MFA Directing 2025!

[sycamore]

Hello everyone,

I am from Canada and just submitted applications to a round of MFA Theatre Directing programs in US this year! While I am waiting for updates, I would love to connect with everyone here and keep each other supported!

I applied to University of Alberta, CalArts and UCSD this year. It's kinda a weird intake year since a lot of MFAs are not accepting students or only accepting 1 until the next round 🫠

but hopefully everyone get a better chance~

[wilderness]

Hey @sycamore 👋 Thanks for starting the thread. I applied to Yale, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon this year. I've had one interview so far and scheduled another. I was curious to see if Brown would share intel on their restructure (??) this year, but no cigar. Were there programs you had your eye on that are not accepting this year?

Happy to hear folks' updates as they come along

[chicagodirector]

This is my second year, and I applied to Yale, Northwestern, and the URTA schools. Received a no from Yale, haven't heard anything from Northwestern, and I got my URTA requests today (5 schools, 2 of which had already reached out to me). I'm feeling encouraged because last year I only got 2 interview requests through URTA (and there were more schools recruiting), so that feels like improvement!

@sycamore I'm curious to know what drew you to Alberta--they weren't on my radar at all until URTA, but now I'm find their program really intriguing. (Feel free to DM if you wanna chat!)

[sycamore]

On 1/18/2025 at 1:04 PM, kt27 said:

Hey @sycamore 👋 Thanks for starting the thread. I applied to Yale, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon this year. I've had one interview so far and scheduled another. I was curious to see if Brown would share intel on their restructure (??) this year, but no cigar. Were there programs you had your eye on that are not accepting this year?

Happy to hear folks' updates as they come along

Hey @kt27 Thanks for replying!! Congratulations on getting an interview!!! Do you have any other updates? I got an interview from Alberta but no news from other two. I thought Northwestern is not accepting this year but I probably read it wrong lol, I think it was a couple regional programs i was looking at that are not accepting this year but the year after. I wish Brown reopens their program but maybe it's something to do with budget cuts?

Do you have any ideas of what kind of interview questions they will ask that you wouldn't mind sharing? thanks!!!

[sycamore]

18 hours ago, chicagodirector said:

This is my second year, and I applied to Yale, Northwestern, and the URTA schools. Received a no from Yale, haven't heard anything from Northwestern, and I got my URTA requests today (5 schools, 2 of which had already reached out to me). I'm feeling encouraged because last year I only got 2 interview requests through URTA (and there were more schools recruiting), so that feels like improvement!

@sycamore I'm curious to know what drew you to Alberta--they weren't on my radar at all until URTA, but now I'm find their program really intriguing. (Feel free to DM if you wanna chat!)

Hiiii @chicagodirector welcome to the thread~ I heard about URTA but decided not to do it this year. But congrats to you getting 2 requests!!!

I applied to Alberta because I am from Canada, so it's easier for me. And a lot of MFA Directing programs in Canada were cancelled last year (like Calgary), so Alberta is one of the remaining ones that I heard people in the industry talked good about. I was wanting to apply to National Theatre School of Canada but they aren't accepting this year. For Alberta, I like they have a rather big and diverse faulty, have some funding options available and the location is cool having one of the biggest Fringe in North America and closed to Banff (where a lot of Canadian artists go for residency). 

[chicagodirector]

13 minutes ago, sycamore said:

Hey @kt27 Thanks for replying!! Congratulations on getting an interview!!! Do you have any other updates? I got an interview from Alberta but no news from other two. I thought Northwestern is not accepting this year but I probably read it wrong lol, I think it was a couple regional programs i was looking at that are not accepting this year but the year after. I wish Brown reopens their program but maybe it's something to do with budget cuts?

Do you have any ideas of what kind of interview questions they will ask that you wouldn't mind sharing? thanks!!!

Northwestern takes 3 students every year, including this year. I also wish Brown were recruiting, I hope the program continues to exist--it's now two years in a row they haven't recruited.

I was really impressed by how personal the interview with Alberta was--none of the impersonal "why grad school/why now" questions I got from schools last year (which I'd already throughly answered in my essays) but instead specific and thoughtful questions that pertained to my essays and the work in my portfolio. It was a really fun conversation, and they seem like attentive and caring faculty. They also left a lot of time for me to ask them questions as well. Being from the states, I had not heard of their program before, but after the interview I'm looking into them seriously.

[Gdn]

Hi all! 

Applied to UCSD, Yale, and Northwestern. Had first interview with Yale , and waiting to hear if I received a callback or not. Have my first UCSD interview on Saturday. Still nothing from Northwestern. Anyone heard anything from NU yet? 

