Looking for UT : Austin MFA current students or alums

[mistah_P]

Hey everyone,
I'm looking to chat with someone who is attending or has attended UT Austin for the MFA (especially in Screenwriting, but all departments are good), so that I can best prepare my application. If anyone is willing to have a chat, or if you know someone who went and who I can hit up, I'd be most obliged.

 

[ladysaraii]

I'm a first year in the screenwriting program. i can answer some questions if you have some.

 

[mistah_P]

Hi!
Actually your answer comes with perfect timing, as I am finishing up my application materials (still have another 20 pages of screenplay to go and am taking my GMAT tomorrow. I am applying to UT Screenwriting (and the Michener program) and UCLA as a relatively older candidate and these are really the only two schools who held me interest from what I've read. And Austin also seems like it would be a good place to live.

There are actually a few things I'm trying to understand that is harder for me to find out online.
- I'm trying to get a sense of what the class is like. Who the people i the screenwriting program are, current students and alumni. How many are aiming for more independent cinema, how many more mainstream, what the ages of the students are, and well, in general anything that might help me understand about how I might eventually fit
- I'm also trying to understand what the overall production of Screenwriting students are. For Example for UCLA, I know that to graduate you need four full features, at minimum. But I wasn't sure how things look at Austin, so anything you could tell me about that would be immensely helpful.
- Additionally, I would like to know what sort of initiatives there are for students while on campus to connect with producers, participate in pitches, etc etc.
- Finally, I am trying to understand what people do afterwards in the one, two five years after school, the the post-graduate pipelines are, which companies/producers/directors the school has connections to, so I can get a pragmatic sense of what life might look like afterwards.

Thank you so so much for taking the time!