BU BFA Acting--Class of 2013 Acceptances

WasatchMom
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:04:04 +0000

My daughter is currently finishing her second year in the BU BFA acting program. She loves the program and feels like it is a perfect fit for her.

It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting with her as she was trying to decide where to go. She ended up choosing BU over Tisch (CAP 21) mainly because of money. While NYU was really her first choice, we just couldn’t afford it. BU on the other hand gave her a very generous financial aid package. In the end, that’s what the decision came down to. I remember how guilty I felt at the time that I couldn’t send her to her “dream school” but she never complained and quite happily set off for Boston when the time came.

The first year of the program is called the “core”. It is very structured and very intense. At the end of the first year, the performance majors choose to enter either the acting track or the theater arts track. (Everyone in my daughter’s year got to go where they wanted.) The acting track (which my daughter picked) is very structured and does not allow much flexibility to explore outside interests. The theater arts track is much less rigid and those kids can minor or double major in just about anything they want.

There is a dance minor offered and my daughter has a friend in the acting track who has so far been able to make it work. There are also “singing for actors” classes offered. My daughter was able to fit those in to her schedule this year because she took her liberal arts classes during the summer (at our local state university, much cheaper). That gave her some flexibility with her schedule which she found very useful.

My daughter says they really don’t have any musical theater. Most of her classmates all did musical theater in high school, they can all sing and many of them can dance, but the emphasis in the school of theater is very much on straight acting. The music dept is well regarded but the training is classical. She thinks that if someone really wanted to pursue musical theater while attending BU they would have to find a way to do it on their own, perhaps finding someone in the city to train with.

One of the biggest draws for the program is the semester in London that all Junior acting majors are required to participate in (it is optional for the theater arts track but many of them choose to go). She can hardly wait until next year when she and all her buddies will head of together for great adventures in the land of Shakespeare.

Anyway, to sum up. BU has so far been a wonderful place for her. She has formed close bonds with her teachers and her fellow classmates. She is busy from dawn until dusk, living and breathing theater, and absolutely loves every minute of it.

Hope this answers some of your questions. Good luck as you all make your final decisions and don’t stress too much because it truly seems that most kids end up in the right place.