Photo by Jo Sittenfeld. Courtesy of Rhode Island School of Design.
If you can, make a visit to the campuses that interest you. While some schools hold regular open houses, tours, and information sessions, others have much more limited opportunities to experience the facilities. Look out for open houses in the fall (some, like Yale, require you to register) and public open studio days in the spring, when you can meet and see the work of current students. Both are great opportunities to better understand a program, its ethos, and its teaching methods.
Pay attention to the specific departments a school has. In many cases, schools have medium-specific departments that you will have to apply to, like painting or sculpture or ceramics. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t have the opportunity to pursue more interdisciplinary work—in many cases you can. But, if you’re torn between painting and sculpture, for example, look at the faculty and former students to help you choose one over the other (though some schools, like Yale, let you apply to two programs at once).
Research the faculty who are working with materials, processes, and conceptual frameworks that resonate with your own artistic goals. Harring advises that prospective MICA students dig into not only a faculty member’s career, but also “what their teaching style is, how they’re involved with their students, what their style of critique is.” More than anything, he added, “the top thing you’re investing in is the access to faculty.”
Faculty are also indicators of a program’s approach, aesthetic, and strengths. Jesse Damazo, assistant director of admissions at CalArts, noted that many of the school’s faculty are focused on institutional critique, video art, or performance, and “researching the kinds of work that the faculty here do—which is very broad, but does have a certain flavor—definitely behooves the student.” For instance, if your practice revolves around realist figurative painting, you might feel adrift at CalArts—whereas a school like RISD could be a better fit.
Get a sense of the kinds of work that school is fostering, and think about if it feels in line with the kind of work you want to pursue.
You should double-check to make sure that a faculty member will be at the school when you would be attending. Wolf noted that at Yale, teaching artists work in various capacities on campus, from temporary critics and lecturers to full-time faculty. “When you’re looking to pursue a degree at a certain school because of the faculty, make sure you have a high level understanding of who is really there, rather than who is just coming in for a semester,” she said.
While it’s vital to familiarize yourself with faculty members’ backgrounds, don’t be pushy. Refrain from emailing them or showing up unannounced at their offices—that won’t help you get in.
It’s also a good idea to look into the current students and recent graduates of programs you’re interested in. Get a sense of the kinds of work that school is fostering, and think about if it feels in line with the kind of work you want to pursue.
This should all circle back, though, to the potential relationships you could form during your time in the program. “When you leave grad school, it’s the connections to faculty and to your classmates, I think, that really make students’ futures,” said Harring.
5. Write a concise statement that communicates your practice, not an autobiography
Though not as important as your portfolio, the essay portion of the application is, at times, reviewed simultaneously. Remember that the reviewing committee is likely reading hundreds of applications, so be concise and use clear language (this is not the chance to stretch your poetic muscles).
The purpose of this text varies across schools, so read instructions carefully, but many schools are looking for an artist statement. Whatever the case, don’t try to tell your life’s story.
“It should really be about the work—not about your life. It’s not like a college essay,” Wolf said. “The writing should be very practice-focused, biographical only in the context of how personal history or circumstance enters the making.” Ultimately, together with the portfolio, she added, “a faculty member needs to be able to understand the practice and say, ‘I want to spend two years talking about this and helping develop it.’”
Courtesy of MICA.
Moyer noted that she wants to learn from the essay why the applicant has chosen art as a means of expressing their ideas. “We are living in a world where there are so many artists, so knowing what the impetus is is really important,” she explained.
The artist statement is the place to put words to the ideas present in your work; being able to articulate those ideas in a clear way is crucial, Damazo explained. Your statement should clarify the broader questions or topics you’re working through in your work, like related social or political issues. Faculty will want to know what’s motivating you as an artist.
Don’t be afraid to be honest, either. “What we want to pull out of that statement is: Why graduate school? That’s really all we’re interested in,” Harring said of MICA’s admissions department. “We’re often incredibly receptive to a student [who’s] saying, ‘I have my own practice and I’ve hit a wall—I can’t answer my own questions anymore.’ We respond very well to that—that’s a great reason to go to graduate school.”
