Applying

The Graduate Acting Program offers substantial financial aid support to applicants who demonstrate need. In recent years we have significantly grown the level of funding and vastly reduced the cost to students. A snapshot of recent classes demonstrates that students who qualify for financial aid regularly pay less than 25% of the listed tuition in the first two years and about 5% of tuition in their final year. This is some of the highest support of any top tier actor training program. While funding can change from year to year and is determined based on need, we work thoughtfully with each person offered admissions to find a way to help them join our community and get the training they've worked so hard to earn.

The Tisch School of the Arts offers a limited number of tuition scholarships. Tuition scholarships are funds applied toward the cost of tuition. There is no separate application for them, and all students are automatically considered after you apply for admission and indicate your interest in financial aid on the admission application.

Awards are made on the basis of academic excellence, demonstrated ability, professional promise, and financial need. Evaluations are made by the Graduate Acting Program and by the NYU Office of Financial Aid.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Tisch Application for Graduate Admission contain all the information needed for scholarship determination. Please keep in mind that requesting financial aid will have no effect on the admission decision.

Federal Aid and the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA)

Need-based federal financial assistance in the form of loans and student employment is available to qualified students through the federal government. It is available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents only. Graduate students may qualify for the Federal Subsidized Stafford Student Loan or the Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Student Loan programs. Students may also qualify for student employment through the Federal Work-Study Program.

To be considered for this federal and/or state aid, you MUST file the FAFSA. Tisch School of the Arts encourages all U.S. citizens and permanent residents to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). After submitting your Tisch application, we strongly encourage you to go online and complete your FAFSA on the Web at: FAFSA Online.

The FAFSA application is available beginning January 1 and should be submitted by February 15. Make sure that you give permission on the FAFSA form for your data to be forwarded to New York University: federal school code number 002785.

Special Financial Circumstances

Applicants can provide to the Office of Graduate Admissions any special financial circumstances they feel would be grounds to be considered for more or less aid. Please provide a separate statement of any details you consider would be useful to us in determining your eligibility for scholarship funding.

Special Note For International Applicants

Tuition scholarships for international students (F-1 and J-1 visas) are extremely limited in number. In general, international applicants are urged to seek aid from outside sources and the government of their home country.

More detailed information on financial aid for international students can be found at Tisch Financial Aid for International Students. 

The following links provide information about borrowing, budgeting and paying back loans:

For the general guidelines and information about Tisch School of the Arts financial aid and scholarships, go to: Tisch School of the Arts Financial Aid Page.

For the cost of tuition and fees, which do not include living expenses, go to: Tisch School of the Arts Costs.

For instructions on the Financial Aid process, see: How to Be Considered for Financial Aid.

For valuable advice on Federal loans and managing your debt, go to the government handbook by clicking on: Advice on Federal Loans and Debt.

To apply to the Grad Acting program you must:

1. Have a bachelors degree or be in the process of completing one. All accepted candidates to NYU’s Grad Acting MFA are expected to have completed an undergraduate degree before starting the program. Exceptions are rarely granted and require an appeal to the Dean of the school.
2. Complete the general Tisch Graduate Application online. For more details on this application, visit the Tisch Graduate Admissions page.
3. Audition.
4. You may apply to the program a maximum of 3 times.

What You Have to Prepare

1. Your audition. 

Four monologues and approximately 16 bars of a song. Monologues should be classical and contemporary, both comedic and dramatic, two being in verse (rhymed or unrhymed).

Specific Requirements:

• Two contemporary pieces (1919 to Present).

• Two classical pieces (2500 BCE to c.1918).

• No piece should be longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Advice on Selection & Preparation:

• Examples of classical authors include: Anonymous, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Aphra Behn, Bhasa, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Pierre Corneille, Euripides, Kalidasa, Jesús Lara, Federico García Lorca, Ben Jonson, Lope de Vega, John Webster, and William Shakespeare. Examples of verse translators/ adaptors might include: Christopher Hampton, Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, José Rivera, Richard Wilbur, David Ives, Nilo Cruz, Ezra Pound, Tony Harrison, Ranjit Bolt, Caryl Churchill, Adrian Mitchell, Anne Carson, Derek Walcott, and Jo Carson among others. 
  
