<p>ActingDad and Marbleheader have got it right. Each year, BU accepts a relatively large number of PERFORMANCE majors, compared to many other BFA programs. All of these acceptances are based on the same auditions. Their admissions yield results in a freshman class that can have as many as fifty members; it varies a little bit from year to year.</p>
<p>All of the students accepted into the School of Theatre’s BFA Performance program (as opposed to the SOT BFA Design & Production program) take exactly the same classes during freshman year.</p>
<p>At the end of freshman year, each student decides whether to pursue the Acting track or the Theatre Arts track. There are no set numbers for each track; the relative sizes of the two tracks vary from year to year.</p>
<p>Theatre Arts students have much more flexibility to take classes outside the major, or to take non-performance classes like design. My son is a Theatre Arts student who is minoring in dance. He is also interested in directing; TA students have more opportunities to study directing than Acting track students do.</p>
<p>Theatre Arts students have a basic core curriculum, but it is very flexible to allow for a wide variety of interests. For instance, my son is not particularly interested in costuming and will not be taking any costuming classes. Some TA students choose to take a large number of the same classes as the Acting students take; others adopt a different approach.</p>
<p>All of the students in both the Acting track and the Theatre Arts track have equal opportunities in casting. Another great thing about BU is that there is guaranteed casting for all performance students, starting in sophomore year.</p>