seizing

Whomst posted the Brown interview reveal yourself!!!

Got a call from NYU for fiction!

My interview with Rutgers was absolutely lovely. I felt very positive about the program. I'm a bit bummed to hear nothing from Brown or Hunter yet though

I don't want to alarm anyone, but the poetry decisions for Iowa might finalized. Don't know when notifications are going out though... Watching the professors spend hours of their weekends here just pouring over the manuscripts together around a table was a wild sight. Godspeed to you all, drink water.

Hi everyone,
My name is Manny and I was accepted into my MFA program here at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in my second year of applications.
The first year I applied to 4 Hoop Dreams: Boston University, Brown, Iowa, and Syracuse. Of course they all rejected me, but I'll get to that in a little bit. I did what we all do: ask for rec letters from our professors, fine-tune the writing, send it out for feedback, then spend an agonizing eternity contemplating how-in-the-fuck a statement of purpose will ever get written that can faithfully show who is the person behind the syntax.
Halfway through my rejections on my first year, I noticed someone in an old thread cataloged a bunch of grad programs/locations by film directors (lol), and found that such a delightfully absurd idea that I went with it--sort of. I decided, for my second year, I'd choose 6 (8? I can't even remember...) schools, well-established mixed in with lesser known, from as many corners of the US as I could. It was surprisingly easy, so I stretched my hands out and began the cycle once more. It was much easier this time, because the rejections had already come in, and having even less vanity than I already do about what I am producing, and having no set dream--I could finally write the statement of purpose with actual purpose, with an actual me embedded in it.
Cue the waitin', and the sweatin', and the heart attacks every time the 1 popped under the Gmail 'M' on my Chrome tab. Fast forward to February of last year, and I had been rejected from UCSD, then Washington, then McNeese. Maybe another, too, it's not important. Sometime in December, my gut instinct decided that the University of Alaska Fairbanks was the right choice for me, so that was the candle I lit in secret, and kept it from myself so my anxiety wouldn't blow it out. But it was there, kindling.
I did not hear from another school until March 2. I'll never forget stepping out of my shower, butt-naked, and deciding it was time to check my email (haha). What was there to greet me but an email with a document attached informing me of my acceptance into the Creative Writing program as a poet for the 2022-2025 cohort. I am a concrastinator, so I got to work quickly to make sure the TA waitlist would eventually change (it did, right before my April birthday, and as a TA, my tuition is covered along with health insurance--happy to answer specific questions about UAF if anyone is interested).
Later in March, the University of New Orleans would also accept me, but offer less information about funding and making no promises in that regard. I love New Orleans, but it was my second choice, so it was okay to let go (they, however, had some issues on that front--I still receive emails from UNO about my username being created for me, hehe; McNeese also sends me FAFSA emails from time to time, they really need to step up their app game).
Cue to my first spring semester here and the end of my first year as a grad student, and I cannot love it more. It is precisely where I needed to be, and where I intended to be. That mix is a gift all on its own, and never guaranteed, and I have no reassurances except to say that I have literally been where you are, life's shit and warts and hemorrhoids galore. But you can't let that stomp on your dream--the one thing we can offer to ourselves for free, even if only in the first instance of dreaming it, and the one thing that, for me, fuels this entire enterprise of writing.
Do not despair, just open a fresh page-- You might be surprised at how easy you will fill it up. And if good news is around the corner, laugh! This is one of the most arbitrary and most absurd cycles one can experience as a human being. Isn't experience everything? Every thing?
 
All the best to you all, and cheers!
Manny
 
P.S. Those Hoop Dreams, as it turns out, weren't my dreams at all, just the imaginary successes of a me that was never going to go to any of them. I am living my dream now.

Me too!!! WOOHOO!

i just got an email from rutgers with a request for a zoom interview!! very exciting, this is the first news i've heard on any of my applications and came just as i was starting to lose hope a little bit lmao. i hope everyone is doing well and not going too crazy waiting for news!

Got an interview offer from Carnegie this morning so I believe they are being sent out now.

The waiting is terrible today, I'm refreshing my inbox every half hour...

Best of luck! I hope you hear back from CMU. I saw a couple folks on twitter say they received rejections, if that helps at all. 

Best of luck! I hope you hear back from CMU. I saw a couple folks on twitter say they received rejections, if that helps at all. 

Merry Carnegie eve take two!
Has anyone heard back from Yale? Saw someone had posted a result so wondering if interview requests went out. 
I'm in the wild speculation stage of waiting...

Did UCSD give any info on why they're not accepting anyone this year? I found about their cancellation before I actually submitted my application, so I didn't get any emails from them.
Best of luck with this round! At least we should hear from Carnegie on February 1!

Hey ya'll!
 
I didn't see a new fourm for this cycle, so I wanted to! Where are people applying? How's the process been? How are applications coming along? 

Alright folx, this year I applied to:
1. Juilliard
2. Carnegie
3. UC San Diego
4. Columbia
5. Hunter
6. Brooklyn
7. Brown
8. Rutgers
I forgot about Yale this year a little too late ? but I figured my chances there were slimmer anyways. I'd rather stay close to NYC, but I live in RI so Brown would be really nice. UC San Diego is a dream that would definitely take me out of the city but would be... a dream. Carnegie's waitlisted me but I'm intrigued to see how the program changed. 

