<p>I think you’ll find students in most BFAs will describe their programs as homey and “like a family.” I think you’ll also find that the theatre students at just about any school tend to be fairly exclusive in that they mostly hang out together outside of class with perhaps a few fellow travelers from the other arts and liberal arts majors. Also, while each school and department within will have its overall unique vibe, something that isn’t often discussed here is that each class within each department will have its own distinct collective personality which is something you really don’t have any basis to judge as a prospective student since you don’t know who your classmates will be or how they‘ll mesh as a group. For instance, my own class was for a variety of reasons known and often decried by the faculty as being very businesslike and even “cold” in comparison to the classes before and after us who were lovey dovey in the extreme. </p>
<p>Basically, what I’m telling you is that you just can’t know for sure how it will be until you’re there. All you can do is set some parameters for what you think will be best for you and work from there.</p>
<p>While they’re both BFAs, your current top two are also VERY different in both their training philosophies and surroundings. Besides the obvious physical and cultural differences between suburban NYC and Columbus, Ohio, Purchase is a conservatory with about as little emphasis placed on conventional academics as exists in the US while Otterbein devotes a much larger slice of its time-pie to liberal arts and sciences coursework. In case you didn’t know, the venerable Doctorjohn who sometimes posts here is Chair of the Otterbein’s Theatre Department and there was a discussion on the MT forum a couple of years ago comparing and contrasting his program to mine which was a conservatory much like Purchase. Here’s a link to give you some insight … <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/783726-schools-equally-close-strong-programs-mt-acting-2.html#post8875726[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/783726-schools-equally-close-strong-programs-mt-acting-2.html#post8875726</a></p>