MichaelNKat

Keepingcalm: As your daughter digs into exploring her options and schools, she may start to rethink the size issue. I would encourage her to do so simply because looking at schools that are only 20,000 students or larger will eliminate many, many fine programs that are at smaller institutions. To reiterate an earlier point, the degree of competitiveness for admissions to audition based BFA programs is such that in my view it would be imprudent to eliminate all smaller schools on general principle of "size".

Furthermore, in practical terms most BFA MT programs exist as a microcosm within any school, regardless of school size. Even the largest of MT programs are relatively small in size compared to other majors and departments. Moreover, the time commitments required of a BFA MT program within the the structure of a very focused and often regimented curriculum often leave little time for involvement in activities outside of the department.

To illustrate, my daughter attends University of the Arts, a small arts university in Philadelphia with less than 3000 students. The MT freshman class has 24 students. My daughter spends 26 hours a week in classes this semester, not counting rehearsals, studio practicing, serving as crew and homework. The MT curriculum provides for 8 electives outside of the department over 4 years. Maybe my daughter could squeeze in a couple more in her junior or senior years, maybe not. In contrast, if memory serves me right, Onstage's son (and I mention Onstage only because onstage is another poster who has responded to you - Onstage, if i get any of this wrong, please correct me) attends Syracuse University, a full blown University with over 15,000 undergrads in every conceivable major. The freshman MT class at Syracuse is about 35 students, the curriculum is again very structured, providing for 8 electives from outside the department. MT students at Syracuse also spend hours involved with MT related endeavors outside of the classroom. My point is that as different as the 2 schools are on the surface, I bet the day to day life of my daughter and Onstage's son are more similar than they are different because BFA MT studies in many ways are an encapsulated world within the larger school setting, regardless of the school.

So, while size of a school is certainly a factor when the time comes to make a decision from among acceptances on the table, I would not at this stage allow size to predetermine what schools to which to apply. In my view, narrowing the list to schools over 20,000 knocks out far too many opportunities without a compelling reason.