Playwriting MFAs

[ArkansanDeer]

59 minutes ago, princesadurazno said:

congrats on your acceptances! did UCR do an interview?

Thanks! Also nope! Just an email 

[Parks_188]

On 2/18/2026 at 4:27 PM, ArkansanDeer said:

Hey, y'all! I'm really late to thegradcafe, but I've been in the MFA draft group on FB, and I applied to 13 programs this round, including some of the big ones already mentioned like Yale, Brown, Northwestern, etc. I got accepted into University of Idaho and UC Riverside so far, and am very grateful for both, but the wait definitely sucks. Haven't heard anything negative or positive from anyone else. 

 

I'd be interested in joining a gc, if people are still doing that! The link is saying it's expired.

https://t.me/+zdU3Bgk_CzwxOTMx

[princesadurazno]

just got my first acceptance, UC Riverside :)) still waiting on brown, UCSD and UCLA, if anyone's heard anything would love to knowww 

also, riverside is the school I think I know the least about. anyone know anyone who's been through the program?

[atreus85]

18 hours ago, princesadurazno said:

just got my first acceptance, UC Riverside :)) still waiting on brown, UCSD and UCLA, if anyone's heard anything would love to knowww 

also, riverside is the school I think I know the least about. anyone know anyone who's been through the program?

I have been summoned. I'm a first year playwright at UCR right now. What questions do you have?

[princesadurazno]

50 minutes ago, atreus85 said:

I have been summoned. I'm a first year playwright at UCR right now. What questions do you have?

omg perffff

I'm emailing the dept people as well but I have a ton of questions just about how it feels as a student. are you getting good interactions with faculty? what's your housing situation? in general, how's the first year going? Feel free to message me privately also, if you don't want all your business out here lol. appreciate you!

[atreus85]

16 minutes ago, princesadurazno said:

omg perffff

I'm emailing the dept people as well but I have a ton of questions just about how it feels as a student. are you getting good interactions with faculty? what's your housing situation? in general, how's the first year going? Feel free to message me privately also, if you don't want all your business out here lol. appreciate you!

I'll start out by saying I love the program. There are professors that have a rep for being difficult, but I've avoided them, so my experience has been pretty chill. Megan Tabaque, the head of the playwriting track, is very supportive. Last quarter I went into her office hours multiple times to discuss a play I was working on outside of her workshop, and she always did her best to accommodate this. She's also helped me with fellowship and commission applications on her own time. Basically, if you show up for her with questions, she'll work with you. She's also good at teaching craft and setting guidelines for critiquing the work of your peers. 

One of the features of the program is cross-disciplinary work. Last quarter, I took Fiction workshop, and this quarter I'm in Poetry. Most professors understand that out-of-genre students are still picking up the craft, and they will support you where you are as a writer (workshop is also not about getting a grade but doing the work, so there's no pressure to be "good" per se, just the best that you can do at your level). 

If there's something you're curious about that isn't accommodated for in the schedule of courses, you can propose an independent study with a professor you've built a relationship with.  I came in wanting to learn more about Dramaturgy, so I'm taking an independent study about it this quarter, and next quarter I'm going to dramaturg one of the MFA thesis plays. 

You have to take one out-of-department class. I'm taking Gender, Feminism, and Archaeology. It's a great class, but it's kind of kicking my butt, so I would recommend doing your out-of-department in a quarter where you're not TA'ing.

My housing situation is a little unique since it's through my husband's work, but most of the writers live with each other in off-campus houses. Riverside is more affordable than other areas of Southern California, but it's still California housing. Your best bet is to find roommates to split housing with or live on campus (but on-campus housing can be impacted, so I'd get on the list as soon as you accept if that's what you end up doing). 

The biggest con with the program is admin. I've talked to multiple folks who've had to file wage theft claims over TA paychecks. Admin is a very small department, so you have to be persistent in emailing and communicating with them, and they are often not as transparent as they could be. 

Lastly, if your goal with the MFA is to get your work produced, UCR does not do that. They offer a ten-minute play festival for the first years and a developmental workshop and staged reading for the thesis for second years. But it's not like a UCSD or an Iowa where it's fully realized on stage. You will write a lot though. You will generate a full-length play a quarter on top of whatever writing you're doing in your other workshop/ classes (you also don't have to take playwriting every quarter, screenwriting also counts toward your genre requirement). And if your thesis is a different play, in two years you could walk away with as many as seven new full-length plays. 

[LizardPlaywright]

What a whirlwind week. After getting an unceremonious rejection from Michener on Tuesday ("Denied" in the portal, that's all she wrote) I was steeling myself to not getting accepted anywhere, and was trying to adjust my expectations and plans for the upcoming year.

