Playwriting MFAs

[Xiaomi]

13 hours ago, PlayWitch said:

Can you try to push them for funding?

I don't know if I can since I am just off the waitlist and not their first pick. Feel like I don't have a strong position to push for funding and will probably get nothing even if I do ask. Any advice?

[Xiaomi]

8 hours ago, corinth of lad said:

Ooof, congrats, friend! Hope you get that sorted out (no real advice except to echo @PlayWitch -- I dunno if you got in anywhere else with funding, but I've heard it works to tell a program if other places are giving you more funding so that they feel the pressure to make an offer... But that's pretty much hearsay from me)

I'm wondering if anyone has heard a peep from Pace's Actor Studio MFA playwriting program? 

Had an interview there at the end of January and nothing since. I know that NY has been hit super hard by COVID, but am curious as I emailed a week or two ago asking when we should hear and got radio silence. Columbia & NYU have been prompt, but I'm not actually certain when Pace usually lets folks know. If anyone knows anything, I would love to be enlightened  

Thank you! Unfortunately it is my only acceptance so far. I am waitlisted at Northwest University and NYU and still waiting for UCLA's response. 

[brillantina]

On 4/1/2020 at 1:34 AM, Xiaomi said:

Long time lurker here. I got into Columbia University off the waitlist without any financial aid offered. I am wondering if I can eventually make it. Do you receive any financial aid?

Hey Xioami, I also got into Columbia off the waitlist last year although much later -- it was August when they reached out to me. They offered me 50% aid and I pushed for more. While I ultimately decided not to go because the loans STILL felt like too much of a burden for me personally (and it seemed very very hard to work while in school), I would recommend saying it's hard for you to afford to attend and keep pushing... you can technically keep negotiating until right before the school year starts, from my personal experience.

Edited April 2, 2020 by brillantina

[PlayWitch]

11 hours ago, Xiaomi said:

I don't know if I can since I am just off the waitlist and not their first pick. Feel like I don't have a strong position to push for funding and will probably get nothing even if I do ask. Any advice?

Definitely push for more. It's common practice.

[PlayWitch]

Has anyone rejected their NYU spot or their place on the waiting list? I'm nosy and I want to feel hope.

[Dro.]

4 hours ago, PlayWitch said:

Has anyone rejected their NYU spot or their place on the waiting list? I'm nosy and I want to feel hope.

same but with BU loooool

[shortymcshortz]

On 4/1/2020 at 1:34 AM, Xiaomi said:

Long time lurker here. I got into Columbia University off the waitlist without any financial aid offered. I am wondering if I can eventually make it. Do you receive any financial aid?

I did receive financial aid but only $15K scholarship and the maxed amount of the Federal Unsubsidized Loan. I haven’t pushed for more aid because I was told that it’s not until the last minute when they know if they get more funding or not. I am going to have to take out loans. I know it’s expensive but it’s totally worth it and been told several times that it is not just by Columbia but friends, family, and coworkers of mine.  

[tradagram]

so i'm accepted by CMU off the waitlist ? still waiting to hear form Iowa but i'm more than likely will accept CMU offer... i like the robot-making atmosphere there...   @SuddenBeth maybe we'll get to be classmates ?

 

[celestial nomad]

On 4/1/2020 at 6:22 PM, corinth of lad said:

Ooof, congrats, friend! Hope you get that sorted out (no real advice except to echo @PlayWitch -- I dunno if you got in anywhere else with funding, but I've heard it works to tell a program if other places are giving you more funding so that they feel the pressure to make an offer... But that's pretty much hearsay from me)

I'm wondering if anyone has heard a peep from Pace's Actor Studio MFA playwriting program? 

Had an interview there at the end of January and nothing since. I know that NY has been hit super hard by COVID, but am curious as I emailed a week or two ago asking when we should hear and got radio silence. Columbia & NYU have been prompt, but I'm not actually certain when Pace usually lets folks know. If anyone knows anything, I would love to be enlightened  

Hi! Pace usually lets applicants know pretty quickly, in my experience. I applied last year and was offered a spot within 2 weeks, then also this year. Actually just about to turn it down in favor of London. Truly pains me, because the Pace community is absolutely incredible - so kind, inviting, supportive. I deferred my acceptance this past year, but they still let me attend their Actors Studios and get close with their cohort. If you don't hear back soon, maybe send a follow-up to Jee and/or your interviewer (Edward Baker, if I remember correctly?). 

