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I had to make a big decision at the beginning of this month: where I would go to school for my Master’s.
This is a work-in-progress post. I’d like to come back and tend to this as I go. In the meantime, you’re welcome to explore whatever is here so far. 🌱
As I alluded to, a big project that I did over the Christmas break was to put together my application materials for Masters applications. It was a long time coming: back at the end of 2018, I had been working full-time for three years and really wanted a change. I had a great job, but it was limited creatively in terms of what we were making (apps/toys) and who it was for (toddlers). Someone suggested I might enjoy a Masters and I went ahead and applied– but just to one school’s Masters of Fine Arts program, at OCADU. I was late to the game, rushing to do my research in November and December. In the process of which I realized just how different a Masters is from a Bachelor’s.
I had been pretty ignorant of what the differences were, and while I don’t know I can come up with a comprehensive comparison, trust that the amount of research I did for this compared to my Bachelor’s was very different. I also think my bachelor’s (in Illustration) wasn’t ever really intended to set up students to go to grad school– and with good reason, it is arguably an applied art and still very much based in trade and focused on preparing students for a career (and not an academic one, necessarily). If there’s any students, or interested parties considering a Masters reading this, hopefully some of this can help! (But also bear in mind that I haven’t actually done the Masters yet, so this may be different from future experiences)
I did look into some Masters of Design, Interaction Design, and other adjacent programs, but ended up mostly looking at MFAs. I think some of the biggest differences I found, and that appealed to me, are that MFAs generally:
There’s lots of other differences, like the inclusion of pedagogy (learning about teaching) commonly, critical theory, TA-ing and financial aid, and duration (generally 2-3 years). But these things appealed to me because I felt (and still do), that I wanted the time and space to really focus on creating work, full time, that would have better contextual and critical concepts or under-pinnings, and to make new, rich relationships with people who knew stuff that I didn’t. I’m also seemingly transitioning from illustration into a ‘fine art’ practise, and felt the MFA might help legitimize my work to a degree (which is problematic, I know), and hopefully fill in some gaps in my knowledge.
We’ll see if that happens!
Both back in 2018 and more recently, I researched through:
When I began to narrow my list, I started going more in depth through:
The first time I applied I did get an acceptance from OCADU, but after having continued to do more research, the less convinced I felt that this was the right move for me. What sealed the deal was: getting an email from the School for Poetic Computation that they were opening applications– and I was so excited. It was a ‘hell yeah!’ moment, which I hadn’t got when opening the letter from OCADU. So I turned them down.
I ended up attending SFPC in the fall of 2019, and I’m so glad I did.
Without going too much into detail, SFPC is an artist-run, non-accredited ‘school’ that focuses on art, tech, and now community and social learning. It’s firmly in the ‘alternative education’ space– and was my first experience with learning at a place that was so different from other institutions I’ve attended. We were a small, diverse cohort that occupied an old, and for a brief but exciting time rat-infested, building in Manhattan, taking classes in the morning and DIY-ing projects together in the evenings. We ate together, cooked meals together, went on field trips and self-organized outings together. It was really special. And it showed me that learning could look very different.
