inkdick: october 21 2008 - grad school?
So over the past year I’ve been mulling over grad school. The mulling over has gotten a lot more intense in the last few months as my graduation date for my undergrad inches closer and closer.
Tonight Brian Ralph came in to give a lecture (his second time doing so) so while there I picked the brains of some current grad kids and seqa professors. They all say it’s worth while and I should do it. Duncan, the head of the department, says I should start next fall as there will be some worth while changes to the program made by that time.
If I start in the fall though and go to school over the summer, I wouldn’t graduate grad school until Winter 2011. Amy graduates in the Spring of 2010. This is a problem. Amy said that unless she found a well paying and steady freelance gig by that time, she would not stay in Savannah for an extra year after she graduates. This creates a Catch-22. I don’t want to give up my education for a relationship yet I don’t want to give up a relationship for education. No use worrying about it too much now as it’s still a long, LONG way down the line, but I still have to keep it in mind.
I still don’t know if I will do grad school yet or not. Right now I’m leaning on the side of grad school, but it’s still a long way off so there is time to think about it.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 am
Basically to me, it sounds like you’re talking yourself into grad school. It’s obvious you want to go. If you can afford it and have the desire, I’d say go for it. I’d say the big things to think about for grad school are funds, desire, timing, whether you plan to move or stay, and if you want to teach. If you want to teach at a college level, you’ll need the degree. Otherwise, in comics, I don’t know why you would need the degree itself. You’d be going more for the education and experience (which aren’t bad things). Also, depending on what classes you took your undergraduate year, there could still be a lot of classes that interest you as electives.
For me, by the time I left SCAD I was ready to go and done with school. I want no more of it. I took most of the classes I wanted as an undergraduate (every free elective I took was sequential). I never had the desire to be a teacher. A month after I graduated, I was like, “So long, suckers… FOREVER!” So, grad school wasn’t for me. You seem a lot more enthusiastic than me though, and I could see you getting a lot more out of it.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 am
Life is full of choices. In making the choice you have to keep a balance between heart and mind; a very difficult process. I went to grad school as I was teaching school; this was a wise choice for me but also a different time. The cost of grad school is high but inquire about being a grad assistant. Keep your options open while young enough to do so. Remember, what ever you choose, it is the right decision.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 am
If you don’t have a job lined up, grad school may be the way… Are they providing you with scholarship? Hrm. I’d guess learning more digital programs for designing will make you a very appealing candidate for many jobs. You can always step out early, and not necessarily aim to complete.
If you’re not getting scholarship, you may want to use the money to buy equipments to learn graphics on your own, to make yourself more competitive.
In anycase, a year apart isn’t giving up a relationship. I’d always suggest prioritizing your dreams over any relationship (true love won’t fade with a year or two of predictable and reasonable distancing such as grad school), but often times you can adjust the two indeed.
Good luck.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
What will you gain from two more years of school that you won’t be able to gain outside of it? SCAD is way expensive.
And to be frank, I mean, all the grad students are awesome (especially Jarrett!) but I hope you won’t let them and all the SEQA teachers be your only advisors on whether or not to commit to it. Grad students are probably inclined to lean more toward the “the $60,000+ and two years I spent on this was not a waste of money” position, and SCAD faculty obviously are not going to take the position that an MA in their program is a waste of time. I don’t say this to disparage either group in any way, or imply that they’d be trying to mislead you, or something–I just mean that they’ve got a very specific perspective they’re seeing your situation through.
I briefly considered grad school (probably not in SEQA), but really didn’t care to take out any more loans than I already had, and basically forced myself to admit that doing it would be more of an excuse to avoid the real world for another two years and stay in my comfort zone at SCAD. This isn’t the case for everybody, but I felt I was at a point in my artistic development that the only thing classes were doing to advance my work was providing some sort of impetus to keep producing new things, and that I needed to branch out more and start focusing on specific areas I felt I needed development in.
Good luck with whatever you decide on!
