midsummer

I, like kidzadancer, read many MT posts hoping to find more information about the application and audition process for dance BFA programs. There was not much out there. Now we (my d and I) have finished the process (thank goodness), I would like to pass on whatever information that may be helpful to others. I would be glad to answer questions about our experience with the process. I have varying degrees of knowledge (from visiting or auditions) of about 8 BFA programs in the northeast - including Tisch, Marymount Manhattan, Ailey, BOCO, Hartt, UArts, Purchase and UMass. My d auditioned at 6 of them.

I think the goal should be not only to get into a program, but to find the program that is a good fit. My d goes mostly by feel of the school and the vibe from the faculty. This is surely an individual thing. All the schools we visited had good programs and good dancers, but some felt like a better fit for my d than did others.

As an admissions counselor told kidzadancer - audition early and at several schools. I really wanted my daughter to apply to a BA program as a safe school back up, but she was set on a BFA so she only applied to those programs. As there is no guarantee on admission to any of these programs it is best to apply to quite a few. My d auditioned at 6 programs. The process does give the dancer a hint of the life ahead - rejection is a part of this performance life. Your student will be better prepared if s/he has some audition experience. All auditions started with a ballet barre, then ballet center and modern class. Some had jazz as well (I think Marymount and UArts). Many schools make a cut after this part of the audition and then those who survive the cut are asked to perform their solo (usually 1-3 minutes in length) in the style the dancer feels best shows their strengths. Some schools watch everyone's solos (BOCO and UArts). The audition day is usually quite long and can be stressful. Most audtions are scheduled from December through March. I am glad to answer questions.

jasmom

Opinions wanted re: balance of this preliminary list for my d.

NYU
Fordham
U. Michigan
FSU
U. So. F.
Skidmore
Connecticut College
Goucher
SUNY Purchase
SUNY Buffalo
Rutgers?
Muhlenburg

Wants performance oriented. Double major possibility. Modern with strong ballet. Strong student. Looking for combinations of reach, match, safety both academically and for dance.

Are we forgetting something obvious? (I'd love to keep her more or less on the Eastern half of the country). Oh... I can't convince her to look at single sex schools.

Thanks!

unsoccer-mom

Vassar and Marymount Manhattan College are two I would add to your list.

Chedva

Vassar has an excellent dance department, but offer neither a major nor a minor. They offer courses for credit, but that's it.

MomOf3Stars

SUNY Purchase
Skidmore
NYU

All great schools. I don't know much about the others on your list. How about Julliard or Butler as well?

jasmom

Hmmm... Thanks for your thoughts.
So far, we hadn't looked at Butler, assuming it to be primarily ballet focused. And my d thought that at Juilliard getting the academic part of the equation (double major) wouldn't work. We could certainly be wrong about both assumptions, there's SO much information to crunch.
We'll look again a Marymount. She'd LOVE the location. Vassar might fit the bill, certainly would academically, but she wondered whether the dance would be performance oriented.
We'll follow up with continued research. Thanks for the suggestions!

unsoccer-mom

My daughter has a good friend at Vassar and from what I gather it is very perfomance oriented which has been this particular young lady's strength.

justamomhere

My d, a senior, has decided to major in dance and wants to pursue a BFA. She is an honors student but would still like to pursue a BFA. Yikes! Yes I am overwhelmed with the amount of time we will have to spend in the next few months getting ready for college auditions and applications. I am so glad this particular thread exists and we can follow each other's journey through this most stressful time as we see our kids try to balance the college application process along with continuing their studies as a senior, attending dance classes, along with performances during the year. And did I mention time for fun?

Yes this is my first post and look forward to reading about everyone's experiences this year and any great advice on the process and particular colleges of interest.

icesk8mom

My daughter is a senior dance major at SUNY Buffalo. She has had a wonderful experience there. Small personalized program in a very large university. I can't say enough about her experience to date. Feel free to PM me for more information.

buckeyemom2

Are there many performance opportunities at SUNY Buffalo? Buffalo is not too far from us, but hasn't crossed my D's radar yet, despite attending a Boston SI audition there with a friend a couple of years ago. How does it compare to Purchase?

soozievt

Jasmom, your D's list looks really good. It is too hard to assess the balance of reach/match/safety both academically and artistically without her full profile and so I can't comment on the balance of the list in terms of her chances. I think all those schools would be very good options given her criteria.

Did you ALSO look at all at?:
UMass
Amherst
Wesleyan
Sarah Lawrence

icesk8mom

buckeyemom2,
Sorry for the delay. I was moving D2 back to school and had very limited computer access.
I spoke with D1 (at SUNY Buffalo). She told me that there are "lots of opportunities for performance." She was unable to take advantage of them due to a bad case of mono sophomore year and a nasty car accident last year

kidzadancer

Well, Fall is here, YIKES! I met Jasmom at PT Pk this summer and her son was fabulous! I hope his play went well also. Has anyone heard anything about Dean College School of Dance? They have a BA, not a BFA, but it sounded interesting and we figured it would be advantageous to have a non-audition program nearby to look at.

jasmom

kidz, thanks, I loved meeting you and your beautiful d as well. Wish I had met her before her dance. Hope we'll connect again on the "audition trail." I'll PM you with her schedule as it con'ts to develop. And "YIKES" is right!
(I don't know anything about Dean College.)

goodnews

Haven't posted in a while but thought I would add my $.02 now that my daughters is off and running.

Last year my daughter applied and was accepted to NYU, Fordham/Ailey, UArts and SUNY Purchase. Initially, NYU was her top choice but after auditioning for Fordham/Ailey, this changed. The reason was that the audition was challenging and she wanted to be challenged; NYU seems to concentrate on developing the choreographer over the performer (in her opinion). She has no interest in choreography at this point.

Don't take for granted the importance of SAT scores for NYU and Fordham/Ailey they are just as critical as the dance performance for admission. The scores that are provided in the college board profile are in fact what these programs are looking for. Secretly, they do make small accomodations for the arts students that are not published but not by much.

Now that my daughter has started the Fordham/Ailey program, she appreciates the fact that she gets the college experience, academics and dance in this program. For some of the students in her program that have come from performaning arts high schools they would like to have dance only. She has a friend at Juilliard who has commented that she enjoys the fact that she is dancing constantly w/o the stress of academics.

She also liked UArts and commented that if the academics were more a part of the program; she would have chosen Uarts because she could get all forms of dance, i.e. jazz, ballet, modern, and tap. She also commented that this is a perfect fit for kids that come from a competition setting (no offense) she was a comp kid.

For SUNY Purchase, she liked the training but felt that there was more of a slant toward contemporary ballet.

Again, these are purely ones person's perception. I hope this is helpful and I will try and provide more insight as the semester progresses.