<p>Thank you, SDonCC - she’ll call them first thing Monday. Should she call general admissions, drama department or Playwrights Horizons office? On previous occasions, I found phone communication with NYU extremely frustrating: everyone was very nice and friendly but one office send me to the other - and back again - and the info we got from genral admissions was different from the info we got from drama dept. A huge place such as NYU is probably often like this, but if you know whom should we contact first, there is some chance of getting that info before May 1…</p>
<p>austinmom, do you know the name of the group on facebook? Is it Tisch or Playwrights Horizons or…?</p>
<p>I would try calling someone at Tisch directly, but I’ve never called them myself. </p>
<p>Upon further reading your prior post, I would say that PH sounds like a perfect fit. From what they said, the PH class becomes like a family, and the whole emphasis is on collaborative theater making. It definitely is for actors, but it also introduces the students to learning about theater from all the perspectives, and either using this to become a better actor or to branch off into a different area, if that’s what they decide is more of interest. I think one idea of PH is that actors do not operate in a vacuum – they work with directors, perform on a set, read the words of playwrights-- so that they will be better artists if they understand theater from these different perspectives. </p>
<p>One advantage of this program, according to the participants who were there, is that when the students graduate, they will have many friends who are directors or other theater types, so that they will have a broader range of contacts in the industry. </p>
<p>I am thrilled with this assignment for my D, because I feel that it will give her in-depth training as an actor, but also draw on and encourage her other artistic and intellectual capabilities. I also feel that if there are certain training techniques that PH doesn’t offer, these can always be gained through electives or other classes either during the summer or throughout life.</p>
<p>Question for those who know the geography around Playwrights. My D will be a freshman 2010 in that studio. I have located all the freshman dorms but want to know really, which is the best for Playwrights students. Also, how far a walk is it from Hayden…she thought that would be her first choice but it seems pretty far away from the studio. Thanks!</p>
<p>Also, my D was originally MT, but it sounds like there are ways to pursue that track at Playwrights. How does that work?</p>
<p>Also to the others entering 2010…have you gotten your financial aid packets yet? I was told over a week ago that it had been processed…call again today and they promise it has been mailed but how long can it take? Thanks for all the great info on Playwrights…we are so excited that is D’s studio! Sorry so many questions!</p>
<p>Yes, my D got her financial aid package and it is horrible, especially when compared to other places she’s been admitted to. The difference between going to NYU and going to Williams, Bard or Skidmore is in each case about 100,000 (in student and parental loans) for 4 years. Makes you think very carefully whether the particular studio is really what she wants.</p>
<p>Scary, isn’t it. My son actually received MUCH better financial aid at NYU than Skidmore, so he/we were lucky, but cost is, of course, a factor.
One way I’ve chosen to think about this is that in theater, “staying power” means a lot. It takes time to make your connections and establish yourself. If you attend a program that makes those connections easier, there is less “start-up” time. If you train in a place with less assistance, you need more $/time to get established. If you emerge from your training with other skills/interests that help pay your way, it gives you a little more staying power. If your debt is so large that you spend all your time just making $ to pay off your debt, you’ll lose valuable theater experience and networking time.<br>
The decision rests upon a very personal assessment of costs and benefits.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks, Jasmom. I am really surprised by Skidmore/NYU difference in your case, since Skidmore (like all other colleges) asked for CC Profile but NYU wants only FAFSA. I figured from that moment that NYU aid is going to be lower but I did not anticipate that most of the “aid” will be loans. Do you mind sharing some info about your case, so that I can get a sense of what is going on? I may call NYU financial aid if my daughter decides that she would like to go to PH.</p>
<p>The thing is, NYU doesn’t promise to meet FULL need. It so happens that my D, as well, got her biggest amount of scholarship from NYU than any other college (all gave aid including scholarships), though NYU’s ticket price is higher. But that just means she got lucky as NYU doesn’t across the board give large scholarships to all who apply, nor does it agree to meet full need.</p>
<p>Looking for dorm help. How long is the walk from Hayden to Playwrights? D wants Hayden but it seems farther than several other dorms…is it an ok walk or will bus be necessary?</p>
<p>Re: FAFSA/Profile differences… I think it really depends upon individual family circumstances/distribution of personal funds. For example, if I remember correctly, in the Profile, the value of your house/cars are taken into account, whereas that is not the case in FAFSA. (Disclaimer: I hate filling out such forms and try to forget the experience ASAP after completion). FAFSA only schools tended to yield the best options for us.</p>
<p>Thanks, Austinmtmom, for the facebook link. CC is of course more informative - facebook postings are mostly greetings from admitted students - but it is nevertheless nice to see their faces. Thanks again.</p>
