Notes on Application Process
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2025
Applying to NYU's Low-Residency Masters Program for Interactive Media Art
NYU's Low-Res IMA Program
I first learned about the low residency program while attending a virtual open house for NYU's ITP program. As a parent who doesn't live in NYC, I knew that the ITP program wouldn't be an option for me until after my daughter graduated high school. So I was pretty excited to learn about the Low Residency option. I went to a virtual information session (I do recommend those) and decided to apply.
I started working on the application in early October 2020 and submitted it in mid-November. It took me about a month and half to put it all together, without feeling rushed. The application at the time (I have no idea if they change or update it) required a resume, 1-2 min. video introduction, a digital portfolio, 2 letters of recommendation, transcripts, and a 1200-word statement of purpose. For me, the statement of purpose was the most challenging piece to put together.
Having no idea where to start, I looked for general advice on what to write and how to tackle the problem. Here are some of the free resources that I found to be helpful:
The reference that helped me the most though is a pdf of The Structure is Magic, by Jordan Dotson. It looks like his payment structure is a bit different now and geared towards enrolling in a course. In my memory, I think I just paid like $20 for a downloadable pdf and that was enough for me to work from. If anyone is interested, you can read my statement of purpose here. Reading it now, the language is pretty clunky, but it gets the job done.
If they haven't changed it, the system being used to submit a portfolio is somewhat clunky. Be sure to check out how and what file types you'll be able to submit. For some projects, I just submitted links and for others I made a pdf that I could upload. I mostly submitted creative coding projects that I had made in various workshops/classes or on my own. Feel free to click through the portfolio pieces I applied with.
I found out that I was accepted on February 13th, so it took about three months for me to hear. This was the only graduate program that I applied to so I'm really glad that it worked out. I also did receive financial aid to attend. In all, I received $10 - $12,000 in scholarship for each of the 4 semesters (depending on number of credits) and received about $30,000 total in student loans.
Since completing the program, I now teach a course there, called Exploratory Making. The class was designed by myself and Sarah Hakani (another IMA alum). And it's taught by us and Patrick Warren (ITP alum). I kept pretty good records throughout the program and all of my project documentation can be viewed here. The year that I attended was still COVID-era, so I didn't get to travel. But I did get to spend time in NYC/Brooklyn which kind of worked out better for me. Each class at IMA has a food name and it goes in alphabetical order. I was in the Banana class.
(There's way more, but I'm lazy. Hit me up, if you want to be added)