• Please avoid selecting multiple pieces by the same author (Shakespeare excepted).
  
• Regarding pieces in verse (whether contemporary or classical) — we’re looking for you to “lift the verse off the page.” By that we mean, how do you take these words and make them feel like they spring from your own thoughts? We are not concerned about you speaking Shakespeare or Lorca or Tupac or Eminem ‘correctly’. Rather than only a poetic recitation of the verse, we hope to feel a sense of your imagined scene partner or circumstances.

2. A full-face photograph (headshot).

3. A detailed résumé listing your prior acting experience.

4. A personal statement in essay form (approximately 500 words or two pages, typed and double-spaced). Write freely and personally about yourself and your acting. It will not be seen as a sample of your literacy, or as a test of your character. Tell us why you are applying here to NYU’s Grad Acting Program (as opposed to a general interest in graduate school), what you expect the experience to be like, and what you would like to accomplish. Write about your life, past and present; how you get along with people, the world; likes, dislikes (in theatre, literature, golf, anything). The personal statement will be instrumental in helping the auditors make a final decision about your professional abilities. It will be read only by the chair and designated faculty in strict confidence.

Callbacks

Approximately 60 applicants from the first round of global auditions will be asked to come to New York for two of three available days in March 2025 for the final callback round. The entering class of 16 students will be selected from the March callback.

If you are called back, you will be given specific instructions as to how to prepare for your callback “weekend.”

The Office of Graduate Admissions at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Grad Acting department will be holding a series of virtual informational sessions that will cover the MFA Grad Acting program and how to apply for the Fall 2026 admissions cycle. All sessions will be moderated by members of the department & Graduate Admissions staff. 

MFA GRAD ACTING INFORMATION SESSIONS COMING FALL 2026

Applications for Fall 2026 will open in September.

How to Apply:
1. Submit your application online. 
2. When you receive your application confirmation, select and schedule your audition online.  
3. Upload your headshot, résumé, and personal statement to your application.

More information on Tisch graduate programs, admissions requirements, and application deadlines can be found on our website. 

For admissions questions or help with the online application, please contact us at tisch.gradadmissions@nyu.edu.

Please note, we will not be accepting walk-ins for any of our in-person auditions.

Deadline to apply and register for auditions: Friday, January 3rd, 2025. 

New York Audition Dates:

Friday, January 10th, 2025 9 AM - 7 PM

Saturday, January 11th, 2025 9 AM - 7 PM

Monday, January 13th, 2025 9 AM - 7 PM

Thursday, January 16th, 2025 9 AM - 7 PM

Friday, January 17th, 2025 9 AM - 7 PM

Sunday, January 19th, 2025 9 AM - 7 PM

Virtual Audition Dates

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025 9 AM - 6 PM

Friday, January 24th, 2025 9 AM - 6 PM 

Audition Tour Dates

Chicago: Tuesday, January 28th, 2025 9 AM - 9 PM

Wednesday, January 29th, 2025 9 AM - 9 PM

San Francisco: Saturday, February 1st, 2025 9 AM - 9 PM

Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 9 AM - 9 PM

Audition dates and times are subject to change and will be available to select when you submit your application.

Please be prepared to hold the full day for your first day of auditions. We may run late, so it is best to expect that. Please keep your schedule open on the day that you register for.

Final Callback Weekend: Saturday, March 8th, 2025 - Tuesday, March 11th, 2025

Callbacks

Approximately 60 applicants from the first round of global auditions will be asked to come to New York in March 2025 for the final callback round. Please be prepabred to hold the full day for all four callback dates. The entering class of 16 students will be selected from the March callback.

If you are called back, you will be given specific instructions as to how to prepare for your callback “weekend.”

Applying for International Students

International students who are unable to travel for the first round of in-person auditions may audition virtually. If you are under consideration for March Callbacks, you will be required to attend in-person.

Note: International applicants need to speak fluent English, as we are primarily training actors for theater, film and television in the English language.