Rejected, but still attending for BA program/need advice

snapdragonfly
Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:55:34 +0000

Now this is something I would really love to see input from current students about because all I have is some mumblings and speculation, but I think not all BA options at a BFA/BA school are the same. Every one of them insists, just swears up and down that the BA kids aren’t treated ANY differently and that “everyone can audition” but I’d be careful.

One BA program at a BA/BFA school that we would have considered, if we’d gotten enough of an offer (it was very disappointing but we don’t care, got good ones from others) was TCU. I very much got the impression that the BA kids were not condescended to, and, they have a very good petition policy. A BA kid can petition to get into the BFA program later and it’s based mostly on if they feel that student has progressed, not so much on did a spot “open” up or not. They seem to realize that a) a lot of kids make huge leaps in that first year in school and that b) they can’t really know all a kid’s qualities that might make them a good BFA candidate from that one interview and audition.

See, that’s my daughter. If they could tell from just 5 or 10 minutes just how wonderful of a cast and crew mate she is to everyone and her really good collaborative skills and attitude, and how hard she works and how much astonishing improvement she shows when she does, they’d give her a lot of weight. I suspect her letters of recommendation indicate this but getting to know her over time is how you get to see her best qualities. So a school who realizes this is what I would look for.

The other thing is, do you have any schools on your list that only offer BA’s but they are very good BA programs? We have 4 of those on our list and one of them is D’s top pick over any BFA out there. (they have SOME money but we are waiting to hear on talent money…so we will see) It has every appealing thing that the BFA programs we looked at have, and they will let her double major in two theater areas (performance and costume) which many of them, we noticed, won’t let you double major in the same area. In which case she’d double major in theater and visual art or fashion history or whatever she could get that would make sense.

The main thing about being a BA at a BFA program that would bother me, at least at all the ones we looked at, is that they all have very speeeeshul classes that are VERY desirable, IMO, for professional development, that are either completely closed to the BA’s, (which I would personally cross that school off the list) or in some cases, IF the instructor says it’s okay and IF they have room, they will let BA’s take.

I think there are some BA programs out there that are just fantastic and there are some I don’t know if they’d be a good fit for my D or not. I know that the BFA’s at the lottery schools are the shiny thing that we all wish our kids could get numerous offers from but the hard cold numbers tell us it just won’t happen for everyone. But I believe Soozievt and everyone else who says a BFA isn’t the only way to get a good education and be well prepared.

I think it’s a matter of fit, just as it is with a BFA.

Anyway those are the things that my D and I are looking at now, so maybe that will help you a bit.