[Questions to Ask When Interviewing...]

So, I'm interviewing at two schools in the next month, and I want to compile some questions. I've got a few gathered now, but if anyone can chime in with their two cents, that'd be great! Here's what I have so far, gathered mostly from PhD Comics, lol!

Admissions:

1. How many applications does your program receive each year?
   
2. How many students are accepted?
   
3. How many enroll?

Student aid:

1. What kind of financial support can a student expect to receive during the entire course of the program?
   
2. In each year?
   
3. What about summer support?
   
4. What is the cost of living in the area?
   
5. How much educational debt have students accumulated, on average, by the time they graduate?

Teaching:

1. How many discussion sections and courses are graduate students required to teach in order to receive a stipend in each year of the program?
   
2. What is the average teaching load in each year of the program?
3. Are masters degree students expected or encouraged to teach?
4. What support is there for training new teachers?
   

Attrition:

1. What percentage of students enrolled in the program eventually earn doctorates?
   
2. How many leave with master's degrees?
   
3. At what point do most drop out?
   
4. What are the reasons given, if any (i.e., money, concerns about job market, seeking other opportunities, family responsibilities, etc.)?

Time to degree:

1. How many years does it take to graduate on average (not ideally, but in reality)?

Placement:

1. How long are graduates on the academic job market?
   
2. Where, exactly, is every graduate employed in academe (and in what kinds of positions: tenure track, visiting, adjunct, etc.)?
   
3. Who was their dissertation adviser?
   
4. What were their subfields?
   
5. Where are graduates working, if not in academe?
   
6. Does the program also lead to appealing career paths outside of academe?

[post here if one of your programs has started contacting...]

Got three rejection e-mails from Brown, Northwestern and UMN, with one acceptance e-mail from UC Boulder and one paper acceptance letter (????) from U of IL Urbana Champaign. No funding from the department at UIUC, but UC-Boulder mentioned a "support package" being finalized, so whatever that means, I have no idea!

Stanford, UT Austin, and Indiana University are still lagging behind, but Stanford probably got a billion applicants, UT Austin is a bureaucratic beast so I'm not surprised it hasn't gotten back to me yet, and Indiana seems like it's still stuck in the 1970's in terms of technology, so I'm not surprised either. And they had a January 15th deadline.

Anyone else have to apply using weird, outdated application portals or interfaces? I thought Colorado's and Indiana's were weeeeeeird. Brown too, but maybe I'm just used to ApplyYourself?

[UIUC is Old School!]

So, I got a "thin" letter from UIUC yesterday, but was *SHOCKED* to see that they actually accepted me into the MA program in Theatre! Huzzah!

*But* no support from the department. BOOOOOOOOOOO.

Anyway, just posting so others who are waiting on UIUC can lurk more productively! Now I have a choice! This is so weird, y'all....I really thought I wouldn't get in anywhere!

Bon courage, mes amis! Fetchez la vache!

[First Acceptance!]

I'm MA too! Hooray!

I think they had a visit weekend in January, but I knew for sure that I didn't want to go unless I knew I was accepted. So it's probably going to be an impromptu thing, but I'm not sure.

Congrats again!

MA in Theater History! YAAAAAY! Yeah I'm about to crack out the bubbly and spend the rest of the day drunk and sloppily sobbing with joy.

I really want to visit! I hope they have an admit weekend.

How about you? MA or PhD? It's so nice to find another theater person!

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

[First Acceptance!]

OMG FOR REALS?! MA or PhD??

Are you going to go visit?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY BTW!

CU FTW!

OH MY GOSH VIRIDIANMAMBO! I think we got into the same program! It's my first acceptance too, and I am over the moon. I'd given up hope and started looking for jobs. Did I mention it's my birthday?

[First Acceptance!]

Thanks, all! I am going to celebrate with a greasy burger and a gigantic beverage complete with umbrella and food coloring!

[First Acceptance!]

Anyone else think that FOR SURE they weren't getting in anywhere? 'Cause I sure thought I wasn't going anywhere! But then UC Boulder e-mailed me their acceptance! HOORAY!

Anyone got ideas for celebrating?

Bon courage, mes amis!

[You're Killing Me, Stanford!]

Stanford sent out an e-mail, which I have conveniently translated into LOLSpeak:

"O hai. Thx fore ur applicashun. We'z not pick'd our candid8tes yet. LOLMYBAD. Mebbe we'z tell u in March?? Kthxbai."

I am not hearty enough of spirit to keep this up!

[Best/Worst Case Scenarios]

Best Case: get into Stanford with full funding, be able to move cross country without doing permanent emotional damage to my cat, kick ass at my PhD, and get a sweet-ass tenure track (hell, ANY) job at a small liberal arts college where I can do it all, if I want. Ideally in Illinois. Then buy a little house with a gigantic garden and have a pack of equally gigantic dogs, at least one of which will be named Chewbacca. Nothing too specific, eh?

Worst Case: get into a program with no funding, go $60K into debt (BOOOOOO), not be able to get into a reputable PhD program afterwards and have to go back to square one with the administration jobs (nothing wrong with them in general, just a little soul-killing for me). Live in a box next door to a dumpster. Weep until my tear ducts dry up. Eat Twinkies. Repeat.

