admittance question

All4FSU
Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:35:18 +0000

I’ll chime in here also to comment from an institutional perspective. The previous posters are exactly right - the resource allocation to BFA education is extremely high for most schools/departments. The faculty to student ratio is tiny in comparison to other majors. For instance, at my institution, BFA performance classes do not have more than 12 students. With the exception of small private colleges, that is fairly unusual at the undergraduate level. (For instance, you won’t often find a biology class of 10 students.)

Some of the reasons for low admit percentages are not funding-related. Other considerations may have to do with how a school approaches the education of these students. The definition of a BFA degree is that it is a professional training program. When we graduate a student from a BFA program, we are making a statement about that student: this individual has been trained and is ready to work in the professional arena. The type of training these students receive is often very individualized and heavily mentored. We will only take as many students as we feel we can provide this type of environment. What I’m trying to say (not very articulately, I’m afraid) is that it’s not even a case of hiring more faculty so we can accept more students. For some of us, it’s a matter of deciding the type of experience we want to provide for the student. In order to foster positive mentoring relationships between faculty/staff and students, and positive, collegial relationships between students; small numbers are almost critical.