<p>In my opinion, first, you should seek a BA degree. There are not that many BA degrees that actually offer a MT Major, however, that are located in very selective colleges. A few offer a MT Minor. What you should look for is a BA school with a strong theater department and a school that has MT opportunities (puts on musicals that either non-majors can participate in and/or student run musicals). </p>
<p>Of the schools on your list, I would say that Yale and Brown offer a great deal of MT opportunities on campus, both faculty and student directed musicals in abundance, in addition to courses. Yale, in particular does have MT courses. </p>
<p>Then, I would seriously consider Northwestern which is very strong in theater and offers a MT Certificate program (audition after first year) and is a BA. I would also look at USC as you can do a BA in Theater and there is a MT Minor by audition. I would look at Brandeis which is not only strong in theater but has a MT track. Muhlenberg would be a very good safety school (I do not know if you provided your entire college list in your post but you are sorely lacking match and safety schools). </p>
<p>I do not agree with your stance that you will not add these schools since you have not yet visited them. Sorry. For one thing, you are willing to apply to Stanford without visiting and will visit if admitted and so you are being inconsistent in that regard. While I am a big proponent of college visits, if there are a couple of schools on your list you cannot visit prior to applying, you can visit this year or if you are admitted. It is a bad reason to omit these schools, in my view. On the one hand, you say how much you want to be able to do MT in college and have posted a thread about it, and on the other, you have some schools on the list that don’t have much for MT and there have been some good suggestions of very selective universities that have either a MT Minor or track or certificate, and/or MT opportunities. If you really want MT in college, it would trump “prestige” and all that. </p>
<p>I have worked with many very strong academic students who prefer a BA over a BFA but want to pursue MT in college. These students tend to look at Yale, Brown, Northwestern, USC, and Brandeis (some also apply to Vassar). I know very strong MT students who have chosen these colleges to attend. I can’t tell how much you want to pursue MT or not. But if you truly do and the “name” of the college is not your main selection criteria, look into these suggested schools. They are highly selective academically and for that matter, their “names” are prestigious too. Some schools on your list are not the best options for someone who genuinely cares about MT in college.</p>
<p>PS, I forgot to mention UCLA which has a BA in MT by audition and is very difficult to get into and is a lot like a BFA. But I don’t think you are necessarily seeking audition based programs and just wish to be able to continue with MT in college and the other suggestions are better for you in that regard.</p>