College Getting ready for Graduate School/URTAs

[lightinglouisiana]

Hello All,
So, I'm getting ready to graduate in December, at which point I plan on attending URTAs in Chicago to hopefully find the "Grad School of my Dreams". I'm worried I'm not as qualified as some people that I will be up against. You see, I'm not graduating with a degree in Theatre because my undergrad school doesn't offer Theatre as a major. Is that going to hurt my chances? My resume is filled with experience; I've got 5 main-stage lighting designs under my belt, as well as Technical Direction for 3 shows, light programing, and light board operation. I'm currently busting my ass to try and graduate with a 3.0 GPA, I transferred twice to get to the school I am at now. I guess what I'm hoping for is some fairytale stories about how Graduate Program recruiters are looking to find someone eager to learn and not necessarily the 4.0 student who studied nothing but lighting design at their school. Did anyone go to URTAs? What was it like? Any tips on Portfolio or displays to get recruiters to want me?

 

[ruinexplorer]

What is your ultimate goal in getting a graduate degree? There is a very real possibility that you would be better served with going out and getting more professional experience before considering graduate school. For our industry, a graduate degree best serves those who plan on going into an educational setting as opposed to those with the intent on working in many other aspects. Remember, graduate schools are not only looking at your GPA, but your GRE scores and your portfolio of work as well.

 

[lightinglouisiana]

What is your ultimate goal in getting a graduate degree? There is a very real possibility that you would be better served with going out and getting more professional experience before considering graduate school. For our industry, a graduate degree best serves those who plan on going into an educational setting as opposed to those with the intent on working in many other aspects. Remember, graduate schools are not only looking at your GPA, but your GRE scores and your portfolio of work as well.

The main reason for Graduate School is mainly because I want something to fall back on, education. I have a bit of professional experience already. And I've been applying for summer stocks and such since I'll be graduating in December and won't be back into school til Aug/Sept. I'm hoping this will boost the appearance of my not so great GPA and potentially not so great GRE score.

 

[Footer]

The main reason for Graduate School is mainly because I want something to fall back on, education. I have a bit of professional experience already. And I've been applying for summer stocks and such since I'll be graduating in December and won't be back into school til Aug/Sept. I'm hoping this will boost the appearance of my not so great GPA and potentially not so great GRE score.

Any school that will take you with a lackluster GPA and GRE, from a school that does not have an official theatre program, and with no professional expereince is not a school you want to attend. You will be wasting your time and money on a nearly useless degree. If a good school does take you, you will have to pay out the nose. Your best bet is to go start working... and work your ass off to climb the ladder. It is not going to be easy. After you have built up a resume' then you can go look at schools if you feel you want to teach. Right now you are not really setup to slide into a grad program. To get into one of the handful of top schools is not easy.

 

[JFine]

Any school that will take you with a lackluster GPA and GRE, from a school that does not have an official theatre program, and with no professional expereince is not a school you want to attend.

Not necessarily so. I didn't take the GRE's, had a 2.65 coming out of undergrad, and while my college did have a theatre degree it was a ba, not a bfa, and I am in one of the best design MFA programs in the country. Depending on the program, it can be less about the statistics and more about who you are and what you are looking to learn and why.

However,

you will have to pay out the nose.

, I am doing this.

I also worked for a couple of years, not necessarily because I felt like I needed to to get into a program, but because I felt that I wasn't quite ready when I was fresh out of undergrad. I wanted some real world experience first.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I think any grad school with an mfa program in design and tech areas is looking for eager students willing and able to learn. As far as valu of grad degrees, I suppose it ranges a lot. Look at Yale, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, and other former members of the league of professional theatre training schools and you'll see they have served their students well with many active and successful in production.