<p>JME1992, you asked if anyone had any information on Syracuse’s drama program. My S is a rising Sophomore in the BFA acting program at Syracuse. He very much likes the University generally and the drama program specifically. He really likes his teachers. The new head of the Drama Department (last year was his first year) came from Juilliard. I believe the program aims to have 20 or so acting students and an equivalent number of MT students. The program appears to foster a close working relationship among the incoming students and the upperclass drama students, which is a feature my S especially likes. First year students do not perform (they can audition in April for productions during the Fall semester of their Sophomore year) and focus on learning acting skills. They also have crew assignments. As in all BFA programs, there are mandatory core courses (they are noted on the Drama Department section of the Syracuse U website) and so students must fill in electives during times when they don’t have core courses or are not “in studio.” The drama student’s advisor assists in making sure that a student’s schedule works. There seems to be a wide assortment of electives and so I am sure there are a number of English courses that are offered. The SU course catalogue is on the website, but I do recall that incoming drama students were provided a booklet of electives that would fit into their schedules as Freshmen. This coming semester my S will be taking a course in Russian literature and in playwriting, in addition to his drama courses. The one aspect of Syracuse that he didn’t realize until he arrived there is that Syracuse has its share of creative kids aside from drama students and he seems to thrive in that kind of environment. The drama students are part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, which is one of the original Syracuse U colleges and has students majoring in a wide range of fields, including acting, music, art, fashion design and industrial design. Syracuse U also has the Newhouse School of Public Communications, one of the leading journalism schools in the U.S. Regarding financial aid, Syracuse offers scholarships based on academic merit, i.e., grades, test scores, etc. There is scholarship info on the Syracuse U website under financial aid. Also, a number of acting students attend Syracuse’s London program at the Globe Theater during the Fall semester of their Junior year and the Tepper Semester in New York City in the Spring semester of their Senior year. The most commonly cited negative aspect of Syracuse is the weather – the city sits right below one of the Great Lakes and so it receives quite a bit of “lake effect” snow in the winter. However, my S doesn’t seem to mind the weather too much.</p>