Theatre/Drama Colleges Part 8 - Page 11

Mary Anna · 09-24-2005, 02:52 PM

Any school who requires you gain admission to the University BEFORE considering you for the BFA program is going to compromise the artistic quality of thier students. Especially when the academic standard is that of Northwestern.

hayhayden · 09-25-2005, 04:32 PM

Northwestern is a BA program.

fishbowlfreshman · 09-25-2005, 06:15 PM

Does anyone know of some BFA schools where you can transfer from another BFA school after freshman year and graduate on time without losing your class standing? I have NYU and Emerson so far. Any others?

Mary Anna · 09-26-2005, 08:42 AM

Yes, Northwestern is a BA. Sorry

It is extremely difficult to transfer into a BFA program without loosing your status. Most reputable programs want to start you at the beginning. Not to mention, you are applying for limited number of slots left only by attrition.

ckp · 10-03-2005, 10:14 PM

Hi, I'm a first year acting major at DePaul and I absolutly love it. The program here is amazing and I really hope that I make the cut (from 52 to 26). I do, however want to be prepared in case I don't. I was wondering what schools I should look into applying to again for next year and what factors they will look into.

I really don't know how they will judge my academic records because I only have 2 class that get grades that aren't "R". Will they take my high school grades (3.8, 27)? Also does anyone know how credits transfer because at the end of the year I will have 66 credits here.

One last thing, how should I handle the auditions? Should I tell the other schools that I love the one I'm at and that I will only transfer if I get cut...will they even want me if I get cut here?

I don't want to loose a year doing nothing and from the time I have been here I know that acting is what I want to do forever, nothing else. I love it and would appreciate any advice that I can get...Thanks!!!

Mary Anna · 10-03-2005, 10:20 PM

take your post to the musical theatre thread. There are most experts over there who can help you. You are asking difficult questions.
Good luck,
xxx,Mary Anna

devron · 10-04-2005, 10:55 PM

We are in the midst of the college selection / application process. We live in Northern CA, and at this point my daughter is applying to theater programs on the East Coast and Northwest, but I am suggesting she apply to a California school or two. With Her grades and SAT scores she will probably not qualify for UCLA or the USC program. We have heard good things about the theater program at UC Santa Cruz. She is applying to mainly private schools - Emerson, BU, Fordham etc and it would be nice to have a low cost alternative just in case. Has anyone out there heard much about the theater program at UC Santa Cruz?

ElliottsMom · 10-05-2005, 10:42 AM

What about Mary Anna's recommendation in post #148?? There she listed a few West Coast schools.

Mary Anna · 10-05-2005, 12:38 PM

If she would call USA and UCLA a reach, then probably UC Irvine would be also.

UC Santa Cruz is a logical place. It has the lightest academic load of the UC system schools and has an ok theatre department.

Look into the Cal State system. Fullerton and Northridge are excellent.
Also, Occidential, and Cal Arts are superior.

Good luck,
xxx,Mary Anna

devron · 10-05-2005, 04:16 PM

Hello! I wouldn't mind a light academic program

but I had a meeting with my college counselor today and she suggested I look into:

LMU
Chapman
Sonoma State
University of Redlands
Gonzaga University
Seattle University
Hofstra University

as my likelys. I'm thinking about LMU as a definite addition to my applications because I've heard many wonderful things about the theater program. I think it was even mentioned on this board as a "gem". What do you think about these schools for their theater department?

travellinghopefully · 10-05-2005, 05:12 PM

Does anyone know anything about U MAss Amherst theatre program?

