Interview #2

I know I am probably giving myself away when I post about this interview to the very few people online who might be reading this who don't know who I am. However, I will post about the interview I had today at another potential grad school.

I think it went really, really well. It was one of those interviews where they do all this stuff all day and are watching you and taking notes, and then at the end they have a one-on-one where they talk about what you did during the day.

So first, after they took our pictures when we walked in and the general outline of the program at this school, we had to get up in front of everyone (there were about 40 people there + faculty) and present our slide when it showed up on the screen. Everyone was very nervous, which is good because I was nervous and I didn't want to be the only one. I think it went well. I talked about how my painting was about exploring what I looked like on the inside while I was going through this emotional soul-searching. I also talked about a particularly poignant experience I had last summer that was a pivotal moment in my journey towards deciding to pursue art therapy. Etc, etc.

Then we had a group artmaking project. This is how it went: We were arbitrarily made to sit at tables with about 10 other people. Then the coordinator said, "Okay, you have to do a group art project, there are supplies on your table. You have 20 minutes. And... GO!!!!!!" (literally, he screamed)

For a second we were all like, what? But then we got started. I knew they were observing us so I made sure to participate, I even came up with the suggestion that our group ended up using for our project. I worked cooperatively with another applicant in creating our section of the piece, and was integral to the functioning of the group (at least, I thought I was.. haha). I also reflected on our work as we went.

After the 20 minutes were up, we had to write a short reflection piece. I wrote about how it was an interesting experience to have to work together as a group and yet at the same time know that we were all competing for spots. And so on. I think I did a good job on the reflection piece. As you can tell, it doesn't seem to be very hard for me to write reflections on my day and work.

After a short presentation by current 2nd year students and lunch at Potbelly's, we went in for our individual interviews with faculty. By this time, the faculty member assigned to us had our picture (that had been taken that morning) in our file, with our records, and had read our reflection from the group artmaking project. They had also been the ones to observe us during the project and wrote notes about us then and also when we were presenting our slides.

My interview went smashingly, if I do say so myself. We basically just had a conversation, no real awkward call-and-response type of questioning. We talked about the folk art scene in my city (this faculty member also works for a folk art organization and is familiar with all the crazy stuff where I live, which was awesome and a great way to bond), we also talked about my Hebrew skizills, etc. I asked a few questions about the school and its philosophy, etc. I think it went really well.

After that was the marathon campus tour. The facilities here are amazing and I would love to take classes like book-making and weaving. Weaving! Like Medieval ladies!

During my time there, I met a lot of really great people, and am looking forward to possibly seeing many of them in my classes next year - a lot of them are applying to the same schools as me, so maybe if we don't get into this one we will get into another.

All in all, I left with an EXTREMELY positive feeling and I am excited to hear back. They said they would tell us by the end of March. Eee!!