interview notes from a professor

i lucked out in having a close friend who is family friends with an adjunct professor who teaches at the museum school! she was incredibly helpful, friendly, and supportive... and just in time as the interview is this saturday. below are some words of advice she gave me. interestingly enough, a lot of her advice would have been a great help a year ago at my saic interview; there were definitely some similarities in the questions i remember being asked.


Hi Erik,
Congratulations on your interview! I teach in the painting dept. but know many of the photo faculty.
I have never sat on an interview at SMFA since I am adjunct faculty. However, having been through several MFA interviews when I was applying to grad school, I can make a few suggestions.

I know the SMFA culture well and think they are mostly wanting to get a sense of your personality and receptiveness to feedback. The best advise I can give is be genuine and don't try and be what you THINK they are looking for. One thing I know for sure is the school is obsessed with content. Be prepared to articulate meaning behind your subject matter. Also, if you have any background in critical theory it's good to have texts fresh in your mind in case they ask you what you read, etc. If not, be honest and say those are the things you hope to learn about in graduate school.

Often they will ask:
Why do you want to go to graduate school? A good answer is: exposure to faculty and visiting artists; develope strong community of peers; to challenge and srengthen the quality of your work; to prepare you to participate in a competative art industry
Why museum school?
Who or what influences your work? (artists, film, music...it's good to have relevant contemporary artist's names in mind)
What have you seen that you can't stand? (they asked me this at once school and I completely blanked)
Ok, now the most imporatant thing is to be conversational and not defensive. Also, don't try and be perfect. Take time to answer questions honestly and when you don't know a good answer say these are things you hope to get a clearer perspective on in grad school.

Mostly, they just want to make sure you are teachable and not a serial killer.

be sure and breath...

Let me know if you have more questions!