It's that time for 2013 class --need help expanding BFA list

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>EmmyBet, great post. I want to emphasize what you said about ‘selectivity inflation,’ because it’s becoming increasingly common and something I feel parents/students should know. <em>Many</em> colleges artificially inflate their selectivity quotient and yield (not just BFA programs). This can give a very false impression of their selectivity and if you are going by that in deciding the college - if you say, “Gee, this must be a fabulous program because only 4% of the applicants were accepted, so therefore I’ll accept the program” - your decision is not necessarily based on fact. In BFA programs, where the acceptance rate is very tiny and where your acceptance is also based on looks, gender, etc - things entirely out of your control - the manipulations can be even more tilted. Many colleges count <em>everyone</em> who auditions as having applied, including those at Unifieds who don’t specifically audition for that particular college. </p>

<p>As EmmyBet says, what’s really important is the fit. My oldest S went to a college that was a poor fit for him although it was a top college, and it was a disaster. If you have the good luck to be able to choose - which is another reason you should audition for many colleges - visit each college and go by fit as much as possible, not ‘reputation.’ It’s true that some reputations are deserved, but a) that doesn’t mean they’re good for the particular student and b) that doesn’t mean a less well known isn’t fabulous. Also some reputations are built on years past, not now; they ride on their former reputation, which doesn’t do the student any good. All the cliches are true–college is largely what you make of it; but if you’re in a program that is a poor fit for you, who cares if it is highly selective?</p>

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<p>Thanks EmmyBet and others for your posts. EmmyBet – I actually agree with most of your post. Like you, we’re looking for the best quality school with respect to her desires. </p>

<p>I think I inadvertenly sent this thread on a bit of a side track by carrying over the word “prestige” that came up in a post from TheaterFish. I grew up in Wisconsin (where I see EmmyBet is from) and went to school at Wisconsin. In short, like most folks from Wisconsin, I’m fairly anti-prestige in my orientation. </p>

<p>I think in the context of this discussion, a better word to use for the point I was trying to make is “reputation” rather than prestige or selectivity. A huge limitation in this process is there is just not enough time to investigate all the possible schools. That being the case, looking at the ones having a strong reputation for quality is the logical place to start. There may be factors that make it not a good fit after investigation or you may find out that its reputation for quality is not deserved but you have to start somewhere. </p>

<p>Thanks to those who have offered schools to look at.</p>

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<p>I don’t want to jump on you AD - sorry if you’re feeling on the spot now. I do feel kind of strongly about the issue you raised, and I see so many kids here who start with lists like you presented, who end up unhappy at the end, for lots of reasons, and I hoped I could explain to you, and others who read these threads, how possibly to avoid that.</p>

<p>To tell you the truth, though, even though what you say makes a certain sense, I still don’t entirely agree. The problem with starting with a list of all “big names” is that kids naturally start seeing themselves at these schools, and molding their impressions sometimes too quickly - and sometimes destructively. If all of us in helping kids find colleges started with “reputation,” there would be many thousands of students who aren’t accepted anywhere, or who are beating themselves up because they’re not happy at that “great” school “everyone” thinks it is. I myself got caught in that game when I was applying to college, and I am grateful to the people who helped me think outside the box and find a school that truly was a great fit for me.</p>

<p>It is really important to look far and wide, know what characteristics are important to you/your kid. You are right that starting with “top” (prestigious, greatly reputed, however you define it) or at least well-known schools as a template will help, although as has been said here, the “top” schools don’t resemble each other very much on a close look.</p>

<p>Look at the websites, and visit where you can. See if your D can come up with 4-5 really important characteristics that she is aiming for; you’ve mentioned small, conservatory-style training, and a couple of others, and there are lots more details for her to consider. She may find certain types of campuses do appeal to her - she’s a human being, and she does have to live at school for 4 years, so the general atmosphere is important. She may find some specific factors that you haven’t thought about yet - some kids realize they want more/less opportunities in tech and design, or directing, or writing, others realize they want the school to have a film department, or a minor in something they realize they love. Many kids here made final decisions based on study abroad, or how/whether the school has a showcase senior year, and lots of things that we don’t always examine closely at the beginning of the process. </p>

<p>She’ll get good at seeing which schools feel like “her,” and which don’t. Because great arts programs are so often located within less prestigious colleges, it does take searching, and asking in places like this forum. We also used regular college websites and searched under “BFA Theatre/Drama/Acting” to uncover schools we hadn’t heard of. </p>

<p>I’m actually not from Wisconsin originally - I have split my life pretty evenly between the Northeast and the Midwest. I think because of that my idea of “quality” is very broad and a little different from others’. My first D went to “regular” college, and her search process was hugely different from my theatre D. It was a huge education learning about this particular pathway, and I’m grateful I found CC fairly early in the game.</p>

<p>My absolute one piece of advice is that she should apply anywhere she thinks she might want to go in the end - within reason, of course, but a list of 12-15 schools is very normal for this group of applicants. The one thing she pretty much can’t do in the spring is apply somewhere she suddenly realizes she wishes she had included. It feels like a waste of money in some ways, but the alternative is a year wasted if she ends up without the options in hand at the end of the season.</p>

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<p>ActingDad wrote, “A huge limitation in this process is there is just not enough time to investigate all the possible schools.”</p>

<p>Actually, if you are only looking for at BFA programs and have geographical restrictions, it is not too hard to investigate all of the schools that fall within that particular subset. :)</p>

<p>Emmybet’s post above provides some excellent guidelines. One thing that can be said for schools that offer a fairly wide number of options in theatre training is that some kids’ interests evolve over time. My own son started college with the primary objective of learning Shakespearean type (heightened language) classical acting. Now he is as interested in directing than acting (if not more so), is doing a dance minor, and has fallen in love with physical theatre. </p>

<p>Just as your D’s thoughts about where to apply are evolving, her proclivities may evolve as time goes on.</p>

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<p>Also, ultimately we want our kids to have sustainable employment sometime after they graduate which in the industry is like a roll of the dice. Just as many big stars come from prestigious colleges as relatively unknown ones. Mostly, I want my kid to have a challenging, happy college experience that gives him some skills to get a (any) job.</p>

<p>As a total aside, this is a link I use when people give me grief about letting my kid study theater in college instead of pre-med :)</p>

<p>[What</a> Theatre Majors Learn. What can you “do” with a theatre major? Plenty!!](<a href=“http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/majorslearn.html]What”>http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/majorslearn.html)</p>