Odysseus24601

No from Northwestern as well. I'm out. Congrats @CalitoTexas18 on Boston! Hope you guys have fun!

Got the official no from Brown. Which I knew already, but come on Brown! On Valentine's day! Sent an E-mail to the contact person from Northwestern and got an automatic response saying she was on leave. So maybe that is why no one has heard? I'll report back if I hear anything.

I've also heard back from Sarah Lawrence. Doing a two-day interview. I'm curious to see what the program is like.

I've heard through the grapevine that interviews for Boston U are Feb 18th and 25th. So the theory is second round invites have been sent out.

Today is the day that Brown will contact people if they want a second interview... Don't mind me, I'll just obsessively be checking my E-mail trying not to get my hopes up.

I was wondering the same thing. Waiting is torture. I'll hear from Brown this Friday, or if I don't I know I'm out there. No word from Boston U, which people had heard from them by this time last year, so that makes me think that's a no. Which makes me sad. I thought that was my strongest application. Northwestern contacts people until mid-Feb so they're still a possibility. No idea about UCSD. Application status is "under review" I hope the URTA peeps start getting some good news! It's been eerily quiet on here.

Also... Still no word from Northwestern, UCSD, or Boston U. Anyone else heard from them yet? Also, by this point in time last year people had already begun interviewing at Yale for the 1st round. Did no one hear back from them this year?

Just got back into town from my Brown interview. I felt really, really good about it and after meeting with Brian Mertes, the head of the department at Brown, they are firmly my number one choice. It was not a long interview and they started it with three questions. None of which were too crazy. 1. What was I hoping to get out of my time at Brown/why grad school right now. 2. What kind of work was I interested in making and why? 3. What would I bring to the MFA program? After those three questions we chatted for a bit and they asked me what kind of plays I wanted to work on and why. They also asked me what I was working on at the time. But those came organically from our chat. They also said that they would send an e-mail out on Feb 8th inviting the 6 finalists. If I didn't hear by the 8th, that meant I wasn't selected to move on, and the Brown University would eventually officially update me about my application status. So...come on February 8th!

@CalitoTexas18 I applied to UCSD but haven't heard anything. But they just closed their applications on Jan 8th so it might be a while

Waiting sucks. I think last year Northwestern sent them out around 1/30. And when I applied there a couple of years ago it looks like they contacted me early Feb with a phone call. No idea about CallArts or New School. To shift focus a little bit, does anybody have any ideas on what questions they are asking the school representative at the interviews? I'm asking a few school specific questions about the program and asking if they teach a particular directing pedagogy, but I'm having trouble articulating some of my other thoughts into questions that make sense.

@CalitoTexas18 Cool! Thanks for the info. Was your husband there for undergrad? Or did he get admitted and decide not to attend?

Looking at the MFA program at the Univerity of Alberta. The Financial Aid package section is worded in an odd way, but it seems like they cover most/all of the tuition and provide a stipend. They also seem to offer several scholarships. Has anyone else heard anything about the program? Does anybody have any insight in traveling abroad for graduate school? Like, would my wife get a work visa as well? What are the extra hoops? Edit: I also submitted my application to Brown last week. It says on their website that they will automatically send out a form E-mail to schedule an interview time after the application has been submitted. I haven't received that yet. Anyone else? Are they waiting for the letters of Rec to be submitted, maybe? Thanks!

Hi guys. Update from me. Finished Boston U and Northwestern Application earlier this week. I will be submitting Brown today. I want to apply to USCD. Undecided about Yale. I've applied there twice in three years and been interviewed both times. The second time the interview went great, going over time 20minutes but they said they just didn't have a place for me there. I just don't know what I'd say differently this time. And if I interview with some of the other schools I'm applying for adding the $100 application fee, $300 flight, $100 hotel fee, food, etc and taking time off work might be too steep a cost. I'm also looking around at some Canadian schools. @Star+Strength The few people I've talked to have really liked Boston University. I sent a message to a couple of people there last year. it seems to be focused on traditional theatre and new works, which is what I am more interested in as opposed to devised work, and they talk about how they receive a lot of personal attention. I'm also drawn to it because it's in Boston, so my wife, who is an actor, can get work. And they have a Certificate in Artistic Direction. Since I want to be an Artistic Director and they are the only MFA Directing program that I've seen offering that, I'm really drawn to them. @ctbck I struggle with the personal statement too. Last time around I wrote a long one (2-3 pages depending on the school) and realized I was trying to write a statement that made me "look good" or said what I thought they wanted to hear. This time around I kept it to one page, short and sweet, tried to be honest and personal without being off-putting (I can overshare sometimes) and I also kept the emphasis on what I wanted to get out of grad school and what I wanted to do afterward. This time around I realized it's important to me that THEY want ME. I'm being myself, telling them why I am a good candidate and why they want me at their school, and if they can't satisfy my artistic needs then we probably aren't a good fit. I realized I don't want to go to grad school just to go to grad school. I want to go to grad school to help me accomplish my theatrical goals. I have entered this weird funk though. I finished most of my applications at the end of October. Then I just kept revising. I finally forced myself to submit them. I'm nervous because this will probably be my last shot at grad school. I applied three years ago, got close, but didn't get into any programs that made sense financially. I then watched my wife have a great time in grad school for three years while I thought about how I wanted to go. Now I am applying again, but I'm in my early 30's and I don't want to keep moving to a different city every 3-5 years. So if it doesn't work this time I think it's time to move on. But that means I'm putting a ton of pressure on myself to submit the "perfect" application. When i just need to do it. Oh well. About to enter the worst part of his process. The two or three months of waiting to hear anything. Then, if I get interviews, the three months of waiting to hear about being accepted. Good luck all!

Hi @GLDir, I wish I had more information for you. I do not know much about the UT-Austin programs, other than when I looked over them they didn't seem like the best fit for me, nor the VT program. If I were you I would do some digging and see if you could find some of the current MFA students or students that just graduated from the program. Usually, you can search around the website and find some names, even if it's listing names of directors from previous shows. From there you can find them pretty easily via Google or Facebook usually. All the students that I've reached out to and asked questions too have been very kind and gotten back to me pretty quickly. When I've done that I get really good answers to my questions. Are you looking for programs that offer an MFA in TYA? If so this might be a good resource: http://www.tyausa.org/resources/tya-college-programs-directory/ Hope that helps and good luck!

Hi ctbck Yeah, it's tough. We're trying to navigate the best path forward for us both. I am only applying to schools that feature a major city within commuting distance so my wife can seek acting/teaching work. Boston U and Northwestern are in major cities. Yale is not too far from NY and Brown is commutable (depending on where we live) to Boston. So it's been tricky. Because I was interested in Memphis and Alabama but ultimately needed to pass on both of them. I visited New York a few weeks ago and walked around the Columbia campus. I wish their MFA program wasn't so expensive. My grad school update: got my cover letter finished that I will tweak for each grad school. Finished my directing notebook for the Northwestern submission. Working on my Boston U essay. My plan is to try and have all the applications done by the end of October. Then It'll be the fun part of sitting and waiting. Hope preparation is going well for everyone else.