I don't know where to go...

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>I am going to Pace or Eugene Lang.</p>

<p>The problem is they are two extremely different schools…</p>

<p>I am passionate about acting, and want to pursue it in my life, but I also want to pursue a music career. I am forming a serious band from the day of college, and probably will need time for ourselves. </p>

<p>Pace Theater BA / Acting Focus is great in terms of what I want in acting. But, the problem is I won’t have much time for my band. 7 hours everyday monday to friday I will be busy with school.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if I go to Eugene Lang, I will have a lot of free time. But I don’t think they are that good in acting like Pace is… And they don’t have that great of a reputation in that field.</p>

<p>Please, help me out… I’m so lost and don’t want to make bad choices.</p>

<p>Here are the curriculum for both schools :</p>

<p>LANG-<a href=“http://65.36.190.63/courses/courses_cea.cfm?sAOS=LTHR”>http://65.36.190.63/courses/courses_cea.cfm?sAOS=LTHR&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>PACE- [Academic</a> Programs - Pace University](<a href=“Academics”>Academics)</p>

2

<p>On the other hand, it says in LANG:
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS: Successful completion of 120 credits, including at least 90 liberal arts credits and not more than 30 credits in non-liberal arts courses (defined as studio and practice-based courses and internships)</p>

<p>and I’m thinking Pace is only 60 credits</p>

3

<p>I believe Pace requires a similar number of credits; from your link it looks like 128. </p>

<p>You can’t get a bachelor’s degree without something like 30 credits per year over the course of four years, minimum.</p>

<p>If you are really committed to spending a lot of time on your music, Lang might be better for you.</p>

4

<p>Reveriece - my son was not accepted at Lang (which surprised us, but he’s happy with UArts), so congratulations! I certainly liked the environment and location better at Lang; I think it’s a more intellectually stimulating school. Pace is more focused on professional training, in all fields. Have you visited both? I recommend doing so, if you can, just to see where you think you’d be more comfortable. We didn’t think Pace was a good fit for my son, and he chose not to apply at all.</p>

5

<p>I visited Lang a few years ago when one of my other daughters was looking at colleges. I personally really liked their progressive, student-driven philosophy, which is why I suggested my actor-daughter apply to Lang. Lang (and Bard) had very interesting application essays, which I always think brings insight into the philosophy of the school. Lang has a wonderful location, right next to NYU (well, wonderful, if you like the neighborhood.) I’ve heard that the dorms are not very good, and that most kids live off campus after the first year. If you’re already a New Yorker (which I infer from your previous posts) this might not be a negative at all for you. It seems like it would be the perfect place for a self-directed, ambitious, artsy student.</p>

6

<p>Personally, I think you need to decide which is more important, and which you are going to focus on–an acting career or a music career.</p>

<p>If this band really is as serious as you are claiming, then why are you going to college to study acting, if it is so serious why are you going to college at all? (at least why are you doing so now?)</p>

<p>And if you really are as serious about acting, why have you started a band? Are you aware that in addition to classtime and homework, serious acting students go to their play rehearsals just about every night (when I was a theatre undergrad, we would frequently say, “Why do I have an apartment? I’m almost never there. They should just set out cots here in the theatre department, and we can sleep here”)</p>

<p>By splitting your focus in two directions like this, I would be concerned that you really aren’t going to give either one the attention it needs.</p>

<p>A lot of folks who are interested in both music and acting go into Musical Theatre. That’s a good way to do both without splitting your focus.</p>

<p>Another way of looking at this, is that you can focus on one thing now for a few years, and focus on something else later. So either band now, acting later, or acting now, band later. You are still a young person (I am assuming), you have a long life ahead of you. You don’t need to do EVERYTHING right now.</p>

<p>I’m sorry if this is a bit harsh, but I really think you are making a mistake trying to go in two directions at once. I think you need to decide whether you would rather have a career in acting or in music (or combine them in Musical Theatre). I think folks can pretty much have anything they want in their lives, but folks can’t get EVERYTHING they want in their lives, and so folks need to focus on the thing that is most important to them and devote themself to it 100%. But also remember that people these days frequently change careers (I certainly have a few times in my life) so don’t feel like you are necessarily going to be stuck with your choice forever.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

