Loric

No registration system - just a number (it's usually 2, and i know people who were accepted before the 2nd one even arrived or was written). It gets emailed or mailed directly to a certain address to be processed.

Yes, of course, years of training and experience by great literary masters who have tackled some of the most complex arguments and thoughts before and during our time were not aware of your unique situation and the manner in which it must be treated like the perfect snowflake one of a kind which it is.

I am so sorry, i was mistaken. You have a completely new and unique situation which I, nor anyone else, will be able to understand, comprehend or lend advice to. What you're doing is obviously working and you should continue down that path because the results are obviously stellar. You should never seek the advice of others. What you are doing is perfect and you should be awarded for your awesomeness. We can all bask in your light and just thank the heavens above for being allowed a slight glance into the glory that is your existence.

But I've honestly never encountered the survey at all before. Everything was "have rec send letter to..." deals.

This is the first time i've ever really heard of "forms" that needed to be filled out.. but perhaps it's because in the arts they care more about the pulpy emotional stuff or something. I can just envision them not trusting a radio button survey result.

Well.. yes.. and I agree.. but.. In the arts it's hard to convince people of the greater good. I'm not even sure they believe in it as a concept. I mean, they may recognize it and even extoll the virtues for a particular project, but often the concept of just doing with the greater good as the goal just doesn't happen all that often. It's not that I think the sciences or anything really do any better morally, but it's harder to justify a frilly art project as being less about ego and more for the "greater good" than it is for cancer research or something. I'm sure we all know someone who obviously ego driven but works in a "vital" field. So when you walk into that sort of field and you are trying to work your way to the top, you sort of accept that you're going to have to make a few compromises. The number and extent of which is really what you try to curb, but you're not coming out of it unscathed if you have any rational shot at succeeding. And, like with sports, for one to win - someone else has to lose. Funding is finite, audiences are finite, expendable income is finite. You have to beat someone else to succeed in the business. The school I went to seemingly drafted in pairs the year I attended with just that mentality in mind. The prior two years of admission in my area had quit.. so they had slots, but with the way the tract was laid out, there would only be full support for one person in the final year (3 year program if i recall properly.) We're talking number of opportunities, venues, etc.. Things that couldnt be fudged to really accommodate a second person. So they drafted two people. I was offered a job, a nice stipend, and a tuition waiver. I was practically getting paid to go to school - in the arts. And likely as much as you, if not more so, early on I was questioning what on earth was going on and why I was encountering this treatment. I'd been in the field for nearly a decade by this point - I didnt start in college. After one particularly brutal critique I had another student come up to me (classes are mixed from the various emphasizes and also include upper level undergrads sometimes - so there were other people) and say "Stop." and I'm like "What?" and she - the only person who is still my facebook friend from that school - told me to stop stressing out and that my project was good, in fact, better than everyone elses. I was like "Gee, thanks, but they tore me a new one." But she insisted - "They're only hard on you because they expect more from you. They're aren't getting any flesh to tear into or any theory to debate from anyone else, so they go after you. Did you see how bored she was during guy-with-wife's presentation? It was awful, what could she say that wasn't just snarky and mean?" And since leaving, the more and more it has become apparent through various channels that between myself and guy-with-wife.. I was the one they expected to "win" and they didn't expect me to leave, rebel, anything.. at all. They really thought I was being groomed by all that nonsense. This little scene always comes to mind when I think about my past.. http://www.hulu.com/watch/13046 For years and years I'd have killed to be on the "right" side of that little lecture. To be in the room and one of the people waxing poetically about some "high art" ideal that some commoner just didn't get. It suited me, it suited my ego. But now I watch it and I see just how cruel and degrading it is, and I try really hard to not be that like that. I don't always succeed, but I want to make learning about the ideas more accessible because I do think it'd benefit the "greater good." It's part of why I've now chosen to go back to grad school. So.. here's hoping I get to start over in a new place.

The word vomit method works for everyone, but you have to train yourself how to do it and how to revise properly. It's like training for anything, you don't just do and do it well, perfect, and without pain or mistakes. Don't believe me? Go run a 5k tomorrow with no training. See? You're sore, it didn't work out, and you think it's impossible. But funnily enough if you train properly it's a breeze and you're looking to lower your time and move on to longer races. I'm always surprised when someone in the humanities expects something which is an art form to be easy or require no practice. I expect that type of crap from engineers.

So you're going with a creative writing MFA...? All you need is one good one. Go check out Dramatica. You can whip out something halfway decent in 30 days using its structure guidance (but you're gonna have to really push yourself to do it) and then give yourself another 30 or so days for revisions, editing, etc.. Just pay someone to do the final edit for you (check references) and you too can have a nice shiny "story" worthy of an application.

You don't just let it flow, there are 3 real steps. Planning/Structure. Word vomit. Revision. But thanks for downvoting me, because as an author and contributor of nonfiction works that are the top 10 in their genres I know nothing about how to write for deadlines nor intelligently.

The reality in my situation was "student-without-spouse can be here at all hours, so that student-with-family can go home." Seriously, it was unfair. It's nice to get some recognition that my adviser was, really, unfair in the decisions she made. In the past on this forum i've been told i was somehow an awful person for choosing to leave the program.

Quality comes from revision, not the jotting down of basic ideas and structure. You're trying to do two distinct steps at the same and doing neither effectively. Write first, revise later. There is no wrong way to write, but there are certainly ineffective ways. Qualifications: Published author who can write a book in roughly 90 days.

