Ithaca - Page 2

Ericsmom · 01-08-2006, 10:18 PM

I'll tell you my personal experience getting to Ithaca. Ithaca is a beautiful town - great campus on a hill, next to finger lake (is it Cayuga?), beautiful rural countryside driving in and out on two lane roads, and a very quaint and impressive downtown area (for a small town). It is really a neat place to visit and totally the opposite of a city. I think there are plenty of opportunities for things to do since the other big college is on the lower hill! I also think it gets very cold and snowy, but I've heard it is not quite as much snow as Syracuse gets.

We live very far away from upstate NY. The first time we visited Ithaca, we flew into Buffalo, spent the night in Rochester, and drove another 2 hours to Ithaca the next morning. At that time flights into closer airports were outragiously expensive for us (it has gotten better). Buffalo is sometimes cheapest because of Southwest Airlines servicing it, and the other airlines follow. The closer big airports are Rochester and Syracuse.

The last time we went (a month ago) we went on Northwest Airlines through Detroit and into Syracuse on a large jet. We then rode from Syracuse to Ithaca (50 miles) with the family of one of my dear friends from CC who may not want me to share what they were doing, but having that ride was so much appreciated! It was snowing some that afternoon, and the roads for the last 20 miles into Ithaca (after turning off the bigger highway) were getting very slick. My CC friend's husband did not like that drive on the slick roads. I was just thankful not to be driving myself. I guess they don't keep the rural roads as well salted as they do the major highways.

Coming home we flew from Ithaca to Detroit and then home. Our Holiday Inn had a free shuttle to and from the colleges and to and from the airport. I assume most of the hotels do this. It seems that only US Airways and Northwest Airlines service the Ithaca airport, and Northwest times are few and far between. What freaked me was that we were on a prop plane from Ithaca to Detroit. My guess is that only prop planes fly into and out of the Ithaca airport, but I cannot verify that to you. My son thought I was silly, but I don't like the noise on those airplanes, and I had a bad experience on one many years ago. (I don't mind the smaller jets).

The program there is very impressive, and it is definitely worth a look. We know a student who is a junior there in drama and loves it. She has been in London for this past semester. She flies in and out on those small airplanes.

be_a_star · 01-09-2006, 12:16 AM

Are cars useful to have in Ithaca?

actor465 · 01-09-2006, 02:33 PM

I guess. I don't have a car, and I really don't have much of a problem getting around. Of course, there are some freshmen who do have cars, but there are some setbacks for bringing a car for the first year. It costs twice as much for freshmen to have cars on campus, and the lots where you can park it is on a far end of campus. I live on the COMPLETE opposite end of campus from where the parking lots for freshmen are, but if you live in the Quads, I suppose it's not so bad.

Of course having a car give you much more flexibility for when you can go places and such. But you also have to keep in mind the cost of insurance and gas. Gas in New York state is not cheap by any means.

So I guess a car is nice to have, but certainly not a necessity.

Sporti2005 · 01-09-2006, 05:58 PM

my roommate has a car, and it's nice sometimes to be able to get wherever without having to wait for the bus, but ithaca is pretty do-able without a car.

wickedone · 01-14-2006, 10:03 PM

does ithaca have a cut policy?

soozievt · 01-14-2006, 10:07 PM

No, it does not.

actor465 · 01-14-2006, 10:43 PM

There is no set cut policy. However, like in many programs, there is a review process to assess the students' progress and such. For the BFA acting and MT majors, the review process (now called "presentations" apparently to sound less scary) happens several times during the freshman and sophomore years. During the first year, we are assessed once each semester on scenes that we have prepared in Scene Study. Second semester, the MTs also have a singing review. Sophomore year, there are four presentations, two each semester. I believe the singing review is also on the last round. After each presentation, each student has a private meeting with his/her Scene Study teacher in which they discuss the student's progress and things that should be improved. If the faculty feel that a student is not growing, or if he/she's having any other problems (such as not coming to class, coming late, bad attitude), then the student will typically be warned and asked to take into consideration what he/she needs to improve. If the faculty consistently doesn't see changes, then the student might be discontinued. It's not as if there is a quota that they must meet, and of course the teachers want everyone to stay and succeed in the program. Sometimes, though, this sort of thing does occur. Also, the review process is not only for the performance majors, but for most (if not all, I'm not entirely sure) of the different majors within the department of theatre arts, including tech/design majors.

Don't let the review process worry you, though. If you do your work, you probably wouldn't have anything to worry about.

actingreacting1 · 01-28-2006, 06:29 PM

Has anyone here already auditioned for Ithaca?
On their website it says that, "Ithaca follows a modified rolling admission review process and begins notifying candidates of decisions in January."

I auditioned and finished my application in December and I still haven't recieved a decision.
Is this normal?

Thanks