<p>What I mean to ask is, is it a waste of money to get a BFA from a school that is not a name brand institution for acting? I feel like teaching acting is a lot different than teaching something like chemistry- thousands of chemistry teachers can teach the same thing (up to a point) but are the only good acting instructors at the top tier levels?</p>
<p>Also, is it pointless to pursue a BFA if you already have a strong theatrical agent?</p>
<p>it is a waste of money to get a BFA from a school where you are not learning anything you personally value.</p>
<p>My opinion goes for all schools, brand name/BFA or not. I could go on a full, impassioned speech on why I think it’s not fair to generalize and make blanket statements but in your case, you seem to be asking two questions:
<p>My answers to your specific questions:
<p>Best of luck! I hope I helped.</p>
<p>No. You can’t have too much knowledge and I don’t even know what you mean by “name brand institution”. Casting director’s could care less where or if you went to school. Go check out some of your favorite actor’s bios and you will find a HUGE variety in where they went to school if ever.</p>
<p>Maverick, I am not exactly sure how to answer this. If you are already in the business, actively working with an agent, perhaps a BFA from any program would not suit your needs. As for only going to a “name brand institution,” you are making pretty broad assumptions about many high quality programs you may not be familiar with. I would look into what is out there before making such assumptions.</p>
<p>I’ll add that there are professional child actors out there that have top representation and still want to develop their acting skills while in college and even beyond college. Acting and college alike are about the joy of the journey and process, not solely about the booking or work to come from it or the snagging of agents and fame and fortune.</p>
<p>See that’s the thing, it’s hard to find out information on the quality of programs that aren’t name brands, and what I mean by that are Julluiard, BU, CMU, CalArts, Ithaca college, NYU, ect. as opposed to like UC Santa Barbara.</p>
<p>And I guess I consider a good program one to be that turns out successful actors and have a strong ability!</p>
<p>Maverick165, in order to evaluate programs you are interested in, I would suggest the following:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Find detailed curriculum descriptions online. You might want to take a look at this thread:
<a href=“Compare/contrast BFA Acting curricula - Theater/Drama Majors - College Confidential Forums”>Compare/contrast BFA Acting curricula - Theater/Drama Majors - College Confidential Forums;
<li><p>Research the training and background of the faculty.</p></li>
<li><p>Visit the school. If possible, sit in on classes. Talk personally to as many students as possible.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Did you ask your agent for his/her input?</p>
<p>As the parent of a former, successful child actor I will tell you that the adult actor criteria is very different from the child actor criteria. You may have an advantage from the business prospective but growth and maturity soars once you are considered an adult actor so one way or another you need to “grow” your talent between 18 and 22.</p>
<p>My son researched the faculty of every program he was considering, reached out to the heads if he had any questions, did thorough research on what they had done and were still doing as related to the creative world and if he was not comfortable with the faculty, struck it off the list.</p>
<p>Thanks for the website TheaterMom! Yeah I definitely about the growth that I need to experience because I was a child actor as well, but I didn’t know if my money was better invested in advanced classes instead of a degree at this point. I honestly don’t know. But I guess I need to be thinking about transferring if a bfa does turn into my decision. Let me ask you guys another question-is an actor’s success fueled by the quality of school he/she went to or does it really just come down to the performer? I mean I would assume that a bfa from Iowa or something wouldn’t turn out actors as good as one from USC for example because of the instruction.</p>
<p>I agree I should ask my agent’s input for this as well.</p>
<p>No one is going to tell you to only invest your money in a program that has name recognition because the name of a school is not a gauge of what program may be right for you. Your the only one who will no that after more self reflection.</p>
<p>You will find good and bad teachers at every school because that is subjective. What is also subjective is what you think good actors are. Think about it. Not everyone in the world thinks the same actor is amazing. It’s a personal feeling. </p>
<p>It’s not the school name or the professors that will make you a successful actor it’s you!</p>
<p>A program is only going to be as good as what you put into it. Many students get top quality training at less known schools and vice versa. You are looking for a simple answer and there are just too many variables. You are going to have to figure out what you want and then make that the focus of your search.</p>
<p>I agree that you can always get more skills and become a stronger actor, and I am sure your agent would agree.</p>
<p>But do you actually need that piece of paper? Many succesful actors do not. Talk to your agent, and find out whether getting a BFA from a “brand” name will help get you the sort of work you are interested in. But also remember you will very likely need to take a break from your career to get that degree. Again, is this a good idea based on where you are in your career?</p>
<p>@photomom5 That sounds like such a great process, could you share with us some of the results he found from that faculty search? I think most bfa acting prospective students hope to have the initiative/time to do that… Maybe ask what he struck off the list?</p>
<p>@actingsir, I am not going to tell you who he struck off the list as this was a personal kind of process he went through and his reasons were truly his own. What was important to him was the faculty be relevant, that they were still in the creative process, still writing, directing, acting, etc. He also reached out to certain department heads to see if he was the kind of actor they were looking for and they had the type of program he was looking for as well. In the end, the program he chose was not the conservatory style he thought he wanted, and it was through this process he discovered what he was looking for as much as anything. This did give him some feeling of control in a process where the student has very little.</p>