Mel Rose

Hey, thanks for letting me know! I have gotten zero transparency throughout this process so I appreciate you passing the info you got along!

I just got a very kind email back from a faculty member at NYU—who my mentor connected me with…he said that as of Monday, they’ve received commitments from the full class, so unless someone drops at the last minute, it is unlikely there will be movement on the waiting list. It is of course impossible to predict if there are extenuating circumstances, but I hope this helps! I’m grateful he was transparent, honest and straightforward about it!

So I have a similar issue. I was waitlisted at NYU and accepted at The New School and my deadline to accept my place at The New School was May 3rd. Since NYU was my top choice, I emailed with an admissions officer to find out whether I would hear back about the waitlist before May 3rd and he said the deadline for the original admitted people to get back to them was April 15th, so I should hear back between then and May 3rd. About a week before the deadline I emailed again to check in and he said that they had given an extension and the initial accepted students were now getting back to them on May 1st so hopefully they would have more info on May 2nd. May 2nd rolled around and still nada. I even tried calling and they didn't have any info for me. I just sent another follow-up email so I'll let you know if I get any more info from that. I ended up accepting my place at the New School but I still think I would forgo my deposit and switch to NYU if I got in. 

Just received a notification that I've been accepted to the University of Edinburgh's MSc in Playwriting Programme! Hoping I'll get a scholarship so I can go.

@machinations @Dro. @seasickmermaid  Fingers crossed!! Sending good vibes for those waiting and/or mulling a decision.

I'm so sorry you all are experiencing that. I would guess that it is the university overall and its antiquated software that are to blame, rather than individual faculty from the program(s), but all-in-all it seems like it is time for them to definitely address that as an ongoing problem.
On another note, has anyone else heard NOTHING from UT Austin? I'm assuming all offers are out and see that some rejections are out, but I've still heard nothing and my portal is the same. That's the only school I've gotten nothing from at this point. 
As for my grad school journey this year...I have gotten:
-one acceptance (CMU)
-two waitlists (Iowa and NYU)
-and the rest rejections. 
I have asked for an extension from CMU before making a decision. Trying not to get my hopes up but Iowa is my dream school so I'm hanging on by a thread.

I'm so sorry you all are experiencing that. I would guess that it is the university overall and its antiquated software that are to blame, rather than individual faculty from the program(s), but all-in-all it seems like it is time for them to definitely address that as an ongoing problem.
On another note, has anyone else heard NOTHING from UT Austin? I'm assuming all offers are out and see that some rejections are out, but I've still heard nothing and my portal is the same. That's the only school I've gotten nothing from at this point. 
As for my grad school journey this year...I have gotten:
-one acceptance (CMU)
-two waitlists (Iowa and NYU)
-and the rest rejections. 
I have asked for an extension from CMU before making a decision. Trying not to get my hopes up but Iowa is my dream school so I'm hanging on by a thread.

I'm so sorry you all are experiencing that. I would guess that it is the university overall and its antiquated software that are to blame, rather than individual faculty from the program(s), but all-in-all it seems like it is time for them to definitely address that as an ongoing problem.
On another note, has anyone else heard NOTHING from UT Austin? I'm assuming all offers are out and see that some rejections are out, but I've still heard nothing and my portal is the same. That's the only school I've gotten nothing from at this point. 
As for my grad school journey this year...I have gotten:
-one acceptance (CMU)
-two waitlists (Iowa and NYU)
-and the rest rejections. 
I have asked for an extension from CMU before making a decision. Trying not to get my hopes up but Iowa is my dream school so I'm hanging on by a thread.

oh yeah, i applied to the regular drama MFA at UT and they're still ghosting me. i think they also get a lot of ppl who applied there as a backup for michener (like my advisor told me to do,) so they're probably kinda catty about who they pick LOL.
hope the iowa waitlist shakes out Mel! there's always at least one person who can't come for whatever reason, so fingers crossed for you

I'm so sorry you all are experiencing that. I would guess that it is the university overall and its antiquated software that are to blame, rather than individual faculty from the program(s), but all-in-all it seems like it is time for them to definitely address that as an ongoing problem.
On another note, has anyone else heard NOTHING from UT Austin? I'm assuming all offers are out and see that some rejections are out, but I've still heard nothing and my portal is the same. That's the only school I've gotten nothing from at this point. 
As for my grad school journey this year...I have gotten:
-one acceptance (CMU)
-two waitlists (Iowa and NYU)
-and the rest rejections. 
I have asked for an extension from CMU before making a decision. Trying not to get my hopes up but Iowa is my dream school so I'm hanging on by a thread.

Hey ya'll, thank you for the support. This is definitely a first for me as no other program has misgendered or deadnamed me. I did in fact respond to let her know the error and this is the response I received essentially:
"Dear ____,
 
I'm so very sorry about that, and will correct my records immediately. It seems like an administrative error of our application software, which used to automatically populate I spreadsheet I was using to track applications. I can see from your application that you clearly entered your preferred name as ____. My sincere apologies for not noticing this error when I was writing to you, and thank you so much for letting me know about this issue--I appreciate it."
 
I have mixed feelings on this response because it is nice to hear an apology that I believe was in fact stemming from an error, but I also feel weird knowing that they wouldn't just use the preferred name section to begin with (I also... do not love the phrase "preferred name", as it implies that my name is a preference and thus subject to any sort of debate-- it's my name).
EDIT: I also checked my last year's email from her-- she did not deadname me at all last year, which makes it all the more odd that it occurred at all this year. Hm. 

