Curio

I disagree with this. A lot of exceptionally talented people apply there. The work at the auditions was very impressive and many of the people who were there got accepted into what are considered the best MFA programs. The faculty is also outstanding. It's also becoming much more diverse gradually, and they have obviously taken steps to make their directing, playwriting, and acting classes more diverse. I also think the skills of their graduates are on par with any grad school. Grad school is what you make of it, rather than what the program makes you. But we can definitely agree that expensive MFA programs need to work harder to provide funding for the many talented working class artists, otherwise the school will only cater to the elite and put middle class artists in lifelong debt which challenges the motivation to create art.

I'd like to give an update on my MFA application process. I was waitlisted for my two top schools (not including Yale of course): Brooklyn College and Columbia. I'm bummed about Brooklyn college because it's affordable, especially for residents of NYC. It would be much more financially doable and I wouldn't have to move to a new city. I was recently offered a slot at Columbia and I'm afraid it's going to be nearly impossible for me to afford it. My situation is probably different than others on this forum because I am in my 40s. Going into debt in your 40s is a lot different than going into debt in your 20s or early 30s. I'm spending the next week aggressively searching for funding options that will ease my burden of debt but I'm afraid there are very few, and the deadline has passed for some. My takeaway from this process is that elite schools like Columbia are falling behind the curve when it comes to funding their arts programs. If you really want to train artists, you cannot release them into the world after graduation with $100k in debt. Unless they come from wealth, they will spend much of their lives stressing about paying off debt which can dissolve motivation to create art. And, maybe more importantly, it will prevent people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds from the benefits of an MFA. I don't know the ins and outs of what goes into running a massive university in a place as expensive as NYC but it seems like there should be no reason that rich schools do not offer better funding to arts students. For now I'll be scrambling to see if I can get some money together. And if I can't, I'll continue the grind here in NYC! Congrats to everyone who got into schools with good funding.

I dropped my application to Brooklyn College off in person today because I live locally. Afterward, I went to the theater and asked the box office manager if I could check out the space and he gave me a tour! It's a pretty cool space and they are in the process of building a new facility. This is where I'm at: Yale: rejected Columbia: invited to the audition day Northwestern: nothing (though it sounds like they reached out to people today so I'm assuming I'm rejected) UCSD: nothing UT Austen: nothing Brooklyn College: submitted my application in the nick of time!

I just got my official rejection email from Yale. Dems the breaks! Anyone hear from UT Austin yet?

I hope everyone is staying sane during the waiting game and having great interviews! Does anyone know anything about University of South Dakota's program? I don't know much about it.

HI Everyone! I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts so I decided to jump in. So far i've applied to Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, UT Austin, and UCSD. My final application is Brooklyn College which is due soon. One thing I just realized is that I never got a confirmation email from Yale that they received my application. This seems strange because all of the other schools sent one immediately after submitting. I checked my Yale account and it says "paid" and "submitted." Also, in the Yale account it doesn't show my personal statement and resume check marked on the list of completed items. However, when I look at my application proof, they show up. Did everyone else get an email from Yale confirming receipt of the application? Just curious? thanks!