Ep. 98 - What are the MA in Art & MFA in Studio Art Degrees?

In Ep. 98 of the CSUSB Advising Podcast, Matt Markin interviews Professor Alison Ragguette about the MA in Art and MFA in Studio Art graduate programs. Learn more about the application process, building your portfolio, the differences and career options within each program and tips for writing your statement of purpose!

Find more information on the CSUSB Department of Art & Design website!

Subscribe to the CSUSB Advising Podcast on Apple, Spotify, and more!

Follow us on social media:

Instagram - @csusbadvising
Tik Tok - @csusbadvising
YouTube - @csusbadvising

https://csusbadvising.buzzsprout.com/

Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hello and welcome to another episode of the CSUSB Advising Podcast. This is Matt Markin, and we're learning more about a couple graduate programs offered by CSUSB Department of Art and Design. And we welcome back a past guest from Episode 78 of the podcast where we learned about studio art and art education at the undergraduate level. And that is Professor Alison Ragguette. Professor Ragguette, welcome back.

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Thank you for having me.

Matt Markin  
In case anyone missed episode 78, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your path in higher ed?

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Oh, sure, yes. Well, gosh, I trained as a studio potter, actually, a long time ago now, and I found my passion very young. I was quite lucky to stumble upon that. And so I have an undergraduate degree in studio art, and then a graduate degree in MFA in also in studio art from the California College of Art and my path to higher ed. You know, I knew quite young that I wanted to be a professor, and that was my biggest goal. And I was very fortunate, but also worked very hard to get to where I am today.

Matt Markin  
And with this particular episode, you know, we have students a lot of times that are finishing up their bachelor's degree, and then are already thinking about, what am I doing after I graduate? And so can you tell us a little bit more about how you would describe the MA in art and the MFA in art through your department?

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Yes. I work very closely with students who are graduating launching their careers in multiple capacities, both from the undergraduate level and from the graduate level. So I understand that kind of tricky transition. And I recall it very intimately myself as I went through that process. And so I've spent a lot of time helping students kind of have multiple plans for themselves, but also a couple of like warnings and and remedies for some of the roadblocks that come up for everybody. So the the so we have both the masters of art in art, and then we have the Masters of Fine Art and Art. And the most common question I get is, what is the difference? So the MA is a 30 unit degree and is typically done in two years, whereas the MFA degree is a, what we call a terminal degree in our in our area, and it's 60 units and is done in three years. The two overlap somewhat, but are rather different, and really do fulfill different needs. So the MA program, I would describe as an intermediate degree, postgraduate degree. It's an excellent choice for students who are either trying to build their portfolio or transition from another discipline. And we also get a lot of teachers who are interested in doing an MA degree that supports their teaching practice, and it's an opportunity for them to do their studio art practice as well. But it's not the kind of high level terminal degree that the MFA is. A lot of teachers public school teachers are interested in the MA because it immediately elevates their salaries and their pensions. So it's a really smart idea to get an MA after a credential or before a credential, either or so we have a lot of interest that way with the MA degree, I will say the MA degree is more flexible. So if students need to go part time, that's an option as well as it's a little less competitive to get into. So of course, if you're coming from different disciplines, it's an entry point for students as well. The MFA is our terminal degree. As I mentioned, it is a lot tougher to get into. It is a competitive degree. It is the degree you want. If you want to be that college teacher, professor, you want to pursue the MFA degree. It opens a lot more doors our MA degree, certainly we have students teaching adjunct at the junior college level. However, if your goal is college level teaching, I do encourage you to pursue the MFA degree. One other difference with our MFA degree is that we do teach our students how to teach so our students have an excellent track record. Of having ta opportunities and then graduate teaching opportunities as well. So that would mean a student would have the opportunity to teach at the graduate level and graduate with Instructor of Record experience, which is quite unique amongst graduate programs, those are kind of maybes, if not, you know, for most graduate programs, and we have a good track record of you know, as long as students have fulfilled criteria like grade point averages and other things, of course, and you need letters of recommendation and everything else. But so most of our students who go through the MFA program are successfully teaching adjunct their next year out in Southern California.

Matt Markin  
Thank you. Yeah, that sounds very exciting for both those programs. Have you ever had students that started in in one and then felt, you know what? The the MFA is better, or I started an MFA and you know what, maybe I want to move to the MA?

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Never had that. So yes, we have students who want to rise from the MA to the MFA, for sure, and all of our curriculum is interchangeable. So that's the the beauty of that, and and often, you know, we can't admit more students into the MFA program simply because it's about space and our in our department, it's not about the quality of application, sadly, but we do provide studio space to our MFA students, which is essential for that level. Whereas the space for the MF Ma is more it's a little bit more flexible. We have one studio space that's shared so we can accommodate more students. So sometimes it's just logistics like that, and we just can't accommodate students that year. So we do have students come into the MA and then progress transfer into the MFA when there's another opportunity for them, yes.

Matt Markin  
And you were mentioning a little bit a while ago, you mentioned, like, alluded to, like, GPA letters of recommendation. So I think that's a great segue to kind of talk about what the application process is like for both these programs.