And to follow up... I emailed UCSD's application coordinator and this is unfortunately true... They'll be sending out official notice to applicants about this. Bummer! Hope the program is doing ok!

So is anybody else planning on applying this year? Slowly but surely putting together my applications and would love to ask some questions to anybody at UCSD, Iowa, Carnegie Mellon, or UT Austin if they're willing to answer them!

Also planning on applying and slowly putting together my applications. Also am interested in Iowa and UT Austin if you find out anything!

Howdy all! Never too early to start prepping for Fall. Used to frequent this endless thread and definitely read through all 100+ pages a few times over the years when I should have been focusing on my office job.
I last applied in Fall 2019 (rejected from UCSD, Iowa, UT Austin, and Yale; wait listed at CMU). Was planning on applying again in Fall 2020...but Covid, financials, life events, etc etc. But now I'm finally back in a place where I'm confident about applying!
My list is UCSD, Iowa, CMU, and maybe Austin. Things have most certainly changed since pre-Covid, and these schools' websites don't always seem up to date, so if anyone here is currently in any of those programs and wouldn't mind giving a report from the ground, that'd be greatly appreciated!
Excited to be back!

just turned in my masters thesis. what is this feeling.

Glad to see some familiar people in this thread! Like everyone, I'm also concerned about this application cycle. I am currently at Uconn's MA program, and currently our EGSA group is attempting to get everyone in the program an additional year of funding. I'm not quite sure how this would work out for MA students in particular, as the scheduling is quite tight, but just alerting people what Uconn is doing. At least I may potentially have another funded year if I am unable to get into a program for 2021.
I've been talking closely with my advisor and other professors, and they've still pushed me to continue with applying for the 2021 cycle. I am going to spend the summer working on materials, and also once we are in the late months of summer, start emailing schools to see if there are any changes to funding and what they expect their cohort size to be. 
I'm also concerned about how competitive this cycle will be, as someone who was shut-out of PhD programs out of undergrad, but I do have some hope. I have a few backup plans because though I love the work I'm doing and ultimately would love to be in a PhD program, the job market is going to be even more abysmal now (I was aware of this previously, and I will say that even despite this, having another five or so years to do something I love is worth it to me, even if I don't land a job). Since I think I'd be happy teaching in general, as well as doing other jobs in academia, I'm exploring MA's in education, and also library science programs. But we will see, I am definitely holding out hope to be admitted into some Lit programs this cycle! I hope everyone is doing well and I'm sure some of us will have luck in 2021!

I accepted my offer from Ohio. And I’ve turned down Northwestern (maybe opening up a spot for someone else!!) Thanks everyone for the support and laughs throughout this process. Best of luck to everyone!! 

If your ultimate goal is to teach theater at a university level, I highly recommend looking up open faculty positions and seeing their requirements. Higheredjobs is a good resource as is the academic jobs wikia. Narrowing down exactly what you want to teach is going to be helpful as well. What kind of acting do you want to teach? Do you want to teach voice classes? If so, do you prefer Linklater or Fitzmaurice voicework? What aspect of theater history do you want to teach/ do research on? Those are questions you don't need to answer right now, but ones that you need to consider. 
URTA is a good resource when it comes to researching MFA programs in both Directing and Acting, and The American Society for Theater Research has a good list for PhD programs in theater. Since you are apprenticing for an artistic department, you may want to take a gander at theater admin and dramaturgy programs as well to see if they interest you. 
My biggest piece of advice is to find a program that has a full tuition waiver and a living stipend. Talk to recent alumni and current students if that information isn't readily available on the university website. 

Hey everyone, just wanted to let y'all know that I secured funding! I'll be attending Mason in the fall! 
I also want to thank everyone for your support and advice. It's been a difficult 2 year journey, and GC really helped me every step of the way (even on the days when checking this thread got addictive :p). 
For 2021 hopefuls: Don't be afraid to reapply! I turned down partial funding last year, and obviously it paid off. I'm so happy with where I'm headed now.

Bumping, but also contributing.
I've been on the fence for applying for programs this year. I haven't taken the GRE yet as finances get in the way. I have also perused the PhD programs in my general area (Southern California) and cannot for the life of me find faculty directly in the Theater department who I share research interests with. One of my buddies told me that, while he was doing his PhD in Theater, he did work with faculty in other departments and that this is fairly normal thing for our field. I know the recommended practice is to choose 2-3 faculty who share your general research interests, and I can't really justify applying to programs that I have looked at where I only share interests with just one of them. That's my biggest anxiety about the process right now. 
I will be applying for one PhD program this year, as I did find their program interesting in that they have a nice mix of research and practice, and I did find that 2-3 faculty who I'd love to research/practice under. I am not putting all of my eggs in one basket; I'm fairly confident that my professional experience can net me a job after finishing this MA in December. 
Non-application stuff: Is anyone presenting at PAMLA in San Diego this year?
Hope everyone is doing well!