sampsun

Not sure if anyone still checks this thread, but I just got a surprising, last-minute admittance. 
I was REJECTED from UCLA over a month ago. No waitlist, and I didn't even make it to the second round of interviews. But today, I opened my email this morning to an acceptance email from a department admin. Obviously I was shocked, and at first I suspected it was a phishing attempt lol. But nope, it's real and I'm waiting for funding info now. 
Anyway, just wanted to share this bizarre experience with you all... thanks everyone for your support these past several months, and best of luck to everyone applying in future cycles. 
@hyphenleigh I think Stanford TAPS admitted just four students this year, not sure about any int'l admits. But big congrats on Simon Fraser, that's a great program!! Wishing you the best

Not sure if anyone still checks this thread, but I just got a surprising, last-minute admittance. 
I was REJECTED from UCLA over a month ago. No waitlist, and I didn't even make it to the second round of interviews. But today, I opened my email this morning to an acceptance email from a department admin. Obviously I was shocked, and at first I suspected it was a phishing attempt lol. But nope, it's real and I'm waiting for funding info now. 
Anyway, just wanted to share this bizarre experience with you all... thanks everyone for your support these past several months, and best of luck to everyone applying in future cycles. 
@hyphenleigh I think Stanford TAPS admitted just four students this year, not sure about any int'l admits. But big congrats on Simon Fraser, that's a great program!! Wishing you the best

Not sure if anyone still checks this thread, but I just got a surprising, last-minute admittance. 
I was REJECTED from UCLA over a month ago. No waitlist, and I didn't even make it to the second round of interviews. But today, I opened my email this morning to an acceptance email from a department admin. Obviously I was shocked, and at first I suspected it was a phishing attempt lol. But nope, it's real and I'm waiting for funding info now. 
Anyway, just wanted to share this bizarre experience with you all... thanks everyone for your support these past several months, and best of luck to everyone applying in future cycles. 
@hyphenleigh I think Stanford TAPS admitted just four students this year, not sure about any int'l admits. But big congrats on Simon Fraser, that's a great program!! Wishing you the best

Just got an offer of admission to the MA Performance Studies program at NYU Tisch, which was my first choice! Very excited to study in the Fall!

I’ve been holding off on posting my news in case all results hadn’t gone out for the program, but I think I should be good now. I got into Northwestern Performance Studies! I really can’t believe it. I didn’t think anything was going to happen for me this year, because I’m straight out of undergrad (took a gap year) and I went to a not very competitive state school. I also got rejected from literally every single other program I applied to. All this to say that it only takes one! If you haven’t heard back from all your schools yet, don’t lose hope. 

Just wanted to check in and let everybody know that I’ve called 911 and demanded a wellness check on the CUNY theatre and performance program’s admissions committee.

Just checking in to say that I got an interview at University of Maryland for the PhD Program in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies! I am on a "short list" of applicants they are still considering for admission, but no word on how many people applied and how many slots are available. I'll try to remember to ask. Did anyone else apply there? I can't remember.
Wish me luck, and congrats to everyone so far! And still hoping everyone gets some positive news soon if they are still waiting to hear from programs ❤️ 

I got a response today saying my application is one of the 20 still being considered. They sent out offers to 4 people so depending on how that goes they will update others. He also mentioned that they sent out 68 rejections already.

I got a call from DGS at Northwestern tonight at 7pm EST! He let me know that I made it to the final round (8 of 124 applicants) and that I am invited to interview / attend a virtual "campus visit" in late February. I am absolutely shocked. I really thought I was going to receive straight rejections from every school I applied to. 
Note: I am @sadficus. I somehow logged into an old account and can't get back into the one I've been using this cycle, lol. 

@sampsun When I was applying for Musicology PhDs 3 years ago, I was under the impression that PhD students were not allowed to defer. But you bring up a very good point! I have no idea how that works in TAPS PhDs (and Masters) and whether programs allowed students special permission to defer this past round given the global pandemic. Do you know if that’s the case?
@hyphenleighIt’s super amazing that you’re applying internationally! I’m American so I can’t help much. However, in my experience applying before, most top programs admitted international and domestic applicants around the same time? I think. Programs with lower funding might not? Can anyone else corroborate that? It might be worth reaching out to graduate admissions and asking their policy on international student admits if it’s not outlined on your department website?
@Boseph16 and @Post-ItI feel that ?
If it’s helpful to anyone, I heard from the University of Georgia that I got in. I wasn’t expecting to hear so early from them at all. If anyone wants any more details on that school’s process, I can go into further depth, but off the top of my head, I don’t recall anyone saying that they applied to that school ? but just let me know!
At the end of the TAPS thread from last year someone went in and did a summary of all the programs they applied to and what the process was for each one, so I might do that ?
It’s still January. I expect everyone will have much more to report come February and even March! ?

