<p>Theatregal96,
The program you’re looking for does not exist if you’re serious about getting in-depth classical training. There are 24 hours in a day and you can’t cram classical training into it along with the singing and dance you say you want and then combine it all with quality academics in the time frame we mortals have been granted in which to work. So you’ll have to make some choices. </p>
<p>From what you’ve described, you might be a good fit for the UM Guthrie Theater BFA who require a good bit of academic coursework along with their classical training and seek out students who want that. Just be forewarned that I’ve known several people who went there enthused about that aspect but later complained about the “academic time suck” getting in the way of their training. CMU is also great, but they have their celebrated MT-specific program in place which you’ve said you’d prefer to avoid. I think they require their Acting majors to take one regular academic course per semester and it’s overall a good academic school, so all’s not lost in that respect if you can get accepted there and actually afford it. UNCSA also offers the kind of training you say you want at a more reasonable cost, but they’re fairly weak academically like you’d expect from a stand-alone conservatory. </p>
<p>As for the rest, they’re all good programs, but you’d most likely still need grad school to acquire the depth of classical training offered at the name conservatories. A couple of other programs you might want to look into if you decide you want a mid-weight BFA with an academic emphasis to be followed with an MFA for the in-depth classical aspect are the University of Evansville and SMU. They’ve at least in the past been pretty generous with scholarships, too, although I’m not sure SMU does much in the way of musicals. </p>
<p>Actually, all this was covered years ago on the MT forum when Doctorjohn stepped in with his characteristic (and missed) intellectual honesty to save me from a lynch mob of angry stage parents I’d aroused … <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/2937850-post44.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/2937850-post44.html</a></p>
<p>Just watch the cost of any undergraduate program you consider if you start thinking MFA unless your parents are willing and able to spring for it on top of what they’ll pay for undergrad. There are a few good MFAs in which you get a tuition waiver and a stipend, but that’s not the case with most of the top ones and there are an awful lot of talented people around who have any combination of prestigious Theatre and Acting degrees but can’t afford to pursue a life in the art because of all the dept they were ill-advised to take on when they were younger.</p>