7

<p>Let me chime in to disagree with KEVP. Especially in college, I think it makes a lot of sense to pursue both acting and music. First, they usually end up enhancing each other in unexpected ways. Second, having well-honed skills in both may lead to opportunities that would not come as easily to people who were only actors or only musicians. Finally, the economic realities for professional musicians and for professional actors are constraining. You may discover that as much as you love acting or making music, you aren’t happy with the other aspects of the life you will have to lead to make a living at it. It will help if you have choices.</p>

8

<p>I think it is fine to try to do both, for the time being. Why not? You will eventually be pulled in the direction where your greatest passion lies. Maybe you are not yet sure.</p>

<p>My guess would be that the work you do with your band is very different from musical theatre…</p>

<p>In my son’s BFA program there was a boy who attended for only a year and then left to devote all his energies to his band.</p>

9

<p>Thank you everyone. Extremely helpful.</p>

<p>I would go to Lang, but deep in my heart I don’t want to miss the wonderful opportunity of good training at Pace. It’s a tough decision… </p>

<p>KEVP, I agree with you to a certain extent… I am going to college because… Both my parents are doctors (in pretty awesome fields), and they went to “the best” college of their times - PLUS their parents and economy situation was very low… But they worked hard and accomplished the impossible.<br>
I had the best education I possibly could before this time. I can speak three languages fluently, and I am learning more and more about everything in the world as I live. And I think for someone like me to NOT go to college at all would be a mistake. I don’t know… </p>

<p>It DOES concern me too that if music turns out even better than I expected, I might have to leave college. But at least I spent some time in it? … I don’t know how to look at it…</p>

<p>As in music- I can’t sing like Celine Dion. I write a lot though, and I compose all the songs by myself. ( I also don’t want to go to a music major because this is what I love/enjoy and I don’t want to learn the theory of it. My mind only works with imagination. ) It happens in about 4 minutes and I already create the song in my head! I know it is incredible and not many can do this… And I NEED to work on this, but I also NEED to go to college for acting, which I know I am talented at and want to do in the future.</p>

<p>I do not know… It is very tough to decide. Pace/LANG. If anyone has additional comments, PLEASE write.</p>

10

<p>I’ll split the difference here: I don’t think it’s a question simply of whether or not you can love both, or work at both simultaneously. What I think is important for you to figure out is the balance. I know you have already decided a BA is right for you, but KEVP is painting a very accurate picture of a training-focused BA - students who choose to do those (or BFAs) have to accept that their major also is pretty much their EC, their personal life, and their job, all rolled up in one. Yes, there are BFAs where you can double major, and people of course do other things in their lives, but the program itself tends to come first, and the people around you will expect that.</p>

<p>On the other hand, getting a “regular” BA, like majoring in anything else, usually gives people the chance to explore lots of experiences in college. You can major in one or more subjects, have sports, ECs, jobs, friends - it’s supposed to be a mixture. “Regular” BAs in Theatre seem to ebb and flow - maybe some semesters you’re super busy with shows, but maybe another semester you choose to do other things. This won’t “hurt” your theatre career - you will learn a lot about what you want to do about acting, about music, and about all kinds of things. Then you can use what you’ve learned to decide what your next step is.</p>

<p>I have been an artist in several areas all of my life, and I understand your feelings about wanting to study one academically but not another. Having studied 3 different areas of the arts in different ways, and seeing my daughter now in a focused training program now, I would say that you seem to be at a great point in your life where you are eager to learn, but you need time and space to explore, and a heavily demanding, highly structured program might be frustrating and could backfire. If the Pace BA would place high demands on your time and expect you to put it first, I would go with the BA that will give you great opportunities but also great flexibility.</p>

11

<p>Wonderful EmmyBet! This relieves me a lot. I really didn’t know what to do. Do you think Lang has a good program AS MUCH AS Pace does? They do not accept with audition- which is one thing… But since we can keep them “equal” now in terms of choice, do they also give the same level of training?</p>

12

<p>Have you looked at their curriculum and made a possible 4 year plan? Have you looked at their performance opportunities and imagined how you would fit in? There is no magic bullet in “quality” of training - and even people with BFAs (and MFAs) usually feel they need to learn more, really all of their lives. If you feel comfortable with what you could do there, that should be enough. </p>