actressfosho · 10-06-2005, 11:13 AM

Hi. I got obsessed last weekend and read this thread all the way from the beginning and it has made me think more pragmatically about what I want to do next year. I go to a high school for the performing arts and had been planning to audition for conservatories this winter. My fallback college is my state’s flagship university where I will qualify for a full scholarship. I looked at the their undergraduate bulletin last night like Thesbo suggested and found out that I should have enough AP classes to graduate from there easily in 3 years if I go to summer school after first year. The problem is the undergraduate drama department sucks and I will more than likely major in history or political science and minor in dramatic literature if that is where I go. They have a masters program, but it is just okay and I think I could build a pretty good performance resume there because you don’t have to be a drama major to audition for shows at the college and there are some good community theaters and a small time regional theater in town. Past drama kids from my h/s that were not recommended for conservatories by our teachers or didn’t get accepted anywhere good and went there as a fallback have never had a problem getting cast in something every semester if that tells you anything. Obviously, I would need to go to graduate school if I went there. I have 3 options the way I am thinking right now. They are:

1. Audition for all the conservatories and go to the best one I get accepted at using the state university only as a fallback.

2. Audition for only the TOP conservatories (Julliard and Carnegie Mellon) and go if I get lucky and get in but go to my state university if I don’t planning to graduate in 3 years and go for a masters degree in acting after I finish.

3. Not bother with auditioning for the conservatories this year and just go to my state university with plans to go for a masters after I graduate. This would give me the option to audition for conservatories the winter of first year if I hate it and take classes that would get me out of all the general education classes at the conservatories in case I transfer. That way, if I did transfer I could ONLY concentrate on acting which would be super cool.

My question is if there is a REAL advantage in going to to an undergraduate conservatory over waiting and getting a masters in the long run? If I can get in a conservatory now, would that mean I would have a good chance to go to a good masters program in 3 years if I get coaching and don’t let my acting skills slip? I will be 17 when I start college and I could have a conservatory degree by the time I’m 21 or 22 but I could also have a masters degree by the time I’m 23 if I play my cards right. I’m going to corner my drama teachers about this but I would also like to hear any advice anybody here can give.

knoxcounty · 10-09-2005, 09:54 AM

Anyone in the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio area, this is for you. Friday, I went to Northern Kentucky University, which is 7 miles away from Cincinatti, and I was absolutely impressed. I was given a tour of the campus which I must admit was a bit industrial looking, but I also met with the chair of the theatre department who gave me a complete tour of their facilities. Everything was modern and very well funded. They have a summer dinner theatre program that apparently rakes in a lot of cash. I passed by several practice rooms and was extremely impressed with their talent. They have a proscenium theatre with more lighting equiptment than Cincinatti's performing arts center and a huge flyloft. They also have a very reasonably sized blackbox theatre, also well equipt with lighting. The costume and prop makers are extremely skilled and I was able to watch a few working. That night they performed The Importance of Being Earnest which was nearly flawless. The acting never missed a beat and not one of Wilde's clever epigrams was lost on the audience. It is a growing program and I am extremely impressed thus far. I will next be visiting the University of Kentucky, Berea College, and CCM. I will post reviews after visiting.

Mary Anna · 10-09-2005, 04:33 PM

after graduating from a conservatory and receiving your BFA, you wouldn't need to get an MFA. It would be much of the same. Assuming, you would be trained and ready to work!

Good luck,
Mary Anna

ElliottsMom · 10-17-2005, 11:35 PM

After meeting with my S's high school theater teacher tonight, I have some questions for this esteemed group. He (the teacher) has suggested that S attend the best BFA program he can get into (vs. BA program). Also stressed the need to develop voice (singing) and dance. He is going to work with S on developing an appropriate repetiore of monologues, etc for audition. However, he doesn't seem well versed in the schools or the process.

My big question at this point, is whether there is a need to work on singing and dancing. My S is not fond of musicals and has avoided singing since grade school. I can certainly see the value in having competence in all of these areas, and we do have access to voice and dance instruction. However, with SAT prep, theater rehearsals, math tutoring, exploring monologues, and improving grades in core classes, I'm just wondering if the singing/dancing development should be on the list of priorities since this is not an MT kid.

Advice on this topic is most welcome!!