Then on Thursday, I opened my email to see one from Northwestern, informing me that my status in the portal had changed. I immediately assumed that I was receiving another rejection, when my brain realized that there was an attachment in the email containing an offer...I got in!!! 

I still can't believe it. Beyond thrilled, it doesn't quite feel real. Having spent the last year or so preparing, completing, and fretting about grad school applications, I don't quite know what to do with...joy. 

[Mophilos16]

4 hours ago, LizardPlaywright said:

What a whirlwind week. After getting an unceremonious rejection from Michener on Tuesday ("Denied" in the portal, that's all she wrote) I was steeling myself to not getting accepted anywhere, and was trying to adjust my expectations and plans for the upcoming year.

Then on Thursday, I opened my email to see one from Northwestern, informing me that my status in the portal had changed. I immediately assumed that I was receiving another rejection, when my brain realized that there was an attachment in the email containing an offer...I got in!!! 

I still can't believe it. Beyond thrilled, it doesn't quite feel real. Having spent the last year or so preparing, completing, and fretting about grad school applications, I don't quite know what to do with...joy. 

Congrats! Did you interview with Northwestern?

[LizardPlaywright]

Yes, I interviewed with Northwestern on Feb 3

[tryingmybest420]

On 2/21/2026 at 3:37 PM, princesadurazno said:

just got my first acceptance, UC Riverside :)) still waiting on brown, UCSD and UCLA, if anyone's heard anything would love to knowww 

also, riverside is the school I think I know the least about. anyone know anyone who's been through the program?

Congrats on your acceptance!!! That's a huge accomplishment!! I know that they started to interview at Brown (saw someone post that they got an interview on the MFA Draft sheet from FB), but I haven't seen any info for UCSD or UCLA. I'm also following for those schools, so I'll share if/when I hear anything! Best of luck ❤️

[princesadurazno]

19 hours ago, atreus85 said:

I'll start out by saying I love the program. There are professors that have a rep for being difficult, but I've avoided them, so my experience has been pretty chill. Megan Tabaque, the head of the playwriting track, is very supportive. Last quarter I went into her office hours multiple times to discuss a play I was working on outside of her workshop, and she always did her best to accommodate this. She's also helped me with fellowship and commission applications on her own time. Basically, if you show up for her with questions, she'll work with you. She's also good at teaching craft and setting guidelines for critiquing the work of your peers. 

One of the features of the program is cross-disciplinary work. Last quarter, I took Fiction workshop, and this quarter I'm in Poetry. Most professors understand that out-of-genre students are still picking up the craft, and they will support you where you are as a writer (workshop is also not about getting a grade but doing the work, so there's no pressure to be "good" per se, just the best that you can do at your level). 

If there's something you're curious about that isn't accommodated for in the schedule of courses, you can propose an independent study with a professor you've built a relationship with.  I came in wanting to learn more about Dramaturgy, so I'm taking an independent study about it this quarter, and next quarter I'm going to dramaturg one of the MFA thesis plays. 

You have to take one out-of-department class. I'm taking Gender, Feminism, and Archaeology. It's a great class, but it's kind of kicking my butt, so I would recommend doing your out-of-department in a quarter where you're not TA'ing.

My housing situation is a little unique since it's through my husband's work, but most of the writers live with each other in off-campus houses. Riverside is more affordable than other areas of Southern California, but it's still California housing. Your best bet is to find roommates to split housing with or live on campus (but on-campus housing can be impacted, so I'd get on the list as soon as you accept if that's what you end up doing). 

The biggest con with the program is admin. I've talked to multiple folks who've had to file wage theft claims over TA paychecks. Admin is a very small department, so you have to be persistent in emailing and communicating with them, and they are often not as transparent as they could be. 

Lastly, if your goal with the MFA is to get your work produced, UCR does not do that. They offer a ten-minute play festival for the first years and a developmental workshop and staged reading for the thesis for second years. But it's not like a UCSD or an Iowa where it's fully realized on stage. You will write a lot though. You will generate a full-length play a quarter on top of whatever writing you're doing in your other workshop/ classes (you also don't have to take playwriting every quarter, screenwriting also counts toward your genre requirement). And if your thesis is a different play, in two years you could walk away with as many as seven new full-length plays. 

this is enormously helpful, thank you! mostly feels super positive, I'm getting more and more excited. bummer about the admin issues, good to know ahead of time. would love to know which profs are known for being difficult and why 👀 do you do a lot of classes within a cohort model? i'm considering trying to go visit campus since i've never been ☀️ 