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Okay, so for both programs, students need to have a certain amount of upper division studio art classes and upper division art history. On occasion, if students have a very strong portfolio submission, but they don't have those upper division classes from their undergraduate degree, we can can, what we call conditionally admit students saying, Yes, we can admit you, but you need to take some of these undergraduate some additional classes to kind of bring you up to that level, basically. So we do, you know, especially with the MA program, we're very sensitive to the fact that students may not be coming from, you know, an undergraduate degree in art, and we want to kind of give people an entry point in, but it is important to make sure that students get specifically that studio, that the art history sometimes is a gap for students. So we invite them in conditionally, saying it you also have to complete these classes. So that's a good thing. We are looking for a 3.0 GPA and but more than anything, it's all about portfolio. Okay, so students need to submit 15 to 20 images of their best work. I do recommend students always ask me, Do I want to demonstrate that I've got multiple skill sets, and I'm like, No, actually not. What you want to do is really demonstrate that you have a depth of inquiry in your work. So first of all, I recommend to students pick your best work. If it's all one medium, that's fine. We're, we're, we're interdisciplinary program. And so you don't have to pick a specific discipline within the art department. You can just be an MA or just be an MFA student. You don't have to pick painting or any categories, categorization at all. And so if you are, if you do have a lot of different skill sets, that's great, but make sure it sort of makes sense, right? So that you know conceptually, all the work is kind of leaning in one direction, and it is your best work.

Matt Markin  
And there's letters of or statement of purpose or letters of recommendation they would need as well?

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Yeah. Okay, so the Statement of Purpose is 500 words. And I always recommend to students, don't be shy. First of all, don't try to tell us what you think we want to hear. Be exactly who you are. You know, we're all artists, so we're not afraid of some big ideas, lofty ideas, you know, be a. Exactly who you are. You know, we're interested in who you are, and so don't be shy about that. Be bold, be brave about that, and write about what you would do if you had the opportunity to be in one of these programs. You know, where would you like to take your artwork? Another tip that I always give is that make sure you share with us how you see your art and where it would how you contextualize your art within the the art movements in some way, so you could make reference to artists who inspire you your work, and also just let us know that you're aware of the art world, and that you're really studying it and thinking about it, and you're not making art in a vacuum. That's really important. Okay, letters of recommendation are actually they're welcomed, but they're not a requirement. And this is something that we've opened up and trying to be more holistic about our admissions, because, again, we recognize that prospective students may not be in the art world, but they're trying to get into the art world, right? And you may not have those people that you want to recommend you like that are art related at all? So ideally, you know they they do. You know, if you can get one or two wonderful that speak about kind of, your work ethic, at least you know your potential as an artist, ideally, but we do recognize that it can be a real roadblock for students. So try your best to get a letters of recommendation, but your application will not be thrown out if you don't have any Okay, so keep that in mind.

Matt Markin  
And last question is, you know, sometimes students are very much, I'm an undergraduate student. I'm trying to get to my bachelor's degree. I don't want to think about anything else yet. Yeah, but you also might have some students that are like, I don't know what I want to do after, you know, do I do I want to try to go for a graduate degree? Uh, what suggestions do you have for students when, when they're kind of making those big decisions?

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Sure, as I mentioned earlier, I definitely. I work a lot with our students who are about to graduate from both undergrad and graduate levels, and so I've spent a lot of time, you know, kind of trying to help students make that leap. But it's not always to graduate school. So I, although I welcome people to apply to our program, of course, one thing I do tell our CSUSB alums or CSUSB undergraduate students, is that you really should shop around and look at other programs as much as we have a strong program at CSUSB, you know, going to another CSU or public school is A really important consideration, because you pretty much double your art community right there by being at two different institutions. And that's always my first piece of advice is to, like, really look at all your options. And for artists, you know, the MA or the MFA probably is the last educational degree they'll will do not, you know, it's not absolutely certain, but you know, if you're doing an MFA, that's a terminal degree, you don't really, you may not ever do another degree in your lifetime. So you want to pick something that, a location, a school that really, a faculty, that really will serve you best. And think about your kind of going off to another campus is scary and but it's also exciting. And as I mentioned, you double your art community right like there. So I always, I always start off that with that, with our alumni, and then I say, Well, where do you want to be in five years? Because, you know, that helps sort of determine. Sometimes students say, Well, I'd like to be teaching high school. I'm like, okay, great. And have you worked with high school students before? And then others like, I would love to be a college professor. Others will say, I want to be showing in a gallery and working at a museum. Others will say, you know, so there's, like, a quite a range I'd like to be a community activist and working in a public art, you know, public art space. So there's a lot of different kind of jobs that students kind of aspire to, and that helps me understand which degree path would probably be better for them. Again, as I mentioned, the MA is ideal for for working artists, teaching artists, K through 12, perfect. That's that's to your program. It is actually customized for people who are working so and for teachers so. You can also do intensive classes over the summer. So that is ideal. The MFA degree is again that terminal degree which prepares prospective artists, emerging artists, to be teaching at the junior college level as well as the university level. So, you know, you want to be competitive, and the MFA degrees really useful for that. I also I have several students who just couldn't fathom going to another campus for really, real, practical reasons, right? Like I have children, I have elders that I take care of. I work full time, and I want to go to school. I live in a location that's rather remote, and this is the closest campus by far. You know, the reality of commuting around Southern California is that it can be a real time drain and and it can, you know, so, so those are all really important factors to also consider. So we do have alumni that come back to do our graduate programs, and they flourish in our program. For sure, I would just say that you want to make sure that our department has more to give you right, and that we have, you have more to gain and learn at CSUSB, and if you feel that that's the case, I think our program can be really a powerful experience for for returning alumni. And then, of course, I should mention our incredible facilities. We have outstanding facilities and a lot of programs don't compare to us. So certainly for students who want to study ceramics and glass, we and print making. A lot of institutions do not even have these programs, and I should say that we have a very strong painting and drawing program photography as well as also sculpture. So we have incredible facilities. And that's also something to really consider, is that important to your art practice? Will that change the scope of your experience, and if so, then we are an excellent choice for you.

Matt Markin  
Wonderful Well, a lot of great information, and can't wait to have our CSUSB Yoties listen to this episode, and if they have any questions regarding like the programs, would they reach out to the art department or to me. 

Professor Alison Ragguette  
Just have them reach out to me.