<p>So my favorite actor of all time Ben Stiller and also Kal Penn graduated from UCLA</p>
<p>I wanted to know some info</p>
<p>A.) how competitive is it?
B.) how hard to get in as actor?
C.) reputation? Prestige?
D.) anyone in it?
E.) Any additional info!</p>
<p>My daughter auditioned for the MT program so I can’t really answer all your questions but I will pass on some info.</p>
<p>We made UCLA my daughters first audition as she wasn’t all that interested so it was a good introduction to the college audition process. I must say that by the time the day was over we were both incredibly impressed. </p>
<p>It’s a fairly new program (at least the MT degree) and I believe it’s a BA not BFA but the number of classes required in and out of your major is the same as BFA programs in U Mich, Syracuse, Ithaca, or any of the other non-conservatory style programs. </p>
<p>They are very strict in their requirements, (attendance, performance, being prepared, etc.) which, given their location and student population I guess they need to be. They “allow” you to audition and work outside of the university but they make no adjustments for it. So all auditions and shoots must be worked around your school schedule and you must keep your grades acceptable. He gave an example of a big name talent who was able to schedule his weekly television show around his classes, until they were going on location and he was going to miss a mid-term. He had to decide - he could drop of out the acting program and go into their theatre (non-acting) program or miss the shoot. He met with the professor and asked if he would pass the class with a zero on the mid-term. The answer was that he would pass the class, with a lower grade obviously, but still within the required grades to stay in the program. He gave some other examples of those who needed to make decisions career vs degree and each did what worked for them.</p>
<p>The kids currently in the program are thrilled with it, the audition quality was at as high a level as the other schools my daughter auditioned for. The facilities are beautiful as is the campus. </p>
<p>Probably the biggest positive to this program is the connections/friends you will make here. The alumni and parents of alumni and current students is a directory of well respected, well known show business people and most of them are very generous to the school both in giving their time and money.</p>
<p>That’s my view as of right now. Hope it gave you some insight.</p>
<p>We know a couple of kids who auditioned at UCLA and had similar good impressions of the school and of the program. It isn’t at the top of their lists but they were glad that they included it. </p>
<p>By the way, although it’s true that Ben attended UCLA, it was their film school not theatre, and he was only there for one year. :)</p>
<p>Still pretty amazing!</p>
<p>So, can one audition as well, let’s say after their first year?</p>
<p>According to Directory of Theater Training Programs, acceptance rate for UG is a whopping 6% which is, I think, about as competitive as it gets. We’ve visited the program and they made it clear that acceptance is largely by audition/interview rather than GPA/test scores. The degree is a BA and the degree requirements include math and foreign language although there were a few ways around the requirements. The facilities are great and the school is filled with seemingly purposeful and engaged students and teachers. However, we were given a take-home video that was largely skewed toward film; most of the theater shows mentioned in the video were plays that began as Disney animations.</p>
<p>My D and I thought the UCLA audition process was one of the most interesting. The presentation before the audition was all about why you should NOT go to UCLA. The first slide of the presentation was actually “Should you go to college?” The basic theory was if you are such a good actor, maybe you should go out and act because your best asset is your youth. Interesting to hear that from a major university…</p>
<p>They accept 30 Acting, 30 MT for the freshman class. They accept 30 junior transfers. 2300 audition total. You do the math. (I don’t do math.)</p>
<p>The guy doing the presentation said that if you have a 3.0 GPA you should be okay,but you have to make some kind of “cut off” based upon some UC formula. Then the UCLA theatre people look at the copy of your transcript to see if you can handle the academics. He said they don’t care if you have a C in science or math. But a C in Drama is going to be “an issue.” This grade/SAT evaluation is not as important as the audition, which sounded like it was anywhere from 70-80% of the decision. This stunned me, given how difficult UCLA is as a school. But I guess if you make that UC “cut off” whatever it is, you can handle the academics.</p>
<p>It was an amusing presentation. The guy was really great… very funny… very likable. It was well stated. They did a good job about getting their semi-negative message out. A few things stick out. There is not a lot of actual performance time. I think they said only seven undergraduate performances last year, which compared to other schools is paltry. They do not permit you to study abroad during the school year, as that would interrupt their schedule/plan. It is a BA program, not a BFA, because they think you should actually educate yourself about other things than acting (I kinda agree with this, which is why I favor NYU and Emerson for my D.) </p>
<p>All the kids my D knows (as well as herself) found the audition process a little intimidating. That is saying a lot coming from my D who auditioned for Juilliard and CMU. She knew kids who didn’t even finish a single monologue before they were cut off. After the monologue you are sent to an actual interviewer… someone different. There, it is the equivalent of a job interview. They asked very probing questions. They were clearly looking to see if my daughter was intelligent.</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s what I can tell you based upon our experiences this year.</p>
<p>Beautiful campus. Great school. My husband went there. We are waiting to hear whether my D got in. That’s all I can say.</p>
