jewelyard

wct, i have friends at cal arts and like it. chapman is something to think about. thanks. how is the juilliard audition intense? i know it takes a half day and hear they direct you a lot if you get a callback. cool about the walk ins. i will do as many as possible.

thesbo, why did you drop juilliard? want a normal college over conservatory or is it about the training?

wct

Jewelyard-
Are you familiar with the animal excersises that are taught in college level acting classes? The animal activity is done in a group prior to you performing your monologues (Juilliard). Yes they do work with you and your material in a call back.

thesbohemian

Jewelyard,
Yeah. It's not SO much the conservatory vs. college thing as it is that it's expensive and a reach to get accepted for even the best actors. It's an even bigger reach to get any kind of meaningful scholarship. Sorta like lightning striking twice in the same place. I'm sure the training has to be top notch, but I doubt it or the connections that come with it are enough to make up for the possibility of me going somewhere as good or almost as good on a full merit ride. Training is what you make of it. I don't want to go to school in the middle of NYC, either. So, why spend over $400 to make a special trip to audition for a school I'm not really even serious about?

alwaysamom

Hi Thesbo, sorry I didn't reply here earlier but I was away for a couple of days then I guess I just missed this thread when I returned. The drama program at SUNY Purchase is a good one and it enjoys a relatively good reputation among theatre professionals in the city. It's an intense program which provides good training. Of the SUNY schools, this is the one to go to for drama. I know you're not looking for MT but I'll add, for any others who may be reading this, that SUNY is not considered the place to go if you are serious about MT as a career. Some of their schools have MT programs but they, frankly, aren't very good.

bioearthmom

alwaysamom--Why are the SUNY programs not very good for MT? Do they have a paricular weakness?

doctorjohn

Several of you have asked about transfer policies, so I wrote to my colleagues at IMTTS, the International Musical Theatre Training Society, formed four years ago. It's a consortium of schools that offer BFA degrees in MT. Not everyone replied, of course, but I did receive nine responses. I have not reprinted them, because I did not ask my colleagues for permission to do so. But I can tell you that almost all of the schools take transfer students in at the beginning level, no matter how much work they've done elsewhere. Here, for example, is a particularly astute reply:

“We do start them in the first year program even if they manage to convince us to come into the program having had two years of previous college. No matter what the previous training, they need to learn the terminology and the process… This can be frustrating for an older student. I have found that they may be more emotionally mature and grounded (or not) than an 18-year old, but they are seldom more talented than an 18-year old. Sometimes, we have tried to advance a very talented student once they reach the upper levels. This makes them feel good and they can often handle the work... but something is missing from not having completed the full process. I believe there is no real way that a transfer student can obtain the same experience as a student who enters as a freshman. Therefore, we have cut back considerably on the number of transfers we admit.”

These policies typically apply to the BFA in Acting as well as the BFA in Musical Theatre.

So what are the options for students who have done a year or two at another school? As I’ve written before, there are two: Do a complete four-year BFA program, or do a BA degree (which often can be completed in two years) and then do an MFA. One advantage of the latter is that students end up with a terminal degree, allowing them to teach at the college level. But there are some advantages to the first path, among them that students begin professional training immediately rather than postponing it for two years. The other advantage, which may be attractive, applies if students have taken a significant percentage of their general requirements (writing, math, foreign language, social science, and so on). That may well free up space and time for them to do a second major. It’s more likely in a BFA Acting than in a BFA Musical Theatre program, but it’s not impossible. For example, at our place, students are required to take 10 courses (50 credit hours) in what we call Integrative Studies. Our degree programs are built so that our majors can fit in all 50 hours. But if a transfer student has taken half of those courses elsewhere, then she will have “bought” 25 hours of time to be devoted to electives. There will be scheduling issues, because BFA programs use a lot of hours every day. But a second major, and certainly a minor, are within the realm of possibility.

It may seem from these policies that there is a bias against transfer students. I don't believe that to be true. What my colleagues are saying is that they have real difficulties admitting students to advanced standing. But as long as a student is willing to come into a BFA program at the beginning, we will apply the same standards to them as to the high school seniors.

marissal

I just sent my application for Emerson College this morning (via web).

I have a question.

I mailed the check out a couple weeks ago, since I couldn't find anywhere on the application/website that you could pay online. Maybe I should have assumed you could, but I didn't want to make that assumption...

Anyway, I go to submit my application and it says I could pay by credit card (go figure) or check. TO pay by check they want you to send a voucher with it - of course, I had no idea since I was not at this point when I sent the check (I wanted the check to be there in time). Do you think my check will still be okay? I guess i'll give a call to the admissions office tomorrow and see if they have the check and if I should mail the voucher now.

I was relieved to send applications, but now i'm all worried.

jewelyard

thanks everyone. i am going to stick with my list as it is and audition everywhere else i can at the unified auditions just in case.

almostsunshine

Doctorjohn! You have seriously brightened my day I have will have two years of college under my belt (by the time I transfer it will be exactly 2) and through some soul searching and a lot of persuading (of thee lovely parentals) I am now in the process of finding a school that fits my needs to transfer to! OH GOODIE! I was intially depressed by your article...particularly the quoted bit...but when my eyes finally reached the bottom of your page I felt relieved. I fully intend to start as a freshman in a BFA program. I would rather go through a program in its entirety since I believe that was designed a certain way to be effective. I am very excited about the mountains of information I have recieved on this board and I can't wait to start sifting through schools and preparing for auditions!!! If there are transfers out there who would like to offer me (or other prospective transfers) help, or any transfers that would like to share their stats (perhaps HS gpa, SAT, ACT, college, college GPA, experience, and what college transferred to if possible) to give us prospective transfers an idea of what kind of students are being accepted as transfers, check out my thread. Theater/Drama - For Transfers
I know I'd really appreciate any help!

thesbohemian

I know I can't afford to go to school in England, but does anybody have information on some good theatre schools in Canada or Germany?

Oh, yeah. I forgot to put University of Minnesota's Guthrie program and Northern Illinois University on the east coast/midwest list I gave Almostsunshine on her thread.

marissal

In Canadian Universities, I don't think that there are many degree-offering theatre majors. I am applying to one school in Canada - Dalhousie University - which offers a BA in theatre (audition at the end of the first year), or a combined honours in Theatre & Music. I'm sure there are alot of other schools that have theatre, I think there might be some sort of arts school in Montreal maybe. Dal is www.dal.ca, here's the description of theatre majors: http://www.registrar.dal.ca/calendar/ug/thea.htm

marissal

I just looked around a bit, here are two other schools in different parts of Canada (Dal is in Nova Scotia).
http://www.finearts.uvic.ca/theatre/
http://www.ent-nts.qc.ca/

I can't speak for either of those but you might want a look around.

thesbohemian

York University in Toronto looks like it might be good, too.

I have NO idea of its reputation, but Hochschule fA Musik und Theater MAnchen looks like it might be good.

Like, yeah. Mom is REALLY gonna let me take my college trust, renounce my citizenship, and leave the country. "It's springtime ... for Dubya ... and Amuricaaaaaa ..."

marissal

Haha.
Maybe I should apply to another place in Canada. Hmm.
It's a lot cheaper than US schools, that's for sure!

Originally my parents didn't want me to go to school oustide of the US. I lived in Canada for the past three years and kind of got a taste of it. Last year I had a rough time, and I also got a little stressed about how competitive and almost ridiculous it gets for admission to most US colleges. Anyway, they said if I wanted to go somewhere in Canada, I could. BUT I will most likely end up staying in the states.

chrism

Does anyone know about the Boston Univ. BFA Acting program? heard anything about it, good or bad?