So pretty much what you said, SimilarlyDifferent. I worry because right now, I have a pretty rad job in a great environment (just not what I want to do forever, you know?), so I don't want to screw that up. Either I'm all in, or all out! Yeesh.

Best Case:

I get into a history program with full funding, I don't freak out about the work load and dissertation and I make it through to the end. I find a job teaching at a small institution or a community college.

Worst Case:

Only get accepted to one MLIS program and go into debt in order to get the degree (because these programs are rarely funded well). Upon graduation, not being able to find a desirable job in a school library, and being forced into a low paying full time job that I could have gotten without the degree, only with buckets of grad school debt to pay off.

[Brown is Down...]

Theatre & Performance Studies. I knew it was a long shot, but hopefully this avalanche of Fail will precede an avalanche of Awesome. The rejections are coming fast and furious!

Thanks

I'm sorry to hear that. What department did you apply to?

[Brown is Down...]

Don't know if any of you are interested, but just got a rejection via e-mail from Brown. Heads up for those who are eagerly awaiting word from them.

*sigh*

I'm hoping that good news comes in this month of poo! Anyone else hate February in general?

[Womp womp...]

You guys all rock! Thanks for making heads turn in the cube farm where I work because I was trying not to pee myself laughing.

[Womp womp...]

Anyone else think this is precious?

Thank you; your consideration of our program is a great compliment to us.

[How will you mourn?]

Well, my first rejection was last night, so I ordered greasy takeout, watched some old man TV about volcanoes, and went to bed too late. This morning, I worked out hardcore, and I feel better. Hope I can minimize the takeout and maximize the workouts once the rest of the rejections (ha!) come rolling in!

There's something oddly comforting about learning that pyroclastic flows make your brains boil and explode. Makes a grad rejection seem not quite as bad...

[Any Theatre/Drama/Performance Studies People Out There?]

I hear great things about DePaul, and there's so much darned theatre in Chicago, you'll be swimming in it! Chicago Shakes does great work, too. Besides, the Windy City is a great place to boot! Wish they had a PhD program like woah...

Hope you get in!

[Strange Status Change...]

Womp womp! Denied! Oh well - - - at least I knew that something was up. One down, seven more to go....

[Strange Status Change...]

Thanks, MoJingly! It's my life motto of sorts, because I do tend to freak out far too often. The blue image is more my style! Hilarious!

Yeah, it seems like they're maybe reviewing my qualifications at the Grad School level, but I hope it means that the committee is sending me on for approval, then admission! But who the heck knows - - - I just want to hear something soon, because I gotta start planning a cross-country move! Yikes!

If anyone else has heard anything weird, post it! I love hearing what other schools do to their poor applicants

I really have not idea! I wish grad schools would stop talking in code.

This has nothing to do with your post, but I love your avatar. Very appropriate.

[Strange Status Change...]

This might be something, but it might be nothing at all. Hence the crazytalk. You know on ApplyYourself when you check your application status, it says something like "SUBMITTED" and that's it (for now), right? Well, this peanut showed up today:

Submission Status: SUBMITTED

Submitted Date: 12/3/2010 11:00:00AM EST

Graduate School Final Review

OMG WHAT DOES GRADUATE SCHOOL FINAL REVIEW MEAN!?!?!?!

I have heard nothing from the department yet. Does this mean that the department sent my application on to the Graduate School for final review BEFORE ACCEPTING ME (GOD I HOPE SO)??!?!? Also, no messages in the message center.

Anyone else see this before? This is UMN Twin Cities' MA/PhD Program in Theatre Historiography, just FYI...

Eurrrghhhhh!

[Any Theatre/Drama/Performance Studies People Out There?]

I mean earlier date! Yeesh!

[Any Theatre/Drama/Performance Studies People Out There?]

Yes, that was the same program I applied to. I've heard that interviews can take place at any point, but mostly in late February to early March, so maybe Comm Studies just has a later date?

Good luck to you!

I too applied to Northwestern, but for its Interdisciplinary Program in Theatre and Drama. Is that what you applied to, Nineve16? I just saw some interviews for Northwestern's Comm Studies PhD, and since the IPTD is housed in the school of Communications, I'm a little nervous!

Good luck all! :-)

[Any Theatre/Drama/Performance Studies People Out There?]

Yikes! May?? Who does that? For reals? Maybe it's for the spring semester?

Glad I only have to wait until April to find out - - - I'd go bonkers otherwise. Good luck!

I applied to Tisch's Performance Studies program and I may apply to UC Davis' too (its due in May. MAY.) I tried to get in touch with a professor but he literally was booked on phone appointments. Not counting on that school haha.

[Any Theatre/Drama/Performance Studies People Out There?]

I've seen a few Theatre people on the Grad Café, but no one that's posted recently. Anyone applying to MA or MA/PhD programs in Theatre/Performance Studies/Drama/etc.? I've applied to 8 schools (Stanford, Brown, Northwestern, UMN, UT Austin, UC Boulder, Indiana U, and U of IL Urbana-Champaign). Anyone had luck applying last year, or any delightful stories this year?

The next 3+ months are going to suuuuuuuuck!