Hopefully, I'm about to free up a space at Pace, as well as across the other schools/waitlists, for some of you here!! Best wishes as always, team!

(Oh, my main reason for not attending Pace is it's 3 years. They offered money but that's still a long time to afford life in NYC, etc)

Edited April 3, 2020 by celestial nomad

[SuddenBeth]

10 hours ago, tradagram said:

so i'm accepted by CMU off the waitlist ? still waiting to hear form Iowa but i'm more than likely will accept CMU offer... i like the robot-making atmosphere there...   @SuddenBeth maybe we'll get to be classmates ?

 

Ahhh that would be awesome!!! I officially accepted the CMU offer so if you go there then we will be. Congrats on getting off the wait list!

[Xiaomi]

On 4/2/2020 at 8:31 PM, brillantina said:

Hey Xioami, I also got into Columbia off the waitlist last year although much later -- it was August when they reached out to me. They offered me 50% aid and I pushed for more. While I ultimately decided not to go because the loans STILL felt like too much of a burden for me personally (and it seemed very very hard to work while in school), I would recommend saying it's hard for you to afford to attend and keep pushing... you can technically keep negotiating until right before the school year starts, from my personal experience.

Thank you so much for your 300,000$ worth experience and advice(I did the math. That will be the total amount of money that I need to spend in the next three years if I do attend the school?). Who did you talk to or negotiate with, David Henry Huang or Julie Dobrow, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid?

Edited April 4, 2020 by Xiaomi

[shortymcshortz]

Just now, Xiaomi said:

Thank you so much for your 300,000$ worth experience(I did the math. That will be the total amount of money that I need to spend in the next three years if I do attend the school?). Who did you talk to or negotiate with, David Henry Huang or Julie Dobrow, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid?

Please let me know how negotiating works because I am thinking of doing the same thing if it works out well for you. I am already in debt from undergrad. 

[Xiaomi]

On 4/3/2020 at 2:02 AM, PlayWitch said:

Definitely push for more. It's common practice.

Thank you! I am gonna take your advice and try to push for funding. I really like the school and faculty there.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Xiaomi

[Xiaomi]

2 minutes ago, shortymcshortz said:

Please let me know how negotiating works because I am thinking of doing the same thing if it works out well for you. I am already in debt from undergrad. 

Will do.?

[Agez]

Finally got my rejection from UCLA lol It took so long I didn't even feel anything lol Now I'm officially done

[brillantina]

On 4/4/2020 at 2:36 AM, Xiaomi said:

Thank you so much for your 300,000$ worth experience and advice(I did the math. That will be the total amount of money that I need to spend in the next three years if I do attend the school?). Who did you talk to or negotiate with, David Henry Huang or Julie Dobrow, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid?

Hi Xiaomi, 

David unfortunately (or fortunately for him!) cannot do anything about the numbers. I wrote like a 3-paragaph email to Julie Dobrow, elucidating exactly why I couldn't afford Columbia -- happy to share in a dm if you need an example. The one thing that's really different about mine is that I'm comparing it to my offer at Brooklyn, so in that regard, I had a bit more leverage, but we're all writers so I'm sure there's a strong case to be made regardless 

Edited April 8, 2020 by brillantina

[SeltzerBot]

Heard no from Boston U on Sunday -- nobody got in off the wait list, apparently.

[sorrytodisruptthepeace]

Hey y'all! Congrats to everyone that has been accepted! I know things are dwindling down here but has anyone heard from Juilliard/have any idea of their process? Do they do interviews?

[hbomb]

Hey all!

I’m currently pretty far out from applying to grad schools since I still have a year and a half left of undergrad (I wouldn’t be going to grad until Fall ‘22) I’m wondering what y’all would recommend to do to spruce up my resume so that I can stand out and have a good chance at acceptance.

Currently on my list is Northwestern, Brown, Tisch, UT @ Austin, CMU, Hunter, UCSD, UCLA, & Southern Illinois, but I’m going through this thread and seeing a bunch of others I’m interested in.

Right now I don’t have any produced work for the stage, but I wrote and produced a web series.

Really my questions/reasons for posting are: 

-What should my resume have on it?

-What should I work toward now so that I stand out better? 

-Are there any schools I should look into? (Hoping to stay out of NYC with a few exceptions)

-Are there any summer programs/internships you would recommend (for playwriting preferably, but anything in that vein would be rad) 

-Any advice on how I can get ahead in the process (even though I still have two years to go) 

Thank you! 

