Thanks for the info. The number of BFA acting students is still almost three times the size of all the other programs that my daughter was admitted to. However, as long as the class sizes are small, it should be okay. I’m guessing that you are an MFA student because my daughter didn’t have to do a callback.
I agree that it’s important to look at the showcase. I haven’t found one for the 2024 class at Emerson. It may not be posted yet.
The other concern about CalArts is the cost. They haven’t offered any scholarships yet, but the financial package won’t be out for a while. Pretty much all of the other 9 programs have offered scholarships and the tuition for all of them is less than half of CalArts. I’m really hoping they offer something…
Yeah, their 2024 class hasn’t be added but its nice to still see previous years graduates.
Posting here for others as well: https://bfashowcase.emerson.edu/
Yes, cost is huge factor for many people (myself included). CalArts is for sure pricey, and your daughter having scholarships and a lower out of pocket cost is something I know you’ll both discuss and consider heavily. I could go on a whole tirade about taking out loans for a BFA Acting degree but that is an entirely different discussion/thread
I’m under the rule of thumb that any college that offers you a debt-free education is always a great college to choose. Congrats to your daughter – it seems she has a wealth of opportunity (figuratively and literally with them scholarships!) that will lead her down a continued path of success.
If you had to choose between CalArts and Emerson, what would you choose and why? My DD is an actor-singer who is very creative (and loves being around artists) – composes music, creates costumes, created a drag show in high school, etc. Her main interest is acting followed by singing. We’re learning towards CalArts, but Emerson is so well connected and interesting. Thoughts?
The only drawback that I see to Emerson is that you are not admitted as a BFA Acting major. The BFA Acting degree is only open to current Emerson students in the Theatre and Performance program who decide to pursue acting after their sophomore year. And then, those students need to apply and audition all over again to the BFA Acting Studio, and there is no guarantee of success even with good grade in the first 2 years. They do not disclose the number and percentage of students who successfully make that transition. IMO, it’s a whole lot of unnecessary hoops to jump through, as if getting accepted to the school wasn’t enough in the first place. And I do not know whether or not there is any stigma attached to not making it into the BFA Acting program. So, unless DD is OK with the possibility of not making it into the program and earning the degree that she’s been pursuing in her college applications, then I’d go with CalArts, which also has an excellent reputation. But that’s just my 2 cents.
Good luck with the decision-making. I’m glad that she has good choices!
Are you able to go visit the two schools? I know that when my daughter visited her top few choices, it became very clear to her where she felt most at home. Reading the websites and looking at course schedules are helpful but don’t give you a complete feel for the school. And also know, there is no perfect program - they all have their pluses and minuses and with those 2 final choices, I’m not sure there’s a “wrong” choice.
Does anyone know if Pace or CCM allow their BFA acting majors to audition for their musicals? I know when I attended MMC (I’m a transfer), BFA Acting majors could audition for musicals but the BFA MT majors couldn’t audition for plays. I love musical theater and idk if I could go 4 years without it lmao. I was accepted to both programs, so any info on this would be very helpful!
Thank you! You are so right trying to gauge the quality is such a challenge. I was doing some curriculum comparisons across schools where I could find the info and that hasn’t always been super helpful. Right now she doesn’t have a strong preference but is thinking about school in or closer to NYC. I told her she needs to have some follow-up conversations with the Acting program heads and we need to make a few visits to start thinking through this a little more. With the FAFSA delay in getting fin-aid information, it has made some of the easier narrowing ( affordability) very difficult.
My (Acting BFA) daughter has been waitlisted to Rutgers - which was her top choice, but since they might not release their waitlist for so late, she’s backed off them quite a bit.
She’s also waitlisted to Loyola Marymount, CCM, and Pace.
So right now, her #1 is NYU - which won’t release until next Thursday (3/28).
She’s been fully accepted to:
Chapman
SMU
Roosevelt
Webster
Evansville
Utah
Nebraska Wesleyan
University of Hartford
Millikin
I think she’s narrowed it down to: NYU (if she gets in), SMU, and Chapman. But then I just got a text about 10 minutes ago saying she’d made a spreadsheet course map for each semester for every school she’s been admitted/WLed to and Roosevelt has the best courses. Also, weirdly Hartt seems to have the most PE requirements.
The only comment I have to make here is in reference to Fordham. My daughter and a few others from her group had a very jarring audition experience with them during Unifieds in Chicago - to the point where a few parents seriously wanted to complain, but their kiddos desperately didn’t want them to do so because, well, theatre kids aren’t whiners.
