<p>Double wow! I agree fully with Kelly LJ1s comments. I also am a VA resident and the last time I looked, the state-funded VA college system ranked up there with California and Michigan state-funded colleges as the best in the country. My S graduated from a VA high school that has been on Newsweeks list of the top 100 US high schools and many students there, as well as their parents, are highly focused on the student being admitted to very selective colleges. Because private college costs are so high and VA in-state resident tuitions are so low in comparison a number of his classmates with high grades and high SAT scores have elected to stay within VA for college even though they also have been admitted to top-ranked out of state schools. This truly makes sense given the uncertain economic situation that many families now face, although VA overall has lower unemployment than many other states. Also, I have never heard one of his classmates or their parents disparage any VA college. In fact, a number of students from my Ss high school drama class have elected to attend VA colleges and seem to be doing reasonably well in their theatre programs. One classmate was accepted at numerous highly selective, audition-based BFA programs that routinely show up on students lists posted here on CC ; decided to attend a top tier VA college instead (and probably made many others happy because that decision opened up a slot at a number of very-hard-to-get-into BFA programs); and has been doing very well as an actor. I noted that you were critical of Radford. Yet Jayma Mays of GLEE graduated from Radford and appears to have made it in show business. There are students and parents who review postings on CC and are interested in theatre programs in VA schools. If you have first-hand knowledge of the theatre programs at VA colleges, then folks may be interested in your views. But this is not the place to make broad negative comments about an entire state-funded college system. </p>
<p>By the way, my S did not apply to VA colleges mostly because he preferred to attend college out of state. He is in an audition-based BFA acting program in a university setting and that program most likely is considered pretty selective, i.e., lots of applicants and not a lot of offers. If you take the time to review prior threads, you most likely will see references to other acting programs, aside from those already mentioned, that may not be as focused on grades but are well-regarded. Hofstra and Montclair State are two other programs that have been mentioned.</p>