[Coffee&Flowers]

21 hours ago, SeltzerBot said:

Heard no from Boston U on Sunday -- nobody got in off the wait list, apparently.

Same. ☹️

[corinth of lad]

On 4/3/2020 at 9:03 AM, celestial nomad said:

Hi! Pace usually lets applicants know pretty quickly, in my experience. I applied last year and was offered a spot within 2 weeks, then also this year. Actually just about to turn it down in favor of London. Truly pains me, because the Pace community is absolutely incredible - so kind, inviting, supportive. I deferred my acceptance this past year, but they still let me attend their Actors Studios and get close with their cohort. If you don't hear back soon, maybe send a follow-up to Jee and/or your interviewer (Edward Baker, if I remember correctly?). 

Hopefully, I'm about to free up a space at Pace, as well as across the other schools/waitlists, for some of you here!! Best wishes as always, team!

(Oh, my main reason for not attending Pace is it's 3 years. They offered money but that's still a long time to afford life in NYC, etc)

Huh, that's really interesting! Yeah - I emailed Edward Baker a follow up thank you & have reached out to Zach Karp pretty recently (Zach is my admissions officer--I'm assuming Jee was yours..?)

We'll seeee but if you've already been accepted and I haven't heard a word, I'm not getting my hopes up  

[corinth of lad]

 

On 4/9/2020 at 5:58 AM, SeltzerBot said:

Heard no from Boston U on Sunday -- nobody got in off the wait list, apparently.

oh wow i didn't realize that they limited the time frame wherein you could get in off the waitlist! is that just a BU thing?

[corinth of lad]

On 4/3/2020 at 9:03 AM, celestial nomad said:

Hi! Pace usually lets applicants know pretty quickly, in my experience. I applied last year and was offered a spot within 2 weeks, then also this year. Actually just about to turn it down in favor of London. Truly pains me, because the Pace community is absolutely incredible - so kind, inviting, supportive. I deferred my acceptance this past year, but they still let me attend their Actors Studios and get close with their cohort. If you don't hear back soon, maybe send a follow-up to Jee and/or your interviewer (Edward Baker, if I remember correctly?). 

Hopefully, I'm about to free up a space at Pace, as well as across the other schools/waitlists, for some of you here!! Best wishes as always, team!

(Oh, my main reason for not attending Pace is it's 3 years. They offered money but that's still a long time to afford life in NYC, etc)

Wait sorry - did you interview with Pace last year?

Edited April 10, 2020 by corinth of lad

[SeltzerBot]

20 hours ago, corinth of lad said:

 

oh wow i didn't realize that they limited the time frame wherein you could get in off the waitlist! is that just a BU thing?

I think it's just that the 5 people who were originally offered slots all accepted them.

[seizing]

On 4/9/2020 at 10:01 PM, hbomb said:

Hey all!

I’m currently pretty far out from applying to grad schools since I still have a year and a half left of undergrad (I wouldn’t be going to grad until Fall ‘22) I’m wondering what y’all would recommend to do to spruce up my resume so that I can stand out and have a good chance at acceptance.

Currently on my list is Northwestern, Brown, Tisch, UT @ Austin, CMU, Hunter, UCSD, UCLA, & Southern Illinois, but I’m going through this thread and seeing a bunch of others I’m interested in.

Right now I don’t have any produced work for the stage, but I wrote and produced a web series.

Really my questions/reasons for posting are: 

-What should my resume have on it?

-What should I work toward now so that I stand out better? 

-Are there any schools I should look into? (Hoping to stay out of NYC with a few exceptions)

-Are there any summer programs/internships you would recommend (for playwriting preferably, but anything in that vein would be rad) 

-Any advice on how I can get ahead in the process (even though I still have two years to go) 

Thank you! 

-Summer programs/ internships I would recommend would be any admin focused internship at a local theater near you. Literary and/ or Education internships in particular, however generally I would recommend finding an internship where you can learn something like Tessitura since it's a fairly ubiquitous ticketing software across theater and music venues. A lot of the people I met when I did my summer fellowship were also able to do their art on the side, and a fair number of them were playwrights. You should also be on the lookout for playwright festivals; I interned for Pacific Playwrights Festival and through that I was able to learn how professional theater works, network with other artists, and I got to meet some published playwrights! It was only a week-long commitment, too, so I was able to keep my support job.