But it was weird enough that my kid called on her way out to say, “That was the weirdest ****ing thing I’ve ever been asked to do and it still wasn’t as weird or emotionally dangerous as what they asked my roommate to do.”
So, make of that what you will. All I know is that this is the only school we’ve actually already declined.
Just wondering – is anyone here waiting on a BFA decision from Ohio U? C24 was admitted ages ago (November, maybe?) academically, auditioned in early February for the BFA acting program, and hasn’t heard anything since.
By this point, both of them had been through several auditions so when they were each asked to work on their pieces, neither thought anything about it. In fact, mine always thinks that’s fun. However, mine found it increasingly less fun as she was asked to play her part younger and younger and younger until she was eventually playing her piece as a baby - nonverbally, on the floor, acting as if she was having her diaper changed. And then one of the auditioners came over to interact with her, as an adult male, in a piece which had started out in a flirtatious scene. It was sexually charged and weird for my daughter.
For her roommate though, she was asked to delve increasingly darker into her piece and play hers with more and more desperation until she was playing her (formerly light and comedic piece) in a suicidally threatening way, with lots of, “No, we’re not buying just how far you’d actually be willing to go for this. You’re not being desperate enough. We don’t really think you’re ready to die for this yet.” They don’t know her. They don’t know where she’s been. They don’t know if this has ever been an issue for her. I don’t think you take an unknown 17-year-old into a room with strangers and don’t negotiate a scene before taking them to that edge. Fortunately, she’s very capable and was ok, but still. What if she wasn’t. What if there were other actors during Unifieds who weren’t?
Yuck. I do think this deserves a complaint. Either this is something that one of their regular faculty is doing (which needs to stop for all the reasons you mentioned) or this is something that a Chicago-based or otherwise adjunct faculty is doing (in which case Fordham should be glad to be made aware of it.)
Congratulations to DD on her acceptances thus far!
And best wishes for a favorable decision from NYU next week!
PE requirements? As in physical education?? I know that many BFA programs include required courses in stage combat (I loved my fencing classes), but am scratching my head at the thought of multiple PE requirements. Or are they reqs geared more toward performance majors like movement and dance? In any event, it sounds as though she is really delving into the curricular aspects of her options, and that is really nice to see!
Yea, take a look at how the PE requirements might intersect with the BFA Acting training. In my kid’s program, once they have their last dedicated movement class first semester junior year, they still have 3 movement electives which provide choices ranging from various dance classes, martial arts and fencing to almost any type of physical education class you can think of, from ice skating and baseball to running and weight lifting. Bottom line, stage acting requires a good degree of nimbleness and stamina, so any kind of physical activity is going to supplement their training.
I am sad to learn of the experience that your DD and her peers experienced at their Fordham auditions in Chicago. I do believe that schools should be made aware of questionable behavior on the part of their adjudicators so that the school can investigate and take appropriate action.
Adjudicators are authority figures and hold a whole lot of power over these young applicants. Many of these teenagers may feel pressured to do what they are asked, or may not even realize (in the moment) that they, themselves, have the power to say “no” to any request that makes them feel uncomfortable. It is particularly important that judges, directors, professors, etc., be aware of where the lines should be drawn and refrain from crossing into the realm of impropriety.
This is very upsetting, and I do hope that these incidents will be brought to the administration’s attention.
Best wishes to your DD with her other college options!
Yes, that is exactly the problem. My DD is not at all happy about having to try out again for the BFA in Acting at the end of sophomore year. Also, if you don’t get into the BFA in Acting, you don’t get to do the senior showcase which is a big bummer. On the other hand, there are other perks to being in the BFA in Theatre and Performance – they spend a semester during senior year at the LA campus meeting casting agents and directors as well as possibly interning. Looking at the coursework for both programs side by side, it’s just a few more acting classes for the BFA in Acting.
That said, my DD really likes Cal Arts. The only thing that’s bothering us is that she’s already received a scholarship offer at every single school that she’s been accepted to except Cal Arts. I get the feeling they just don’t offer very many. They told us to wait for the FASFA, but that’s not likely to help us. However, we do care about scholarships since we have multiple kids heading to college over the next couple of years.
Totally inappropriate. Oldart is correct that there is a power differential between students and acting teachers and that they won’t understand that they can speak up.
