Chinese students' experiences in American MFA programs in digital arts: How to be prepared and what to expect

In recent years, the number of Chinese students seeking advanced education in the United States has increased considerably. This paper attempts to compare Chinese students' expectations of the MFA program in digital arts in the U.S. to the actual contents offered by the graduate schools. It addresses the unique challenges they face when pursuing MFA degrees and discuss how they could overcome those challenges to successfully achieve their educational goals, as well as how the MFA programs can assist them in this endeavor. It explains that digital arts curriculums in the US are usually meant to help students achieve an individual approach to the field, while audeveloping their aesthetic and artistic sensibilities through conceptualization. But upon entering graduate schools, Chinese students usually lack proper knowledge of the theory, history, and philosophy of art, which are employed extensively in these programs to engage students in a multidisciplinary practice that emphasizes as much on the conception of the final piece as it does on its technical prowess.