Art Practice

The MFA program provides a rigorous and demanding educational environment appropriate to the needs of strongly motivated students.

Participants are chosen for the program on the basis of work that indicates high artistic individuality, achievement, and promise. Candidates should embody the intellectual curiosity and broad interests appropriate to, and best served by, work and study within the University context.

Program Overview

The non medium-specific program provides a demanding curriculum and encourages experimental and innovative integration of media and interdisciplinary approach to art-making informed by contemporary theory, criticism and broader culture. The small program facilitates intimate interaction between peers and with the faculty in an intellectual community, and affords a wealth of professional experience in teaching art at the highest academic level via teaching assistantships and solo teaching of undergraduate courses.

Residency

Completing a minimum of two years (six academic quarters) of graduate work in residence at Stanford.

Units

The student must complete 48 units of study. Students must discuss their programs of study with their academic adviser and the department's student services manager to ensure that an appropriate program of study is chosen.

Seminar Requirement

Six quarters (36 units), which includes one (Spring) or two weekly seminars (Autumn and Winter) and Studio Practice, as well as an individual tutorial with a selected member of the faculty; all seminars must be taken for a letter grade.

Elective Requirement

Three courses of academic electives (12 units) are required in the first year. These courses can be chosen from a large variety of disciplines in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). All electives must be approved by the DGS prior to enrollment and must be taken for a letter grade unless a letter grade option is not offered.

Faculty Reviews

The student is expected to pass four formal academic reviews conducted by the faculty. The purpose of these reviews is to evaluate development and to assess the progress of the student.

• At the end of the first quarter, any student judged to be making inadequate progress is placed on probation and requires an additional review at the end of the second quarter.
• At the end of the third quarter, at which time recommendation to proceed to the second year is determined.
• At the start of the fifth quarter. If the review is not satisfactory the student is placed on probation and an additional review is scheduled at the end of the fifth quarter.
• At the time of the M.F.A. exhibition.

Thesis

The thesis consists of two portions: an exhibition at the end of the final quarter, and a written paper addressing the development of work completed over the two-year period at Stanford, to be completed during the fifth quarter. Both the written portion and participation in the M.F.A. exhibition at the end of the year are required.

University Application Materials

The application  for admission  as well as general information about applying is available from the Graduate Admissions website, please visit  to Graduate Admissions to apply. Prior to applying you must first determine if you are eligible - application eligibility (undergraduate degree requirements). 

Prospective students may begin to apply late September (please verify this date on the Graduate Admissions website). The following documents are required by the university and can not be waived,  please click on the links for more detailed information about each:

• Three letters of recommendation: Letters must be received by the application deadline. The department does not accept applicant recommendation via a letter service (i.e. Interfolio or other service). For additional information, please see Submitting Online Recommendations. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that letters are submitted to the electronic application by the published deadline.

• Transcripts: Upload a scanned copy of your official transcript (s) into the on-line application. In addition to uploading a scanned copy of the transcript, applicants must arrange to have two official hard copies of transcripts sent from every post-secondary institution attended, for at least one academic year, as a full-time student directly to the department. Please see Transcripts for more information and guidelines on submitting official transcripts. (Note: The department does not accept electronically-delivered transcripts. Please mail your official hard copies of transcripts to the department.)

• Statement of Purpose: You must indicate in the first sentence of your SOP the name of the program to which you are applying and the area you wish to study (e.g. MFA in Art Practice–Painting).

• Application fee: The application fee $125, is non-refundable, and must be received by the application deadline (fee waivers are available to eligible students. Please see Graduate Fee Waivers for more information). Please do not contact the department requesting to waive the application fee.

• TOEFL scores: Required when first language is not English; IELTS is not accepted. Please see Required Exams for more information, including the minimum TOEFL requirements. Please note that the department can NOT waive the TOEFL requirement. If you wish to submit a request for TOEFL waiver, please see GRE and TOEFL Requirements. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the scores are submitted to the electronic application by the published deadline. (Note: To bypass the entry of TOEFL scores in the application, enter a future test date. You can add in the additional information section of the application that you have received a waiver from Graduate Admissions.)

• Complete online application

Portfolio Requirements

In addition to the university application materials (above), applicants are required to submit a portfolio by the application deadline.  All applicants are expected to have a substantial body of work represented in their portfolio, which is the most important part of the application, and should give evidence of the applicant’s maturity, imagination and skill.  Your portfolio should be submitted through SlideRoom, at http://stanfordart.slideroom.com. Please follow the instructions on how to upload your portfolio in SlideRoom. There is a $10 fee. (Note: Name on your application must match the name on your portfolio.)

Mediums

For all mediums you must include a typed list identifying works by date, medium, size, title and other information as appropriate. Also include any special viewing information on this list.

• Still Images.  Images should be sized at 1024 x 768 @ 72 DPI.  Limit the total number of still images to 20.
• Audio & Video. Limit the total time-based media selection to 10 minutes, cued to your preferred 5 minutes.

Selection Process

The application review takes place between mid-January and mid-March. Accepted students are admitted for the following Autumn Quarter; no applicants for mid-year entrance will be considered.  You will be contacted via e-mail regarding your application status after the deadline (by mid March); please do not contact the department.

Applicants who are chosen as finalists will be required to travel to Stanford for an interview conducted by a faculty and student committee; interviews will be held at the end of February.

Want to improve your English level for admission?

Prepare for the program requirements with English Online by the British Council.

• ✔️ Flexible study schedule
• ✔️ Experienced teachers
• ✔️ Certificate upon completion

📘 Recommended for students with an IELTS level of 6.0 or below.

Enroll in the course

Stanford Studios

Graduate students in the MFA Art Practice program have individual studio space provided at the Bleeker site, three buildings located in a remote and quiet section of the campus. The studios vary in size from 300 to 800 square feet. Students also have access to woodworking and machine shops, and the photo and digital labs.  Many of our students also utilize the Product Realization Lab in the School of Mechanical Engineering.

Paris Studio

Stanford University maintains a Paris studio apartment. The Departments of Art & Art History, Music, Drama, Film, Dance, and Creative Writing may nominate one student each for this studio residency. The Associate Dean of Humanities and Sciences then makes the final selection of two students for six-month residencies. The residency takes place following graduation from the MFA Program.