University of Cincinnati campus

Arts & Humanities

MFA Fine Arts - Art at University of Cincinnati

University of Cincinnati, United States

Programme overview

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in the School of Art is a two-year studio program that welcomes and supports all forms of contemporary art practice and research. While there are faculty with areas of specialization that include two-dimensional work (painting, drawing, printmaking), object-making (sculpture, installation, ceramic sculpture), and electronic media (photography, video, animation, web-based art), many of our faculty also have extensive experience in conceptual art, performance, sound, social practices,

Faculty: College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning  |  Duration: 2 years  |  Study mode: full-time  |  Location: Cincinnati, OH, United States

What you will study

Students must: Successfully complete 60 semester hour credits Successfully pass the first-year review Successfully complete their master’s thesis exhibition and written thesis

Career pathways

The MFA is crucial for developing the kind of complex and mature studio practice likely to lead to successful gallery and museum exhibitions. It is also a way for you to build lifelong professional relationships with your fellow MFA students that will generate future opportunities.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

We offer admission only for the Fall semester. Priority Deadline : Submit your completed application by January 10 for best consideration for scholarships and assistantships. Final Deadline : Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through June 30. Decision Timeline : Applicants typically receive an admission decision within 30 days of application receipt (once the priority deadline has passed). Application Requirements: UC Graduate Admissions Application Application Fee of $65 for domestic applicants / $70 for international applicants The admission confirmation fee is $500 and will be credited to your tuition bill when you register for classes in your first semester of attendance. The confirmation deadline is April 15th . Unofficial transcript(s) from all colleges/universities attended Resume or CV 3 letters of recommendation. Recommenders should be people familiar with your academic and professional abilities and not those with whom you have a personal or family connection. The recommenders you list in your online application will receive information via email about submitting their recommendation letter online. Please ask them to provide the following information: who they are and their relationship to you why they think you will succeed in the graduate Fine Arts program at the University of Cincinnati the reservations, if any, they may have about your application the potential they see for you to teach within our program, and in what capacity (foundations, 2D, 3D, photo, or new media) Artist’s Statement. Include a statement (up to 500 words) describing the long-term goal to be met by your graduate study. Include the following: a general introduction to the work in your portfolio how you would like to creatively develop in graduate school your professional interests (e.g., exhibitions, teaching, writing, curating) your media of choice why you are interested in the Fine Arts program at the University of Cincinnati the Fine Arts faculty you’d like to work with and why. Please name at least two. Please view our faculty directory . Portfolio: Your portfolio should contain 20 works as a single pdf file. Which images to submit: For digital media (animation, coding, digital imaging, game design, interactive, net.art, sound, video, or other new media art forms), submit a combination of 14 images as a pdf portfolio plus links to 3-6 online examples. Those online examples must comprise one file no longer than 10 minutes. Post your online examples to Vimeo or YouTube and provide the link in your pdf portfolio. Before submitting, test the links to make sure they are working. For all other art media (ceramics, drawing, fibers, installation, painting, photography, sculpture, etc.), submit your 20 works as one pdf portfolio. How to size your images: Your images should be no more than 3 MB each, at 96 ppi To downsize your images to less than 3 MB/96 ppi, make your images 96 ppi and no more than 1500 pixels on the shorter side. Convert these resized images into a single pdf by first assembling them into one document using PowerPoint, Keynote, or MSWord and then exporting the file. Powerpoint—export to pdf Keynote—export to pdf MSWord—print—save as pdf How to label your images: Label your images in the pdf with the title, date, materials, and dimensions In a separate pdf provide a list of your images with title, date, materials, and dimensions and a brief statement about each work. If you have a website for your studio practice provide the URL in your image list and at the start of the pdf portfolio Only work in which the applicant has played a major role in the project should be submitted. With collaborative work, include an explanation of your role in making the piece.

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

Graduate applicants select an entry term (semester) when applying; not all programmes start every term, and each programme sets its own start terms.

Graduate application fee: $65 domestic and $70 international for most degree programmes; $75 domestic and $80 international for the College of Engineering & Applied Science; $140 for the MS Physiology.

Graduate applications: programmes set their own deadlines and decision schedules. Most programmes use the UC Graduate Admissions Application; Nursing uses NursingCAS, Occupational Therapy OTCAS, Physical Therapy PTCAS, Athletic Training ATCAS, Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology CSDCAS, and Public Health SOPHAS.

Apply through the official page: https://grad.uc.edu/admissions.html

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