<p>Hey! Basically I love acting and want to be trained for acting in university. But I also want to direct my own movies at some point in my life. I was thinking of BA because of that. But, do BA students take acting lessons too?</p>
<p>YES. There are so many options that simply saying BA or BFA doesn’t even cover it. Check out the school’s options. Do they offer film production or film acting? Talk to the theatre department, do they have classes devoted to film? </p>
<p>Speaking as a BA student myself, I did take acting classes and I know my school offers a film production major which some people including a friend of mine double-major in. I personally did a bit of filmwork myself behind and in front of the camera which wasn’t not something I anticipated but enjoyed doing and learning about. Every school is different! Ask questions. Talk to the people who know the answers.</p>
<p>This BA versus BFA question is the first question that everyone seems to face. In the archived thread, there is lots of good discussion on this subject. One of the best ways to think about it is – would you be happier spending 80 perecent of your time in the studio working on your acting, voice, movement, directing, etc. and 20 percent in the classroom or spending 80 percent of your time in the classroom on academics and 20 percent in the studio. For my daughter, this was easy. She’d be happy if she never left the studio. She was bored to tears studying MacBeth in the classroom. Put her in a studio where they are living Shakespeare and she loves every minute of it. For this reason, we’re not only looking at BFAs but ones that are almost all the time in the studio. (Such programs also have the advantage that they tend to weigh auditioning over academics and my daughters auditioning skills are likely much better than her academics) </p>
<p>Now, if you are somewhat fuzzy between classroom and studio, then I think there are likely a number of other factors that come into play.</p>
<p>Acting dad… although I’m confused. is it really that less of a time doing acting in BA Theatre? and BFA students have directing too? is it quite intense? BA students seem to do it all, screenwriting, acting, directing, design… Why would they be in a classroom and study boring things?</p>
<p>the amount of required courses in a BA will generally vary from a ratio of 70% outside of the major/ 30% inside the major to 50% outside of the major/ 50% inside the major. </p>
<p>the amount of required courses in a BFA will generally vary from a ratio of 40% outside the major/ 60% inside the major to 10% outside the major/ 90% inside the major. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, this does not take into account the non-required courses that a student may chose to take inside (or outside) of the major. Often a BA program will lend a little more flexibility in scheduling than a BFA, allowing a student the time to explore and train in many areas of theatre (or outside interests). But, this is not always the case. Some BFAs will offer many opportunities to develop skills in multiple areas as well, and some BAs may not.</p>
<p>Each program is different, so it is important to look at the curriculum of each school carefully and ask specific questions of the programs at the schools on your list.</p>
<p>To quote Singersmom07 on the Music Major forum where there is a discussion about the difference between BA/ BM/ BFA …</p>
<p>“For every rule there is an exception. For example, UCLA program is a BA in music. It is a highly competitive, audition based program and you cannot minor in music. The only way you can tell anything about a program is to read everything there is about it. The titles of the degree don’t always tell you the story.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/561184-help-understanding-ba-vs-bfa-vs-bm-3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/561184-help-understanding-ba-vs-bfa-vs-bm-3.html</a></p>
<p>And as I’ve stated before, my daughter about to be a junior at Northwestern, has had at least 70% theatre/MT classes each quarter except her first when it was more 50/50. Her Fall quarter this year will be 100% theatre/MT classes. As has been said, check each program thoroughly as the degree of BA or BFA tells you little. </p>
<p>This has been discussed thoroughly throughout this forum and the MT forum, if you search you should find many of your questions answered.</p>