talkingscop

A Brit here, coming Stateside for a PhD in Theatre & Drama!

I second what @geekerjoy says, but particularly the point above. The PhD is a long haul and dreams and aspirations may well change over that period, but even now you probably have some idea of what you want to do afterwards. Which university will best help you on the way to whatever that is? Look at the placement history of each program to see whether its grads have gone on to do the type of academic/practical work in the type(s) of places you want to work in (or out of). What program is best for you will depend not just on shared interests and pedagogical approaches whilst you're studying but also on whether afterwards you aim to be a researcher, researcher-practitioner, practitioner-lecturer, dramaturg, arts librarian etc. If a program isn't generally sending people out into the field/profession in which you're most interested it doesn't mean, of course, that you can't still plough that furrow yourself, but it may be harder or the uni/program may not be so well set up to give you the best professionalization training /connections in your particular area. So do think about post-doctoral life as well as the best fit for you for the duration of your PhD studies. You want both 'success' in your PhD itself and 'success' in where it takes you afterwards. Yes, I'm sure you've thought about this already, but just plonking this issue here on the thread in case it helps anyone at all

Congratulations!

@katpillow, thanks so much for this super-helpful post!

@katpillow, thanks! That's a really kind offer! I'll pm you when I've accepted and everything's finalised, if that's ok?

Hello all - another one for NU signing in! I haven't officially accepted my offer yet because I'm still *technically* waiting on another school, but the other place would have to make an absolutely out-of-this-world offer to lure me away from Evanston (extremely improbable since there's not a lot of money/opportunity in theatre studies!), so I thought I'd join in here now. Nice to see several historians on this thread - although I'll be based in Theatre, the course is completely interdisciplinary and my research areas mean I'll probably spend most of my time split between English & History, so I may see some of you in class! Thanks so much for all the housing info that people have already shared - I'm British and live in London, so for the most part I'm going to be house-hunting from afar. Your posts have been really helpful! I definitely need to find myself some roommates closer to Chicago to do the searching/viewing for me . Very excited to be heading Stateside!

Yay for nice things!

@pterosaur @hippyscientist Another one here facing the transatlantic move! (& 'hello again' to everyone on this thread - it's been ages since I last posted ) I'm yet to accept my NU offer formally but it's 95% likely I'll be Evanston-bound from London come August, so I empathise with everyone else moving their lives around the globe. It's both massively exciting and a bit of a headache! Still, in the last few years I've emigrated to NZ with all my worldly goods and then later returned to the UK (for family reasons, not because I didn't like it. New Zealand is awesome!) so I suppose I should be used to it by now!

Congratulations to you both! Have fun deciding which offers to take

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll have a great time at BGSU! If anybody else on this thread has any good news to share with the forum, please do - it's great to hear about people getting set up for the next part of their lives. We're all embarking on a new phase of the theatre/drama/PS academic journey and it's brilliant to be able to share that journey with others. Hurrah for collegiality!

Congratulations @skw0007! And yes, I also received the call from Harvey Young to say I'd got in! I will almost certainly be attending Northwestern since it was my top choice for theatre. We may yet be Evanston drama buddies! I'd love to pm about research etc if you decide NU is the place for you.

I'm afraid I can't tell you - I'm in the UK so I also Skyped! And they did seem great. Fingers crossed for both of us

I can only speak for the IPTD program (not Performance Studies) but I had a couple of interviews for it just over a week ago. I was told by a faculty member that he believed that the adcom was meeting to discuss final choices this week, but as always plans can change.

Belated 'thank yous' to both - it's been a few days since I've been on gradcafe and I'm behind on all my threads I'm afraid I can't comment on BGSU, since I myself am an international applicant, so am not on-site, so to speak. @directeur - I understand completely. I didn't apply to many places (two English, three theatre, according to where seemed the best fit) and so far I have one implied rejection and the request from NW for an interview - which yes, I appreciate it's something - at an unspecified date and time. Other than that there's been nothing (and I haven't heard about the English rejection, I just know all the acceptances etc have already gone out), so I can sympathise about how hard it is not to know anything when others are finding out and preparing for next year, and how difficult it is to keep yourself positive! In case you haven't seen it, there's a thread on here in the waiting it out section called Wine, Wait and Whine where lots of people from all across the disciplines support each other through the process of, well, waiting. They're really lovely people, and although I don't comment often, I find reading the discussion really helpful. I'm sure if you wanted to get involved in that the main contributors would welcome you with open arms Here's to all us theatre-types. May we all get our programs of choice next year!

Thanks!