Questions about Emerson's MT program

CanadianActress · 11-25-2006, 12:05 PM

Hi everyone! I'm Amber, and I'm a high school senior who is slowly finishing college applications...hehe. Can anyone tell me a little bit more about Emerson?

Is there a senior showcase at Emerson?
Does the program focus on classical voice training and music theory? (This is important to me)
About what percent of graduates are working?
How many students does Emerson accept?/about how large is their average freshman class?
What performance opportunities are there?
Is individual attention given at Emerson?

I'm debating whether or not to add one more school to my list. I've been thinking about Emerson for a while but don't know enough about it to apply yet. (I know it's getting kind of late, but I keep changing my mind!)

Thanks!

Amber

BWMT09 · 11-25-2006, 02:24 PM

I know this is the Emerson board, but look into Baldwin-Wallace. It's a BM in Music Theatre and classical training is the emphasis. You also go though 2 years of Music Theory. I'm pretty sure you can still apply.

BreatheEasy · 11-25-2006, 03:13 PM

I don't believe that Emerson has a Senior Showcase. They have a number of graduates working (I don't know the percentage), although I haven't been able to discover any recent grads working on Broadway. They accept about 22 MT students. The performance opportunities are many- more than at some of the other schools. There seems to be more ability to "cross over" and get involved in performance opportunities in other areas (film, etc.) than at some other places.

_simplywicked · 11-26-2006, 07:00 AM

after going to the open house i have to say that the only thing that bothered me was the fact that you do only get 9 hours of studio time a week. For me, that's a huge decline from what i've done in high school...so that could be an adjustment.

BreatheEasy · 11-26-2006, 09:44 AM

_simplywicked, what do you mean by "studio time?"

_simplywicked · 11-26-2006, 02:43 PM

i believe that it is referring to the amount of time spent working in the theatre dept. as opposed to your English, math, and sciences. However, I could be very wrong (i went to Emerson in Oct. so its very possible that i am mistaken).

dancermom · 12-06-2006, 07:28 AM

My D is attempting to avoid auditioning at schools which employ a "cut" system. I heard that Emerson has one, and I wondered if anyone could address this. I can see a student being unwanted by the school if they do not show up for classes or put no effort in in other ways, but the process of acceptance is so difficult now that I feel that once they are in, they should feel that they can stay in.

If anyone has any information on this it would be much appreciated - any numbers from the last several years would be very interesting to a lot of people I would think.

Thanks!

NotMamaRose · 12-06-2006, 07:43 AM

dancermom, I would suggest that you search this forum for "cut policy" or related words, as I know there has been quite a bit of discussion about how various schools handle this. There has been some lively discourse on this topic.

BreatheEasy · 12-06-2006, 07:55 AM

At the EA audition in November, we were told that there is an evaluation during the sophomore year and if students are slacking, they will be cut. They said that "there are no surprises" and that it is not base solely on the evaluation performance, but on the attendance, attitude, effort etc. that has been shown throughout, and that if a student is cut there will have been previous conversations with the student, etc. I asked for the number that were cut last year and was not answered directly- something to the effect that several students tend to leave the program voluntarily because they change their career goals, or leave to accept work in the field- and that generally they end up with a class of about 16 upperclassmen (with around 22-25 originally accepted). They said that their ideal goal is for no one to be cut- for every student accepted to succeed- but that typically there are a few students that leave and a few that are not working hard enough.

ouch288 · 12-09-2006, 05:54 PM

how did ur audition go? i auditioned on dec 2nd

colin

BreatheEasy · 12-10-2006, 01:55 PM

My son auditioned on Nov. 17; they had some administrators come in and talk to the parents about the program during the auditions. My son thought it went OK- but who can tell? Good luck to you-

soozievt · 12-10-2006, 02:19 PM

Quote:

they had some administrators come in and talk to the parents about the program during the auditions

I am glad to hear this. Two years ago, there was no presentation about the program to the students and also NOTHING for the parents during auditions except a room provided for waiting. Every other program had presentations. People travel so far for these things and in many cases, this is their only visit to the school and so this is an opportunity to provide information about the program and some Q and A. I'm glad to see that Emerson added that now!

Good luck to all of you. I believe that Emerson only takes a handful in the EA round for the BFA and defers some until they have seen all by spring, and then denies the rest.

actormcfamous · 01-07-2007, 01:45 AM

I actually just talked to an old friend about this tonight - she is a sophomore in the MT program.

She told me that the one thing she really dislikes about Emerson is that the communication from the administration is not so good. According to her, the people getting cut don't always necessarily know that they're going to be cut because the administration just doesn't tell them. However, she did say that though they aim for a class of 16 they do not cut talented people just to fulfill that quota - it's their aim, but if they have 18 talented people who deserve to be there then they'll keep all 18.

mth_dad · 05-07-2007, 02:30 PM

My son just finished his 1st year at Emerson in musical theatre. He loves the school and feels it is both a good fit for him and is providing him with an excellent education.

He reports to me that they are phasing out the cut policy for classes after his (class of 2010). Also, they will no longer allow musical theatre majors to go to their castle in the Netherlands.

everla · 02-23-2008, 08:46 PM

I had my audition today for Emerson and was very impressed with how kind and willing to answer questions the faculty was. There were also students there to answer any questions that we had.

However I felt as if their cut program has been misrepresented on their website. They have a cut policy where only 16 continue to their junior year, with an original class of around 25. They do cut to this exact number every year, so i can't see how it would not be called a cut program. They told us that many students drop out, or change majors before thi time, so very few had to be cut. But after talking with one of the students, her class is up for the cut with 28 and no on has dropped out yet.

They also have very few dance classes, only one a semester. They also say it is very difficult to fit any more into your schedule. Their goal is to have their students graduate as singers and actors who move well.

The showcase that Emerson has is held only in Boston with mostly Boston professionals, although there are a few invited from New York.

There also isn't a real campus for Emerson, but since it is in Boston and there are so many colleges around it almost feels like a giant campus.