It’s okay to be applying to several schools, but you should be applying with serious intent, and making sure that that comes across.
As you get more familiar with a program, though, make sure you’re not catering your application to what you think the school wants. Bourgeault said she sees this mistake happen often in applications to RISD. “A lot of students think from the school backwards, rather than thinking from themselves forward,” she said.
On the flipside, you shouldn’t make a boilerplate application that you’re submitting to multiple schools (they can tell). Avoiding this could be as simple as writing a new paragraph or two in each of your written statements. It’s okay to be applying to several schools, but you should be applying with serious intent, and making sure that that comes across.
6. Get recommendations from people who know your work well
Though less important than your portfolio and written statement, recommendation letters or references can play a significant role.
For those applicants who were recently in undergraduate art programs, this is easier: You can choose the art professors and advisors you worked with closely. If you’re many years out of school, though, and have not kept in touch with those professors, this can get tricky.
“The most helpful references are people that can speak to an applicant’s artistic potential,” Damazo explained. The people who write your recommendation letters should be very familiar with your work and your work ethic. Ideally, these are artists or people in the art world who have seen your work and can attest to your ability to commit to your practice.
“It should be someone who can speak to your work, the kinds of things you’re doing, any kind of growth they’ve experienced you have,” Wolf offered. “It can be an employer, an artist you know or have assisted, a faculty member you’ve worked with.” Some schools say that enlisting former employers who aren’t necessarily familiar with your artwork is acceptable, so long as they can speak to your character, dedication, and determination. Others prefer your recommendations come from someone you’ve worked with directly in a creative capacity.
Bourgeault noted that at RISD, the recommendations and your undergraduate transcript are reviewed somewhat equally. If your grades from college are conspicuously poor, that’s something you may want to address in your written statement. Generally speaking, MFA programs do not typically require a minimum GPA—but they want to see that you’re a hardworking individual.
7. Be patient and ready
After you’ve submitted your application materials, it’s largely a waiting game. It’s fine to be in touch with the point person for graduate admissions at a school to make sure your application is complete, and to confirm when decisions will be made. You should not, however, be reaching out directly to faculty.
Many schools invite finalists to the school for an interview. You’ll likely be asked to speak to multiple faculty members, and in some cases, you may need to give a presentation.
“Typically, applicants are asked to talk to us about their work, where they think the work will go, where they’re interested in pushing it, and why this school,” Moyer said of Hunter’s interviews. “We’re also interested in what kinds of books they read, because that gives us a sense of what kind of intellectual life they have with their artmaking practice.”
Photo by Jo Sittenfeld. Courtesy of Rhode Island School of Design.
This is a question students get at MICA, too, where they’re also expected to talk about exhibitions they’re seeing, as well as their own strengths and shortcomings.
At Yale, Wolf notes, the interview format varies from department to department. The painting department, for example, asks that the applicant bring their work with them to the campus, where they can install it and discuss each piece with a pair of faculty members. (The school also asks that students leave one work behind, so that it can be considered during a later portion of the review process.) Other departments are more forgiving—the sculpture department, for instance, isn’t asking prospective students to haul cumbersome works to campus. With that medium, applicants are generally asked to give a short presentation with an accompanying slideshow of visual aids. Practice your presentation so that you can deliver it without notes.
Damazo emphasizes that the interview should be understood as a two-way conversation. The applicant should be ready with questions for the faculty. “MFA programs vary so much, so for students it’s just as much an opportunity for them to learn,” he said.
Keep in mind that the majority of applicants won’t make it to the interview stage. If you don’t, try not to take it personally. In most cases, the reason why an applicant won’t be admitted to a school has to do with their work not being a good fit for the program, or needing more development.
In the end, the best things you can do to increase your chances are to make sure the work in your portfolio is as strong as it can possibly be, and to apply to programs that clearly align with your aims as an artist.
Moyer notes that it’s best to cast a wide net and look beyond the best-known, top-tier schools: “There’s a limited capacity, and each place is very different—that’s the main thing. You want to figure out what’s the best setup for you.” Given the shifting landscape of the contemporary art market, she added, “it’s a big gamble to go to grad school. It’s really important to choose the right place.”
