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.

ABOUT YALE When I applied to them in the past the options were: schedule a meeting in Chicago (which I did in 2015 and was kind of a mistake. I was working on a show and I flew in at like 5 am, did the interview, and flew out at 3 pm. I was so exhausted it made me sick), meet in New York, or schedule a meeting in New Haven. I think they are in Chicago and New York for one week each and you can schedule a time with them. Or there were a couple of weekends I could choose from for New Haven. I selected a weekend and spent 3 days in New Haven to have a mini-vacation so I didn't feel as rushed as last time. They may also schedule interviews in San Fransico, not sure about that one though. I think Skype is an option, but they prefer to use that for international students. After the interview, they invite a handful (like 10-12) students for a weekend-long intensive where they watch the director work on a scene with Yale actors and then they select 3 students from that pool. I absolutely LOVE podcasts, so I will check out Don't Keep your Day Job. Thanks for the recommendation. OTHER GRAD SCHOOLS Two big factors in me selecting grad school is it has to be tuition-free (and hopefully offer a stipend) and it needs to be in a market where my wife can get work as an actor. So that eliminated schools like Memphis or Alabama because they aren't in markets that work well for actors. I also love traditional narrative structure and the Hero's Journey and stuff like that, so the experimental schools like UT, are great programs but probably not the best fit for me. Northwestern: I was one of the finalists here in 2015 and I spent the weekend at Northwestern looking around, seeing a show, and chatting with the professors. I really enjoyed that experience and Steppenwolf is my dream theatre to work at. They help you get an internship your 3rd year and Steppenwolf is one of the possibilities, so I'm super excited about that. Yale: Yale is yale. The schools, the training, that faculty, and the other students are all amazing. 'Nuff said. Brown I've had my eye on Brown for a while, but they just recently moved to a model where they cover tuition. I like the ensemble element to their program and the emphasis on classical text. Also, as someone who loves Shakespeare, I've been keeping tabs on Fiasco Theatre for the last few years. I think their company is an awesome business model and it looks like they are doing amazing work. Their core members are all from Brown. I'm actually visiting NY for the first time ever in a couple of weeks in order to take a three day Master Class with one of the co-artistic directors at Fiasco theatre and I'm hoping to pick his brain about Brown. Boston U: I've got a couple of friends who live in Boston and they love it. There's a lot of practical directing in the program, I like that they have a close relationship with several professional theatres in Boston, I like that they work closely with the playwrighting MFA's. I also am especially drawn to Boston U because they offer an Artistic Director Certification as an option with their Directing MFA. I want to be an Artistic Director, so that moves them high up my list. UCSD: I need to do more research here. I know they offer a tuition waiver, but San Diego can be an expensive City, so that's my biggest concern. I have read a little about their program, but later this year I'm hoping to get more information about what their program focusses on. I hope apps open next week. I've been chomping at the bit to go ahead and get the ball rolling on some of these. Yeah, it feels like a ghost town in this post right now. I bet once the apps open up though more people will show up.

Living in New York should make URTA's so much easier! I hope you have a great experience there. I think taking things with a grain of salt makes sense. What about CMU really draws you to it? I was invited for the first round of interviews at Yale. I chose to do it a New Haven so I could see the campus, and even though it was February and very cold, I really loved it there. Here are some of the things we talked about in the Yale interview with Yuri: Why Yale? Why Grad school? I have directed a lot of Shakespeare so he asked what I was hoping Yale could teach me about directing Shakespeare that I didn't already know. We talked about my directing process. What is important to me? What is my inspiration? He asked me for a link to my portfolio, which was a little frustrating since the interview invitation stated I didn't need to bring any photos or videos. I was about to direct and All Female 12th Night so he asked me Why 12th Night? Why all female? What was I hoping to say with that play right now? We then talked through specific scenes in 12th Night and he tried to dig at what my approach was with the play and why, specifically, did Viola not reveal herself. We spent maybe 20 minutes looking at one scene in the play and discussing my approach to directing that scene. He was inquisitive, but he also pushed me for specific answers. Overall it really felt like Yuri wanted to get a feel for me as an artist and really see what my process was like. I hope that's helpful!

Hi Biscotti! URTA's felt like a waste of money to me. I mainly applied because at the time Indiana was my top school. But then it turned into such a hassle. I felt like I never heard back from anyone in a timely manner and Sara Falconer, who was the point person for Directors at URTA at that time (no idea if she still is) was very rude to me both via E-mail and speaking in person. I got the feeling that she was overwhelmed and took it out on us. But since I had paid over a $100 for URTA's I felt like an answer to my questions wasn't unreasonable. Also when I was at URTA's everything felt rushed and crowded. There were only five or six directing programs at the Chicago auditions in 2015 and only two I had any real interest in (Indiana and Illinois State). Neither of the interviews went great, which I think had more to do with a "fit" then with URTA itself. If I was to do it again I would just E-mail schools who were at URTA that I was interested in and tell them I couldn't make it for the whole weekend but I would love to meet with them if they had the time. I did this with UCF's Theatre for Young Audience MFA group and had a great conversation with them. Last year I also applied to Yale, because it was the one program I was willing to go to and spend a year away from my wife. I interviewed with Yuri in New Haven. I thought the interview went great. It went over by nearly 30 minutes and it was a great give and take conversation with Yuri. I felt like he pushed me during the interview, but also that he really listened. At the end of it, Yuri was very complimentary, but he did say that when they are building their MFA directing class they have a certain chemistry they are looking for. I guess I just didn't fit into it last year. I have an acquaintance who recently got into the Directing program there and they are 24 (I am 30) so they may be looking for Theatre Artists who are at an earlier stage in their career than I am. Who knows. I figure I'll take one more swing at it this year. My wife got into UCF as an MFA actor. The program was fully funded, offered almost 20k a year assistantships and stipends, and had a year at a Classical Theatre (Orlando Shakes) so that met all of her requirements. She loves it there. In 2015 there was a large range in how I felt my interviews went. I think it just depends on what people are looking for in a grad school. Yale and Northwestern are the only schools I applied to last time that I am re-applying to. Both those interviews went very well and I would be excited about either of them. I don't really know about CMU, but last years Grad Forum group seemed to have some negative experiences with their interviews and they had complaints about unprofessionalism from the school, but I have had no experience with them. I am trying to limit my applications to about 4 schools. Paying $100 bucks an application and then multiple plane tickets and Air-B&B's adds up quickly... If it's helpful I can try and look up some of my specific notes from my last Yale interview and see specifically what we talked about. Good luck!

Hi all, I ended up lurking last year and it looked like the forum was helpful and interesting to those involved. So, since I've been chomping at the bit and waiting to take another swing at Grad school, I wanted to go ahead and get the conversation started. About me: I applied to several directing programs in 2015 and went through URTA. Schools: Indiana, Illinois State, East 15, Yale, Northwestern, Cal Arts, FSU, Brooklyn. I interviewed with Indiana, Illinois State, Yale, Northwestern, East 15, and FSU. I received offers from East 15 (couldn't afford it) and Illinois State (not a good fit). My wife applied to MFA Acting programs and was accepted into one of her top choices. So we decided to do that. Last year I applied to Yale again (we decided we could be apart for a year if I got into Yale because...it's freakin Yale). I made it to the first round again and was not selected for the final weekend visit. I can only afford to apply to programs that are fully funded so this year I am applying to Boston U, Brown, Northwestern, and Yale (again). I am seriously considering USCD. Maybe: Purdue and CMU. I won't do URTA this year. Not a great experience. This will probably be my last crack at grad school, so fingers crossed. What is everyone else looking at?