UMich vs Penn State - Design

caseyscott
Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:55:19 +0000

I’ve just graduated from high school in Australia and had previously posted when I was looking at studying theatre design in the US. In looking at tuition fees, etc., the cost of doing my entire degree internationally ended up becoming far too prohibitive.

However, I just found out that I’ve been admitted into a theatrical design degree here in Australia (at one of our top schools - one of four people accepted!), which I’ll commence in a month’s time. I’m fairly fixed on going on exchange for a semester during my second year, but what with the timeline of arranging for exchanges, I’ve had to start looking into things now as I’ll have to get the ball rolling fairly quickly when I start my degree!

In looking at my school’s exchange partners, I’m fairly spoilt for choice when it comes to the calibre (and number!) of their partners. On their list, UMich and Penn State stand out as schools that I know have an excellent reputation; as well as the UCs (LA, SD and Irvine), University of Illinois-UC, and Boston College. When it comes to each of these schools, I know they have an excellent reputation for theatre in general; but I was wondering whether anyone might be able to attest to how they fare specifically in the design stakes?

Thank you SO much - if anyone can give me any advice, that would be amazing!