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Q&A with Todd Vinson Monday, October 2, 2006 | 5:13PM

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Todd Vinson, a friend of a friend, e-mailed me today with a few questions about grad school. So with his permission, I’m posting his questions and my answers for anyone who might be interested.

Todd: Do you think you are getting out of it what you anticipated, at least so far?

Walker: I’ve learned things I didn’t expect to learn. For instance, I didn’t really have any desire to know more about digital workflow, but once we learned how important it is, and really how simple it is (as long as you understand what you’re doing), it became apparent that it was something I should want to know. At this point, there are some things I haven’t “learned” yet that I would have liked to, but it has more to do with these being new facilities and getting everything up and running properly. The same thing happened my senior year at Texas State in the new art building there, and it’s a minor inconvenience in the long run. Plus, the funding is much better here.

How far in advance did you start your application process?

This is a great question, because the answer is really “never soon enough”. I applied to several schools each year. I used to imagine “if Sally Mann applied to any grad program, she’d get in… right?” I tend to think not. And that’s just because you have a different set of people judging your work at every school. You may paint like Matisse and get rejected by most schools, but there may be just one that would accept you.

So to answer your question more directly, I applied for most of the grad schools around their due date. That tends to run from January 1st to March 1st of the calendar year you will be enrolling. However, SCAD actually has rolling admissions with no set due date (although the later you wait, the less likely you’ll make the cut by that quarter… oh, and SCAD goes in quarters, not semesters, btw). So my application went out to them fairly late… sometime around the beginning of summer, perhaps?

However, my research into schools started back in October, November and December of the previous calendar year. My advice would be, have your portfolio and all documentation prepared a month before the actual due date… and send it. There’s nothing like rushing to the post office the day before to do overnight delivery only to find there’s a line a mile long and they close in 10 minutes.

What program are you enrolled in?

I’m in the MFA Photography program. It’s 90 hours, lasts roughly 2 years. Each course counts for 5 credit hours, and you take generally no more than 3 courses per quarter.

Did you submit a portfolio or was it a link to your website?

I absolutely submitted a portfolio, although it was different for different schools. Each school has their own requirements, which are usually accessible on their web site. I have never seen the option of submitting a URL for photography. For a few, they require slides, but some of the more current schools will accept slides or some kind of digital presentation on CD-ROM. I chose CD-ROM for SCAD.

Are you going to school fulltime?

Yes.

Working while you are there?

Yes, although I must say that I have the luxury (and grace) of having a working wife and no kids (unless you count our dogs, which I don’t) who is supporting me through school. So my job at Best Buy (for now) is additional income used to pay off debt. I know many other students here who are going fulltime with a fulltime job as well. It can be done, but it’s about priorities. Because a graduate photography program like this is largely self-directed, it takes a lot of self-motivation to get anything useful done. The big difference between this and being out of school is 1) faculty and other students at your disposal for critique and critical discussion and 2) facilities, equipment and other physical resources. It’s amazing what we have here… literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment to use all the time. And that’s not including the computer labs and software packages.

I am married and we are talking about having her go down to whereever I end up going in advance and getting set up with a job, etc, so that we can be considered “instate” and not out of state, to get cheaper tuition rates.

I know this isn’t a question, but I’d like to throw my two cents in. The law varies state by state, and when I was looking at the University of Colorado in Boulder a few years ago, it was clear that we wouldn’t be able to just move to Colorado and declare residency without a long wait. We’re talking a year or two. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), because this is a private school, there is no differentiation between “in” and “out”. All I know is, of all the schools I wanted to attend, most were $40,000 and up (total) for 2-3 years.

My other question would be, I’m older than most people who choose to do this (I’m 42). How many “older” people are in your classes?

I have seen 2 “older” people, by your definition, in my classes. Only one is in the photo program, and she’s already done an incredible amount in her life, but from what I can tell, this is her dream. However, I’m 25, and I’ve been out of undergrad for 2 years. Most other people seem to have been out for 5 or more years; some after getting yet another Master’s degree. So I think a lot of students are in their 30s. I don’t know what the makeup of the Savannah campus is like, though, because it’s much larger, and in a far smaller city. Since this is a metropolitan campus, it might attract a slightly older crowd. That’s just a guess, though.

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Comments

Danielle | Tuesday, October 3, 2006 | 7:37PM

Todd | Wednesday, October 4, 2006 | 1:53PM

Polly Chandler | Thursday, October 19, 2006 | 6:53AM

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