Too often in the past I have threatened to go to graduate school.  Unfortunately I’ve never actually applied.  I keep saying I’ll do it the next year, but I think it might be this year.  I’m going to be pretty hard pressed to get a portfolio ready in time.  I’m not sure how many schools I should look at applying to.  Without having been anywhere, MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) is my first choice.  Graduate students can audit any undergrad class and they work with a mentor all three years to help put together a thesis. It’s also only about hours from some pretty decent skiing.

UCLA is another program I’m interested in, particularly the interdisciplinary study program.  Studies also show that the more reknown your alma mater is, the better chances are that you’ll have a job afterwards.  UCLA, being a university and not a college, also offers a wider variety of resources available to students (rec centers, etc).

I’ll probably also look into the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, through if memory serves, I wasn’t terribly impressed with their graduate program. The MFA in Studio seems to have a lot of participating departments, but it is only a two year program which doesn’t seem like much time to learn new things compared to MCAD’s three year program.

What I need to  apply:

• Up to 20 of my strongest works
• Three letters of recommendation

UCLA’s deadline is soonest, December 15.  MCAD’s is a month later.  When I wake up this evening I’m going to start going through an interactive piece of mine and get it going.  After that is fixed and ready, I guess I’ll just start drawing and painting when I can find the time.  Any tips, tricks, or suggestions to improve my chances would be greatly appreciated.

Filed under: Art, General by John