Honors college for theater majors?

Colleges & Universities Boston University
1

<p>My D was accepted into the honors college and is thinking of turning it down. At first I thought this was a bad idea but now I’m not sure. </p>

<p>She’s going for a BFA in theater, which is a pretty time consuming major, and not many theater kids do the honors college. There’s one current freshman in it this year (out of a freshman class of about 50 I think). This girl told my D during her visit that she does feel a little bit isolated from the rest of the class because she has to stay in the honors dorm and has had some scheduling challenges as well. </p>

<p>Since D’s career after graduation is going to be more based on auditions and not so much on academics I’m thinking its probably ok to decline this. If she were studying anything else though, I’d definitely want her to do it. </p>

<p>Is anyone else considering declining the honors college? Is it crazy for my D to do this or does it make sense based on her major?</p>

2

<p>I’m currently a Junior in KHC and CFA, in Design and Production, and from personal experience I’d definitely recommend enrolling in KHC.</p>

<p>It is completely true that a Theatre BFA at BU is an extremely time consuming major. Because it’s a conservatory, CFA students devote a lot of their time to CFA, up to every waking hour they have for 2-3 weeks every 2 months or so. When you factor in KHC, though, it really isn’t too much of an extra burden—because her KHC class will be able to substitute for many other requirements she would have, it isn’t an addition to her requirements; it’s just a substitution.</p>

<p>The fact that CFA is a conservatory, in my opinion, make KHC more attractive. KHC is an excellent opportunity to study subjects that I as a CFA student would never get an opportunity to study. I study lighting design, and I’m incredibly happy about the fact that I’ve been able to take classes on philosophy, ecology, physics, history, and law, and think about and discuss an even wider array of vastly different topics in others. KHC is so great because it very richly diversifies what would otherwise be a very narrow undergraduate experience.</p>

<p>As far as a community experience goes, it is true that she might feel some isolation from her CFA community, but this does not mean that she won’t have a community at all. KHC is in and of itself a very rich community. Though I have very good friends in CFA, my closest friends are the ones I met through KHC, and this isn’t something that I regret at all.</p>

<p>It takes effort, but considering she was admitted to KHC, she’s the kind of student that is willing to put in the effort necessary to make it happen. It’s effort that rarely feels like effort, and it definitely pays off. It is true that her life will be centered on auditions and theatrical work post-graduation, but it is even more true that it is an indispensable skill to be able to think and talk about more than just theatre. I’ve talked to many theatre professionals outside of school, and they all to some extent have said that the most interesting students and young professionals they meet are the ones who have more to talk about than theatre. KHC has been invaluable in not only giving me an opportunity to diversify myself, but actually foster my curiosity and interest in fields that have as much to do with theatre as the color red has to do with cacti.</p>

<p>If you or your daughter have any questions, please feel free to contact me by private message. This website doesn’t want me to give you my email address here.</p>