PlayRight

Just got in off the Brooklyn waitlist. @Zadican I suspect I was offered your spot! Still waiting to hear final word from Iowa and for more details on financials etc from Brooklyn, but it's amazing to know that I will be going to grad school in the fall ?

Hey @zayzay, congratulations! 
A few updates from me. The big one is that I have been accepted to the University of Texas as a Michener Fellow. I am very excited, and I've been on a cloud since I found out. 
I told Hunter & Brown (the other places I interviewed about it), and Julia at Brown told me that while they don't do official wait lists, I am on a shortlist of alternate candidates. Hunter, by contrast, asked me to wait until Tuesday to make a final decision. I saw on the results page that next week is when they hear about funding, so I assume it's related to that. 
I have not been officially rejected from Iowa or UCSD, but I assume that to be the case since offers went out. 

Yesterday, David Henry Hwang told me he loved my play and that he thinks I'm very funny. I finished that interview and received my form rejection from Brown. So grateful the timing wasn't reversed because I got that email and said aloud, "F#ck off, Brown! David Henry Hwang loves my play!"  Now, I'm waiting on the three schools where I've interviewed, waiting on probable rejections from Iowa and UT Austin (STILL!) and waiting for Juilliard.  I am grateful that I've been an actor dealing with this sort of thing for years bc this waiting and drip, drip, drip of information has been agitating to say the least. I am grateful for all of you as well. This message board could've been a lot of sniping and humble bragging, and it's been, instead, a lovely source of support. Congrats to people who know what's up!!! And for the rest of you still waiting, sending you strong energy for these last few days!!!

me liking all the positive feedback you have @Dongato (and anyone else who has interviewed) ? You totally deserve it!!!! Good luck to you and to all of us who's still waiting too ? We  got this ?? ????????

Hi all! I just have to say--I've been creepin' on this forum for weeks (I applied to Acting MFA programs, not Playwriting), and you folx just have the best energy. It's encouraging to read about results, positive or negative. So thanks for that. The acting thread has been pretty much dead.
Also, pretty jealous that you get to interview with famous playwrights! How humbling.

Honored, moved, and overwhelmed that I was officially accepted into Iowa today. I turn 22 next week and this is my very first year applying to MFA, so I had no idea what to expect. This process is, as we all know, incredibly difficult. And I celebrate all of you for embarking on this journey. I'd like to echo what was said in the previous post in saying that we all have reason to celebrate because we all have survived this process. There is still some waiting to be done, but I am so thankful for all of you and am sending you all amazing vibes. I started writing plays on my bedroom floor at eleven years old and it just means so much to have arrived here. Love you guys! 

Hi friends. Full disclosure: I've been a little absent this week because I started to sense things weren't going to blow my way on the grad school front, on top of several professional stumbling blocks that all just piled up in one huge mess. (It's been a week, folks. Trust me.) I'd be lying if I said I'm not disappointed, frustrated, and a little bamboozled, but I also know I'm not the only one in this boat, so before I depart like air from this forum until (likely) next year, I want to give a quick shout out to everyone who either a. didn't get an interview, b. doesn't feel great about their interview, c. did get an interview and ends up being waitlisted/rejected (not to put bad omens in the air). Despite another wipeout season for me, barring any potential but unlikely dark horse, I still believe everything I was saying a few pages back about optimism and liberation. I can tell you that the thought of being free from having to sit in anxiety any longer has brought a lot of relief; I can finally write again and work toward my looming deadline! Not that I would have preferred it this way, but I'm making it out of this without feeling too badly about myself. So I'll take it. 

Anyhow, congrats to all for making it even this far in this genuinely traumatizing process. Write, workshop, and get it out there.  

I got an interview request for Iowa last night at like 10pm EST (very honored and surprised by the timing) and will be having my interview via phone at noon today. I am so amazed and thankful to this forum. Any interview tips? Nervous and excited!

I finished my MFA in 2018. It was not a golden ticket to anything. It did help me--most of all, by expanding my network and giving me a resume line that piques interest. I would have written plays even if I was not in school. However---
- I still have to network my butt off to get to know literary managers and other gatekeepers.
- I still have to do the hard work of writing.
- Even though I have an agent, I am still 99% responsible for earning things that happen in my career.
These are the things careers are built on. Grad school, in contrast, is optional, and most of what you'd get in grad school, you can find other ways. Which isn't to say that you shouldn't go to grad school. Just that I don't think it's a magical portal to a career, and that careers in playwriting can happen without it.
Feel free to disagree with me, of course. Curious to know what others think.

Hi folks -- know this is probably been asked before, but just curious who here is applying for the first time vs applying an additional time? 
For those who have applied before, could you walk us through a little of what happened prior? Did you get in to certain programs, none at all? What have you changed up on your application in successive years? 
This is year one for me, and don't quite know what to expect (except probably a lot of rejections -- already a no on CMU + Yale. No Brown interview either). 

Thanks

Wanted to offer my two cents on the mental health/application cycle/rejection conversation. I haven’t posted here regularly in years but maybe I can give some comfort or clarity or companionship to some people. 
This is my sixth year applying. My first year: nothing. My second year: alternate at Indiana. My third year: interview at Ohio and shortlisted at UCSD, Yale told me to apply with a fuller resume and held my application open for a year. My fourth year: shortlisted at UCSD and accepted at a Texas institution.  Also a Jerome finalist. 
 
I went to the aforementioned program in Texas for one year but left after they refused to stage my plays: too violent, too queer, too whatever, too offensive to donors. Okay.
 