Hi friends! International TAPS applicant checking in. Curious to know if any other internationals have heard back regarding an interview at any American schools yet? 
Cheers and luck to us all for being brave enough to apply to schools in this season of applications! 

Just checking in to say: UGH!!! 
 
The waiting game is making me go crazy. 
That’s all. 

Like many of my colleagues, I begin to receive emails from prospective applicants for our January deadline. If you're thinking about a PhD program in the field, now is a good time to start. For those of you who may be looking a programs, here are some tips that you might want to keep in mind. There are only 36 PhD Theatre & Performance Studies programs in the United States so hopefully you'll find a program that's right for you!
1. Think about your interests and how they match up with the interests of university faculties.
You may or may not have a clear idea of a dissertation topic. Even if you only have some vague research questions or interests, you'll want to think about how a particular university's faculty (and its geographic location for that matter) might work in service of your trajectory. Our programs vary widely from highly theatre history focused to purely performance studies. Some department's are particularly well-grounded in critical race studies or gender and sexuality studies. Other programs really seek to ground students in production experiences. Think about the kinds of program that you want to be a part of and let that guide your search. Spend some time on our webpages for seminar listings, faculty publications and bios, recent theses/ dissertations, and graduate handbooks to learn a bit more about institutional philosophies and values
2. Start to think about your application materials
Nearly every institution will want a cover letter/statement of intent, a writing sample, GRE/TOEFL scores, and recommendation letters. Rest assured that most of us won't care even a little bit about the math section of the GRE. But in the cover letter and writing sample we're looking for a). evidence that you understand why a faculty, university, and program might serve you well b). demonstrates an awareness of who you are in academic conversation with c). shows us why you're invested in particular questions and how you hope to creatively answer them through your research. The writing sample should provide some example of this labor.
As you start to cultivate letters of recommendation, think about people who can speak to your intellectual promise and your academic interests. We get a lot of letters that talk about a student's skill as a performer, and that doesn't really help us at all. If performance practice is a big skill that you bring to a program or that informs your research, create an online portfolio so that we can see images or video of your work and speak to how that work is in conversation with critical discourses in the field. 
3. It's never too early to reach out and speak with the Director of a PhD program.
Once you find a few programs that have piqued your interests, try to set up a conversation with the directors of the programs. When I talk with prospective applicants at this point in the summer, I want to know a). How you think a PhD program might serve your individual growth and aspirations?  b). What sorts of research questions are of interest to you. I'm less interested in potential dissertation topic than I am in why you're drawn to particular research questions, what you see as the through-line between your topics, and why you feel a personal investment in the research questions you've selected.
You may want to ask me about the program's mission and values, funding packages, summer funding, travel and research support, program structure, time to degree,  graduate placement, teaching and production opportunities, alt-ac training, credit transfers if you're coming from an MA program, language requirements, or other program logistics. But prepare those questions before we start our conversation (Just FYI: this is the state of T&PS PhD job placement from 2011-2017): 
 
 
Finally, you may want to float the idea of visiting campus once the fall semester starts or look for an opportunity to speak with faculty members via phone or web conference. Most institutions can't pay to bring admitted students out until after a review of application materials, but some applicants have the means to visit campus prior to applying. If you can't you can at least learn more about faculty who you might like to work with about the seminars they plan to teach, their mentorship styles, and other opportunities for engagement. Don't be afraid to ask about the possibility of speaking to graduate students either. Most of our programs can facilitate that easily. 
I hope that this helps and doesn't seem too simple. Please feel free to use this thread if you have questions. Or if you have a question that you don't want to ask in this thread, email me noe.montez@tufts.edu. 
Good luck learning about the programs in our field!
 

@sadficus sounds like such a great resource!! This whole application process was honestly so expensive and inaccessible
@ladymatre Welcome :) yup, I've heard from various programs that they're only accepting 2-3 students this year (opposed to 4-7 like usual). Not sure if that's affected by students who were accepted last year but chose to defer? 
@dancedancestudies Congrats on OSU, I hope you get more good news soon! The UCLA interview went well, but it was incredibly fast paced. It took exactly 15 minutes, and felt like a speedrun with professors firing off questions... all pretty overwhelming.
 