[sycamore]

On 1/24/2025 at 5:55 PM, chicagodirector said:

Northwestern takes 3 students every year, including this year. I also wish Brown were recruiting, I hope the program continues to exist--it's now two years in a row they haven't recruited.

I was really impressed by how personal the interview with Alberta was--none of the impersonal "why grad school/why now" questions I got from schools last year (which I'd already throughly answered in my essays) but instead specific and thoughtful questions that pertained to my essays and the work in my portfolio. It was a really fun conversation, and they seem like attentive and caring faculty. They also left a lot of time for me to ask them questions as well. Being from the states, I had not heard of their program before, but after the interview I'm looking into them seriously.

Heyyy @chicagodirector 

Yeah, something weird is going on with Brown, hopefully they will restart the program again. I didn't know Northwestern is recruiting for 3 every year, that's a higher chance!

Thanks for letting me know that the UAlberta faulty you talked to are very attentive. I just finished an interview with them last Monday and guess what, the first question they asked is "why grad school now?" kinda funny, I guess maybe it's because I didn't apply through URTA. 

Any new updates from you? I still haven't heard from CalArts nor UCSD.

 

[sycamore]

On 1/29/2025 at 11:14 AM, Gdn said:

Hi all! 

Applied to UCSD, Yale, and Northwestern. Had first interview with Yale , and waiting to hear if I received a callback or not. Have my first UCSD interview on Saturday. Still nothing from Northwestern. Anyone heard anything from NU yet? 

Hi there! @Gdn congrats on getting 2 interviews!!! especially from Yale!! Wow I guess if i haven't received an interview invitation now probably UCSD already made their decision? sad...

[Motu]

On 1/30/2025 at 12:14 AM, Gdn said:

Hi all! 

Applied to UCSD, Yale, and Northwestern. Had first interview with Yale , and waiting to hear if I received a callback or not. Have my first UCSD interview on Saturday. Still nothing from Northwestern. Anyone heard anything from NU yet? 

Hey there, Can I ask which department did you apply to for Yale  Thanks

[Nenenene]

Bumping for updates if anyone starts getting offers!

[wilderness]

Hey y'all- here are my updates!

Northwestern: rejected, no interview.

Carnegie Mellon: first interview, then rejected. We had a lovely convo but I felt we didn't really align and I had big questions about their relationship between funding and teaching.

Yale: finalist. Gearing up for the final round 💫💫💫

[LittleViking131]

On 2/13/2025 at 9:33 PM, wilderness said:

Hey y'all- here are my updates!

Northwestern: rejected, no interview.

Carnegie Mellon: first interview, then rejected. We had a lovely convo but I felt we didn't really align and I had big questions about their relationship between funding and teaching.

Yale: finalist. Gearing up for the final round 💫💫💫

What do you mean by "funding and teaching"?

[sycamore]

On 2/13/2025 at 9:33 PM, wilderness said:

Hey y'all- here are my updates!

Northwestern: rejected, no interview.

Carnegie Mellon: first interview, then rejected. We had a lovely convo but I felt we didn't really align and I had big questions about their relationship between funding and teaching.

Yale: finalist. Gearing up for the final round 💫💫💫

wow thanks for the updates!!! Break a leg on your final round for Yale, finalist, that's huge!

[wilderness]

21 hours ago, LittleViking131 said:

What do you mean by "funding and teaching"?

Basically I thought there were more opportunities for paid work than there actually are. The folks I spoke to in the program were super helpful and forthcoming re: how they financed that degree, and it became clear that CMU was not doable for me, especially if my teaching work would not put food on the table.

[wilderness]

9 hours ago, sycamore said:

wow thanks for the updates!!! Break a leg on your final round for Yale, finalist, that's huge!

Major thanks @sycamore, I'm excited to meet people and do the work

[Miggyg07]

Hi all! 
 

I had my URTA directing interviews on Feb. 1.

 

I interviewed with the following schools:

University of Alberta

Texas State University

UT Austin

Florida State University 

East15

Illinois State University

i had a pre-URTA interview with UofA and really enjoyed our conversation. I really enjoyed the faculty that I interviewed with and felt like we clicked pretty well. Our official URTA interview was just as engaging.

I was also surprised by Texas State’s interview and really enjoyed talking with their faculty. 
 

I sent ‘thank you’ emails the following week to all the schools, but only heard back from UofA. No info on admission, just thanking me in return. 
 

Did any of you interview with those programs and HAVE heard back? At this point I’m feeling like it’s a ‘no’ from these programs. 
 

Separately I applied to DePaul’s MFA in Arts Leadership. We are supposed to hear if we are finalists sometime soon (no definite date was given). If anyone has any insight on their process I’d appreciate the info! 
 

Congrats to all of you that snagged interviews or acceptance!