Vinny51

Hey Kelly, how is the Post Bac program at SAIC structured? Is it some sort of hybrid between a bfa and an mfa?

Congratulations Czarina! And yeah I totally hear what you're saying about the bay area. I was accepted to Mills as well, but I think I may have to turn them down. They offered me a generous fellowship, but even with that, I cant afford tuition + the bay area rent. If I had a couch to live on, i'd probably consider it... who knows. Mills seems like such an amazing school though.

Thanks lgrcwest & thepictureisstill for encouraging me to try this. It turns out negotiating with schools actually works! Last week I spoke with SFAI and mentioned that I received better financial packages from a few other schools and that I was seriously considering them. The graduate recruiter asked me what these offers were, so I told her the breakdown of scholarships, fellowships, etc. Then she asked me to put all of the offers in writing for her, and she would run it by her department. In the end, it turns out they couldn't do much to match the other offers, but they ended up offering me an extra $7k a few days later. Not the best offer, but it was at least something. Today, after a ton of thinking, I decided to formally decline the offer from SFAI, so I gave them a call to inform them of my decision and to thank them, out of respect. I gotta say it was kinda painful and awkward, like breaking up with someone... Anyway, as soon as I told them that I was going with a school that made me a better offer, the grad recruiter immediately asked me if another $3,000 would help. I said no, thanked her, and that was that. I mention this because I know a lot of you will be receiving funding packages soon, and we definitely have the power to negotiate these deals. If I hadn't said anything at all, I wouldn't have received any additional money. And i'm sure if I wanted to really press the issue with SFAI, I could've easily negotiated that last-second $3k offer into $5k, or possibly an extra $10k. I know people are still interviewing and all that, but if you find yourself in a similar situation down the road, i'd strongly recommend pitting these schools against each other for a better deal. We have a bit more power than we think. Especially at these private art schools.

Penn State is the obvious choice. Especially if you're getting a stipend -- its like they're paying you to go to school! The scholarship from SAIC is a nice gesture, and they have a great reputation, but that's still $60k in student loans you'll have to wrestle with. Sixty thousand dollars. And I mean, look at how much number-crunching you're already doing and you haven't even stepped foot onto campus yet. You're already in the left-brained/logical/rational frame of mind ... isnt that the opposite frame of mind to be in when it comes to art making? Like you, Ive been lucky to receive full-funding from a school, and i'm grateful for that because I know it will allow me to focus on the work and I won't have to use brain power worrying about tuition. And ultimately, I think this will help keep me more lucid and engaged in the work while in the program. These programs will demand a lot from us, and I think worst thing that I think can happen in an MFA experience is to have this weird concept of "tuition" creep into the studio. Personally it would throw me off & the work would suffer. It does seem like you come from a more affluent family though, so maybe the burden of loans wouldn't weigh on you as much as it would someone like me (?) And if that's the case, maybe the private art schools are worth a shot. I mean, if your parents are giving you and your siblings $30k each, I would imagine that you could go to them if you run into serious money problems down the road... I dont know, I could be wrong here, I dont really know you. Anyway, I'd kick SAIC and RISD to the curb if I were in your situation. Don't pay for grad school unless you have no other options.

That's strange that they haven't emailed you with the instructions yet. In the skype interviews I've done this year, I was asked for my skype contact info well in advance, and then I was sent an invitation to add the interviewer as a contact before the interview... And they called me when it was time to chat. I guess if I were you, I would just email them and send over your skype info/username. And if youre really nervous, I would follow up with a phone call first thing Monday to confirm that they received your email.

haha you're a genius for this! Ive been waiting forever on a response from them. Congrats on your acceptance, looks like Im in as well

Does anyone know how much power we have to negotiate better deals if we've been accepted into multiple programs? Some schools have given me better funding packages than others, and i'm curious if I can use this to my advantage & pit schools against each other in order to get better offers. Has anyone done this, or heard of anyone who has done this? Is this even a thing? I don't want to use sleazy business tactics, but at the same time, I really don't want to graduate with 60-80k in student loan debt...

I'm not positive, but I've heard UCSD is structured similarly to most UC schools, so you probably wont have to worry about tuition. I was just accepted at UC Davis and they offer TA opportunities to first-year grads which basically wipes out 95% of your tuition and you get a $1000/month stipend on top of it. And at Davis, second-year grads get a bunch of fellowships, which may eliminate the need to TA if you're lucky. Pretty sweet deal overall, and you also get health insurance once you're in the UC system which is great.

Just got rejected from Berkeley!!

I didn't and I'm slightly freaking out about it. I was a graphic design major during undergrad, so I'm way behind in art theory and art history. Hope it doesn't come back to haunt me... Anyone have any books they'd recommend for those of us who need to play catch up?

Such good vibes at SFAI. Congrats on being admitted! Maybe we'll work together one day. I dont have any info on merit scholarships, but I did ask the graduate advisor about funding, and she just pointed me towards external organizations that could help out, as well as FAFSA. So Im guessing that means im not getting any sort of funding or scholarships from them haha

tcolcord, good luck with the SFAI interview! I was just accepted into their low residency program The interview I had with them was surprisingly casual and warm; it's good you're not stressing about it. They asked the standard "why do you want to study here?", but that was the really the only thing they asked me. They just seemed excited to see me & were really in-tune with my work; they already had ideas of who I should work with/avenues to explore/other artists I should look into, so most of the interview was just a conversation really. I also visited the grad studios (a 25 minute drive from the main campus) and spoke with some current students. Really inspiring work happening there, lots of craziness. There are 200 grads in the building and from what I gather, the full-time MFA program is geared around complete freedom and experimentation, paired with heavy reading (theory/etc) and critiques. Overall, seems like a great school & I'm hoping I can make it happen financially. But you know, these private art schools come with a big price tag. I also applied to Berkeley and no response yet, so im guessing that means I didn't make the cut... Hella lame.

I applied to the Art Studio program.

If you havent already, check out these Grayson Perry / BBC talks. I think there are 4-5 talks in total. Really good stuff. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith

I just stumbled on this forum, and I have to say that it's been a lifesaver! I've applied to a handful of schools in Northern CA and am finally starting to hear back from admission offices... has anyone heard from CCA or Berkeley?