I Broke My Promise on a Very Sharp Rock.

Had my files printed, including my recommendation forms, applications, business cards and a couple test images for my portfolio. It's finally starting to feel real. It's really happening and that knowledge terrifies and excites me to my very core. I've got a lot of work to do, but the potential outcome is exciting. I'm working on my portfolio while getting ready for shows at Verde, Sweets and Beats, Space 55, and (potentially) Sutra in July. Also have to get some preliminary pieces done and photographed for my solo show at Practical Art in September (ironically, it's titled "Coming Home Again", a study of the definition of home). I've (finally) finalized my list of schools:

1. Temple University-Tyler School of Art (Philadelphia)
2. Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore)
3. Corcoran College of Art and Design (DC)
4. MassArt (Boston)
5. School of the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston (Boston. Duh.)
6. Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond)
7. Rhode Island School of Design (Providence)
8. Moore College of Art and Design (Philadelphia)
9. School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago)

My only potential qualm is that I took the PSATs in high school, but never the SATs. MassArt and Corcoran both state their admissions requirements include SAT or ACT scores, and I'm unsure about the necessity of this for transfer students. I have (if I remember correctly) 65 transferable credits, give or take depending on the school and the program. I'm applying to the BFA programs in Museum Studies (where offered) with an emphasis in Painting, or the BFA program in Painting with an emphasis in Art Education. Although I love painting, Museum Studies is where I want to be and what I want to be doing, so if that isn't an offered program at the schools I apply to, I'm already planning on applying to a school that offers it as one of their Master's programs.

I initially planned to apply to SFAI and The Art Center as well as the schools listed above, but that was mostly out of fear of going East. I've been told by my brutally honest (sometimes to the point of unnecessarily mean) friend that the East Coast will eat me alive, so I put that West Coast buffer in my initial planning. Recently, after rehabilitating my student loans and conquering other personal issues I've dealt with for a very long time, I couldn't rest easy knowing I was giving myself a net. Were I to go safe, I'd be allowing myself the opportunity to fall. I've fought too hard to let that happen now.