Graduate Admissions FAQ

Prioritize academic references who can speak directly to your research capabilities and academic performance.

Ideal recommenders include professors, advisors, or mentors. If you have been out of school for several years, professional supervisors who can attest to your technical skills, leadership, and work ethic are acceptable alternatives.

Your Statement of Purpose should clearly articulate your academic and career objectives, your research interests, and why this specific program is the right fit for your goals.

Avoid simply repeating your resume; instead, write a compelling narrative on your artistic and intellectual journey and how the faculty's expertise aligns with your aspirations. Please do your research if you do mention professors. You do not have to mention them however.

An artist statement for a graduate school (MFA) application is a concise document (usually 100 to 500 words) that explains what you make, how you make it, and why your work matters in a contemporary context. You can mention artistic influences, contemporary or historical. You could speak about certain themes and concepts your work is centered around. It also might be possible you are influenced by theory, philosophy or literature. Please share what is pertinent to your work.

Create a portfolio of your work by compiling images into a PDF file with artwork citations.
Follow the recommended steps below:

• Document your artwork:
• High quality images of your work with details help provide information about your process and concept.
• More info about photographing & editing images LINK
• Save images as jpg files at 72 dpi. Pixel dimensions 2000 px longest side, approximate file size 1.5-2 MB.
• Provide detail images if necessary as separate images
• Video: Save a still from the work in the PDF. AND Embed a link to view it on youtube/vimeo or host it on your Google Drive with permissions set to ‘Anyone with the link can View’

• Curate and sequence your portfolio images
• Professional Images: Select highly impactful and related works that demonstrate your breadth of practice and emphasize a conceptual focus. Images should be from the last four years.
• Cohesion: Your pieces should feel unified. This does not mean they must all look identical or use the same media, but they should share a clear thematic thread, conceptual underlying question, or distinct aesthetic framework.
• 3D and Intermedia: If your work involves sculpture, installation, or time-based media, ensure your documentation captures scale and spatial relationships. Use high-quality detail shots for texture or complex elements.

• Caption Images Properly
• Provide precise artwork citation for every image/video even details. 
• Include the title, year, medium, dimensions. 
• Refer to CAA for artwork citation formatting guidelines. LINK
• Include no more than 200 word description or project statement per image.

Once your application has been sent in and reviewed by faculty you will be contacted afterward for an interview. Interviews do not happen prior to the review of your application.

No. When you interview you can let us know what your interest in teaching and graduate assisting. If you wish to teach a course and we have a class available we ask you before that term starts whether you would like to teach that course. We try our best to have you teach a course before you leave grad school. If you are interested in a Graduate Assistantship then we look at your skills, what your interest is, and what our needs are in each area (ceramics, sculpture, photo, gallery, etc) and we place you in that position for one term at 10 hours a week. We always ask before you place you. If you have more questions then you can reach out to us for more information.

Receiving a competitive scholarship of $1,000+, an Alumni Graduate Education Scholarship, or holding at least a half-time Graduate Teaching/Research Assistantship can qualify non-resident students for in-state rate.

Graduate school funding generally falls into three main categories:

1. Graduate Assistantships: Graduate Assistantships (GAs) 10 hours a week of work in an area (ceramics, sculpture, photo, gallery, etc) 
2. Scholarships: Merit-based awards that provide financial support without a work requirement.
3. Federal and Private Loans: Need-based financial aid secured by completing the FAFSA (for domestic students).

Most admission decisions are released between late February and early April. Scholarship decisions are not made until after March 1st.

The standard national agreement date for most U.S. graduate institutions is April 15. If you receive an offer of admission accompanied by financial support (such as an assistantship), you generally have until this date to formally accept or decline the offer.