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I agree with Isaac about the comfort zone thing. I think this is the reason a lot of undergraduates end up considering grad school, although there are a lot of honestly awesome grad students (such as Jarrett!) who get a lot from the experience. If I hadn’t had a job lined up right after college, I MAY have considered grad school more, although to be honest I didn’t “know” I had my job till about 5 months after, and during that time I still had no desire to go to grad school.
Any time I really “considered” grad school was when grad students talked as though I was missing a big opportunity, making pangs of doubt arise about if I was being foolish for not going, and then making me feel guilty. But, I would be feeling guilty knowing deep down that I really didn’t want to go and had nothing really to feel guilty about. If this sort of guilt is the reason you want to go to grad school… that is no reason.
Yes, grad school will be very expensive. This should be one of the most important factors in your choosing since you will probably be the one paying this off for many years to come. If you went, I don’t really see you, after 2 years, saying, “I wasted 2 years of my life!” but it is possible that you may find more or equally worthwhile things to do in that time. And if you are wanting to teach at college, well, you’d need the degree (or come back in 25 years). I could see you getting a lot out of grad school, and if you want to go, I’m never one to say more education isn’t good. Just remember also you will have to take 2 more art history courses at grad school level prices! :B It’s really up to you to decide though if this is the right thing for you at this point in your life.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I here you man, if you wanna chill sometime and talk about it or what not I am down, it’s kinda nice to know i’m not alone in this.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Sounds like you don’t have scholarship??
Then I don’t think grad school is the way… Use the money to buy the instruments to train your skills, I’d suggest. One guy I know graduated with just painting with hands training, then used his money to buy programs to learn “it” on his own. Now he’s a top notch graphic technician eyeing Lucas co.
If you don’t have the scholarship, then do it on your own, I’d say. Your domain is highly skill oriented, and not about much about fancy papers/diploma.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:06 pm
For you, an MA in Seq. Art would be like laminating your resume unless you want to teach. Now if you want to teach art or comics, that’s great! And taking grad school would be the obvious choice.
Otherwise, I’d say it’s not worth setting yourself up for more loan payment. You have a good thing going on now and you know how to do comics. You need publicity, not another degree imo.
Those grad students are great people and the grad program works for them. But I think you have the creativity and the know-how to move past SCAD and do your own thing. And from the sound of things, Amy will help out a lot in that aspect.
It’s your life dude. You can always take grad school later.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I’d think long and hard about this decision. To give you an example from my perspective and experience is that, I was a good artist when I graduated with BFA. I felt that bc I wanted to teach art one day, I needed a MFA degree. Fast forward two yrs and I got an MFA degree and my art skills have improved dramatically, so much better than I had when I went in. Now, here’s the catch-22, no college is going to hire a young man in his early 20s with an MFA and no experience to back it up.
I have learned this the hard way. Once you finished grad school, be prepared to spend a couple yrs slaving away, paying your dues, starving while paying off loans and trying to find experience. The degree is what it is, a degree on paper. That’s all. It’s nothing without any outside experience to back it up. Sure you may have some work done while inside the school (such as the anthologies, and such and such.) But get outside experience first and work hard. The MFA is a tool for when you’re older, unless you’re unique like Mia Paluzzi or Dave Duncan is.
My advice, go talk to all the professors individually. Find out what routes they took. Listen to their advices and journeys. Then decide is $60,000 plus living expenses and others, are worth it. You make the choice.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:00 am
I read the other guys comments (great advice), and I realize I don’t quite know what you (pranas) are aiming for. Likely, you haven’t set one goal, I mean, in regards to your backup career. You want to be a cartoonist doing an art related gig on the side, no?
Other than what’s already been said, one way to approach the matter is by determining several companies or institutions you want to be a part of. And speak to them, ask what they want, or see it yourself, and prepare for that.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Long distance relationships are hard, and take alot of work, but if she’s worth it, really you guys should be able to post pone intimacy until everythings all done and over with.
Also, the distance can make it that much greater when you guys finally do have time and money to visit eachother :) you’ll be fine.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hullo, just found your comic while surfing the net. I just wanted to inform you of how great your comic is. It’s very easy to get to know the characters, and your strips flow so well.
Thanks for the fun.