LINK, URTAs, or none of the above?

GroveK

Member
I am 2.5 years out of undergrad. I am looking to attend grad school next fall. I am currently debating between attending link, URTAs or nothing and just visiting schools directly. I've heard mixed things on the worth of URTAs and nothing about link. Is it worth the time and money to attend one of these? I haven't really narrowed down my list of schools to attend at all. I know I want an MFA because I really want to teach, so at this point I'm just looking at where I'm interested in.
 
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.
 
Even though you plan on teaching, I recommend working in the field before going to graduate school. First off, it will give you experience and direction to further your education. Secondly, it will give you perspective in the differences between educational theater and production theater. Finally, it will make you a better mentor to those who choose to go straight into production work when you are teaching.

As to your question, I wouldn't decide on a school based on the representatives you meet at a college, but it might give you a better direction to see where to go. You might also learn the questions to ask from one to another as you see what the representatives will tell you for what their school has to offer.
 
As to your question, I wouldn't decide on a school based on the representatives you meet at a college, but it might give you a better direction to see where to go. You might also learn the questions to ask from one to another as you see what the representatives will tell you for what their school has to offer.

This is pretty much what I did. I took what I learned there (URTA, Chicago) and then and went to do site visits to the places that I liked and seemed to share the same interest back. Visiting a place gives you a completely different perspective than the people that you just randomly met for 10 minutes or however long those interviews were. Most places even paid for me to come and visit them too because of their level of interest. But I did get some great experiences from interviewing from others that gave me insight on things to ask that I liked, and things to ask to make sure that I don't get into a situation that I didn't like.

With that being said, if you go one of those routes, come prepared. Don't assemble your presentation on site. The people who did that were the first ones to leave. The people who seemed the most prepared going in, were the last to leave. The effort that you put into your presentation can say a lot about you as a person. Also, do research on schools before you go. I had a printout of info on each school that was going to be there about things that I learned about their program from their website. When I received my sheet with callback, I put them in the right order so that I could just turn the page with each switch.
 

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