NotMamaRose

But BrendanN, *any* program, be it in English or history or engineering or musical theater or acting or biology, *must* be able to get rid of students who are not attending class and doing the work. It's the same as when someone has a job and is always absent: they get fired. That is not, to my way of thinking, the same as a "cut" program. To most people's minds, a "cut" program implies a program deliberately accepting more students than it intends to graduate and then culling them as they go along, even if those students are performing at a high level and doing well. And to respectfully disagree with you, most people don't love the idea of a "cut" program so, yes, it does have a negative connotation!

BreatheEasy

I can understand your thinking, BrendanN- but since virtually all MT programs (and music programs, also) have some sort of sophomore year evaluations or juries that must be passed before a student can take upper level performance courses, calling all of those programs "cut programs" may not be helpful to students if they are using this as a criteria to narrow their lists.

As a Bachelor of Music student many years ago, we had sophomore juries that had to be passed- and if they were not passed on the second or third try, students would leave (or change their major) regardless of whether they were formally told to leave or not. None of us considered this a "cut" system. Even in strictly academic majors, if students are not passing academically, they must eventually leave the program.

srw

Brendan, FYI, in the listing of threads, in the first few, you will find one called FAQ link, click on it and you will find things like the BIG LIST and a detailed discussion of Cut programs, juries, amoung many other things usefull in MT studies and program search. I know you are currently in a great program, but there might be some info that would be interesting to you!

briansteffy

I asked this question privately and a regular MT CCer gave me her impression. Does anyone know whether the straight acting program at FSU cuts for reasons other than attendence, grades, and behavior/disposition? Their policies for 'retention' are very detailed, and somewhat scary. The private feedback that I received suggested that a lot of MT students are put on probation, but are not actually cut - the message; do not worry. Anyone know differently, and specifically re: straight acting. Also, if their are cuts, do students have the option of moving into the BA Theater program? Thanks

MTgrlsmom

I discussed the issue of applying for a school with a cut system with my D and her answer was much like how NotMamaRose puts it, well, wouldn't all programs want to have a way to get rid of people who obviously don't put in any effort, cut class, etc.? She does not feel that this is such a big thing, but from reading this board I know that for a lot of people it is. I do pay close attention to posts where a cut system seems to have been applied somewhat randomly and very late in the process (I believe that there was a thread about this at one point regarding Arizona). However, none of the schools D is applying to seem to have a history of people being dismissed unfairly. Ultimately I think it is personal preference and what you are comfortable with.

MichaelNKat

The point that is important (and this has been discussed in other threads) is that there is a difference between a "cut" system and a system to review student progress. There is a huge difference of substance between a school that intentionally matriculates more freshmen than it intends to keep as upperclassmen and then "cuts" the surplusage through a competitive process and schools that matriculate the number of students they want for the size of the program but then review student progress and take remedial steps if a student is not making expected progress or is not showing the expected committment.

dancersmom

Briansteffy
,
I have referred your question regarding retention in FSU's BFA acting program to All4FSU. She is currently at the Florida Theatre Conference and says she is having trouble accessing CC. She wants you to know that she'll be back in Tallahassee next week and will respond to your post at that time.

Between now and then, I want to reiterate that for MT students at FSU, receiving a JURY grade of probation in dance, voice, or acting is normal. A jury grade of probation does not mean that a student is in any sort of trouble; in fact, it means that he or she is making adequate progress that the faculty will continue to monitor by seeing him or her perform at the following semester's jury. Being on OFFICIAL probation in the department means that the student has not maintained an adequate GPA or has FAILED one or more areas in a jury. The student has one semester to pull up his grades and/or to improve his jury performance. If the student does not do so, he will be asked to drop out of the MT major.

All4FSU

Thank you dancersmom for letting me know about this thread. (Your D sounded fabulous this morning by the way!)

All students in the BFA programs jury sophomore, junior & senior years. Juries are part of the feedback process for the program and they are a very important part of communicating with students regarding their areas of growth. BFA students are busy :-) This is a time carved out for each student every year to perform their work in front of all the faculty in their area and receive feedback that will hopefully help them see their next level of development and reach towards it. The intention is not punitive in nature. One thing I will say is that each of our BFA programs are very small in size and very collaborative in nature. The students tend to cohese as a class. If a student loses their drive to excel in their field, it can be detrimental to the collaborative work that is done by the students in their performance classes. Occasionally a student will be redirected to the BA program, usually for this reason. This is not common and if someone wants to know exactly hom many, please PM or e-mail me.
Acting and MT each have different terms they use for jury results. For MT, once you have "passed" your jury in an area, you have reached BFA proficiency and don't have to jury in that area again. Probationary means progressing on track (meeting developmental goals.)
For Acting, a pass means progressing on track. If you fail your jury once, you are given feedback and you re-jury the next semester. Students almost always pass when they re-jury. If you fail your acting jury twice consecutively, you are dismissed from the BFA program. Once again, not common but it does happen every once in a while.

I hope this helps, but if anyone has questions, it's probably best to contact me directly.

Michele
(mdiamonti@fsu.edu)

bbor8

An additional point about U miami is that even when a student is not showing up to class, they won't be cut from the program. They will just have a meeting with the head of the program and will maybe strongly suggested to switch majors but will never be forced to leave. They did have a cut program about ten years ago but it is long gone. I'm pretty sure nobody would consider this a cut program since they literally dont cut people. I hope this was more clear!!

ttmom

I tend to agree with what Michele said about the juries not necessaraily being punitive in nature, but rather to "take a temperature" on the individuals in a class if you will. From Michele: "One thing I will say is that each of our BFA programs are very small in size and very collaborative in nature. The students tend to cohese as a class. If a student loses their drive to excel in their field, it can be detrimental to the collaborative work that is done by the students in their performance classes." Some of the schools start juries in the freshmen year, which also think is fine by me. It gives the new student a gauge to see where the faculty "sees" them on the BFA readiness scale. I personally would not want my D training at a program that did not demand a high standard from its students. There are some kids who realize the BFA is not for them once they are immersed in it and this gives them an opportunity to re-evaluate as well. As a parent it is an expensive track and I would want to know my child was sure of what he/she was persuing. And like Michele said, sometimes there are kids that hold the class back. After ample chances are given, sometimes it is correct to redirect those individuals for the good of the group. My two cents.