Hope everyone's doing well! 

@sadficus sounds like such a great resource!! This whole application process was honestly so expensive and inaccessible
@ladymatre Welcome :) yup, I've heard from various programs that they're only accepting 2-3 students this year (opposed to 4-7 like usual). Not sure if that's affected by students who were accepted last year but chose to defer? 
@dancedancestudies Congrats on OSU, I hope you get more good news soon! The UCLA interview went well, but it was incredibly fast paced. It took exactly 15 minutes, and felt like a speedrun with professors firing off questions... all pretty overwhelming.
 
Hope everyone's doing well! 

@sadficus sounds like such a great resource!! This whole application process was honestly so expensive and inaccessible
@ladymatre Welcome :) yup, I've heard from various programs that they're only accepting 2-3 students this year (opposed to 4-7 like usual). Not sure if that's affected by students who were accepted last year but chose to defer? 
@dancedancestudies Congrats on OSU, I hope you get more good news soon! The UCLA interview went well, but it was incredibly fast paced. It took exactly 15 minutes, and felt like a speedrun with professors firing off questions... all pretty overwhelming.
 
Hope everyone's doing well! 

lol I didn't even know grad cafe was a thing until I saw it mentioned in a Facebook group ?, so I'm super late to the game here. But happy to chime in that I also applied for Performance Studies PhDs this round!
So far I have applied to Northwestern, NYU, and Cornell. Working on UMD and UGA. I have a colleague in the Cornell Dept., and they say they are only taking 2 students this year due to Covid. This was also separately confirmed to me by a professor when I reached out. I am wondering if other programs are taking fewer students as well? Anyone have any intel?
Similar to you all, I was also trying to figure out if programs are receiving more or fewer applicants this year due to the pandemic, but I haven't been able to piece anything together. From what I've read on here, and from what my friend told me, I think that since not every program is accepting applicants, some people are deciding not to apply this go around in general. So perhaps there are fewer applicants in general for PS?
I haven't heard back from any programs whatsoever. 
I'm changing fields (was formerly enrolled in a PhD program in Musicology) so I am quite nervous. But I will say that from my experience back then, I still hadn't heard from like two Musicology programs (UMich, UCLA) like five days before the deadline (deadline to accept most schools is usually April 15th). This was in 2017. From what you all are saying and what I've read in the previous thread, it seems like PS seems to send out decisions a little quicker than that. My friend said Cornell PS got back to him in like early February last year.
Good luck to everyone, and if I find out any more info, I'll be sure to post back here.

@sampsunIt is a free program which provides you with advisers (general and SoP specific), webinars on different aspects of the application and post-application process (interviews, negotiating funding, etc.), fee waivers for all consortium schools, and discounted GRE prep and registration. The one I am in is geared towards multiply marginalized people who intend to enter the field of education. Under normal circumstances they have about an 80% matriculation rate, but obviously this is an unprecedented cycle, so they will be welcoming back everyone who is not placed this year, next year. It has been an incredible help, and if I am not placed this cycle I will absolutely be participating in the program again next cycle. 

Also @sadficus, what does a grad prep program entail? Obviously too late for me this round haha, but I’m intrigued

Hi guys, thought I’d pop in and play the waiting game with you all. I applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Northwestern, all (Theatre and) Performance Studies PhD programs. I have a Zoom interview with UCLA tomorrow ? if anyone’s at all interested, I can report back about my experience. 
 
Haven’t heard back from any other schools.... yikes

Hi guys, thought I’d pop in and play the waiting game with you all. I applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Northwestern, all (Theatre and) Performance Studies PhD programs. I have a Zoom interview with UCLA tomorrow ? if anyone’s at all interested, I can report back about my experience. 
 
Haven’t heard back from any other schools.... yikes

Hi guys, thought I’d pop in and play the waiting game with you all. I applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Northwestern, all (Theatre and) Performance Studies PhD programs. I have a Zoom interview with UCLA tomorrow ? if anyone’s at all interested, I can report back about my experience. 
 
Haven’t heard back from any other schools.... yikes

Hi guys, thought I’d pop in and play the waiting game with you all. I applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Northwestern, all (Theatre and) Performance Studies PhD programs. I have a Zoom interview with UCLA tomorrow ? if anyone’s at all interested, I can report back about my experience. 
 
Haven’t heard back from any other schools.... yikes