Its funny, i mentioned elsewhere that the other student in my emphasis/program my first time in grad school was married and it annoyed me to no end. It was because his wife made his life easier but my professors expected the same things from me. I'd definitely say not having someone else to cook, clean, run errands etc was a big challenge and a contributing reason to my withdrawl. Of course thats because my profs had unreasonable expectations for time commitment.

I just find it fascinating that people are so "hardcore" emotional and involve themselves so deeply in something they have a roughly 50/50 shot of not finishing. Think of all the people who post as if getting into a graduate program is "the most vital" step in their lives. Half those people are either making a mistake, or the school made a mistake in choosing them. I certainly think they should modify the admissions processes to cultivate completion. Survey those who complete and use those as the "standard" for admission. Also survey those who don't complete.. and use that profile as a "red flag" when doing admissions. I'm assuming there's norms in background, experience, gpa, etc.. between the two groups. You'd have to actually study it to know for sure. I have this suspicion that a lot of the higher-end of the GPA/scores people are the ones more likely to drop out.

One more thing - some very good schools have no interest in URTA. Be sure to look into offerings outside URTA.

Also, even in URTA schools not every school does New York, Chicago, and LA. Some do two, some just one. You're not "out" - u just have to do it outside URTA. Also they don't send reps for all emphasizes. So you may talk to a costume, scenic, etc... designer, or not at all. Doesn't mean you're out, just you need to do it the old fashioned way.

Maybe I'm confusing SM with directing? Maybe you sit in the speed date round with designers. I forget. Regardless, my directing friend got stuck when asked about the future direction of American theater. So keep that sort of thing in mind. Keep your final destination in mind. Regional? Educational? Rep? Broadway? Know which you want. Some schools can get you there, some can't, and some will say they can but with no real connections.

Get your talking points and attire together. Pack a show bible along with resume, etc. Once you know the details of your interviews map out the hotels. If I recall correctly the SM folks go from hotel to hotel for appointments. Reach out to any program you might be interested in. You might get added to their list just by introducing yourself. You're what , Chicago? It's going to be cold. Be ready with professional attire and layers. Inside it's ghastly hot once you've been outside. Look at schools not attending URTA too. URTA is not the be all end all - only a small group gets their position via URTA. My experience: designer who showed at URTA and was selected for interviews all day, to the point of having to "group" interview schools because I ran out of time slots.

By itself, I couldn't care less, but as my faculty adviser was constantly comparing everything between the two of us it was obnoxious. For example, my adviser would mention some little thing that "might help" with a project that could only be purchased from a store 3 hours away. Dutiful wife would drive out for the other guy and buy it and he'd have it, use it, etc... I wasn't offered any such assistance, had no free time to drive 3 hours there and back, and just did the project without the non-necessity. Come presentation time, my adviser would beam about how guy-with-wife took the advice, got the item, and used it so cleverly for the project. Worse? 'd get the third degree for having "ignored the advice" and would be belittled and told how much my work had suffered and how much easier things would have been for me if I had listened and taken the advice and gotten the handy-dandy-tool. When things like that keep happening.. (Literally.. "Why isn't your shirt pressed? Guy-with-wife's shirt is pressed today..") you notice and pretty much end up being "over it." In another thread about academic completion rates, the study I was reading said that the highest cited reason people complete grad programs, aside from motivation, is "non-financial family support." It was legitimately becoming a burden to do everything myself in comparison to my peer who had his wife to do the basics and keep down the fort while the crap was hitting the fan.

It's actually lower - 10 year completion rates for PhD is 58% for men, 55% for women. In life sciences it's a little better at 64% and 56, but abysmal at 47% and 52% in the humanities. Overall, international students sit at 67% compared to 54% domestic.

Study covers both full and part time. Though it notes that in the feedback part, that asks completed students their ideas, that cited "factors for completion" were 92% "determination/motivation" and then 82% "family non-financial support" and 82% "pursuing graduate study fulltime." And it's the Masters Completion and Attrition study from the Counsel of Graduate Schools.

No, I just knew what was going on from discussion. Also about the laundry.. If you have a washer/dryer or hookup in an apartment: woot! But if you have to trudge across a complex to a laundry facility.. eww.. And worse, offsite! Something to consider when looking at places to live. Stuff I didn't think about until the first time I was dealing with it. "Pretty" and "near trendy hotspots" quickly fall down the priority list one you have to trudge out in the torrential rain to get a clean towel and socks.

I bring this up because I recall one of the most obnoxious things about my first-go-round with grad school was that the other student in my program/emphasis was a married mormon with a dutiful spouse. When I didn't have the time to cook, I starved. His wife packed him lunch and had dinner waiting on the table when he got home. When I didn't have time to for laundry, I wore dirty clothes. His wife pressed his shirts. I would think the on-campus aspect would in a way act as dutiful spouse.. by at least making those things convenient and easy.

What does everyone think of the on-campus housing for grads? I'm.. suspect of it. I'm not sure it'd be the right atmosphere for actually learning and getting anything done study-wise. Other people can be a big hassle when it comes to being productive. I also hear it costs more than a decent apartment at most every school. But it seems so convenient to just do it and have everything rolled together, like a package deal when you go on vacation.

But you can select the same school again and choose the other. Edit: As if you selecting it as a second school.

It's about the give, not the take. You're in a classroom. There's an active discussion of whatever topic.. what do you bring to the table that will enhance the learning experience for all of the students? Why are you an asset to the educational whole?