Loric

May be too late for a reply.. But think of the overall narrative of your app. What punches need to be gotten in via your rec letters? Guide him toward hitting those punches and making them knockouts. Is your GPA weak? He can vouch that you can handle graduate level study as exemplified by XYZ.. Yadda yadda.. think of the big picture and what that letter needs to say other than that you're a "good student." No one goes for the "good" amid more interesting choices.

"The good news is that you don't have to worry about meeting any deadlines for that letter of rec you were writing.. the bad news is that I have decided I'm not going to be applying for this upcoming admissions cycle. I apologize for the short notice (even if it's not, apologize anyways) but my personal situation isn't allowing for the pursuit of academia at the moment. I suspect I may want to return as soon as it's possible again though, so if you've written the letter already I would like to ask that you keep it on file for that future endeavor. If not, I still appreciate everything you've done for me so far to help advance my career. If something comes up and things change again, I'll be sure to let you know. Just know that this was a difficult decision but it is for the best right now. Again, I really appreciate all of your support and understanding. Sincerely, XYZ"

I had a friend who went into one program and we all realized by the second semester they'd always have Shakespeare but interpreted via absurdism, every semester. "So I see you like to get a little freaky with the classics" would be a good convo starter with that department for example.

Also.. Look at "who" they teach as a starting point for what they're looking for. Look at the assigned booklist for script analysis, performance theory, etc... A program that goes for Gratowski and Stanislovski will be actor-centric, looking for meaty roles for their little snowflakes. You can parse out which program is willing to paint their naked students pink and have them making barking sounds for two hours and which is wanting to do a costume drama.

"Hello." And I suspect you'll be an "office person" when it comes to the nitty gritty. Many schools are still going to see you as a "worker bee" but you wont be expected to be on every show, at production meetings, etc.. the way the other areas are expected to be. With the other skills it's a large part about bulking up the resume with as many shows as possible. From what I remember they'll be looking at your plays and/or development and looking to produce one of your works - probably in their "small" space (blackbox, experimental, etc..) as early as your second semester, but if you can wow them with a major drama don't be surprised if you can get a full proscenium show in year two. Their productions are mapped out in advance by a committee who fields various scripts along with professor/designer/director interests. Students, faculty, etc.. throw names of shows in as recommendations and a glorified bookclub reads them and meets and votes yes/no/etc.. and then allocates budget. If they know you're coming and want to produce something you've written they'll work it in an easier slot (the flex space.. etc..) but a main stage production is going to take scheduling and allocation semesters prior. Back to the email... "Hello." "I'm interested in..." "I see you've done... and .. and.." "If you can offer any guidance I'd appreciate it, and if this is directed at the wrong person in the department could you please direct me to correct person." Keep it short and straight to the point. Most of the folks in the departments are dealing with production deadlines and rabidly respond TLDR to any and all things. Even those in analysis, scripts, dramaturgy, etc.. are reading student papers, working on books, etc.. and don't want to read anything that's superfluous. Keep is direct and mention a few reasons why you're interested from their recent work. Mention you'd like to come out and see the school/program. The earlier you're there the earlier you can be "in." Beat someone else to the punch. I've been "last one in, first one out" when a department made cuts due to budgeting (and in the end, in, because i gave really big puppy dog eyes.. not really, but they still got me in with funding after all that drama.. and then i didn't go there.. jeeze i'm way off topic.. "I digress.") Speed is your friend. They recruit over winter and early spring. U/RTA is in the dead of winter. Like 2-3 weeks from now they'll be having the first people show up to poke around. Be one of he first and put on a good show and keep following up so they wont forget you. Build a rapport and they'll feel guilty saying "no" - i'd feel stupid saying that to someone outside the arts, but in the arts it's true. Someone who thinks they're destroying your chance at striking it out as an artist by denying you will likely accept you, no matter the credentials. Potential is always worth more than experience in the arts. I've seen them look at gorgeous portfolios and say "Yes.. but is that the best she could do and it's all downhill from there..?" Show forward motion and progression... and of course potential.

I see you're doing a PhD.. Do you have a theater MFA...? My track was terminal at MFA level.. but all the profs I know with PhD's (including my primary rec letter writer for my attempt at design outside theater - he's history) got an MFA first.

