A really good friend of mine did not go to any of those to make is grad school decision. Keep in mind he had been out of undergrad for 8 years when he did this. He decided to go to
USITT one year and just go and talk
face to
face with various universities. He brought his resume and support materials with him as well as this was his opportunity to meet faculty from each university in an informal setting. He went to
mixer events that the universities did at the conference and again got to do a lot of one on one time with them all. This gave him a good idea on where he would fit best. The thing he kept in mind is that while he not only wanted to go to a good grad school he also wanted to know that the faculty and himself were on the same
page, they would be able to co exist for three years. After he went to
USITT he visited various universities over the spring and summer. I believe after he went to
USITT he had generated interest from Penn State, Florida State, NCSA, Yale, UNLV,
Cal Arts. After going to each campus he then narrowed it down to Yale, UNLV and Florida State. During that time he continued dialogue and setting up formal interviews with the programs, I believe that he was formally accepted to UNLV and Florida State but dd not accept either because the process in which he eventually got accepted to Yale went on to
USITT the next year, where he was accepted to Yale and decided to go to grad school there.
he told me he would recommend this process over
URTA due to the fact that it is way my personal of a process and informal. I am also trying to keep in mind that your coming straight out of undergrad where he had been out almost a decade so your both coming from two different backgrounds.
Hope this helps and in my personal opinion, do not go to grad school as soon as your done with your undergrad. Go out and work for at least 4 years then see if it is something you still want to do. I wanted to do the same thing your talking about when I was in college for the same reason, to teach. I am glad i didn't, as time goes by and the more experience you have your perspective on things will change.