with my undergrad degree.

I went the route of exhibiting heavily with recent MFA grads and learning by doing. There is a bias against applicants without a BFA at some schools. I feel like not having a BFA opens your work to a degree of skepticism and requires a stronger portfolio or perhaps just more 'flexing' of your ability to understand art intellectually. 

I dont believe that you'd need a BFA, but you should be aware that  some schools take issue. I strongly recommend against getting a BFA if you think it would be a step backwards in developing your work. If you think you might benefit from the education (not the degree) I'd consider a few short "Post-Bac" or summer programs. 

Best of luck

[Vespertine]

If your work is strong, and you're engaged with contemporary art enough to know the "right" way to speak/write about your work... I don't think a BFA is necessary. You can learn all of these things and even show your work without a BFA -- it'll just take some effort to catch up.

Especially not if you already have an undergraduate degree. Unless you have unlimited funds (and time!) to throw around, paying for a second bachelor's degree just as a pathway towards applying for an MFA is pretty reckless. 

I was honest in my interviews and said that getting an MFA was an opportunity to get what I missed out on (art school experience) in undergrad, and I think the interviewers appreciated that. 

 

[junglemath]

1 hour ago, Yetti said:

I had a Bachelor of Science degree and though my portfolio got me into some really great interviews (Columbia, Yale, Goldsmiths) some interviewers verbalized their issues with my undergrad degree.

I went the route of exhibiting heavily with recent MFA grads and learning by doing. There is a bias against applicants without a BFA at some schools. I feel like not having a BFA opens your work to a degree of skepticism and requires a stronger portfolio or perhaps just more 'flexing' of your ability to understand art intellectually. 

I dont believe that you'd need a BFA, but you should be aware that  some schools take issue. I strongly recommend against getting a BFA if you think it would be a step backwards in developing your work. If you think you might benefit from the education (not the degree) I'd consider a few short "Post-Bac" or summer programs. 

Best of luck

Thanks for the reply. The BA is in Political Science (Pre-Law concentration) with a minor in Art. I was interested in UCSD's portfolio requirements, as their admissions page doesn't specify a particular number of works they require as part of the application portfolio. Is there usually a predetermined number of pieces (perhaps dependent on the school) that schools specify should be included in the portfolio, or does it not really matter, as long as you submit enough to accurately represent your work?