roguesenna

United States

I totally agree! I mean we have to take into account the fact that gifted programs are designed by humans who may or may not be gifted, so they're inherently fallible. Nor are they standardized, so you're right, every single one is different! I was in a lot of different gifted programs, one in elementary school called "GTC" (Gifted, Talented and Creative), in middle school I did "Saturday School" at the local community college, between high school and college I did "MTC at MSU" (Math, Science and Technology at Michigan State University), I was invited to take college math in high school (which I quit because it was so difficult I was constantly breaking into tears) and I took honors and AP courses before eventually participating in a summer High Energy Physics Lab program at MSU (I got to make and test parts for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. It was AWESOME!) But yeah, my grades were crap until I realized I needed to get into college. Then I started shaping up. I mean age-old story: Einstein had shitty grades. So yeah, gifted programs have little to do with whether or not you're actually "gifted" and a lot more to do with exposure and opportunity. Plus, as you can probably tell from my story, once you're labeled as "gifted" you get invited to a lot more gifted/accelerated programs.

You really don't want to have one person's bedroom be in the living room. I guarantee you this will cause problems. Two people living together, even if they really love each other, should each be able to get away from each other if necessary. If you or your friend has to walk through the other person's bedroom in order to visit the kitchen, the bathroom or to go outside, it's going to get dicey. Plus, whoever lives in the living room will have no privacy. Trust me. It's a recipe for disaster.

just gonna throw this out there: if the school is having this much trouble selecting out of what should be a managable size applicant pool, you kind of have to wonder what *other* things they might have trouble with and whether you want to end up at that sort of school.

circus arts! know anything? I've been doing my own research, but it looks like I'm pretty much in the first wave with that. Also interested in medieval and renaissance theatre, commedia dell arte, audience studies and pop culture.

I would imagine that if professors were paid individually for each student they advised, it would create an incentive to take on as many students as possible while completing the minimum amount of work necessary to make sure each one graduated and earned you funds. Not a great model for a good mentor relationship.

I grew up in Michigan and hadn't heard of either until I moved here.

I went to SCAD for my MFA in Dramatic Writing and I reall hated it there. Caveats: Not the same department and I know of some people who did undergrad at SCAD or who were in other departments and felt differently. That said. I feel like the attitude of SCAD is barely better than a For-Profit college. I felt like a sack of money the entire time I was there. My Screenwriting 701 class -- an essential class for someone studying film writing -- was an absolute joke. I wrote a letter to my academic advisor to complain about it and though he took the letter, he never pursued it any futher. I took other classes that were complete wastes of time and money too. At 3000$ a class it is INFURIATING to not get any response to your complaints about a lack of learning going on in these classrooms. In addition to this there were a complete lack of resources for my program (it is fairly young, but still...) the job fairs had no prospects for my department, the career guides were not familiar with my field and didn't have any strong connections. My department chair was also my advisor and the advisor of dozens of students and he was also the chair of another department. How can ANYONE chair two departments, teach, and advise two or three dozen students both grad and undergrad? He was a great guy, but I resent that he had very little time for people. Because of that he tended to pick favorites and if you ever lost that favorite status, getting anything done administratively became a lot harder. I also had issues with the program requirements. I think it's silly to require multiple art history classes from students who are not studying art history (these are required for ALL grad students, regardless of major) and I'm convinced this is a money making tactic. Secondly, I had a requirement to take a basic acting class as part of my dramatic writing program. My Bachelor's is in Theatre Arts. I had four acting classes (about 20ish credits I think? I still don't get credits) in undergrad along with TONS of practical acting experience and a Taft-Hartly contract from the Screen Actor's Guild and was not able to get them to waive this requirement. Eventually I convinced my advisor to do a substitution but I found this abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous, especially since I was personally familiar with another student who was able to get the requirement waived with only his resume. In my opinion, most of the faculty and staff there are underpaid and overworked (they can't earn tenure at all) and as a result they are too busy to truly help anyone or give anyone real individual attention. There are some gems in the rough, but a lot of the staff end up being short, rude or downright mean (especially the registrar) -- probably because of the demands the college makes on them. Keeping in mind that the President of the college makes boatloads of money, constantly hosts expensive dinners and galas and owns many competitive show horses (which is why SCAD has an equine program). Also their online class user interface is old, slow and stupid. so. yeah. I'm sorry if this is disillusioning, but I hated SCAD (and just so you know I'm not a dissenting, angry crackpot; I loved my undergrad and will tell you just as much that I loved about that school. Unfortunately, they are a small liberal arts college without any sort of grad program). I quit about 2/3 of the way through because of my frustration with all the bullshit and red tape, then returned to finish after about a six month hiatus. I only even finished my degree because the prospect of paying that much money and not having anything to show for it made me feel upset and ashamed. I am not saying you won't learn anything there -- I learned a lot -- but if you do go there and start to run into the same problems I had, well, you've been warned. Side note: I also visited and none of this was evident from a visit. They don't really introduce you to students. They put you on a bus and take you on a guided tour with rhetoric recited by preselected tour guides. If you really want to know, find students in your department and ask them everything you can. Make sure you have them tell you the things they don't like as well as the things they do like. But my bottom line is that I would never recommend SCAD to anyone. Ever. (and I am an Alumni Admissions Volunteer for my undergrad)

