starsloth

@thewholeenchilada Cheers to you as well! I'm moving from San Francisco. What about you? @Cengstro Very exciting, indeed! I'm not quite sure how the comfort/assistance animal process works, but I hope you are able to work something out with them!

I will be attending UCI. How are you all preparing for your programs? It's been a while since I've been in school, so I will need to recalibrate my brain. ;-P For those of you who are waitlisted/still waiting to hear back, hang in there! Sending support.

I am starting the PhD program in Drama/Theatre this fall. I too am excited and terrified. :-)

I'm very grateful for this thread! I had some concerns about transitioning into a doctoral program after working for a few years, but now I see that I am far from alone. I pursued a MFA in Writing immediately after undergrad, and think that it would have been better to wait a couple of years to get some work experience and develop my writing practice first. Although I hesitate pursuing my PhD because of the student loan debt from my MFA, I also recognize that "punishing" myself for a decision I made hastily when I was younger would not be entirely fair either. I am not currently working in my field (I work in a non-technical role at a tech company), which has presented some challenges in the application process (I experienced some interview anxiety due to the "code-switching" I would have to do from the language I currently use everyday to academic language) - then again, people change careers all the time. ;-) I come from an interdisciplinary background, so I applied to both PhD programs in Theatre/Performance Studies and Literature/Creative Writing. I'd like to teach, but I realize it's a difficult job market and so I am open to an Alt-Ac career path as well. However, I'm struggling a bit to explain the PhD part to family members who don't understand why I can't just apply to teaching or Alt-Ac jobs now. (I haven't tried to apply for adjunct positions in writing composition, but I think it might be tricky since I didn't do it right after getting my MFA.) In short, I would appreciate the opportunity to do research, and I would like to be able to "think like a scholar" (to acquire the solid, theoretical foundation and process of inquiry that it entails). I am interested in cross-genre work that has theory mixed in, and it would be useful for that (in addition to writing academic papers, of course). There are also some questions I wish to pursue, that I don't think can be answered via my day job or in my "spare time." However, I worry that this sounds too idealistic so I haven't been too open about sharing it. In hindsight, I am glad that I acquired some non-academic skills along the way. I may need to do some freelance work on the side to cover living expenses. I also have ADHD, so having the structure of the 9-to-5 was helpful, although I recognize that I will now need to go beyond that. Thank you all for sharing!

Thanks for the support! Hang in there, everyone!

@MilesToGo That's a good strategy - going about work as usual. I guess what I'm trying to figure out right now is whether to focus on reading to prepare for the start of school, or studying to retake the GRE for next year. I've been out of school for a few years so I need to retune my brain (also, to make the transition from creative writing to academic writing). What does it mean when one has had an interview but did not receive an offer nor rejection after (application is still under active consideration)? Could I be on an internal waitlist?

@Gamb1t Your play sounds very interesting! :-) I'm trying to get back to working on a piece of fiction. I suppose the news will arrive when I least expect it, huh (at least that's how these things tend to go)?

Hello all, I hope it’s not too late to join this thread! My research interests include: Burning Man, feminist performance art, cross-genre and “performative” writing, and feminist/queer theory (including French feminist post-structuralist thought). I’m also curious about how theory and praxis can inform each other, and would also like to explore the relationship between scholarship and mask work, shamanistic/spiritual emergence practices, and intermedia performance. I’ve applied to 3 programs - Northwestern (Performance Studies), USC (Literature/Creative Writing), and UCI (Drama). Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the first 2. I interviewed for the 3rd, but no word yet about their decision. It looks like I may need to go for a 2nd round of applications (and apply to a few other programs) next year. What’s helping you to get through this waiting period? Hope all is well with you. Thanks for the support!! :-) - starsloth