<p>tallTwin91, I’m currently a freshman at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) and there are lots of older students here. CalArts doesn’t really care about how much experience you had (they only care about how talented you are or how much potential you have), but they won’t treat you like a beginner, they will treat you like a professional. That’s why so many straight out-of-high school kids have trouble adapting, because they have the talent, but not the work ethic.</p>
<p>Now, as someone who’s been doing theater for a while, I personally feel like they take it easy on you the first year. I have a lot of free time this year to work on my personal projects (that I’ve been told I won’t have next year), but some people can’t even manage to do all they have to do with all the “free” time we have, so I guess it depends on the person and how fast you do your work. They give people a lot of individual attention, so don’t worry about not being able to keep up with the group. Besides (and I guess this is valid for all BFA programs) everyone is coming from different backgrounds and they will be in different levels of development and have completely different needs.</p>
<p>I wrote more about my experience here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1554784-calarts-update.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1554784-calarts-update.html</a></p>
<p>I hope this helps and I really recommend you coming here and touring the school! :)</p>