Yes you can. It's not too bad price wise and it weighs significantly less than the weight difference between an Air and a Pro. It's a box with a short usb cord attached. the box is about .5"x.5"x2" and the tail is about 2"-3" long (going by memory). I had a solid state on my second Air (replacement for one that was stolen). It was very nice. I got it so I couldn't destroy my Air by dropping it. I'd think that's still a possibility...

I would say go with the air. You do not need a pro for the stuff you've suggested and if you're walking 25 minutes every day, that extra weight is really going to add up quickly. In this day and age you absolutely do not need an optical drive (the new iMacs don't even have them. when my old iMac optical drive broke the apple guy was like "are you sure you want to fix this? what are you actually going to do with it?" I had one game that was still on a disk, but I downloaded a disk image of it and no more problems). Download your software or port it over using the optical drive of another mac. iPads are okay for taking notes on, but I really prefer a laptop. I have an iMac and an iPad, but I hate studying on my iPad and I am probably going to get an Air (size depending on pricing) when I start my MA this June. I was an early adopter of the original air and except for one manufacturing flaw (which has since been remedied) I really loved every second of it.

yeaaaaaah. I need to see a lot of films. my SO and I are working on it. never experienced Harry Potter?! AUGH!

I know white girls culturally appropriate. Not saying that I think poster isn't justified in her frustration and irritation at that. Just saying that she doesn't have a leg to stand on if she's assuming that everyone she's looking at is culturally appropriating without knowing their story. As she said, since she looks white probably some men and women of native-mexican decent would probably think the same of her. I am a mixed race person of ambiguous skin color and no one has ever been able to guess my ethnicity by looking at me. I can't decide what's more offensive, when someone imposes an ethnicity on me, or when they ask me the oh-so-politely phrased question "what are you?" Point being: You don't fucking know people until you know them. So give them the benefit of the doubt. and Klimt is awesome.

me too!

In theatre, you spend a LOOOOOOOT of time with your profs. I've been calling profs in my department by their first names pretty much since the first day of undergrad. The profs insisted and when some of them are your directors -- or even your acting partners! -- it gets a bit ridiculous to always be referring to them with honorifics. outside of the department I called familiar professors by their first name and others by "professor" or "dr." if they had a PhD.

legend (of) zelda

As a mixed-race person, I find this offensive. Skin color and ethnicity are not the same thing. Don't assume you know someone's race by looking at them. I have a good friend who is half Mexican, raised in a culturally Mexican household, speaks Spanish fluently and looks like a brunette white girl. Cultural appropriation is one thing if you know that's what's going on, but don't presume to judge people you don't know. I was not aware of this "Mucha" before this thread, but i fthe original works are have as gorgeous as these tattoos, I MUST get to know this artist!