I've done the whole theater MFA process (design).. they are, for all intents and purposes.. looking to a hire a faculty member. You will probably teach intro acting classes and script analysis and such. You get better, you get to go into directing, etc.. and if you're performance it's a matter of if you're suitable for their upcoming shows. Sorry, a white girl doesn't get to do "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Not Enough." Theater is going to place a big emphasis on you as a persona and personality over your application. It is very important you talk to faculty in the program as you're going to have a direct supervisor/mentor who is going to essentially approve everything you choose to do. If you don't physically meet them or at least have a telephone interview you don't stand much of a chance. Every person i know in a theater MFA had to go through dinner/drinks with the faculty before they were accepted. They are looking for someone they want to have in their faculty lounge. I've said it in other responses to people on this forum as a "heads up" that may apply to other majors, but I can tell you without a doubt it applies to what you're going for. With my peer group the usual routine was to approach.. discuss via email breifly.. schedule site visit.. interview, tour.. show basic info in a packet you've prepared (test scores, a photocopy of transcript, people who will be your references, resume/cv, etc..) and then be asked to apply. Once asked, as long as you meet the school's basic standards the department itself is going to accept you. Theater departments are generally very small and the faculty chooses who they want.. much of the "applicant" pool doesn't even get looked at. Funding is also sparse, hence the graduate assistantship and faculty-type position. And a program may not be accepting a person/people for each area during any given year. They may alternate - directing versus technical direction on opposing years.. or they may need more costume designers.. or they may need 2 boys and 2 girls in performance with strong movement background to cement their productions. They may need an asian woman, they may need a black man. They will choose people based on production needs. If you can find out what their production schedule looks like in the future, you can swing your resume/cv/credentials to show how you'd be an asset. Find the person in the program who looks like the best fit for what you want to do and start there. They'll have no qualms about pointing you to someone else if it's not their position to recruit/hire. The schools you're looking at don't do U/RTA but looking at their mass audition/interview guidelines will give you an idea of what other schools are looking to see. http://www.urta.com/NUAI/candinfo.html

I'd seriously consider having nothing to do with that school..

On a similar note, one program i applied for asked for a resume.. of relevent experience to the program. That's not my job in HR/payroll, since it's a design MFA. Asking questions and carefully reading what they're asking for is important. The worst advice you can be given or try to do is to make a generic item and send it out to multiple programs. That is an almost guaranteed route to failure. A generic resume/CV to use as a starting point is fine.. but you're going to have to spend a few hours making what each program wants to see, no matter what they call it.

Well that's pretty condescending... What person applying to a graduate program isn't fluffing up their resume or CV?

Department will likely be oblivious, your primary admissions advisor will know about it though, and those people often do have a vote in if you get in or out. Admissions people also aren't supposed to care about race or gender, but then some programs ask for video essays where the race/gender becomes obvious and i've read reports of people on adcomms being upset because it was "implied" (though not stated, cuz that's illegal) that they should be picking more minority students to help a school get funding from various programs. Long story short, nothing aside from your application credentials is supposed to play any part in your application. That's not how life actually works. I like to think if a school rejects me or someone else for something they're not supposed to be rejecting people for, it's not a good environment and not a good school and so you're better off not being a part of their nonsense.

I had this happen at a school I withdrew from. Of course, withdrawing i should have seen it coming. I didn't know for literally years that I owed the school any money until I went and tried to get my transcript to apply for other schools. I ended up having to pay them. I am not happy about it. But i got my transcript and i never have to deal with that crummy school again (hopefully.) See about a private loan from a bank or something that's not going to go through financial aid - cuz they aren't going to help you. Maybe even a credit card and taking a huge cash advance. I'm sure you next semester's finacial aid will let you balance things out and it wont all be gaining extortionate interest. You might just have to work for a few months and make the money and pay it back and then go back.

You can say yes and change your mind later - that's entirely possible too. Don't tell them and be "upfront" - no guilt on your end kiddo, they pull the same sort of antics with applicants all the time, calling them up last minute after someone else drops out, after having "firmly" rejected them. It's the nature of the beast. In a way it'[s a game, play the game and don't feel guilty for doing so. Do what's best for you, your career, and don't worry about the problems of an admissions office. The extra paperwork they may have to fill out.. the horror! The horror! If they make you a good offer, accept it. Begin planning what you need to do to go there.. if the other school makes a much better offer.. decide from there. Don't burn any bridges until you cross them. You may get nothing from the second school.

Just explain the situation. Resumes and CV's aren't (or shouldn't be) just lists of titles and locations. Explain breifly what you contributed and in what context. My first go-round with grad school apps I learned very quickly that if I put that I was an "assistant" (which happened often in my program, as the leads sure liked the spotlight) that other programs assumed I fetched coffee and did not much else. I changed my resume quickly to reflect and state my actual responsibilities and functions. The world opened up to me.

