ms92

Hi! I auditioned at Elon last weekend and I heard a lot about their study abroad program. So far they're the only theatre program that I know of that allows such an extensive program to study abroad. So I was wondering what kind of course work the students do while they study abroad. Do they only work on their Liberal Arts credits or do they also work on their performance training aswell?

soozievt

I can't answer your Elon question and hope someone at Elon will do so, but I just want to say that many BFA programs allow for study abroad. I know many who have done so who have been in MT or Acting programs at schools other than Elon.

ms92

Thanks so much! I'll definately look into study abroad at other schools more then!

Ericsmom

I think it's fairly common at theatre programs for students to study abroad, especially in the theatre programs in London.

Elon is known to be ranked possibly the highest in the country for the percentage of students that study abroad. Some go for a semester and others for winter term or during summer. A variety of programs are offered.

My son's experience was studying in Florence, Italy last year's spring semester. What a great cultural experience! (He also has an interest in art.) That program includes intense study of Italian (8 hours credit, 15 hours a week of study), several field trips to other cities in Italy, especially to see churches and art, and a few other liberal arts courses. An Elon teacher goes with them, and the students live in nearby apartments, together (not with host families).

While there, through his Elon program, he studied private voice with a fairly famous local opera singer and felt he learned very much. Separate from the school, he found a dance studio where he took ballet, I think 1.5 hours 3 times a week, and he also felt he learned a lot.Those classes were taught in Italian! He did not study acting while there. On weekends and breaks he ended up traveling to many cities in Europe. He saw some theatre in Italian also!

ms92

Ericsmom, your son was actually on the pannel that talked to us at the audition! He told us to look out for you on here! How cool!

Anyway, thank you so much! That provides a lot of the information I was looking for!

Ericsmom

Good luck to you, and keep us posted. Glad you got to see my son. He's graduating this semester.

johnyi

ms92,

Hello! My name is John Yi and I am a junior Music Theatre major.

To help answer your question (And Ericsmom seems to have answered it very well!), it really depends on what your student has fulfilled prior to studying abroad in terms of how many credits they have fulfilled and what they still need to fulfill. For example, I came into Elon with a couple of AP credits from high school; thus, instead of having to take a general studies course in that area, I was able to take several special topics classes that still pertained to the general studies, but still is mainly relevant to Music Theatre (Fosse with Lynne Formato, for example!). Consequently, whether your child would be studying their sophomore or junior year, what they take abroad is contingent upon what they have fulfilled already, and what interests them. Of course, Elon advising is there to guide students through the class enrollment process when studying abroad.

Hope this helps!

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

John