<p>My D looked at Lang for a long time. She visited a lot of the “alternative” type colleges - Hampshire, Sarah Lawrence, Bard (which she did apply and get accepted to). She considered carefully if she wanted a more independent, creative community rather than a focused training program. For lots of reasons she decided to go with a more conventional school, even though it doesn’t entirely meet her “alternative” needs. You probably should be considering where you fit on that spectrum, and what kind of school atmosphere you want to live in. </p>

<p>As other people have said, too, try to remember that hardly anyone has a linear path. We all pretty much weave together lots of different threads, at different times, in different ways. Ask yourself what you will enjoy doing next fall - what classes you would be excited about, how much you want to be in plays, how much time you want to spend with your band, what kind of people you want to be around, and see which school can provide that the best. </p>

<p>The best news is that you will be getting an education at either school (which I know you value), and that both schools are in NYC (where you want to be). I also would bet that transferring between the two would be quite easy. Lots and lots of people can’t really know what they want until they try it; this is not failure, just reality. And what is more valuable than self-knowledge?</p>

13

<p>I’ll make one more point about how someone might approach their “art” in different ways. You said you don’t want to study music academically - that is fine. I have studied music lots of ways, all of my life, and I know many musicians who feel just as you do, and have had wonderful life experiences with it. The same occurs with visual art, writing, dance - and as has often been said in this forum, with theatre. </p>

<p>Learning craft and technique is important. I tell my casual music students all the time that I would not play as I do if I had not devoted many years to formal study. But I also believe that learning in different ways, through exploration, experimentation, even adventure, has enormous value, particularly if it avoids the personal destructiveness that formal teaching often inflicts. Many of my adult students are spending years undoing the pain and loss they have suffered from forcing themselves through training that wasn’t right for them.</p>

<p>Certainly people are “successful” in the arts whether they are trained, self-study, or neither - you believe this about music, clearly. Go with your heart about how you want to study theatre, now, whatever that is. About the only worst-case scenario I can imagine is if you go to a program that turns you off to the art, or makes you feel like a failure, whatever that program might be. If you can imagine which way is best to keep your personal flame burning, that will be a great success.</p>

14

<p>I will echo what EmmyBet says about looking at their curriculum and seeing what your possible courses would be. When my D was making a decision between a BA and a BFA she met with the head of the theater program at the BA school and he helped her map out course selections that would provide her with a similar (not exactly the same) path as a BFA. It was helpful for her to see that she could achieve rigorous acting training within a BA program. </p>

<p>There are things she had to give up in doing a BA, most notably a core group of students that she would be going through an arc of training with. I think that is a special thing about a BFA, particularly a small one. You create an ensemble where there is a lot of trust and dependence. Also, many BFAs have guaranteed casting, sometimes based on the needs of particular students. At her BA program there is a lot of competition for the available roles. Fortunately there are a ton of performance opportunities as well.</p>

<p>Good luck! There is no wrong decision, only different ones.</p>

15

<p>Reveriece, I am not sure what kind of music you do, but if it is anything aside from classical or jazz-- anything on the alternative/indie/pop/folk etc., spectrum, it is my belief that the best thing you can do for your art is to get a great liberal arts education and to work on your music outside of the academy. I know there exist programs where it is possible to get an academic degree in popular music, but these sorts of music thrive on the energy that comes from being outside of the system, not inside it. As a musician you need to be in an environment that is fertile with ideas that will nurture your mind and creative spirit. It helps to be in a place where you will easily interact with other musicians whose ideas will inform your own creativity. Being in a BFA acting program will likely draw energy from your time as a singer/songwriter (I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot because my own daughter is also a singer/songwriter and she will likely be unable to work on that craft during the school year if she pursues the theatre track.) I agree with EmmyBet, that there are many roads to a life in the arts. The most obvious road, enrolling in a program that emphasizes craft training, is not the only way. What I hear in your posts is that you are a multi-talented person who cares deeply about her art.</p>

16

<p>Hmm that’s really true! Sums up everything I should be thinking when going to college and thinking of which college to go to. </p>

<p>As in curriculum, This is for LANG: Successful completion of 120 credits, including at least 90 liberal arts credits and not more than 30 credits in non-liberal arts courses (defined as studio and practice-based courses and internships)</p>