<p>chrissyblu - I’m so surprised that you say the kids found the audition intimidating. As I said it was my daughter’s first but one of her favorites; the monologue person spent a lot of time with her switching it up, asking her to do all sorts of things, she really enjoyed it. Don’t know if it means anything at all, but she did not find it intimidating at all.</p>
<p>I do agree that the info presentation was great. I forgot that he spent all that time helping you to evaluate what you’re really looking for in a college program or even if you should be in college. I remember now that he told us about his son who is not going to go to college probably because he’s all acting, all the time, and they’re just hopeful he graduates high school!</p>
<p>My only concern with UCLA and USC is that I’m not giving my daughter up for 4 years, which I’m fine with, it’s that she’s not coming back any time soon! Oh well, I hear there’s lots of houses for sale at a good price! :-)</p>
<p>I would second everything Chrissy said. After the information session my D said a LOT of people decided not to audition and left. The audition itself was unusual out of all the auditions this year in that it was done on a stage with the auditor sitting out in the middle of the auditorium. The interviewer evidently had a very strong accent and she had some trouble understanding him. I don’t know if I would call it intimidating as much as it was emotionally draining as it was a very long process. My D had freshman friends there helping with the auditions so she did have fun reconnecting with them. She also made a new friend in a girl that flew in from Hong Kong just for the audition!</p>
<p>My D had a particularl auditor whom one of the kids who is already attending (a freshman) and was helping out told her was “difficult to read” and that the student had her last year too. So, maybe it was just the auditor you got… But we have had a lot of kids we know have similar less friendly experiences with UCLA. I figure its because they have SOOOOOO many kids to audition, they don’t have time to waste. My D was okay with it. After Juilliard, she figured she could handle anything! :)</p>
<p>Just read something on a UCLA website… Don’t ask me to find it again because I never will.</p>
<p>Anyway, the article said 1500 apply for the program, but only about half actually go through the audition, so I’m guessing around 700-800 actually fill out the supplemental application and make it through the audition. Then, of those, they accept 100, which means they accept 10 more than they actually want (they want 90…60 freshman and 30 transfer students. The 60 freshman are half MT, half acting. Same with the 30 transfer students.) It thought this was really interesting.</p>
<p>I found the article. Here’s the link.
[A</a> Bruin Chorus Line - Departments - UCLA Magazine Online](<a href=“http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/depts/quicktakes/chorus_line]A”>http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/depts/quicktakes/chorus_line)</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, that was interesting though a bit biased. The 1500 quote was from 2008…this year at the info session they said 2000 people auditioned so it might be closer to 1000 who actually completed the process this time around.</p>
<p>I would imagine it was more given the economy. But I was surprised so many people don’t follow through.</p>
<p>Interesting article but I have to chuckle when I see programs that feel the need to tout themselves as ‘the best in the nation’. </p>
<p>A friend of a friend teaches at UCLA and, from what I understand, the reason that so many do not follow through is largely due to the way the application system works for the UC schools. I’m not familiar with it but apparently kids can just check off the boxes of those schools they’re interested in in the system? So it results in a lot of kids indicating an interest but when it comes down to it they either realize that their stats are not good enough for UCLA or they decide they don’t really want to audition and are not really interested in theatre. Did anyone address this issue at the info session?</p>
<p>This was in the LA Times yesterday - it is probably a little different for the TFT School, but may factor in.</p>
<p>"Economic uncertainties prompt private institutions to admit more students in order to meet enrollment targets. But public schools, including UC and Cal State, are taking fewer students.</p>
<p>UCLA, which received 55,665 applications this year, has been spared the freshman enrollment cuts some other UC campuses face. Still, Vu T. Tran, undergraduate admissions director, said UCLA will admit somewhat fewer students this year because he expects more of them than usual to decide to enroll there, rather than at private colleges. Last year, UCLA admitted 20% of its applicants. About 37% of those chose to attend, he said.</p>
<p>“Predicting yield is a very challenging task at every university. This year, the economy is an added factor,” Tran said."</p>
<p>^ last year was more like 23%</p>
<p>They didn’t really talk about it at the auditions. It does work that way. You fill out one application and check the boxes for the schools you want to apply for, and then pay more depending on the number of schools you are applying to. My D applied to three UC schools -Irvine, Santa Barbara and UCLA. UCLA was the only one that had a supplemental application and an audition. When we were at the audition, several of the kids had not completed the supplemental application which had been due for over two weeks prior to the audition. Honestly, it is much better than when I went to Berkeley. When I went, you could only apply to one UC school. Then, if you were rejected, they forwarded your application to your second choice school and you prayed it wasn’t filled up with other kids. Luckily, I got in to my first choice school (as did my brother.)</p>
<p>UCLA decisions are up on the website!</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/decision/Login.aspx[/url]”>https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/decision/Login.aspx</a></p>
<p>My D was accepted.</p>
<p>Hooray for your D, Ian! I’m in too!!! Doing the happy dance!</p>