<p>As for financial aid, Soozievt… I know that NYU doesn’t promise to meet financial need; I was just surprised by <em>how much</em> their offer differed from the offers of other schools my daughter got into (the difference is between $30,000 and $40,000 a year). This may be a wise policy from their point of view (many research universities use undergraduate tuition to finance grad students and top faculty) but it will have a predictable influence on who can actually accept NYU offer.</p>
<p>Right, NYU’s offer may differ significantly (be less) than an offer from a college that agrees to meet 100% of need. </p>
<p>On the other hand, my kid lucked out and her HIGHEST offer was from NYU, compared to financial aid and scholarship offers from six other BFA in MT schools.</p>
<p>ponornica…another thing is that you don’t mention the other schools that offered considerably more money. Are they comparable institutions? For example, the Ivy League schools have great NEED based financial aid but are not “on level” with NYU. Another example would be the merit aid offered by a school where the student is at the top of the heap for accepted students to that university and again, that would not really be comparable to NYU. Are these other BFA programs? If not, that really is not an apples to apples comparison either.</p>
<p>I checked - there is no systematic difference in NYU financial aid policy for their BFA and BA students. In both cases, they tend to give much less in grants/scholarships than comparable institutions. So, it seems to me that as far as financial aid is concerned, my daughter would be in exactly the same position had she applied and been admitted as a regular liberal arts student. True, the grant/scholarship portion of her FA package is given by Tisch, but I learned that she would have gotten exactly the same amount had she been admitted to another NYU school.</p>
<p>Again, I am not saying that NYU has no right to shape its student body partly through parental ability to pay a lion’s share of very high tuition. I am only saying that this will inevitably turn away from NYU - and everything it has to offer - many talented, passionate and promising students.</p>
<p>These schools are all different. Schools like the Ivies or other elites, who meet 100% of need based aid have as their mission to have very diverse classes and so offer that need based aid to help ensure that diversity. They are also well endowed. </p>
<p>For some schools, there is merit aid and if you attend a school where you are near the top of the applicant pool, you may be offered a substantial scholarship. </p>
<p>It is hard to say why your child has better offers from other colleges without knowing those schools. They all work differently when it comes to need based aid and also when it comes to merit based aid. The schools are not necessarily comparable. </p>
<p>For example, if you want to try to negotiate your aid with a school like Yale, you can show them what aid you got from a comparable school, like Princeton, and they may try to match it. If you got better aid at say, Skidmore, they could care less. </p>
<p>In your child’s case, I think you mentioned she got into Bard, Williams, Skidmore, and NYU/Tisch, right? Congrats to her as those are awesome achievements! But they are so radically different. Three are small liberal arts colleges. NYU is a big university. NYU has the BFA and the other three have the BA and that is a very different experience and so while NYU may cost more, you have to determine if the BFA program is more to what your child was hoping to do than a BA or maybe it doesn’t matter to her so much. But the program is very different than at the other three. Skidmore is very good for theater. Williams, is so much more selective academically than Bard or Skidmore. Bard and Williams are kinda in the middle of nowhere. Skidmore is in a fun college town (my husband grew up there). I’ve been to Williams as my sister-in-law went there. NYU is in the Big Apple, an entirely different setting by far. Your D has so much to weigh in her options, including the price/aid. </p>
<p>Williams, I think, meets full need, right? I can see why they offered more.</p>
<p>Thought I’d throw in on the dorm debate, sorry for not responding for a while as I’ve been swamped with final presentations this upcoming week.
I, personally, am living at third north, as do many of the other playwrights kids. I think most of us live at third north or founders. Hayden would be the furthest dorm from playwrights, and it’s just on the other side of washington square so it’s not a big deal. Brittany hall is close at Broadway and 10th, Weinstein is close (you go there for lunch with your group every day you can), all of the freshmen dorms are really close to it so there’s no need to fret about the distance between playwrights and dorms. It’s not like most of the other studios where you walk from the east village to chelsea 3 times a week.</p>
<p>My D was a freshman at Playwrights this year and chose Third North as her dorm. As it is apartment style this also gives you the flexibility to choose a cheaper meal plan and save a few bucks (because they don’t always have time to get to dorms for lunch on studio days). It has been amazing and the acting teachers seem wonderful–she loves Maggie and Elizabeth! There are things she didn’t plan to learn about and may not love, but realizes it is beneficial. She has done some unusual and incredible things in design. I will echo Nabende about PH giving you skills to live a life in the theater and to realize this is much more than just making it into a Broadway musical. Second year second semester you choose a track which can move you into more acting training (vs. directing, tech or design).</p>
<p>If you live in/around Brooklyn/NYC and are curious about the sort of creative & contemporary theater that one group of Playwright’s grads has originated, check out Orpheus & the Plastic Masquerade. Last showing, Monday May 24 in DUMBO, Galapagos Art Space. Inexpensive night out on an otherwise slow night and a lot of fun! (end of commercial message)</p>