<p>I don’t know how to look at this, but at Lang, I can be taking classes of ANYTHING - such as film producing.
I have a friend in Lang, who has been in college for 6 years now, and has a very relaxed schedule (clearly haha). He only has classes Mondays and Thursdays.
I guess in Lang, you do make your own schedule freely, and no one is “forcing” you to take certain classes OR following you around to see how you are doing. You are pretty much on your own…
Whereas in Pace, they do care about your acting, and they suggest you many things.</p>

17

<p>You can get a lot more serious in your curriculum study than that. Either online or through the admissions people, you can get a sample 4-year curriculum in your major. Or you can get the course catalogs and just pick out your courses as if you were there. Ask specifically about the production schedules and what is expected of you - both in performing and in tech. </p>

<p>As I’ve said, multi-genre artists can have different attitudes even among their different arts. You might be realizing that you want more directed study in acting, and not be left to your own devices (like your friend!). Or you might realize that you love the idea of that level of freedom. </p>

<p>Look beyond the number of credits. Look at the courses they offer, and find out just how the students live. You have every right to ask these things, especially as an accepted student.</p>

18

<p>Reveriece - have you also examined opportunities to take some classes at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music (affiliated with Lang)? They seem to focus on things like artistic collaboration and improvisation, so they would not contradict your artistic vision. It might provide a good balance and synergy for you.</p>

19

<p>I am going to visit them this weekend. It’s great to know I’m going there with specific questions! Thank you!! Maybe I’ll know immediately if I want to go there after my visit…</p>

<p>Stagemum, I heard of it, but I am sure I want to study theater in college. Although I will ask them, if I can take certain courses from that major as well to create my schedule!</p>

20

<p>Reverience,</p>

<p>I had parents who sound very similar to yours, and many of the people who participate here are parents like yours and mine.</p>

<p>I was also raised with the belief that because of my education, including studying three languages other than my native tongue, it would be a mistake for me not to go to college. So I went to college when I was your age. After about a year of college, I had no idea what I was doing there and why I had gone to college. I ended up dropping out.</p>

<p>It took me some time then to find the college that was right for me, instead of the kind of college that my parents wanted me to attend. There were college options that really my parents hadn’t let me find out about. I ended up graduating from a college that many people here don’t speak very highly of–but it was exactly the right college for what I was interested in doing and for my own personal learning style.</p>

<p>The world really has changed, and there are many many intelligent succesful people today who don’t have college degrees. Despite what my parents told me, and what yours are telling you.</p>

<p>Also, college isn’t going anywhere. There is no reason why particularly you (or anyone else) has to go to college RIGHT NOW. If you have something else to do it might be a good idea to postpone your college until you will be able to give college your full attention. Really, nobody is going to discriminate against you if you go to college later than right after high school. The admissions people don’t mind, the other students don’t mind, the only people who seem to mind are parents (and they don’t really have any good reason for saying the things they do about whether you should go to college now or later).</p>

<p>You say you are interested in music, but you want to study it from a more practical than theoretical angle. I felt (and still feel) the same way about theatre. For me it is because I can just read all the theoretical books and learn all the same stuff I would learn listening to a whole bunch of theoretical lectures, but I can’t learn the practical things from books–that has to be “hands on”. So I found a college that teaches theatre the way that I learn. And somewhere there is also an educational program in music that teaches music the way that you learn it.</p>

<p>I’m only saying these things because when I was your age nobody explained these other options to me, and nobody explained to me that if I took one of these other options that wouldn’t somehow make me a “bad person”. I wish somebody had explained these things to me. My parents instead pressured me to pretty much live the same life that they had lived, it didn’t occur to them that maybe the best life for me would be something completely different from their life. And I know that my views on this subject put me at odds with the prevailing ethos here, and most of the parents here (almost entirely mothers for some reason, it seems to me) are going to insist that I am completely wrong and possibly will attack me for my opinions. And probably you yourself are going to listen to the people you trust and respect, which is of course your parents, instead of some bizarre stranger you met on the Internet. But just by telling you these things I have done something for you that nobody did for me when I was your age, and maybe if someone had I would be in a better place now with my life than I am.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>