They usually ask specfically for one or the other. As for length.. it's still not a normal resume. They'll want to see your experience in the field even if it doesnt fit on a single page or even two. It's not a job application where someone is looking over resumes and quickly sorting out "maybes" and "no's" and a multi-page is seen as an act of disobedience. Moreso they get to your resume after they've possibly cut you for your grades, scores, or SOP. Say everything that needs to be said and never assume a title or position will be universally seen as having equal weight between programs. A functional resume that is still more brief than a CV will help do this. Explaining what you involvement and role was in concise terms. Resumes still allow for the omission - unrelated study, work, etc.. can be left out. A CV is expected to attest to your entire academic career and account for all periods of time in detail. I could be horrifically wrong, but regardless, prepare whatever the program asks for. Some want a short 1 page resume. Some want the modified longer resume, some want a CV that only focuses on your field, others want a CV that's all encompassing. Read the prompt carefully, give them what they ask for. You're likely not going to be able to prepare a finished document that you can just submit to multiple programs. Rather, you can have a document you can pull from and fill in blanks to make it fit what the program wants to see. Some programs don't care about what you do in your free time - some do.

People on the adcomm will run the gamut from not even noticing where you went to being complete d-bags who only want the best of the best schools even if their school isn't. If you want, you can get out a boggle board, relabel the dice to say "d-bag" "doesn't care" and "somewhere in the middle" and then shake it up. That's pretty much how your odds are going to play out. It's not something you can control and if the adcomm at a school looks down on your instituition or degree then it's not someplace that would be healthy or productive for you to be ay anyways. Don't worry, just apply and do your best.

Just send a response saying much of the same - they can reject or not. Explain funds are tight and you're wanting to apply to give yourself as much opportunity as possible. I'd stick to the basics and not give a sob story. It's expensive - you cant not pay to send test scores and transcripts, but the application fee is negotiable. Then you will have the costs of any site visits. Just spell is out reasonably as to why you want it and see what they say. It wont have any effect on your app itself. If it does, screw those people, you don't want to go there if that's how they behave.

Is this for Columbia or NYU? I have friends at both - I can ask if they have any insight into what the prompts are looking for.

I keep seeing this topic and my mind is just a bit baffled.. What is it about Berkeley that's so compelling? My primary letter-of-rec writer got his PhD from Berkeley. I mean, he's brilliant and really was a great professor.. but people seem to be very enamoured with the school. What's up with that? (Edit: There appears to be more e's in Burh-kel-lee than I had originally assumed.)

There's much the reader will be anticipating.. You want to attend, you feel you are qualified, you like their school.. blah blah blah. "Why do I care?" Think about that for a bit. Why are you different? What is unique? How are you not Applicant #237b in Rubric-Scoring Group G being assessed by Faculty ID #'s 742, 27, and 1098. Think about all the things you don't have to say because everyone else in Rubric-Scoring Group G all have those things in common. Talk about what is unique and interesting. Is it a story from when you were 12? Or is something last week or even last month? What if it's not a story, but rather an idea you feel needs to be expressed? A guiding principle perhaps?

You're only thinking of your own tiny little world. In academic communities - ya know, where things actually thrive - there is a social aspect that can be observed. People who live behind office doors and locked away in places untouched by the sun have sad little lives. I'd not want to join them.

Well, Method is Stanislavski. He thinks that emotion can only be portrayed if truly felt. Otherwise it's "impersonation" and will be seen as such. You have to understand that it came out of a world where the overtop "I wave my hand this way and it means I'm feeling faint, wave it the other way it means I'm feeling frisky" sort of acting. The audience was expected to know this sort of visual shorthand - think Kabuki theater - and it was so over the top and controled that it was all farce.. all the time.. Then you get into things like Meyerhold where you're searching for the expression via movement. Biomechanics. He's trying to key into innate recognition of gestural movements in the human psyche. Sometimes it's amazing how well it works.. though on it's own we'd consider his vocabulary of movement to be rather unnatural.

Well, it depends on what you need the letter of rec to say. If the business person is just going to say you're a diligent worker and yet you need the letter of rec to emphasize what little research work you have.. then you need the prof who can speak to the research stuff. What does the rest of your application say about you? What gap needs to be filled in with the narrative?

Call up/email whoever is in charge of your file and just say the same thing you did to us. They should understand and allow you to resubmit the corrected file.

I don't think I put enough emphasis on the "not freaking out" and moving to "damage control and course correction." That's where you need to think. You've had your 10 seconds of complete panic and fear. Now you move on and do what you can to make it better. There are things you can do and things are not irreparably broken.