UA Class of 2009
College: BA, English, DePauw University (2013)
Advanced Degree: Master of Fine Arts at Northwestern University (2016)
I graduated from DePauw University with a degree in English, which isn’t the most practical degree to earn. With a lot of encouragement and guidance from David Rucker at Friends of UA (now UA Foundation), I landed a spot in Northwestern University’s MFA program for Writing for Stage and Screen (which is even less practical). I’ve now done three wonderful internships in Hollywood, and met some really cool people, who will soon become my colleagues if this all works out. And if it doesn’t work out, well, maybe I can teach. That’s where the money is. In the meantime, I get to watch movies for homework, I tutor high school students part-time, and I recently got an essay published in my favorite literary magazine, Full Stop. For that and the other stuff, I am grateful for the hauntingly difficult classes of Mr. Freeman and Ms. Mahoney, who in one way or another inspired me to think critically about every single thing, and the vigilant alumni support that somehow kept me motivated from 400 miles away.
In the last year or so I have really come to value the gap between undergrad and graduate school. I
got to take a year to recharge my academic batteries and focus in on what it was I wanted to do for the foreseeable future. Plus I got to work at Kansas City’s #1 Pakistani restaurant, Chai Shai,
which serves the best chicken I have had and will ever have.
Update: Since submitting this Spotlight, Patrick has received his MFA from Northwestern where he interned at Roger Corman New Horizon’s Pictures in LA. He is now pursuing his career as a writer in Chicago.
