MChammerstein

And this article too. Here's a great quote IMO about how to call in some positivity/yesses after a lot of noes. "Happy playwright Dipika Guha takes some advice from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic. “For every rejection that came in,” Dipika says, “Gilbert would send something out that day to ping something back into the universe. I like that.” Jackie Goldfinger also does this. 'I get a lot of submissions done after a blow. I do something about the no. Being upset and bitter only holds me back.'" https://howlround.com/how-be-rejected

The rejection can feel all-consuming at times. You poured your heart out into these plays and applications, and when you don't receive affirmation back, it hurts. Most applicants don't get into an MFA their first try. It usually takes two or three or more go-rounds. You're not alone. Feel the feelings, and lean into your support system or creature comforts. Watch a bad horror film, take a walk, adopt a dog. I posted this last year, but I'm sharing it again. I would recommend listening to David Henry Hwang's episode on American Theatre Magazine's "The Subtext." He talks a bit about carrying on when your worst fears come true. Hopefully it brings solace to those of us struggling with rejection at the moment.

Congrats to those with interviews at Columbia and elsewhere! I'm on the Columbia interview train too. Not to rain on anyone's parade, including my own (and I love parades, especially the Coney Island Mermaid Parade), but I also think Iowa may have already offered all of their acceptances this year. To echo what Bibsy said, Iowa in the past has used their "interviews" as more of a phone call in which they share the good news that the playwright has been accepted. It is possible that they've changed their protocol, but hard to know without any evidence. In case anyone needs more places to look for data, the FaceBook MFA Draft Group has a small number of playwrights on there. If you scroll back, this has been advertised in past years on this forum. MFA Draft isn't always the most helpful as the notifications published on there are from many different Creative Writing concentrations, but it does sometimes offer insight. Wishing everyone as much patience and peace as they can muster!

For anyone who applied to Michener (not T&D), your status may be updated on the portal. No emails have been sent out yet. Wishing you karaoke parties for good news, and angsty poems or cozy movie nights for redirective news.

Hello fabulous playwrights lurking out there! I just wanted to extend a huge bravo to those of you who have already submitted or are in the process of submitting their applications for Fall 2025. This is an epic feat, so way to go! My approach this year is to NOT think about when schools have notified people in the past. The timing was completely different anyway, I did not get the news I wanted, and it really weighed on me. I am proud of myself and proud of all of us who were able to pick up the pen and begin again. For those who are like past me and can't help but obsess every day, you're not alone. I am going to keep writing as though I am not getting in, because I am still a playwright even if I'm not admitted to grad school. Peace is hard to come by, but I hope each and every one of you finds a place where you can cultivate that precious peace!

I haven't heard from Carnegie Mellon (didn't apply), but according to the MFA draft on Facebook, one person received an acceptance on March 1st. They might do rolling acceptances (I think they have in years past). I hate to be the barer of bad news for many of us (including myself), but Yale and Iowa have sent out interview requests. I personally haven't heard anything, so I think it's a no for me on those two schools. Congrats to those who have been invited to interview! Yale is apparently doing one round of zoom interviews, and then a second round of interviews in person. Just trying to populate information for those who are still waiting in limbo. For those feeling a bit lost, I would recommend listening to David Henry Hwang's episode on American Theatre Magazine's "The Subtext." He talks a bit about carrying on when your worst fears come true. Hopefully it brings solace to those of us struggling with rejection at the moment.

Hi @aojfpajfapodjf222! Back on page 135 and linked here, I offer some information about going to the school in the UK. In my opinion, will it launch your NYC career? Probably not. Will it give you an extended writer's retreat and help you become a better playwright? Most likely! So it could be very beneficial and advance you on your playwriting journey which could help you in NYC indirectly. It's a big decision, good luck! Huge congrats to those in at UCSD, Pace, Brooklyn, and more, BRAVO! Good luck also to those interviewing at Hunter, Columbia, and elsewhere. I hope you wow them! Remember you already have dazzled them with your writing alone! To those who are receiving rejections, my heart goes out to you. I am in the same boat, rejections from Brown and UCLA so far. It's looking like UCSD is a "no" as well, considering people have been interviewed and admitted already. Thanks for the info @dramatic. That's good to know. I'm usually pretty good at looking at theatre companies saying "no" to my work and saying, "it's just information," and I collect the data and move on. It feels a bit more personal with grad school, probably because we wrote that darn document called a personal statement. I have a wonderful friend who gave me this advice, and I'll leave it here in case it helps anyone else. Right now, you may feel like you are at the bottom of the mountain. We have to climb to get to the top: being admitted to your dream school. But here's the thing. We already wrote a play. Two plays. Ten plays. We climbed. We had a reading with actor friends. We incorporated feedback. We climbed. We wrote a personal statement and poured our sweaty truths and pain onto the page. We climbed. We answered annoying questions about where we went to school and our addresses and jobs. We climbed. We pressed submit. We applied to graduate schools. We put our hearts out there. We are not at the bottom right now. We are making progress. We are getting there. This is not the start. We've already accomplished so much. And for most of us, the peak is not grad school. It's having a play staged that really impacts people. For some, maybe that's already happened! Maybe you've already climbed one mountain. Maybe you're on your second or third. We are not at the bottom of the mountain. We are already on our way. Hope that helps some of you who like me, may be feeling pretty hopeless at the moment. Sending deep breaths and peace to everyone.