1) Been stung by a bee 2) Seen any of the following "essential"/"classic" american films: Citizen Kane The Godfather (all) Gone with the Wind Lawrence of Arabia On the Waterfront Schindler's List Sunset Blvd. Psycho Chinatown One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 2001: A Space Odyssey E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Bonnie and Clyde Midnight Cowboy A Clockwork Orange Snatch Pulp Fiction West Side Story A Streetcar Named Desire Rocky Fargo The list goes on... 3.) Attended a higher education institution on a semester system (both of my programs were on a quarter system) 4.) Worked the same job for more than a year 5.) Been blackout drunk 6.) Taken a practical driver's test (through a loophole I got my license with only the written test and experience)

I went straight out of school because 2009 SUCKED for finding any kind of work at all as a new grad. I would say do a lot of the stuff that will prepare you to take the greatest possible advantage of the MFA when you get there. Work on having a portfolio of at least three REALLY polished pieces. For dramatic writing I'd say you'd want some combination of a feature film, a short film, a pilot, a spec, a short play and a full-length play depending on what your goals are. For creative prose writing or poetry writing, I would try a few pieces (or for poetry, a collection of pieces) that really showcase the forms and themes you like to explore. e.g., I am female in a male-dominated industry and I didn't want to get pigeonholed as a romantic comedy writer so my portfolio (when completely finished) includes a couple of dramatic shorts, a spec script for The Good Wife, a pilot for an epic-in-scale science fiction show (think a modern-day Game of Thrones) and a feature-length historical fantasy film. So anyway yeah. #1: Work on portfolio. #2: Start a writing group or get involved in one. Try meetup.com if you can't find anyone locally, but one of the most important things for a writer is to have people giving feedback. Writing groups are great for that. If you're in dramatic writing, they're especially nice because you get to hear your work out loud which is crucial (you never know when something looks good on the page, but an actor just can't say it). But even if you're not, just getting other eyeballs on your work is great. If you start the group yourself, then you can put it on your resume and that will make you look *extra* good. #3 Work as little as possible to meet your needs and dedicate the rest of your time to education and practice. It'll suck to be broke but then if you can't afford to go out, buy a six pack and sit down to write! #4 Travel is great, but expensive if you can afford to travel, do it. Traveling almost always encourages new perspectives, which are great for writing! But if you can't afford it, don't do it. Nothing is more miserable than being in a strange place with no money. anyway, that's what I would recommend. Oh, also #5 Consume as much of what you're aspiring to as possible. i.e. if you're a playwright, read and watch plays. if you're a novelist, read novels. as many as you can. aim for one a week or one every two weeks. If you can afford and they're available, go see artists speak, even if you have no idea who they are.

don't think I have ever heard Michigan referred to as "the south" before. Did I also mention that my family mostly drinks Molson and Labbat? Oh, also, our hockey team. your hockey team. We win. (unless you're from Montreal then.... oooooohhhhh... I'm forced to dislike you a little)

Bump. I got into the NYU MA and since the program is only one year I'm considering PhD programs again. My geographical window opened up so I'm going for broke! What programs will people be considering? if no one responds, I'll bump this again in a month or two.

thirding this. I've got a looooooong time before I'd be done with a PhD (not even in one yet) but a post-PhD trip to Ireland sounds like the best thing EVAR.

true, but it's hard to self-produce completely by yourself. You need connections, and school is really good for that. If you don't like to perform, it's one of the few ways to make theatre connections really. It also helps to self-produce in a group with others and it helps to have a writer's room. MFAs do all of that (or they should).

I accepted the offer of an MA in Performance Studies. I'll be starting in June.

If someone isn't going to hire me because they think I'm "too close to my family" I want abso-frakking-lutely nothing to do with them.

Mom: Apply to [my alma mater]! It has one of the best programs for this in the country! ---days pass, look up [her alma mater] for S&Gs-- Me: Mom, [your alma mater] doesn't even *have* a program. (apologies if I posted this before)