How important are rigorous classes for high profile MT schools?

EmsDad
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:20:20 +0000

Be aware that there are other, very highly selective MT programs, arguably equivalent (or nearly equivalent) in terms of artistic competition for admission, training, and reputation to the ones you mentioned, where you certainly don’t need AP courses to be admitted, including: Baldwin-Wallace, Texas State, Ithaca, CCM, etc. Other excellent, well-known, highly competitive and highly selective programs where academics standards are distinctly lower than places like Northwestern and NYU include: Wright State, Coastal Carolina, Point Park, Hartt, Roosevelt, Shenandoah, Boco, Otterbein, Webster, etc. Schools somewhere in between from an academic perspective while also being very highly selective artistically would include: Elon, Emerson, Penn State, Syracuse, etc. At almost all of these places, your high school curriculum and grades are not going to factor very much, if at all, in your artistic evaluation for admission to their MT programs, although you will have to separately meet their minimum requirements for academic admission (however, I mean in no way to discourage pursuing a rigorous high school curriculum and good grades). By the way, I don’t think that you have to have AP credits to be admitted to CMU, Michigan, or NYU’s MT programs. Northwestern, on the other hand, requires a very rigorous high school curriculum with outstanding grades for admission to any program.

In fact, there are dozens of excellent MT programs, which are very competitive for artistic admission and provide arguably equivalent training and experience in Musical Theatre to the most well-known schools like Michigan and CMU, and you may find by your senior year that many of them are a better fit for you than the most well-known colleges. The 50+ programs listed at the top of this forum are a good place to start researching schools with solid MT programs, although there are many more good programs beyond those.

Many students pursuing admission to BFA MT programs apply and audition to at least 12-14 schools, and the wise ones include a broad mix of schools that include some that are not among the most widely known and highly competitive for artistic admission. A well-balanced list is a good way to avoid being shut-out of audition-based BFA MT programs.

A good place to start would be to read Mary Anna Dennard’s book, “I Got In - The Ultimate College Audition Guide For Acting And Musical Theater.” Its very easy to read and provides an excellent summary of the college audition process. It is available on Amazon.

My d, who had lots of AP credits and very good grades and test scores, chose to go to Western Michigan (generally not among the most widely-known MT programs, although they have a good reputation on Broadway) where she has received excellent training and experience in their MT program. As an example of some things to think about, you can read about her journey over the past four years here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/western-michigan-university-mt/1809907-why-my-d-chose-western-michigan-p1.html