Does undergrad school matter for grad school admission?

connections
Thu, 04 Jul 2013 06:51:52 +0000

cmarshall, that’s a complex question. A good grad school theatre program is extremely competitive. It’s certainly about talent, but it’s also about your experience, your interviews, and your letters of recommendation. Many people do not go straight from undergrad to grad, so in that sense it matters less what undergrad you went to. If you apply to grad school in your mid-late 20s, for instance, and have a great working resume with some professional theatres, it will matter much less what undergrad you went to than if you apply at 22 with little professional experience and no strong letters of recommendations. A strong undergrad program will also position you to gain those connections for the recommendations, as well as position you better (hopefully) for landing roles.

The other issue here is that you say you can’t afford to go to top schools. Leaving aside that top schools offer merit/need scholarships, there are also top schools, like Purchase, that are less expensive. There are other threads that discuss less expensive options in good BFA programs.

Another issue is that you seem to be going by external ranking (‘the top’) rather than by what you need. What training do you believe you need? What school would be a match for you? An ‘average’ theatre school (whatever that means) can be excellent and position you to get the training you personally need. There are also always influential people in pretty much any theatre program since the position itself - professor at a university - is so competitive. If you seek out mentors, in any field, you put yourself in a better position.

Also, don’t ignore internships, study abroad and summerstock. You can go to an ‘average’ school but during the summer go to ‘top’ programs or during the year go to top study abroad programs. That would enhance your resume.

The biggest thing is that most people do not go straight from BFA to MFA. So really it would be best to focus on what you need right now. If you do end up going to an ‘average’ school for whatever reason, you can enhance your experience by connecting with mentors, learning as much as you can, and making the most of internships and summerstock opportunities.