Financing Graduate School

alwaysamom
Wed, 08 Dec 2004 09:36:08 +0000

momrath, I have a friend whose daughter is currently in the application process for the program at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts so I could attempt to get some information from them about the anticipated costs. I know that she’s worked for a year and a half after finishing her undergrad, and I disagree with the previous poster about it being difficult to return to school after working for a period of time. Many graduate programs, if not most, certainly for business and law, expect that their applicants have ‘real world’ work experience prior to applying. This is becoming even more common with M.A. and PhD. programs as well. In this girl’s case, she’s looking at probably seven years to get through this program, with possibly an additional year for the curatorial studies certificate, and attain her PhD so working for a while first and earning some money is not a bad thing! :)

I think you’re wise to be thinking of these things now, even if your son isn’t. Being well-informed and prepared is always good. I know that my friend told me about an acquaintance of her daughter who was also interested in this program at NYU but discovered that she did not have the extensive foreign languages requirement that most of these Fine Arts grad programs insist on. I know the one at NYU requires knowledge of French and German at a minimum. So yes, it’s always good to go in with as much information as possible.