<p>I have quite a bit of experience with Yale and their Shen program and MT and such, although my experience is 2 years old. As some know, my daughter was admitted to Yale and it was where she always thought she wanted to go but it’s MT program was not impressive at all. You would need to cobble together a program for yourself and sort of hope that it was what you needed to compete in the “real world” of MT. The one MT “star pupil” when my daughter met with everyone actually took the train into NYC on Saturdays for voice lessons. My husband arranged numerous meetings with administration, staff, etc. that my daughter went to during Bull Dog Days (admitted students overnights) and, try as she might, a good solid MT program did not exist for her. It was heartbreaking for both my daughter and my husband but in the end they had to admit that if she wanted MT and not straight theatre she needed to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>She chose Northwestern because, like you, she felt most of the audition schools did not have the academic depth and challenge that she would enjoy in addition to the strenuous MT program. The negative with Northwestern is also the positive in my opinion, which is that you don’t audition until the end of Freshman and/or Sophomore year for their MT program which means a stressful year leading up to your audition, if getting into MT is the only program you’re interested in. (I believe there was a parent last year who was lamenting her child’s decision to drop out if he/she did not get into the MT program.) On the other hand, you get nine months of “audition time.” The staff and administration knows you, your work ethic, interest, attitude, etc. after nine months so while the audition is still incredibly important it is more than that which gets you into the program.</p>
<p>USC was a contender for a while and she was even in contention for a full scholarship including airfare (we’re from NY). Her concern was that being in their BA theatre program so that she could minor in their MT program (as opposed to their BFA straight theatre program) would put her in a different status (for lack of a better phrase) which is what we heard from our tour guide who was in the BA/MT program. Academically it was also not as strong at Northwestern. </p>
<p>The other schools she was admitted to were not as academically strong or, like Yale, were better for theatre vs musical theatre. </p>
<p>I commiserate with you, there are not a lot of choices if you want both top notch academics and strong musical theatre. Only you can figure out what works for you and your “life plan.” Good luck!</p>