RCA Admissions is a mess

[u/orangemo134]

I applied for the Painting MA at the Royal College of Art and the whole admissions process has left me feeling confused. I had applied in a previous year and been rejected so I was very anxious but a friend of mine ran into a senior tutor who handles the admissions at a private view and he said quote “miss yellow cardigan has nothing to worry about” I had worn a yellow cardigan at the open day and in my application video. This made me feel slightly better but you know never fully trust an art professor.

Originally, applicants were supposed to hear back by April 24th. As that date got closer, I started to feel like something was wrong because I hadn’t heard anything. Then, the day before the deadline, I received an email saying that due to the high volume of applications they were pushing back decisions for the June 8th intake.

Then on May 1st, I received another email saying that I had been placed on the waitlist for September 2025. Naturally, I contacted admissions to ask what was going on, and they replied saying the waitlist date email had been sent in error and that my application was still being considered for the June 8th intake.

I have a tutor from my undergraduate degree who started working at RCA. I reached out to them to see if they knew what was happening. They admitted they were also confused by the situation, but said that historically there tends to be quite a lot of movement on the Painting waitlist and that they felt optimistic I could still receive a positive outcome.

At this point, though, I genuinely don’t know what to think. Like most people in this situation, I ended up doing some digging online to see whether anyone else had posted about receiving offers in the second round. From what I found, it seems like some offers have gone out, but honestly I wasn’t particularly impressed by some of the work being showcased online. A lot of it seemed geared towards Instagram and TikTok audiences rather than being especially strong painting practices.

I know social media isn’t a reliable way to judge applicants, and obviously admissions decisions are based on much more than what someone posts online. Still, after months of uncertainty and mixed messages from admissions, it’s hard not to overanalyse everything. At this rate if I got a offer I feel like I should say no something isn’t right, I wonder because I’m a British student might have something to do with it and they need as many international students to fill the factory but I could be completely wrong. My mental health has also been massively effected in this period and honestly I feel like they’re safe keeping is terrible.

Has anyone else experienced something similar with RCA or other competitive art school admissions? And for those who were waitlisted, how much movement did you actually see or should I give up?