UCLA Theater Graduates?

madbean
Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:42:56 +0000

littlesooyon92–I can share my S2’s experience if it is helpful. He applied and was admitted to UCLA School of Theater & Film–Theater Design this spring but ended up choosing to attend another college.

Just like theater mom’s D, my S had pretty much the identical experience just 2 years later. Very cold and almost hostile interview process (brrr). He brought in his art portfolio and an instructor from UCLA’s MFA program (?) flipped through it without even talking to S. Then he looked up, asked if he had any questions. (!) When S asked one (always good to have a q ready), the interviewer replied he had no idea what undergrads do and to look it up on the website. (okay…)

The other thing that lost my S was the admitted students event when a dad in the audience asked about opportunities for the UGs to actually design shows. The head of the Theater dept. explained that would not happen. They have reduced the # of shows (emphasizing training vs. preformance, he said) drastically and only the MFA design students actually will… um… design anything that will get produced.

There is also a new mandatory summer program for all theater majors at UCLA between soph and junior years, so that limits working and internships or travel.

My last comment (sorry I can only report red flags–because for another student this might be a great spot) is that I seem to recall that all theater majors must begin freshman year (in order to do the sequence of classes–including a freshman experience and the summer program). I’m already confusing several other programs he was considering, so my advice is to call the office and ask someone if transferring into that major is open for juniors from cc, and which cc courses will be transferable. It might be great to take a tech theatre or design course at cc (in order to work on your portfolio), but may not transfer.

Best of luck. There is a lot to think about!