[atreus85]

2 hours ago, princesadurazno said:

this is enormously helpful, thank you! mostly feels super positive, I'm getting more and more excited. bummer about the admin issues, good to know ahead of time. would love to know which profs are known for being difficult and why 👀 do you do a lot of classes within a cohort model? i'm considering trying to go visit campus since i've never been ☀️ 

While your cohort is very important (the first year playwrights/ screenwriters all have an active group chat), there is no cohort model. Hypothetically, you could create a schedule for yourself where you mostly interact with the poets/ fiction/ cnr folks for a quarter if that's useful (and people have done it). Playwriting workshop is open to everyone in the Creative Writing MFA, which means no two workshops have the same demographic. 

I can DM about professors.

[tryingmybest420]

Hi all grad cafe-ers! I have advice that I am seeking: I received an offer from the University of Arkansas (woohoo) for their MFA playwriting program. I will be honest, this wasn't my dream school, but it has a lot going for it (good teacher, fully funded), as well as some draw backs (it's in Arkansas, doesn't have the biggest name-recognition). Has anyone had any experience with this program? Is it worth reapplying if this is the only offer I get (I hesitate to dismiss this offer, though, because it is fully funded, and any fully-funded program is super competitive)....any thoughts are helpful!

[ArkansanDeer]

6 hours ago, tryingmybest420 said:

Hi all grad cafe-ers! I have advice that I am seeking: I received an offer from the University of Arkansas (woohoo) for their MFA playwriting program. I will be honest, this wasn't my dream school, but it has a lot going for it (good teacher, fully funded), as well as some draw backs (it's in Arkansas, doesn't have the biggest name-recognition). Has anyone had any experience with this program? Is it worth reapplying if this is the only offer I get (I hesitate to dismiss this offer, though, because it is fully funded, and any fully-funded program is super competitive)....any thoughts are helpful!

I don't have experience specifically with UofA butttt as the name would suggest, I DO have a lot of experience with Arkansas, haha! If you have any specific concerns about what it's like to live in the state, what to do around here, or anything like that, I'd be happy to answer anything! (Also though, despite what many would think, tons of liberal/accepting people live here. AR just has some of the lowest voter turnout in the country so you can't rlly see that all the time in policies. Plus, UofA is in Fayetteville which is a TOTALLY different ballgame, very much the rich, liberal midwest-y part of the state)

[tryingmybest420]

Hi friends!

Anyone hear if interviews have gone out for UCSD playwriting yet?

[LizardPlaywright]

has anyone heard anything from yale yet? 

[tryingmybest420]

10 hours ago, LizardPlaywright said:

has anyone heard anything from yale yet? 

I'm pretty sure interviews have already gone out!

[LizardPlaywright]

where have you heard that? did anyone post interviews on the results page?

[olie56]

2 hours ago, LizardPlaywright said:

where have you heard that? did anyone post interviews on the results page?

yeah I saw that interviews went out on 2/24/26 allegedly per the MFA Draft Data grid - someone kindly put that 200 people applied and they're interviewing only the top ten percent. wild!

anyone know anything about BU? I saw someone got an interview but wondering if rolling or not

Edited February 27 by olie56

[OverEasy19]

Any updates on Juilliard? I know they’re usually slightly later with interviews.

 

[SharksHaveFeelings]

Has anyone heard from Hunter?

[Bernadette Peters]

19 minutes ago, SharksHaveFeelings said:

Has anyone heard from Hunter?

I saw one person post in the MFA draft sheet that they received an interview request last week, so I THINK those went out already 😕 I likewise didn't get an interview! 

[SharksHaveFeelings]

12 minutes ago, Bernadette Peters said:

I saw one person post in the MFA draft sheet that they received an interview request last week, so I THINK those went out already 😕 I likewise didn't get an interview! 

Is there a way to view that sheet from here? Either way, thank you for sharing the update, and I'm sorry to hear that. Wishing you luck with your other applications! 

[Bernadette Peters]

4 minutes ago, SharksHaveFeelings said:

Is there a way to view that sheet from here? Either way, thank you for sharing the update, and I'm sorry to hear that. Wishing you luck with your other applications! 

I'll DM you a link to join the facebook page that links to it since I don't want to share the sheet far and wide! 

[Bernadette Peters]

I assume none of the Yale semifinalists are lurking in this forum but if they are I'd love to know if anyone was called to be a Finalist! I haven't heard from them post semifinalist interviews so I'm crossing my fingers that they're just taking their time but I somehow doubt it...