@MischiefNotManaged wtf that's awful! I'm so sorry—how horribly disrespectful!
I got a similar rejection email to y'all from Hunter and found out that I was waitlisted at Columbia! That's the last school I've heard back from this year, which leaves me with rejections from BU, Brooklyn, and Hunter college and waitlisted at Columbia and NYU. My goal for this year was to get two interviews, which I did, so at the end of the day, I'm definitely still happy. What a wild process! Grateful for all the lessons learned and grateful to have this community to help keep me sane.
 
 

Congrats @1lemon !! That's so great!!

Accepted at Hunter and going to commit! After two admissions cycles and a decade of wanting to do an MFA it feels exciting and unreal. I didn’t think it could happen for me and now I’m going to my dream program! Thankful for the thoughtfulness, info, and commiseration on this forum — though I’ve mostly just been reading posts, it’s been a supremely comforting space. Sending good luck vibes to everybody on here. 

so...do yall think if I ask nicely and remind them they're my top choice, CMU will give me a brief extension on the march 25 decision deadline? both for practical reasons (it's still really early and i'm waiting on a few more schools) and "extenuating circumstances" reasons? 

The tension is real lol. Decision time is upon us. ?
@Waves2021  @MischiefNotManaged et al  I feel ya 100%. Grad school is not the only path and finances are a huge part of the deal. I am awaiting the final details on my fellowship from CMU, and I will be weighing that heavily in my decision to accept/decline the offer, as the financial realities (including the costs of relocating to a new city) are for me a major factor.
I've also been getting some nice artistic opportunities with my work recently, and am weighing the pros/cons of staying in NYC for another year to build that network, vs being in another city for grad school. It's a really tough call rn. Personal and professional conundrums abound!
I also just got an email that I am an alternate / waitlisted finalist at Iowa again this year, and that those initial 3 offers have been made (for team Iowa ppl).
So I will be agonizing about Iowa and NYU's possible openings for the next month. Tough decisions only getting tougher. This is definitely harder than the application process lol.
 

The tension is real lol. Decision time is upon us. ?
@Waves2021  @MischiefNotManaged et al  I feel ya 100%. Grad school is not the only path and finances are a huge part of the deal. I am awaiting the final details on my fellowship from CMU, and I will be weighing that heavily in my decision to accept/decline the offer, as the financial realities (including the costs of relocating to a new city) are for me a major factor.
I've also been getting some nice artistic opportunities with my work recently, and am weighing the pros/cons of staying in NYC for another year to build that network, vs being in another city for grad school. It's a really tough call rn. Personal and professional conundrums abound!
I also just got an email that I am an alternate / waitlisted finalist at Iowa again this year, and that those initial 3 offers have been made (for team Iowa ppl).
So I will be agonizing about Iowa and NYU's possible openings for the next month. Tough decisions only getting tougher. This is definitely harder than the application process lol.
 

Popping over from the MFA Directing 2022 thread to share that for other folks that have gotten offers, if there's any financial aid component in the offer and the school is are a part of the Council of Graduate Schools, they have to give you until April 15th to decide. (https://cgsnet.org/resources/for-current-prospective-graduate-students/april-15-resolution/) 

The tension is real lol. Decision time is upon us. ?
@Waves2021  @MischiefNotManaged et al  I feel ya 100%. Grad school is not the only path and finances are a huge part of the deal. I am awaiting the final details on my fellowship from CMU, and I will be weighing that heavily in my decision to accept/decline the offer, as the financial realities (including the costs of relocating to a new city) are for me a major factor.
I've also been getting some nice artistic opportunities with my work recently, and am weighing the pros/cons of staying in NYC for another year to build that network, vs being in another city for grad school. It's a really tough call rn. Personal and professional conundrums abound!
I also just got an email that I am an alternate / waitlisted finalist at Iowa again this year, and that those initial 3 offers have been made (for team Iowa ppl).
So I will be agonizing about Iowa and NYU's possible openings for the next month. Tough decisions only getting tougher. This is definitely harder than the application process lol.
 

For anyone who's either going through rejections this time around (which I did for years and years) or can't do it because of finances, I'd check out any writers groups where you live.
Particularly in New York where we have Youngblood at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, P73's writers group, Ars Nova Playgroup, or the Working Farm on SPACE on Ryder Farm. They're somewhat similar to MFA programs in that you meet with other writers every week or so over the course of a year and write 1-2 plays. It's also great because you form lasting relationships with the theaters that sponsor the writers groups. And best of all, it's free. 

Hey there! Longtime lurker here! I got admitted by Columbia through a personalized email from one of my interviewers(they might be sending out acceptance in waves?). Still waiting for the official letter and FA info. I got rejected by all the fully funded ones. I won't be able to attend without a HUGE amount of funding due to family issues(I heard that the chances of getting funding from Columbia are quite slim). I used to be quite anxious about not being able to enroll in a playwriting program this year and thought of it as a life-changing step for me to become a playwright. But now I'm gradually coming to acceptance that I won't be able to go for any program this year. I guess a big take-away for me is that application is an episode in my creative/playwriting journey. The key is to keep writing and reaching out to people with the work. Perhaps I'll apply again when I have enough money or perhaps not.
Nevertheless, hope you all can get your desired offers!!  Hope to see you down the road.

Hey I didn't apply to Columbia so I know nothing of their process, but I saw last night on twitter that a friend of a friend just received an offer. Not sure if they all go out at the same time, just figured I'd relay the information, for those waiting!

Thanks for letting us know! Praying that they're sending out offers in waves. The waiting is the most excruciating part, I've been refreshing my email every 15 minutes ugh

Hey I didn't apply to Columbia so I know nothing of their process, but I saw last night on twitter that a friend of a friend just received an offer. Not sure if they all go out at the same time, just figured I'd relay the information, for those waiting!

Hey I didn't apply to Columbia so I know nothing of their process, but I saw last night on twitter that a friend of a friend just received an offer. Not sure if they all go out at the same time, just figured I'd relay the information, for those waiting!