FAQ

The program enrolled its first class in fall 2010. Since its founding, its curriculum has evolved in response to sustained reflection informed by the practices and inquiries of students and faculty.

No. Rather than training students in design as a professional discipline, as the degree title alone may suggest, the program supports work across a range of practice-based forms of inquiry shaped by conceptual, material, social, political, and aesthetic concerns including, but not limited to, design. Although design figures prominently in the program’s history, the MFA has evolved to encompass a broader field of practices.

The program supports a wide range of practices, including work that takes visual, material, textual, spatial, performative, and time-based forms as well as hybrid approaches that do not fit neatly within a single discipline or predefined professional role.

There is no typical student. Students enter the program at different stages of their professional trajectories and come from a wide range of disciplinary, cultural, and geographic backgrounds. Applicants do not necessarily identify as transdisciplinary practitioners before starting the program. Most students enter with a strong grounding in one primary field and an interest in expanding their practice. What they tend to share is intellectual curiosity and comfort working in open-ended, experimental, and reflective ways.

The program enrolls a small cohort of up to 20 students per year. This limited cohort size supports intensive studio and seminar engagement, close advising relationships, and a strong culture of dialogue and peer learning.

Portfolios may take many forms and reflect a wide range of backgrounds including art, media, design, social research, writing, architecture, education, activism, policy, technology, and other fields of practice. We are less interested in polished outcomes alone than in the questions, contexts, and modes of inquiry that shape the applicant’s work. If an applicant’s field is not primarily visual or material, submissions can include materials that convey an approach to inquiry and practice, such as writing, research, community-based work, or other relevant forms. Applicants are encouraged to focus more on the way they represent and contextualize their practice than than the format per se.

No. Collaboration is optional and student-driven, and it may take different forms. Students may choose to collaborate with one another at different times throughout their studies when collaboration aids in their practices, questions, methods, or forms of inquiry. In some cases, students may choose to engage with external organizations, communities, or initiatives as part of their work. Such engagements are not organized by the program around predefined briefs or externally driven agendas but instead emerge from students’ own inquiries and the relationships they build.

Yes. Students are encouraged to take elective courses throughout The New School in fields such as the humanities and social sciences, studio design, and media and performing arts (subject to availability and advising criteria). This flexibility allows students to shape their studies in relation to their evolving practice and inquiry. Students may also pursue graduate minors, which are structured sequences of elective courses that allow one to develop focused knowledge in a complementary area alongside a primary degree.

Yes. Students can work as research assistants during their first and second years though they are advised to begin these roles in the second semester, as the first semester is particularly intensive. During the second year, students may also apply for teaching assistant positions. According to university policy, students may work up to 20 hours per week during the fall and spring semesters and up to 40 hours per week during winter and summer breaks. Available positions vary by semester and department and are not guaranteed though many students are able to secure them. For pay rates and policies, please see the Human Resources department’s Student Employment page.

Yes. Many students work outside the university while enrolled. However, the MFA is an intensive program, and students are expected to treat it as their primary commitment. International students should consult the university’s International Student & Scholar Services team and resources regarding visa-related work restrictions.

Yes. The Office of Admission hosts information sessions, webinars, campus tours, and open house events throughout the year. Prospective students who wish to engage more directly with the program—by sitting in on a class or connecting with current students or alumni, for example—can contact the program co-directors: John Bruce, Eduardo Staszowski, and Jen van der Meer. The program’s leaders can help coordinate course visits and introductions, subject to scheduling and availability. For general campus visits and admissions events, applicants should work directly with the Office of Admission.