School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA)

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>(I am a senior in high school who attended SMFA's accepted students day) </p>

<p>I personally think this school is a bit of a joke and not worth the 50k they ask for (they are also very stingy with their scholarships, for an example, i got a 5k scholarship and when i attended the accepted students day i found out i had the highest scholarship money).</p>

<p>At first i thought this school would be good for me. I am an abstract artist and really like to do interdisciplinary things. The fact that they do not have majors was really enticing for me, plus you can take classes at tufts and get your diploma from tufts (<strong>See the bottom of this post for more information on the whole tufts association, it can be confusing</strong>). </p>

<p>However, to me, the kids and faculty the school has are the kind of people that artist have the stereotype that they have today: Uneducated, not talented, and sit around and think flaky thoughts. My mother kept saying how flaky she found the place to be. I was very unimpressed with the art that the student's produced. The rooms were unkept, and smelly. My mom said the bathrooms were also gross. </p>

<p>The smfa is also just one building. They do not have their own dorms (which apparently it is cheaper to have an apartment, the two students that were walking around when we were having lunch both did not live in the dorms, and apparently most don't, making it harder to connect with students), or their own cafeteria. They share both with Mass. Art. Honestly, it seemed to me that people that chose the SMFA didn't get into Mass Art, and it really isn't too difficult to get into Mass. Art, though it is a decent school from what i have heard and observed. Though the students did not strike me as being the brightest bulbs, they were nice and friendly. </p>

<p>The smfa also advocates that they do not require a foundation year, however this year they are adding in a core class that everyone has to take, for one semester. I personally think not having a foundation year is irresponsible and weakens an artist. Every artist needs to know the basic techniques. I am not good with the fundamentals and personally would like to be doing more abstract work, but that does not make it any less important. Also, the SMFA does not have majors.</p>

<p><strong>Tufts association: EVERY student who gets into the SMFA is automatically enrolled as a tufts student. You get your degree from Tufts but you are not allowed to live in the dorms. However, you can ONLY get your BFA from tufts. The SMFA has a BFA/BA also. However it is a 5 year program and you have to apply to Tufts separately. It is apparently very hard to get into that program, plus tufts has very high standards. At the accepted students day, they explained that the art history and english teachers from tufts come to the smfa to teach, so you do not actually go to the campus. Apparently, most students do not even set foot on the campus until their junior year, if that. However, you are allowed to join any club or sports team at tufts and i saw flyers for events on the smfa campus that were taking place at tufts.</strong></p>

<p>All in all, it was terrible, in my opinion. 50k is NOT worth it. But, there are lots of intriguing aspects (Tufts, no majors, no foundation year, etc), but honestly, it seemed a lot better said then put into practice.</p>

2

<p>I still havent heard anything regarding acceptances or rejection from smfa? I have emailed them twice and no response. But I do know they give out more than 5k scholarships. I have visited the school twice, and fallen in love with it, but I guess like any school, it isnt for everyone.</p>

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<p>I tend to agree with the OP. I was there too this weekend. It is just a little too loose for my D. The sense of community, which is absent when people don’t live together, is important for the experience of college life. In addition to that, the lack of a foundation year likely makes for 4 years of frustration because people are on so many different levels.</p>

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<p>I think they sent out all the acceptances/rejection letters. That’s weird that they aren’t getting back to you, they were very prompted when i got in contact with them. Not sure what is wrong.</p>

5

<p>Yeah I heard back from them, they appologized and said there was some kind of error on my transcripts that they were trying to process? but that I would hear a decision by the end of the week. So odd, and I have no idea what could have been wrong, but they said they figured it all out, so i guess we’ll see.</p>

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<p>That is really odd. I hope you get in! If you do are you definitely going there?</p>

7

<p>Yeah it is really odd. I honestly have no clue, in the end my decisions pretty much coming down to which is my cheapest option. I loved all the schools I applied to, and made sure that if I got accepted, that I would be happy anywhere I applied, and so far nothing has changed. Ive gotten pretty decent scholarships, half tuition, at all the art schools I’ve gotten accepted to, except one in London, but with all the schools costing the roughly the same, its really not helping me decide :/</p>

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<p>Yeah tuition is really ridiculous these days. That’s great that you found so many schools that you love. I bet it is such a hard decision since you love them all and the money isn’t helping make a decision. Where else did you get into?</p>

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<p>Yeah, the cost of attendance for pretty much any art school is no cheaper than about 40k per year, and with scholarships its equalling out to around 20-25k that I’s have to come up with, which is crazy. I’ve gotten into pratt, cleveland institute of the arts, massart, maine college of art, university of the arts london, and then for non art- fsu and u south carolina. still waiting to hear from umich, smfa, and edinburgh college of art. what about you?</p>

1 Like
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<p>Dang, your parents won’t help you out? I mean, i am expected to help out, but am not really accountable for it. My parents, at first, were really not for me going to just an art school, but support me nonetheless. I also wanted to stay closer to home and live in a city, which didn’t give me too many options. I got into Ithaca, SMFA, maine college of art (apparently is a really good program, i never got to visit though), uvm, pratt, SVA, umass dartmouth, and suny purchase. Most of those schools i applied because my parents were so nervous. Seriously i think parents are more worried about college then their kids haha.</p>

11

<p>Well, financial reasons and stuff, our efc=0, and right now I’m the only one in the house who is working, I have 2 jobs and work 60 hours a week (i’m just doing a few online classes to finish up right now) so for right now it’s all coming from me. In the future my parents said they would help pay and help me repay off the loans once they get back on their feet, just right now there is no money coming in, except from my wages, which goes towards food and utilities right now. Maine college of art is amazing! They’re such a small school, but with such a big heart, and a lot of nice work comes out of there.</p>

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<p>^ kid, once you narrow your choices bit, WRITE to the school to your admission counselor (the one signed your acceptance letter) and fin-aid people ( the one signed your award letter) and explain your situation and ask if they can extend any help.
tell them how much you want to attend but can’t without more aid.
They would say no if they don’t have the money. Often they do in the end of app cycle.
As long as you are honest about your finance and you could prove your worth (you obviously did) I can not see why any school won’t want to help you.</p>

1 Like
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<p>Yes, sophia, ask. We did last year and one of the schools came up with a few more thousand.</p>

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<p>Worked for us too, as my D was trying to decide between 2 schools, one that had given her merit $ and one that didn’t. After talking to her admiss counselor, they found some money for her.</p>