The MFA Debacle

I did my undergrad at a small private college in upstate NY. They had an option that allowed me to get my BFA and gain certification for teaching art at the K-12 level. I was lucky enough to get a job teaching while I was going to school. I knew I wanted to eventually teach in college, but at that moment, I was content teaching high school. I thought teaching at the college level was a long way off, maybe when I was 40.

Part of the requirement to continue toward Professional Certification in New York State is that you must receive your master’s degree within five years of graduating. I took a few years off, made some work, and applied to 3 schools that were commuting distance-The College of Saint Rose (where I had done my undergrad), Bard’s Low Res MFA Program, and SUNY New Paltz’s MFA program. I wanted to continue to teach while I was in grad school.

At the time, Saint Rose offered an MS in art education, which would satisfy my certification requirement. I knew they were also just starting an MA in Studio Art, which was a 30 credit program, half the amount of an MFA and all night classes. New Paltz had an MFA program and an MA program in Studio Art. I was outright rejected from Bard’s program (understandably so with the quality of my work at this point.) Their summer program only accepted 4 painters out of about 800 applicants. I was accepted into the MA program at New Paltz, with a potential to move to the MFA after the first semester if I “showed potential.” In the end, I chose comfort. I knew everyone at St. Rose; it was close; it was quick (but not cheap); and I could continue working. The school I worked for offered a little bit of financial assistance for this. I reasoned that if I ever wanted my MFA, I would already have 30 of the 60 completed. No one said otherwise. I was the first to graduate with the MA in Studio Art 2 years later.

After eight years of teaching, I took a year off to work on my own art and develop connections in my art community. It worked, maybe too well. The work started to take off. I was accepted into 14 shows that year. I started a collaborative with one of my former classmates working with new media and site specific installation.

One of our installations, Cibacron F, 2012

The following year, I went back to teaching full time, but it wasn’t the same. I had experienced the rush of my own work and was struggling to fit it in to my full time career. I felt like all of my creative energy went into teaching my high school students. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, and had no mental energy to work on proposals. I had to take personal time off to install the shows that we had already been accepted into. I tried to fit it in on weekends and holidays. It was exhausting, frustrating, and ultimately something that I couldn’t maintain.

The answer came in the form of a job offer from my former art education professor at St. Rose. She set me up with a few classes at the college and connected me to some satellite work for Alfred University as well. I would make just enough to scrape by as an adjunct, but have plenty of time for my own work. I decided it was worth it. The school was also interested in starting a New Media program. The potential of starting this was really exciting, but I learned quickly that the college (like most others) would only hire full time faculty with a terminal degree—in this case and MFA.

I started researching programs a little late in the year and missed many deadlines, but I applied to three. I chose RPI’s full time MFA program because it was walking distance from my house and was rated #6 in the nation for their New Media focus. I also applied to another full time program nearby, SUNY Albany. It didn’t rank high on anyone’s list, but it was close and very affordable. My collaborator had done his undergrad at UArts in Philly, a city I loved. They had a 6 week summer low residency program, which seemed appealing because I could get a taste of living in Philly, but still maintain my home and job in NY. It wasn’t cheap, but I knew there were scholarships.

After interviews and tours, I was accepted to all three programs. SUNY didn’t offer any scholarships, but said fellowships were available to second year students. It made the $7k/year state school even more affordable. RPI offered me a decent scholarship too, close to half off, which would put the cost at around $25k/year. UArts offered me there merit scholarship, which is only awarded to one student per year. It was an honor and made the cost of attending close to SUNY’s price.

The disappointment came in learning that my 30 credits from my MA were useless. I could only transfer 6-12 credits, depending on the school. All that money I had spent would count for nothing toward an MFA. Almost nothing, anyway. But I didn’t have many options.

I read endless blogs and articles and websites about the programs. In the process, I learned more about many other schools with more reputable programs, some affordable, some with teaching opportunities, all across the country. I also read a bazillion articles that said MFA programs were a complete waste of time and money. I listened to a Dave Hickey lecture where he said that professors at art school only know how to “build old cars”. They’re not doing anything new, and can only teach you to build old cars. I read about DIY MFAs and well-known artists who never went for their MFAs. This all made a lot of sense to me. The caveat was that if you wanted to teach at the college level, you needed the MFA; otherwise, it was to be avoided like the plague.

I weighed my options, talked to many people I respected, and decided I would not go to any of the schools. I needed to do more research and apply again next year. I could keep my adjunct position without an MFA. I realized that if I was to do an MFA program, I really needed to make it count for something. It needed to go beyond just the opportunity to teach at the college level. I needed to make connections, network, establish ties in other places, push my work, read, learn. All this, it could be argued, can be done without spending the money, but if I needed the MFA for teaching, I might as well take full advantage. What I really wanted to do was just be an artist, but I couldn’t see any other way of making a living beyond teaching, until I was more established. I thought the way to be more established was to start the networking part of things beyond my community, which wasn’t something that came natural to me. School would help. I would be patient.