Directing MFAs?

[mfabro]

Been a crazy couple of days here -- thought I'd report in case any of the info is useful for you guys.

 

- Had my interview with Yale yesterday. It was very casual, just talking to Liz Diamond in her office for an hour. She's one of the warmest, most gracious people I've ever been interviewed by. Some numbers that are interesting: from the hundreds (I'm guessing 400-500?) applications for directors, they selected about 45 people to come out to the campus to interview. From these, they're going to select a handful of finalists to call back in February, and 3 of them will be selected for admission.

 

- Heard back from Carnegie Mellon to schedule an interview

 

- Heard back from DePaul late last night, inviting me to a "finalist" audition/interview in Los Angeles

 

- Haven't heard anything from UCSD

 

- URTA schedules should be sent on Monday

 

GETTING CRAZY! How is everybody doing?

 

Out of curiosity did you get any sort of timeline about when Yale would be getting back to applicants who had interviews about callbacks?

[bluebane]

Yeah, she said "you definitely won't hear anything until middle of next week, so just relax for now".

 

That was last Thursday, so presumably within the next few days the finalists would hear.

 

The callbacks would be Feb 8th and 15th, I believe.

 

Just relax for now... right! I'll just relax! No problem!

[bluebane]

Got my URTA schedule today for Chicago...should be fun!

[vitality]

Whooooo! It's going to be a busy day. Especially with the Brown interview at a different hotel 

[bluebane]

Oh wow, nuts that's you're doing them both on the same day!

 

vitality, which schools are you interviewing with at the URTAs?

[vitality]

Yeah, I wanted to try to minimize my travel time as much as possible. I only applied to UCI, Temple, and OU at URTA. And luckily my times are spread out. Who is everyone else interviewing with? 

[bluebane]

Just out of curiosity, why did you rule out FSU, Indiana, and UCLA?

 

I'm interviewing with everybody except CalArts -- they required a separate application and fee through their own site, which I found exploitative. 

 

My CMU interview is also in Chicago a couple days later.

 

In other news, still haven't heard anything from the Yale interview, so that's probably slipping away. Onward and upward!

[vitality]

I did apply to Indiana, sorry I left that out. I didn't get an interview though. I thought a lot about FSU but ultimately wasn't interested. I'm a native Floridian, and though the program is strong, I'd rather live in Athens, Ohio than Tallahassee . UCLA's financial aid leaves something to be desired. 

 

And totally agree about CalArts. They sent an email right after I sent my packet asking me to apply using their application. I didn't want to go bad enough to shell out the $90. 

 

Does anyone else find Sara from URTA to be grating, rude, and unprofessional? 

 

My interview at CMU is at 11:30 on Monday 2/2 

[EpicNinjan]

I applied Yale too- got an interview, but have not heard about CB. She told me they were meeting to discuss at the end of this last week. Mfabro did you hear back? If anyone does, please post!

[bluebane]

@EpicNinjan - I also interviewed but have not heard back. Let's cross our fingers they're still deliberating!

 

@vitality - Didn't know that about UCLA, thanks! I hear what you're saying about Sara, but I kind of like the casualness. It's refreshing in a process that is overly formal and you never know what anybody is thinking! I do think she shouldn't send emails when she's tired, though. We're interviewing with CMU on the same day, btw!

[mr.taco]

Who's going to Columbia's audition in February? Sounds like a bootcamp, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed about it! Does anyone have any insight on what that two-day process actually looks like?

[bluebane]

Got my Yale rejection today. Wuh-wuh.

 

Onwards and upwards!

[clementiney]

Sorry for my long absence! I've been in tech.

 

I have my CalArts interview in Chicago this Saturday, and I've also been invited to the Columbia auditions weekend in February.

 

Excited/nervous!

[mr.taco]

Good luck at Calarts, Clementiney. If you'd like to meet up or at least say "hi" at Columbia, I'd love that. Email me, and we can talk a little more: aprilcleveland@mac.com 

[bluebane]

Crazy day yesterday at the URTAs!

 

How did your interviews go?

 

I got a great feeling from a few of them, and Temple has quickly shot to the top of my interest-list. Unlike the "pat you on the back" style of some of the other interviewers, the guys from Temple were clear, direct, and specific, which spoke for their talent as teachers/mentors. They made a strong case for the Philadelphia theatre scene as well.

 

Also felt good about Indiana, UCI, Ohio. Was put off by a number of things from FSU, and UCLA's lack of funding is a dealbreaker.

 

Tomorrow is my CMU interview, and then it's preparation for Brown/DePaul next weekend!

[clementiney]

Sounds like you had a very packed day, bluebane!

 

I had a great chat with CalArts, and I am headed to their campus as well as Columbia's in the next couple weeks. 

 

When do these schools usually release their final decisions, do we know?

[bluebane]

clementiney, CalArts is part of URTA, so they should adhere to the URTA ethics policy: no offers before Feb 16, offers guaranteed through March 8.

[vitality]

Showed up to my CMU interview. The place was slithering with high school seniors all auditioning for the multiple schools that were there. No one I talked to knew where I was to go, so I spent about 40 minutes wandering until I found the CMU table. Apparently the directing interviews were cancelled, but again, no one was really sure. I was given the contact number for a coordinator and even she wasn't 100% sure. Bluebane, how did you fare? 

Edited February 2, 2015 by vitality

[clementiney]

vitality - Wow, that sounds frustrating. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

 

bluebane - Thanks for the info! Things are happening! The wait is painful.

Edited February 3, 2015 by clementiney

[bluebane]

Same story regarding CMU. What the hell? How do you not contact your applicants to let them know you've cancelled?

 

Anyway, I flew back to CA last night, so I don't have another opportunity to see them in person. They reached out to me and suggested a Skype call.

[bluebane]

Did anyone else apply to UCSD? It's been a while since the deadline and I haven't heard a thing.

[bluebane]

Interviewed with CMU this morning via Skype. They're notifying finalists at the end of the month, and having a campus workshop day the third week of March.

[vitality]

I didn't apply to UCSD but did have the CMU Skype interview on Friday as well. Not sure if I was into it or not. Of all the interviews so far that one certainly was the most awkward. He didn't seem to like my statement of purpose, and acted like he was going through the motions. Maybe it was because it was on Skype, or because of the massive rescheduling they had to do, but I'm definitely not feeling it.

 

Is anyone else interviewing with DePaul?

[bluebane]

I interviewed with Damon from DePaul yesterday in LA, vitality. It was really awesome, but really intense -- get ready to have your work dissected very critically. I personally loved it. If he could point out that many flaws in my process in thirty minutes, imagine what he could do in three years!

 

The only bummer is that it's not a fully funded program -- about 50% of tuition is covered, but there is no TA / assistantship work and no stipend for living expenses. Going 100k into debt for a theatre degree would probably ruin my life, but everything else about the program is exactly what I'm looking for.

[vitality]

Thanks for the advice! I'm a little nervous about it but I'm super excited. Same goes for me with DePaul being the program I feel is the most perfect fit. I've also heard about their lack of funding which is really unfortunate. Ain't that always the way?