MFAs?

[Kirk Gittings]

Every once in awhile we get students asking people here about MFA programs and I am curious how many people here actually have MFAs in photography or other related arts?

I got mine in '83 from the University of Calgary in Alberta, one of the truly great experiences of my life. While an MFA is largely unnecessary for what I do, it was an intensely creative period for my work (and how I thought about my work in the context of the history of photography etc.) and it definitely has opened a few doors over the years.

[ic-racer]

MFA in Fine Arts, 1988

[Darin Boville]

I seriously considered it in the mid-late 1980s but then (thank God, no offense to others who did) I didn't.

--Darin

[paulr]

Seriously considered it in the 90s and didn't. I'd echo Darin's Thank God ... and that's my inclination ... but I honestly can't know if it's good that I skipped it or not.

Based on friends' experiences, I'm aware of the ways it could have been a disaster, but also the ways it could have been a great benefit. And of course there are many possibilities I can't know.

For sure I'm glad to be without the debt.

[IanG]

UK equivalent - MA in Photography in 2003 after about 15 years from first deciding to do one :D I went back to University to study Industrial Archaeology first in the late 1990's.

Ian

[jnantz]

always wished i did the 5 year program ( mfa/ma ) through tufts and the museum school ( smfa ) in boston.
but i double major/minored in architectural studies and photography,
then a ma in something like industrial /commercial archaeology/preservation planning in the early 90s ..

[Bruce Barlow]

As a local school board member, I'm routinely CALLED an "MFA," but I don't have a degree labeled such.

I would love to get one, just to go back to college and pretend that I can be as irresponsible as I was the first time around!

[David Aimone]

Apples and Oranges Bruce! All school board members are honorary MFA's. I should know, because I have an MSeD!
;)


As a local school board member, I'm routinely CALLED an "MFA," but I don't have a degree labeled such.

I would love to get one, just to go back to college and pretend that I can be as irresponsible as I was the first time around!

[keith english]

Finishing up my MFA from Art Academy University in SF. It's an online program. Was it worth it financially? I doubt it, but it has improved my photography. I will have the option of teaching, and already have some interest at a local college when the prof goes on sebatical. MFA's in photography are really not as available as you might think. Certainly not as plentifull as MBA's, and I know some of those who are unemployed.

[Bruce Barlow]

All I know for sure is that I have a BS in Speech. Comes in handy teaching workshops.

[Valerie]

MA in Studio Art, emphasis in photography from Lamar University. One of the best things I ever did!

[Darryl Baird]

me 2, MFA in Photography @ University of North Texas

[Brian Ellis]

All I know for sure is that I have a BS in Speech. Comes in handy teaching workshops.

Sounds like you have a BS in BS. : - )

[Brian Ellis]

After I retired I went back to undergraduate school in the Fine Arts Department of the University of South Florida, planning to get a BFA degree (to go with the three degrees I already had) and then go on to get an MFA just for the fun of it. But after two years of undergraduate school and one year teaching the Beginning Photography course when the normal instructor went away for a year, I dropped the idea of an MFA. For one thing I saw how hard the MFA students worked and it didn't look like the fun I had anticipated. But mainly I realized I wanted to be a photographer, not an artist who used photographs in his art, and the MFA program seemed to be directed more at the latter than the former.

[Bruce Barlow]

Sounds like you have a BS in BS. : - )

So I'm told, in not so many words...

[Preston]

When I started at a community college after a stint in the USAF I was an art major. I soon discovered that I would be a starving artist and so changed my major to physics. I wound up being a fire fighter. My physics and chemistry background came in handy for teaching fire behavior, so all was not for nought.

Even though my forays into oils, pastels, acrylics, etc. were not too successful, the concepts of design, color, and composition I learned have proven their worth for my photography.

--P

[sidmac]

BA in Music, 34 years teacher and performing musician.

