Even after U/RTA’s, visit the school before attending. You can learn a lot, especially if you ask the right questions. Think about questions to ask before you go. Ask your current teachers if there are questions they think you should ask. They know you in the educational setting, so they may be better at pinpointing your areas of concern than you are. Here are some questions worth asking:

• If I am offered an assistantship, and maintain good grades and a good work ethic, am I guaranteed the assistantship will be offered for all three years?
• Is there a chance that I could lose the assistantship if the school cuts the theater budget?
• How many of the teachers here were buddies before they started working here?
• How many of the teachers here plan on retiring or leaving during the next three years while I plan on attending grad school?
• How many and which teachers will be new to the program this year?
• What was the operating budget of the department five years ago, two years ago and today? (This question will give you a more honest answer about whether the department is growing or shrinking than asking if the department is growing or shrinking.)
• What percentage of your faculty teaching graduate level courses are adjunct? (If the percentage is more than zero, ask why.)
• Is it a contractual requirement that I can not take any outside theater work while participating in your assistantship program? (Get details and make sure you can live with the answer.)
• Is the assistantship higher or lower than other schools because the cost of living is that much higher or lower as well?
• If the school closes down because of snow or a disaster like 9/11, would I still be required to put in all shop hours that day? (Seriously, I had to go to shop the night of 9/11...)
• If they “promise” that your shop hours “will not exceed” a certain number of hours, ask very specific questions as to how that works in reality. Be prepared to work more than they said... especially if it is not in writing.
• Does the shop work by department, or does everyone pull for everyone else? (In other words, if you’re assistantship is as a scenic artist in the shop, and the carpenters all turn out to be idiots, do you have to work your tail off painting extra fast and then pretend to be a carpenter for show after show to cover up for their issues, or do you get to go home when you do a good job? It’s one thing to pull together in a random time of need and quite another for that to become a habit.)
• Should you expect to be required to work over school breaks, like Thanksgiving break, spring break, and even winter break between semesters?
• What percentage of your current MFA candidates have BFAs in theater?
• What percentage did not get their undergraduate degree in theater at all? (Needless to say uou’ll probably be happiest at a school where the majority of students have backgrounds similar to yours.)

If you get a chance, visit a theater or two located in the area of the school and ask local theater professionals what they think of the program. Chances are, you’ll get some of your best information from people who work most often with newly graduated students.

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