In the last post you learned that the decision letters have finally been mailed. We know you have been waiting patiently for a while and we want to thank you for giving us time to complete out reviews. As those letters travel through out the country and around the world we know there are those of you that have made personal friends with the mail carrier in your neighborhood, checking daily for a letter from RISD. Those of you who are still waiting…hold tight, it will get there soon!
To help you through these final days and hours I have interviewed two RISD seniors about their application experiences. They have experience and insight into this whole process and a little advice to offer.
Susanna Vagt is a senior from the Chicago area and Kate Selbert is from Bridgeport Connecticut.
Tell us about the experience of sending in the application? How did it feel to finally send it in the mail?
Susanna:
I brought my bike drawing to Portfolio Reviews in Chicago (hometown), for feedback. The admission officer I met with suggested I rework it and study more from life. So I did! The moment of folding the drawings into quarters stand out painfully in my mind, and I still remember writing out “2 College Street” on the envelope. I sent all the materials at once so the moment had some serious gravitas.
Kate:
I was most excited about the bike drawing. Motorcycle? Tricycle? Can it be a car? Or just a bike. A friend’s mom let me borrow her antique pink bike from the 50s. It was pretty sweet. It had tinsel on the handles AND a basket. I should have just sent in the bike itself (the admissions committee would not have been impressed). Folding the drawings was a bit painful but finally sliding my application into the mailbox was gratifying.
Did you visit the campus prior to applying?
Susanna:
I did visit. My first impression was how joyful all the students were. I watched people carrying canvases and lugging pieces of wood. There were beaming charcoal-covered faces coming out of freshman drawing studios. Students at RISD are not angst-ridden, they are glad to be making and studying art. What could be better?
Kate:
I came in the spring so I distinctly remember walking up the incredibly steep hills for the first time, looking at all the magnolia blossoms (there are a lot of magnolia blossoms. My tour visited the apparel department and we saw the lines of dress forms and in textiles; the loom room and shelves filled with spools of yarn. There was a lot to see, I enjoyed it.
How did you feel while waiting for the decision? Were you nervous, excited, relaxed?
Kate:
I got my decision pretty quickly because I applied for the early December 15th deadline. I knew by late January so while most of my classmates were still panicking I was sitting around, relieved, waiting for September. I had to wait a while, since it was January. I think I was more stressed waiting for September than when I was applying. While I was waiting for decision I was applying to Cooper Union, but stopped as soon as I got my acceptance letter. That may seem pretty ridiculous, but it saved me a few years on my life (there are a lot more than three drawings due for the Cooper Union application).
Susanna:
I, too, applied for the early deadline, but I was waitlisted to the second deadline. It was really difficult when I got the letter from Ed Newhall that my application had been put on hold until April. So as not to freak out, I used the waiting time to continue making art and re-consider whether RISD was the best fit for me. By the time the second letter came, I’d calmed down and reassured that my future wasn’t doomed. But only slightly.
Where were you when you finally found out? Explain your experience.
Susanna:
I was in English class when my mother called. We’d agreed beforehand that I would open the mail from schools, but with RISD’s letter there was no need: ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ was spelled across the envelope.
Kate:
My mom called my high school guidance office and paged me to the front desk. When I called home there was no answer and I immediately figured something was wrong and that someone was in the hospital. I spent all day panicking and wanting to go home. When I got there, of course, there was the ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ envelope on the kitchen table. I figured out why she had called me pretty quickly.
What advice do you have for those applicants checking their mailboxes right now about the whole process?
Susanna:
Put the time to good use: cultivate a new hobby, learn to play the nose flute, study tree-identification. (Some people’s definitions of ‘good use’ vary.) Waiting for the envelope actually was a valuable time for me. It helped me evaluate my interests and work on art more. RISD doesn’t exist to determine a person’s life; it’s here to fuel a passion for art that already exists and hone skills.
Kate:
Sue is right. I’ve found while being here it’s important to have other things to be passionate about besides art. These interests feed back into your art and make it richer. I know a lot of kids here who join the Brown choir, learn archery, crew, learn Chinese, go running on the weekends or learn semaphore (flag language fyi). This is less advice for waiting for your letter, and more general advice. As for waiting for your letter: learn to knit (it’s more relaxing than you may think).
Many Thanks to Kate and Susanna for their advice. If you wish to see some more of their art work check out their websites here:
Susanna: www.susannavagt.com
Kate: www.coroflot.com/kathryn_selbert
Good Luck everyone!
Leon Paul Hovanesian II
Contact me:
lhovanes@risd.edu
Ed Newhall
Leon Paul Hovanesian II
Lucy King