[bgh]

I got mine in '83 from the University of Calgary in Alberta, one of the truly great experiences of my life. While an MFA is largely unnecessary for what I do, it was an intensely creative period for my work

As a historian, an MFA was never really an option. However, the way that you describe your experience exactly mirrors mine with the PhD--that and $2.50 will get me a pretty good cup of coffee (ah, inflation....), but my years at Vanderbilt constituted a remarkably intense and stimulating period of reading that shaped so many of my ideas and ways of thinking. Plus, it sure looks good on the business card when I send in a proposal...

I do my darkroom work at Syracuse University's Community Darkrooms where I'm surrounded by BFA and MFA students; I just have no interest in doing the kinds of things that they do in order to get their degrees. Perhaps I'm just too lazy!

Bruce

[jonathan_lipkin]

MFA School of Visual Arts 1991. Not sure what I learned, but it was a requirement for teaching at the college/graduate level.

[erie patsellis]

I am in a similar boat, finishing up my BFA and pursuing an MFA, purely for the reason Jonathan mentioned, to teach at the post secondary level. The transition from fully employed to unemployed to full time student (with scholarships) has been an interesting one, to say the least. I don't think I've ever had to exist on so little money for such a protracted period of time in my entire 47 years.

[Kirk Gittings]

I feel for you Erie, it can be a huge sacrifice. Fortunately, miraculously, at age 30 I had a full ride-plus teaching assistantships, grants, free housing and a wife working-money was not a big problem for us. In Canada, at least in those days, money and support was readily available for graduate students. I was very fortunate and felt very blessed.

[erie patsellis]

Kirk, in some ways I'm very lucky.

After 3 semesters at a local community college where my fellow students were, shall we say "educationally challenged", and a 4.0 GPA, I looked at where I would like to attend school if costs weren't an issue. I narrowed it down to a private fine arts college 45 mins. away that has a reputation for being rather exclusive in regards to admissions and is not inexpensive by any stretch of the imagination. I scheduled a portfolio review at in late July to objectively assess what my strengths and weaknesses were to better prepare myself for that school.

After a 2 1/2 hour portfolio review, essentially I was told they wanted me there, and would do whatever was needed to make it happen. I ended up with around 30K/ year in scholarship/grant money and it's basically a free ride. My only expenses (and student loans :( ) are for living expenses. My wife has just started in a new career and there's an awful lot of months we just squeak by, but I'm determined to keep my 4.0 GPA and school is my full time job.

I'm in my sophmore year, and I'm getting feelers out to grad programs already, via faculty supporters and there's been quite a bit of interest from several schools, all of whom offer fully funded and/or stipended grad programs, for the right student. (and who feel I would fit right into said programs) So it's not all bad, other than living on less than poverty level income levels and slowly going through my stash of film and chemistry. (thank God for hoarding...)

[Photomagica]

Kirk,
Readers of this thread may enjoy Alain Briot's discussion called "Rethinking Talent" at LuLa:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/rethinking_talent.shtml
Alain comments extensively on his experience at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

My MA is in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology from the University of Toronto. While it had nothing directly to do with photography, except I read extensively in the history of photography and related optical topics while getting the degree, it equipped me with a solid set of critical thinking, research, analysis and writing skills that continue to serve me well. The degree added credibility to my resume and has certainly helped me to be "in play" for every job I subsequently sought.

Was it a lot of work - yes - brutal, particularly since I did the 2 year full time MA in only three years while working full time. (I had a very understanding employer.) Was it worth it. You bet!
Bill Peters

[David R Munson]

I've been out of school 7 years and keep thinking I want to go back, but it's becoming less clear for what. My undergrad is in commercial photography and I'd like to go back for photography, but I could also go back for cinematography, industrial design, or even architecture, so that needs clarification before I can take grad school seriously. I'm in no rush, however.

[Rick A]

I recieved my BA in 1972, specialized in commercial art as well as graphic arts. The only job available to me back then was working for a giant printing firm in the layout dept. That didn't last, and I found myself working as a route photog for Olan Mills Inc., doing portrait work. I enjoyed travelling, but got burned out on people.