My fifth year applying, while enrolled as an MFA student, I was invited out to UCLA to meet with the faculty and was ghosted shortly after. A program, which I won’t name, invited me to apply without me expressing interest but later rejected me because the content of my plays. I understand this much more than the program wherein I was previously enrolled  and hold no ill will. 
Last year between cycles, I met with higher ups at a prestigious institution and was told to apply and was told they’d come check out my work. They did not and then flatly rejected me this year.
This year, my sixth, I interviewed with CMU then rejected. Waiting to hear from UCSD and Brown but I have low hopes.
All this to say...
Things are complicated. If you’re wondering how can I do this again or struggling with the pain of rejection, know it’s okay and okay meaning a plurality of things: fucked up, normal, political, and not a blanket indicator of talent. 
 
I’ll apply again next year but until then I’ll continue producing my own work and doing what I want. This does not always make me feel better.
 
In the year since I’ve left that Texas institution, I’ve produced two plays, performed in two productions and am now gearing up to produce and direct a charity festival. This also does not always soothe the pain of rejection. 
 
I imagine others have similar stories. I hope I’ve refrained from badmouthing any programs as my experience is not anyone else’s. Just wanted to touch on the common pain of rejection. 

Mental health is definitely first and to be honest....mine has taken a hit from this process. I feel very low and very exhausted and am having a difficult time keeping it together right now. This process is one of the most taxing and emotionally draining I've ever been through and I'm sure all of us feel that way to an extent. Does anyone have tips on how to make it through? Even if you don't get into any of your programs, how do you move forward?

So....maybe this helps and maybe it doesn't but here's a story:
I've been clean and sober for over twelve years. When I first got sober, I was in the middle of a fancy acting gig. Lots of parties and what not to attend. And I was freaking out about what to do now that I was sober. I didn't know how to leave a party. I was very fortunate bc my SM on the show was fourteen years sober. So I asked him, "How do I leave a party? I'm scared I'll miss out on everything." He smiled gently and said something that changed my life. He said, "You're not missing out on anything. You're doing something else."  That bit of advice has been my guiding principle on acting and writing things. If I get the gig, the school, the opportunity, great. But if not, I just do something else. And what I'm doing is just as important. I try not to live in the what if because that life is fiction. The life I've got is what matters. Doing something with this day I've got matters. Now, I'm no saying don't be sad or disappointed. I have been rejected now from three schools, and it hurts. In addition, I found out a contest I was in the finals for was a dead end. And that hurt. But I've also had a few auditions that have gone well. I've shown up for my husband. I've shown up for my family. I've been a good friend. And I've written over the last few weeks. Anyhow...I try to keep that perspective. Whatever it is that I'm doing is the most important thing.  I hope this doesn't come off as an ooky-spooky, power of now, I hope you dance sort of thing. No matter what,  I hope that your bad feelings pass soon. Keep making things. 

Long time lurker -- hello! 
Figured I'd just add to the bucket that I received a rejection from CM a few weeks prior. I worry sometimes that rejections are underreported, so I figured I'd chime in. Hopefully someone reading this who got a rejection will feel they aren't alone! 
To all those who got an interview, congrats! 

 

Hey only just saw this. Sooo ...
- Everyone always has to fill out a FAFSA, and I think everyone gets considered for money. Some people were offered full rides, and others were offered varying amounts of scholarship money. I actually was not initially offered any scholarship money. Then I got into a different (free & stipended) program and went back to NYU and negotiated for a scholarship. They then gave me some (really not a lot at first), and after I started the program, they wound up quadrupling the amount I was given--due to merit. I don't know if everyone is given a scholarship, actually.
- The best part was the level of talent around me. The playwrights were really strong. The faculty are stars in their various genres. This doesn't always equate to good teaching, but I felt I lucked out--most everyone I studied under was an exceptional teacher. Another clear strength of NYU is the cross-training in TV and screenwriting. Some programs offer a course or two in each of those, but they're longstanding areas of expertise for NYU faculty. It's useful, and you can take advantage of that to the extent that you want.
- I would also say that the reputation has been helpful to me. I don't know that Tisch opens as many doors as quickly as Yale or Juilliard, but it's up there. Being in the NYC mix was also pretty helpful for networking. A few random examples: I feel I could easily get coffee with one of my professors who's in the writers room at Mrs. Maisel; I'm friends with Tisch film grads; Spike Lee made a phone call and got one of my peers an agent at ICM. And the program has strong ties to the Public Theater.
- The biggest weakness is clearly the financial aspect. For most people, it is not a free program, and this is problematic. For this reason, the department can occasionally feel like a bastion of privilege. Other potential disadvantages of the program include: bigger cohort, and they don't produce your plays. Maybe I'm biased, but I didn't mind either of these things.
- It truly helped advance my career. When I look at where I was career-wise just before entering, and where I was when I came out of school, it's kind of night & day. By the time I finished, I had an agent and a publication contract. I have a number of high-profile people who will write me letters of rec. I got a nice playwriting fellowship in NYC a couple months after graduating. Not everyone fares as well, and some have skyrocketed faster. But I think of the 9 or so playwrights in my year, the vast majority--particularly those who have been disciplined and productive about both writing and networking since graduating--have had some really nice things happen for them.
Happy to talk more, on or offline!
-c

Hi there--I really should stop reading this digest since I'm now almost two years out of my MFA program, but I thought ... perhaps I could be of service, having completed my MFA recently. I graduated from the NYU DDW program in 2018. I loved it but there are pros and cons. Happy to answer any questions about NYU, applications/admissions, or anything else that may be useful, at any point!