Who has started a new bizarre hobby in order to pass the time? I have been addicted to Street Easy and Zillow lately, just pretending to rent apartments I can't afford next to the programs I haven't gotten into yet, HA! This list was created pretty haphazardly while combing through these 135 pages, but I'm offering it up to anyone who may find it useful. It seems like the general trend from last year is that schools took much longer to notify about interviews and acceptances. Things were towards the end of February and into March generally. Not all of this data has dates listed with it, so apologies on that front. Timeline Feb 1 - UCSD, UT Austin, and CMU interviews requested in the past Feb 15 - Hunter, Northwestern, Brown, NYU, and UCLA Interviews requested and UCSD acceptances in the past Feb 20-25 - Yale interview notification phone call, Brown, UT Texas, and Hunter interview notices and being conducted happening and UCLA too. UCLA also sends out invites now. Feb 28 - March 14 - Brown notices came out this late in 2013. March 2 - UT Austin acceptances and Columbia interview requests and Yale interviews (or interview invites in 2017). In 2022, this was when interviews went out for UCSD. March 8 - Yale acceptances (note: in 2017, Yale interviews happened in mid March, March 18), or Columbia interview requests (2017), Iowa starts to send out interviews (2023) March 11-12 - Yale interviews happened in 2013 March 26-April 8 - Iowa acceptances (April 8 in 2023) Note: If you take a look at the results page from 2023 and search "playwriting" (or scroll backwards a few years), that has some fairly helpful timeline date.

I didn’t apply to Carnegie Mellon, so no helpful news from me, sorry! As for what types of plays I submitted, I grew up as a dancer, so I tend to blend realism with movement and a bit of poetry in my work. Sending patience everyone’s way as we anxiously click refresh on our inboxes every day…moment…millisecond. Or maybe it’s just me and everyone else is as chill as a carrot on Frosty’s face. I think my Frosty’s face is melting off from anxiety, so my carrot is slightly less chill.

Don’t worry friends, you’re not alone with the obsessive thinking, checking, doubting, hoping, and then some. We are all frantically paddling our rowboats in this hurricane with no horizon to follow. For Columbia applicants, don’t forget about your FAFSA and financial aid app due Feb. 1. That’s always a nice, mindless distraction, HA. 😂

Hiya fabulous writers, Longtime shadow reader, first time posting in the sun. Applied to Yale, UCSD, Brown, Iowa, UT Austin (T&D), BU, Columbia, Hunter, and Juilliard. Looks like I'm in awesome company! Sending well wishes to everyone this season. Way to go us for handing shit in and exhausting ourselves fully and opening veins for those personal statements (and statements of purpose, how the heck is that different from the former?!). I can speak on UK schools. I got a degree in Playwriting and Dramaturgy from Glasgow Uni years back. Pros and cons to UK schools for playwriting: Pros: -Lots of time and motivation to write (yay classes with deadlines and the pressure of other people reading and hearing your work). -Production opportunities (depending on the school ASK THIS QUESTION BEFORE YOU PAY THEM THE MONEYZ) where the work of casting and finding a director is handed to you. -You get a feel for writing styles outside your comfort zone, such as the emphasis on physical theatre (Lecoq and Frantic Assembly) is really eye opening in the UK. Scotland is quite experimental especially (in my opinion). Sometimes you’ll also be able to find and work with companies that produce work outside of the U.S. and western canon. For example, I was able to work with a South Asian theatre company and another collaborating with Syrian refugees. -Meeting and making art with like minded theatre artists from all over the globe. -Like a year long writers’ retreat (that you pay for) -Cheaper than US schools -Living abroad -Ability to travel (if you have money, I did not, ha) Cons: -Depending on the program, there might be little or no production opportunities and if you ask for school support (or even to attend your own shows), profs are all so busy they’ll say no. -Profs are hit or miss and some really just care about publishing their next essay, but sometimes some of the guest profs who are working playwrights are epic. Also sometimes the UK grading scale is wAcKo if you’re used to the US ABCD shebang. -No one in the US really gives a crap you went there and your degree will probably never be recognized by another job or school ever. At most you might get out of a class or two (like research methods, ugh, which is actually great to get out of tbh) if you get another degree someday. -Odds of you getting any financial aid money from the school are 0% -It’s not an MFA, it’s a year outside of time to grow as an artist and person that you funded yourself. -Brits and Scots take care of their own first. You’ll have to fight really hard to get your work stage while you’re there and/or afterwards. Take this with a grain of salt as this was in Glasgow, not London. I chose Scotland over London in the end because of the experimental nature and the emphasis on blending movement with theatre there. I wanted to put a show on at the Ed Fringe as well (which I did without the school's help, hehe). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED my time there and wouldn’t trade it for anything, but for me personally, I’m glad I did it straight out of undergrad, not later on. It is more of a fellowship and play incubator situation, rather than a degree that is going to help you advance in the US. If you want to teach at the university level in the US, then avoid going to school in the UK. Hopefully that helps! Feel free to ask follow ups if you’d like clarification! P.S. Pre-apologies to the team if I go silent on this thread. Majorly anxious human over here who might need to lock themselves in a box in an old forgotten props closet and just meditate for three months until the results are out. I’ll phone in any interviews from my box.