MFA FAQ

MFA students can take upper level undergraduate courses or graduate level courses. Your advisors and the MFA Program Director work closely with you in identifying appropriate courses.

Faculty are your advisors and mentors. You will have one consistent faculty advisor throughout the program. You’ll meet with this advisor at least seven times each semester to review your creative work and practice. In addition, students often seek out other faculty to review their work.

Ideally we’d like you to work with your faculty the full two years of the program. However, if necessary, a change in advisors can be made.

Yes, occasionally. However, applicants must demonstrate the ability to carry out independent creative work and research, have a strong educational background along with an interest in interdisciplinary inquiry, and substantive life experience to draw on in charting new directions for creative practice.

In our MFA program, there are multiple ways students gain hands-on experience. MFA students intern as studio assistants, they learn specific studio skill sets, they learn to prepare exhibitions and develop writing skills for professional practice such as grant-writing. Often MFA students will work with our long term visiting artists on an installation or new project. Some MFA students also teach and have hands-on experience working with undergraduate students. The Stamps School has strong connections with regional community engagement projects. MFA students also interact with departments across campus and their related hands-on experiences from building a solar powered car to an archaeological dig.

The MFA degree is a terminal degree. The MFA is often a required qualification for certain teaching positions at universities in the United States. It is also recognized at higher education institutions in most countries. The MFA degree makes you eligible for certain residencies, post graduate programs and employment opportunities.

The Stamps MFA program is interdisciplinary. In other words, MFA students do not "major" in a specific discipline, such as "MFA in Ceramics," they are free to work in the medium of their choice and encouraged to work across disciplines, within and outside the field of art.

The Stamps School has a large faculty: 40 full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty, 30 full-time lecturers, and 20 affiliated faculty. There are approximately 20 MFA and MDes graduate students. If you include all the faculty, the ratio is more than 4 faculty to 1 student.

The Master of Design (MDes) designation is increasingly used within US and international design education and better recognizes design as a particular form of creative professional practice distinct from the Fine Arts. It reflects a curricular focus on the preparation of advanced students for careers as design professionals in industry or design scholars in academia. The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) designation is traditional within graduate arts programs and reflects a bias toward independent creative practice leading towards careers in the arts.

No. The MFA and MDes programs are designed to be completed through full-time study for two years.

Yes. Some of the positions offered with admissions are teaching assistant positions (graduate student instructors, or “GSIs”). Additionally, each fall and winter semester, a limited number of positions are available for graduate students to be hired as the instructor of record for an undergraduate course.

Yes. All of our admitted students receive the same financial aid package, which includes remission of 75% of the cost of tuition. More information, including details about graduate assistantships, is on our Tuition, Funding & Support page.

All admitted students, regardless of citizenship status, receive the same basic financial support with their offer of admission.

Applicants who cannot afford the fee for any reason are encouraged to review the information on the Rackham Graduate School's website to see if you are eligible for a fee waiver from the Graduate School.

If you do not meet the eligibility criteria for a fee waiver from the Rackham Graduate School, please let us know that and request a fee waiver from Stamps by completing this form.

Stamps has a limited number of fee waivers available each admissions cycle. We will collect requests for fee waivers up until December 1, when we will start assigning the waivers. If waivers remain after the initial assignment, we will continue to assign them on a rolling basis until the application deadline.

Request information and learn about information sessions for our MDes and MFA programs.

Admission acceptance rates are similar to other selective programs - around 10%.

As long as you submit your application by the deadline, Rackham will continue to process supplemental application materials (transcripts, recommendation letters, language test scores).

The best way to check if your materials have been matched to your application is to log into Wolverine Access, select the “Students” tab, then click on the “New & Prospective Business” link. Due to the high volume of documents received by Rackham, allow 10 business days for processing.

You can confirm the receipt of the following via Wolverine Access:

• test scores

• transcripts from institutions that awarded a Bachelor's, Master's, Professional, and/or Doctoral degree

• letters of recommendation can be tracked through the online application system, ApplyWeb Account, activity page, or in your Wolverine Access account

Documents that will not be confirmed in Wolverine Access are:

• application PDF forms

• written responses (statement of purpose, creative statements)

• résumé / CV

• SlideRoom portfolio

• transcripts for community or junior college, non-degree study, and/or study abroad coursework

As long as you submit your application by the deadline, Rackham will continue to process application materials (transcripts, recommendation letters, language test scores) after the deadline.

Yes. The University accepts scores from the following organizations: TOEFL, MELAB, IELTS and ECPE. Duolingo scores are not accepted. If you are an international student who has completed an accredited undergraduate degree in the United States, you are not required to show proof of English language proficiency. Rackham provides detailed information about language tests on their website.

All admitted students will receive an invitation to visit campus in March. If you are planning your own trip to Ann Arbor in advance of this, you can access the Art and Architecture Building and the Duderstadt Center (two of the three main facilities at Stamps) during the hours that they are open to the public.

No. The Stamps School of Art and Design does not consider GRE scores when making admissions decisions.

The content of the MFA portfolio is entirely the decision of the applicant. The application committee looks for a strong body of completed work demonstrating a thriving, developed studio practice as well as potential in innovative areas of inquiry. Stamps does not provide individual feedback or critiques of application portfolios.

Exhibitions, residencies, art commissions, site-specific work, performances, screenings, studio assistantships, grants, community projects, and teaching experiences all constitute evidence of a creative practice.

As far as the Creative Work Statement essay is concerned, we are interested in learning about your interests outside of the Stamps School. The outside cognate is an important part of our program. As an art & design school within a major research university, we want to ensure that students take advantage of the extraordinary engagement with external departments and areas of study. All the external academic units at the university have faculty biographies listed on their web pages. Your selection of an external area of study and external faculty member does not constitute a "contractual" obligation. Your description should demonstrate an interest in an area that has connections with your work whether in a general nature or as a specialization. In our two year program, MFA students begin work with their outside cognate during the first semester.

It is not a requirement that you contact your potential faculty advisors. Some applicants are in touch with faculty and others are not during the application process.

The Stamps website profiles our faculty members.