Seeking

Dan0075 and Bespeckled, Good luck to both of you! So now it looks like there are quite a few people applying for theater/Performance studies PhD! Hope we will hear from more people soon!

Tillium, Congrats for your acceptance and good luck for other schools! Clifford, Congrats for Berkeley and UCLA and good luck for your coming interviews! It would be nice if we update our status here for others to know and it would be really nice to hear from others as well, who have not yet come on board. We still don't know who got the interview from Northwestern. I posted earlier to ask if anyone got that interview, but so far no info.

Statistics Update II - Northwestern Performance Studies - Interview scheduled for March 1st (American) - Has anyone here got this communication?

For Sociology, If you study at Cambridge, SOAS (if you are interested in Asian/African studies that is), Oxford, UCL, King's College, Imperial College, LSE, University of British Columbia or University of Toronto and follow it up with a research and teaching Postdoc in the US, I guess you should do fine in a US teaching job. A PhD from any other non-US university or even from a low-ranked US university would be taking a risk. This is because it's the stamp on your degree and your supervisor's influence that matter more in the academia than the actual quality of your research. It is unfortunate and this is not the way academic world should run, but this is how it runs. So, I would suggest you should not gamble with your future prospects.

Bats, I too have sent you a PM.

Aubergine, That's a good start! Good luck! Bats, Don't lose hope. You'll get in somewhere. Just wait and see.

Statistics so far - Vanderbilt - Accepted (American) Brown - Interview (Result not known) (International) Berkeley - Accepted (American) Anyone here got any of the above communications? Accepted the offer?

Bats, I think in performance studies, aspects such as the GRE and GPA scores are secondary. Your experience in performance and teaching explain your age (which is not quite "old") and you say you have strong SOP and LORs. The most important part is that you have a clear vision of what you want to do and that's an interesting area! I feel you should get in at least some of those schools.

Bats, I must say you have an impressive application profile!

3/3 rejections My "Dream School" is the best fit for me, but also the toughest to get in and hence, not much chance there. My "Reach School" has my POI in another department, not where I applied and he is the only one there who works in my area. My "Safe School" is not a good fit for me and I am not a good fit for them either. In addition, there are many problems in my application. So, you can see why I'm so negative about it. I thought I was the only one who believed in the jinx of talking about my application details, but it is comforting to know I'm not alone in this!

There are many who take a break between MA and PhD. You can do that. As for career paths, you can look for jobs with the international NGOs and also at the various UN organizations. Of course, these jobs may require you to travel to the Third-World countries.

Check Indiana-Bloomington and Norhwestern.

PhD - Permanent Head Damage

BreathingSister, You are right. Perhaps the Drama/Performance studies applicants feel so left out that they are more of lurkers than participants on this forum. Past years' results show about 10-12 results submissions a year. But there are not that many posts from them on the forum. I do hope you get into your dream program! Good luck!

I just checked the results for last 3 years at the schools where I've applied. I'm positive I won't get in anywhere.

They should be preferably from professors, but not necessarily from your department. Any Professor in your discipline willing to comment on your abilities can send a recommendation.

Loimagraphia is a great candidate who can not only turn out a greatly innovative writing sample, but can also critically analyse previous research in his/her discipline. Any faculty would be proud to have such a brilliant candidate - and the person who wrote the piece s/he critiqued will enjoy having a great discussion with Loimographia! I hope my writing sample will be appreciated by the ad-comms because of its innovative theoretical approach, apart from my publication record.

That's an interesting question. I changed several subjects before I found my calling and don't want to do anything else now. But if I hadn't discovered that this discipline suits my tastes and inclinations, I could have been an astrophysicist, a clinical psychologist or an Italian, Greek or French literature academic. Yes, I have diverse interests!

For some reason, applicants for this subject stay away from Gradcafe. That's the only way we can explain more than 50 applications for 2-3 slots at some schools.

Update - School 1's website says nothing on the application status. But, I got a mass email saying our applications are complete, they are being reviewed now by the admission committee and we will be informed shortly, giving a timeline for the two rounds of selection and final decisions. The email also said if the faculty wants to see something more, we'll be contacted, though it's not likely - so I gather all my required materials are in and I can take a nap till they arrive at a decision. So, no response sometimes means silent efficiency!

I have no complaints about my Grad-application experience. I understand it's normal to take time when the office is flooded with applications. And I'm grateful to School 3 for agreeing to send my application for review even without an official copy of GRE scores. As for School 1, I feel they'll come round to my application in another few days' time. It's just that I don't want to mail them again, since they seem to be busy with work. It's true that the staff and the faculty have been very good with me all this while in their exchanges with me.

School 1 - I emailed, asking if my test scores were received, but got no response. I emailed again, giving them my AY number and asked if they received all my material, but till date no response. The deadline passed 10 days ago, so I have given up on this school. School 2 - I emailed to ask if they received my test scores. They responded saying they hadn't. So, I wrote to GRE and even without my request, they re-sent my scores to all the schools I applied to, with no extra charge. (Bless the GRE!). I emailed the school 2 again, telling them about it. First I got a response saying I should check the status online after 2 weeks. After that, I got another response saying my scores were in now and will be on my application in 3-4 days' time. I don't know about the reference letters yet. I submitted my application on the last date, so all this happened a few days after the deadline passed. School 3 - I wrote to ask if my scores were in. they responded back saying they hadn't received them. I had written to GRE by this time and they sent them the scores again, with no extra charge. Meanwhile, I attached a scanned copy of my personal scores report and sent them. They wrote back saying they will send the application for reviewing with the scanned copy and if offered admission, I'll have to send official copy of the scores. But they received the official copy shortly after this. I had again submitted on the last date, so all this happened after the deadline passed. It seems they are aware that such mishaps can take place in the application process and they wait for some time after the deadline to get all materials and to sort out the applications. I feel it's best to send your application number by email and ask your specific questions. Sending scanned copies seems to be a good idea.

Aubergine, Northwestern and NYU seem good fits for your interests from what you say above, but of course you know best.

VCU's Media, art and text seems like a great program. I almost applied there but then didn't send in my application. I applied to Northwestern, but don't think will get in.

There are not many PhD applicants for theater/Performance/Drama on this site, though cinema studies gets many of them. In fact, yours is the first one I have seen in performing arts PhD - most of them seem to go for Masters. Cinema stream may be tough, but I feel you have a fair chance in theater/performing arts. What matters here is whether your profile fits their strengths. Some schools emphasize upon the applied aspects of theater more, some emphasize more on theory, critical studies and history, while others try to have a balance between the two. I had looked at the Northwestern statistics and they seem to get about 50 applications for 2-3 slots. They emphasize a balance between practice and theory. So, what matters is what kind of experience you have and what you want to do there.