<p>My name is Chris. I am by no means new to the forum but this will be my first contribution.</p>
<p>Some background information on myself:</p>
<p>I am male and 21 years of age. I have spent the first three years of my college education at a Community/State collge in Southwest Florida. I have studied computer networkign and theater production. As well as certified in the state of Floirda and Nationally as an Emt.</p>
<p>I recently attenedted the South Eastern Theater Conference. I auditoned with a techncial portfolio and was met with much enthusiasm by the colleges in attendance.</p>
<p>I was accepted on the spot to a couple differnet schools and was curious what the college confidential family had to say on thier theater programs.</p>
<p>North Illinios “I know not a southern theater school, but the Technical Director was super cool”</p>
<p>Auburn Universty</p>
<p>UNCSA</p>
<p>Ole Miss </p>
<p>Palm Beach Atlantic</p>
<p>Universty of Central Florida</p>
<p>I am curious to here anyones views or input they have about any of theese schools.</p>
<p>I usually refrain from advocating one school over another. But in this case I would like to just say that each of the programs has upside for the right student. You don’t mention what part of technical theatre you might be entering and that matters. If you have a specific area to go into, NCSA is a high quality school with great connections, excellent faculty and wonderful facilities. Central Florida has a very large program with multiple production possibilities as well as connections to some of the local venues. Northern Illinois has a long history of technical theatre achievement and has (or had, it’s been some time) nice connections to theatres in Chicago. </p>
<p>The thing is, technical theatre students are in demand. It’s likely that if you are interested, most schools would be interested in you. Good luck.</p>
<p>The “one of these that is not like the other” on the list is NCSA. That school makes everyone’s list of top 10 schools although I can’t say anything specifically about their tech program.</p>
<p>The one thing about UNCSA is that you are on a campus with ALL arts kids. Not a traditional college experience. No accounting majors walking around, no football team, etc. It is a great place, but that is the one distinct thing in comparison to most schools, so it all comes down to whether you want a more traditional experience. Considering what you explained about your background, age, etc., I doubt if you are looking to pledge a frat and get crowned homecoming king. I know one kid who just finished at UNCSA and he absolutely loved it. He loved the fact that he could be around it all the time. I also found that the tuition/room and board for an out of state student was fairly reasonable compared to many private schools that have good theater and tech programs. I don’t know much about the other schools you mentioned.</p>
<p>Somehow North Carolina never got on our radar during our search - which is okay because I think D is in the right place for undergrad for her. But - do they have a grad school program? We are kinda keeping an eye out for good costume design grad programs even though that’s a long ways off. Obviously Carnegie Mellon would be awesome but, yeah, back up plan and all. hah.</p>
<p>Also Chris, if you are okay with another school in the north, you should look at another great little school with a really, really good design and tech department, Otterbein in Ohio. It is a very traditional campus in a small town. They have a small but awesome design and tech program. The head of their theater department, Dr. John Stefano, posts here. Lots of great things happening in that department.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have enough talent that schools are interested in you–that’s great. What is it that YOU want to get from your education? What aspects of tech/design interest you most? Is it set design? Is it lighting? Special effects for film? Or do you want a bit of everything? Also, since you probably have most gen ed credits done, what can each school do for you in terms of filling in electives?</p>
<p>You need to look to the future to determine which school best meets what you want to do. UCF has great connections to Disney, is in-state for you (i.e. less expensive). Not sure how specific their program is though.</p>
<p>Auburn has a small program but one of the professors there actually won an Oscar years back because he developed the computer technology for Golum in Lord of the Rings. Not sure what has been happening since.</p>
<p>Northern Illinois has done some great sets and feeling a connection to professors is important.</p>
<p>NCSA has a notable film school as well as stage so there may be opportunities to do both there in design/tech.</p>