HoldYourHorses

Speaking of lists, does anyone have a 'Big List' of Conservatory programs for film, television, and musical theatre for serious actors, please? Does anyone know of ANY conservatory program that a) is legitimate and high quality, b) offers housing, and c) has a meal plan or cafeteria for students? All we can find are programs where housing and meals are up to the students to find and fend for themselves. Am familiar with NYCDA, AADA, and AMDA, but don't know which is most prestigious. Thanks for any help.

Pantoufle92

^^I'm not sure about housing/meal plan, but LAMDA is a great program in London. Super prestigious.
Can anyone give me a list of some non-auditioning schools so I can decide on them for safeties?
Oh, and has anyone had any experience with the Drew program?

afitscher

Emerson bump

soozievt

Pantoufle92, please be aware that all non-audition schools are not safety schools. A school is only a safety school if your academic profile is above the mid range of stats for admitted students to that college as well as the school not having a very low acceptance rate. One person's safety may be another person's reach.

vjay

Has anyone heard of Columbia College of Chicago. It's billed as the largest and most diverse private arts and media college in the nation. My son is looking at theatre/acting/music as major. Any feedback will be appreciated.

NotMamaRose

vjay, if you search for "Columbia College Chicago" on this forum and the MT forum, you should come up with a lot of posts.

vjay

ok, thanks so much. It didn't come up in my initial searches of top acting/drama/music programs.

lzs18

Hello, vjay! I am currently a freshman acting major at Columbia College in Chicago, so I might be able to give you some insight.

First of all, it's a huge school-- 12,000+ undergrads, I believe. At Orientation, they said that 800+ students are theater majors. If your son is looking for an intimate, conservatory-style theater program, this is not it. But that said, the classes are pretty small (usually around 15 people), and auditions for shows are competitive.

The best part of the school is its location. Chicago is an awesome place for live theatre (and an awesome place in general), and I have seen many shows around the city since moving here. Most of the faculty are working actors in the city, so they know the ins and outs of the business-- and going along with that, the school has incredible connections to the professional theaters in the city.

This is a definitely a career-oriented school, and there is a lot of focus placed on one's major. My first semester, I took 4 acting courses and 1 gen ed. Both a BA and BFA are offered for theater and musical theater, although the BFA program is by audition only (generally in one's sophomore year.) Most people have to audition more than once for the program, because there are so many people and not many spots. However, admission into the school itself is not at all difficult. Columbia prides itself on welcoming anyone who is interested in the arts-- which also means that there are a LOT of novice actors in the theater program.

Overall, my experience at Columbia has been good, but not amazing. I think there are much better schools for theater, and the academics are definitely sub-par. However, the city is great, the connections are great, and the theater faculty is, for the most part, great. It just depends on what your son is really looking for in a school/theater program.

I hope this is of some help to you. Please feel free to ask me any more questions you have!

ColdWind

Northwestern University's theatre major is one of the very best in the nation. No audition required, but admission is highly competitive. Many regard it as a top 3 program, but that may depend upon the interests of the student. When we researched this topic, we were repeatedly told that Northwestern & Julliard were the top two programs & that Yale's graduate program was superior to Yale's undergrad drama/acting/theatre program.

ingette

i've done a lot of research, both on cc and otherwise, but i would love a bit more insight into the question of top BA theatre degrees?

Lady Mac

Why bump Emerson?

rbwriter

I am wondering why the BA Theater program at SUNY New Paltz is not coming up in any of these discussions? WE visited the school and toured the program and were very impressed. It's a BA-acting program but requires an Audition for entrance.

MK'sDad

Does anyone have opinions on the acting BFA programs at University of the Arts or Marymount Manhattan? My daughter has so far been accepted to both. She is still waiting to hear from Purchase and Emerson. Of the four, do we agree that Purchase has the best reputation?

Thanks.

Heartsongmom

Thanks for all the great info!