Playwriting MFAs

[tomjoad]

Congrats @atreus85!

I have a strange feeling that we're going to get a lot of movement next week...

[princesadurazno]

16 hours ago, princesadurazno said:

Also still waiting!

just got an email with the date and time 

[sbristow]

So far I'm at one rejection (Michener) and two soft rejections (didn't get an interview request from Carnegie Mellon or Northwestern). I'm still waiting to hear from UC San Diego, Hunter College, NYU, and Boston University (I applied for their Screenwriting MFA). Is anyone else waiting to hear from these schools? We can suffer together 🙃. 

It's my first round so I'm honestly just hoping to get at least waitlisted or interviewed somewhere!

[toreckonwithhenry]

has anybody heard anything about interview requests for nyu or hunter? curious if anything has been sent out yet!

[tomjoad]

On 2/22/2025 at 2:10 PM, sbristow said:

Is anyone else waiting to hear from these schools? We can suffer together 🙃. 

Still awaiting news on UCSD... didn't apply to NYU nor Hunter, but fingers crossed you hear something positive soon! I also got rejected from Hunter, soft rejected from Texas' T&D program and possibly Iowa if they already sent out all of their interview requests... hoping this week gets some good news sent our way...

[tomjoad]

Sorry, got rejected from Michener* not Hunter

[sbristow]

5 hours ago, putonash said:

Still awaiting news on UCSD... didn't apply to NYU nor Hunter, but fingers crossed you hear something positive soon! I also got rejected from Hunter, soft rejected from Texas' T&D program and possibly Iowa if they already sent out all of their interview requests... hoping this week gets some good news sent our way...

Nice to know it's not just me! Here's hoping!

[everythingsfine]

On 2/22/2025 at 12:10 PM, sbristow said:

So far I'm at one rejection (Michener) and two soft rejections (didn't get an interview request from Carnegie Mellon or Northwestern). I'm still waiting to hear from UC San Diego, Hunter College, NYU, and Boston University (I applied for their Screenwriting MFA). Is anyone else waiting to hear from these schools? We can suffer together 🙃. 

It's my first round so I'm honestly just hoping to get at least waitlisted or interviewed somewhere!

You’re not alone! I’ve also gotten a soft rejection from Northwestern and haven’t heard anything yet from UCSD, Yale, or Brown. Although, my UCSD portal has changed my app status from “submitted” to “under review.”

[sbristow]

Mine has too! Haha this is just like when I watch the status in Submittable turn from Submitted to In Progress, but way more high stakes.

[atreus85]

Maybe this is a silly question, but it's just the portal status or also the status on the application management page?

[everythingsfine]

2 hours ago, atreus85 said:

Maybe this is a silly question, but it's just the portal status or also the status on the application management page?

It’s just in the “your application status” part of the portal landing page.

[FewMusicians138]

On 2/22/2025 at 12:10 PM, sbristow said:

So far I'm at one rejection (Michener) and two soft rejections (didn't get an interview request from Carnegie Mellon or Northwestern). I'm still waiting to hear from UC San Diego, Hunter College, NYU, and Boston University (I applied for their Screenwriting MFA). Is anyone else waiting to hear from these schools? We can suffer together 🙃. 

It's my first round so I'm honestly just hoping to get at least waitlisted or interviewed somewhere!

Is this historically late for them? Seems like in the past they would have given out interviews in the beginning of Feb. 

[Monae]

Yesterday, I received an interview request from Hunter. 

[tomjoad]

2 hours ago, Monae said:

Yesterday, I received an interview request from Hunter. 

Congratulations and good luck for your interview!!

[sbristow]

6 hours ago, Monae said:

Yesterday, I received an interview request from Hunter. 

Amazing, congrats!

[Monae]

Thanks y’all!!!

[KevinKlineLuvr]

On 2/21/2025 at 10:27 AM, atreus85 said:

In other non-mfa related news, I just got word that I got accepted into GPTC (!!) (still unsure if I will be able to go). So if you applied to that one, you should be hearing soon. 

GTPC is amazing! If you are able to go, I hope you have a lovely time. It was my first festival/residency and it changed my life fr fr. 

[atreus85]

5 minutes ago, KevinKlineLuvr said:

GTPC is amazing! If you are able to go, I hope you have a lovely time. It was my first festival/residency and it changed my life fr fr. 

That's so exciting! The thing for me is with my autism I don't travel by myself. But after communicating this, they said they could accommodate a plus one for me, so I was able to accept. 

[everythingsfine]

Well, well, well…one good thing that has come out of this neurosis inducing wait is some interesting future project brainstorming. I think I’ve also read/started reading about 4-5 different books and plays in the last couple of weeks to channel my nervous energy 🫠

My most recent read was Jeremy O. Harris’s abbreviated version of Yell: A Documentary of My Time Here (available for free on n+1 mag’s website ❗️) . I need a full debrief after that one lol.

Anyone else reading or watching anything great? 

[atreus85]

For plays, Beheading Columbus by Diana Burbano, Wonderland by Kate Douglas, and Optional Boss Battle by Nick Malakhow. For books I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones.

[bibsy]

i've been completely reabsorbed into the the world of the fiction podcast dreamboy, which is probably my favorite piece of art ever made. it's surreal and tender and erotic and breathtaking. i had the chance to hang out with the creator, dane terry, in new york a few weeks ago after admiring his work for the past five years or so, and we had a wonderful time. i'm a real "depth over breadth" kinda gal when it comes to content consumption. 

[sbristow]

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk is satisfying both my literary brain and my screenwriter brain. So tightly structured with such well realized characters!

[Monae]

I’ve watched a few movies this week. My fave so far is Douglas Sirk’s Magnificent Obsession. I love his 50s melodramas (i highly recommend Written on the Wind). 
 

i’m planning on watching Jesus Christ Superstar next - i keep procrastinating when it comes to watching this movie.

Edited Wednesday at 11:52 PM by Monae

[Thecatlady95]

Applied to 4 places (NYU, Brown, Columbia, and Hunter) with Hunter being my top choice. I haven’t heard anything yet from any of the above. Am I toast?

[ddmandy]

First-time poster; this is my first application cycle. I applied to Brown, Yale, CMU, Juilliard, NYU, and UCSD. So far, I've only heard back from CMU for an interview, and since there's already an acceptance on the results page while I heard nothing back, I think I'm waitlisted.

Here's my experience interviewing at CMU (for people who want to apply or people who are prepping for the interview):

• We didn't talk about my play at all, which was a huge bummer for me. 
• The interviewers were very nice but very honest about the focus of the program being more "television" since theater is less likely to get funding. They have an opportunity for a grant with a huge cash reward. 
• There are not a lot of production opportunities in the program. It'll just be a bunch of playwrights writing and critiquing.
• The program is not fully funded. Most students will take 30k student loans.
   

My personal opinion? I don't think I will go even if I get off the waitlist.

As for the other programs I applied to, I don't think I'm toasted. I think the trend we're seeing this year is some schools are giving early notices (UT Austin, Iowa, CMU...) while some other schools are taking longer, both because of the new policies that affect art grants/school funding (some schools to secure their current funding, some other schools to make adjustments). However, if anyone has received interview requests and doesn't want to reveal who they are, you can list the information at the results page! It would be a great help for the rest of us. 

Yale/Brown/UCSD are extremely selective, but I believe if NYU had sent out their interviews, someone on this site would get it and would post it. 

 

Edited Thursday at 03:21 PM by ddmandy