<p>Auditioned Schools (roughly in order, I’m still working it out in light of recent visits):
NYU
Emerson
DePaul
UNC Arts
Boston U
Chapman
TCU</p>
<p>Non-audition safeties (in no particular order):
UNC Greensboro, Ohio University, Cal State Long Beach, Columbia College Chicago, UCSB.</p>
<p>ELIMINATED:
Fordham Lincoln Center-- wasn’t impressed by their program or living spaces. There’s better training to be found in New York City.
Bennington: Mom flatly refused to let me apply after seeing the campus-- it’s 3000 miles from home and looks like a summer camp. I don’t mind terribly, because they failed to sell me on it as well.</p>
<p>I’m still doing some consideration of other programs, trying to really look into them. But so far these are my top school and ones that I’ll probably be auditioning for.</p>
<p>1.) Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University
2.) University of Minnesota
3.) North Carolina School of the Arts
4.) USC
5.) Suny Purchase
6.) Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>I’ll probably also apply to Montclair, maybe U of Arts. I know I’ll be doing a lot of auditions at the Unifieds. I’m definitely trying to look more into a few more schools because I feel like my list is pretty sparse, but if I really don’t find other schools that fit the way I want to study, then I’d rather stick to the ones that do. Mason Gross is my number one, that’s the one I’m really trying to shoot for. It truly is an amazing program.</p>
<p>Welcome luckoflindsay! All of the schools you currently list are very competitive audition based programs. Do you plan to add a safety school or two to your list, or do you plan to take a gap year if not admitted to any of the schools on your list? This question is in no way related to your talent (obviously, since that is an unknown on an anonymous chat board ;)), rather a question that all students applying to highly competitive audition programs will need to consider.</p>
<p>I believe that USC (U. Southern California) and Minnesota will also consider students for the BA program if not admitted to the BFA, but I am not sure how much performance training is included in those programs. Others with direct experience will be able to provide that info.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if I want a BFA or a BA yet, so I’m applying to both so that I have more time to figure out what I want. I want an intese acting experience, but within that I want the chance to take a few liberal arts courses and study other areas of theater (ie design, directing, dramaturgy). All of these programs offer that to varying extents. </p>
<p>BFA:
Boston University (theatre arts, hopefully!)
University of Evansville
Otterbein Unviersity
Elon University
Virginia Commonwealth University (instate and pretty much a safety)</p>
<p>BA:
Muhlenberg College
Smith College
Gordon College
Connecticut College</p>
<p>If you have the stats for BU, Conn College, Elon… in-state non-auditioned options you may want to look at are CNU, George Mason, Radford, and VTech. The program at UVA is also non-auditioned, but depending on your stats might be a reach? </p>
<p>I teach at JMU, and while an auditioned BA program, it may be worth looking at if you are looking for lots of performance opportunities and training as well as the opportunity to direct, dramaturg, design, etc…</p>
<p>JMU is going into the second year in a brand new performing arts center. Tech has a new facility. CNU’s facilities are also quite new. UVA is building a new facility as well… not sure when it will be open. </p>
<p>If finances will come into play with your final decision making VA state schools would likely be more affordable if you do not receive scholarship money at OOS or private schools. </p>
<p>You have a great list of schools above, you may just want to think about adding some academic and financial safeties/ matches to the list, since your BFA programs are have highly competitive audition based admissions.</p>
<p>I changed up my list since I last posted. Mostly looking at BA Theatre programs with a double major in Sociology. (with some exceptions)Decided to branch out a lot more:</p>
<p>Reaches:
Boston University (BFA Theatre Arts+ BA Sociology Dual Degree Program)
New York University (BFA Drama: Directing thru Playwrights Horizons, Double Major in Sociology)
University of Pennyslvania
Vassar College</p>
<p>Matches:
Connecticut College
Sarah Lawrence College
Unversity of Washington
University of Minnesota</p>
<p>Safeties:
Eugene Lang College the New School for Liberal Arts (Arts in Context: Theatre/Civic Engagement)
Pace University
Southern Oregon University</p>
<p>does 11 seem like too much? i wanted to be really broad with everything but i’m not sure if it’ll make the application process too overwhelming. (especially with 3 APs and directing 3 shows this year!)</p>
<p>KatMT, you are totally correct about VCU’s auditions. I said pretty much a safety because I have spoken with members of the department and they say that almost everyone that auditions for the bfa gets in. It’s not hugely competitive. In fact, many of the people that audition come with very little prior experience, so since I have done a lot of theatre (much of it professional), I feel my chances are pretty good. </p>
<p>My other safety out of my list is Gordon College. It’s an academic safety and my stats would make it a financial safety because of guaranteed scholarships (based on SATs and GPS). It’s a Christian college outside of Boston and though it’s a BA, I would be happy attending there if it came down to it. They produce high quality shows, have an extremely active student theatre group and improv group, and have a professional theatre troupe run out of the college that is cast almost exclusively with students. </p>
<p>I also know that JMU has a fantastic theatre program. However, my mom went to JMU and I have MANY friends studying acting or MT there. I would like to go someplace completely new and different from what all my friends are doing…</p>
<p>I’ll take a peek at the other colleges you mentioned, though, just to be sure! :)</p>
<p>@missj212 - personal bias, but i would take UCLA off the list and put USC. Just as good of a program, and you won’t have to deal with the woes of the CA education cuts. Coming from out of state, (I’m assuming you’re from NYC) you probably won’t get any money from UCLA either.</p>
<p>this may be the same for UNCSA, but i know nothing about the state of public education in North Carolina. just something to be aware of with public schools, especially California.</p>
<p>missj212: You have a really nice, balanced list of auditioned programs. Good luck with them! </p>
<p>I think you could beef up your non-auditioned list a bit. Do you have extremely high academic stats? I’m guessing Hunter is a real safety for you, but UChicago is extremely selective. Also, it’s really not known for non-academic types of majors. Why not add a couple of BAs that are very performance oriented, like Brandeis, Muhlenberg, or Columbia College in Chicago (depending on your stats and what you generally want in a college experience)? </p>
<p>Also, I’m not sure you are worried about cost, but again, Hunter seems to be the only financial safety. I’m just thinking in the worst-case scenario, you have left yourself with potentially only one choice in the end. That can be kind of depressing come spring (although it’s better than NO choices, for sure!).</p>
<p>To MissJ212: Are you an NYC or NY State resident? Brooklyn College has a good BA option, along with its highly-selective auditioned BFA program. Sarah Lawrence is excellent for performing arts, if you aren’t too worried about the financial aspect. Drew University, in Madison, NJ, also has very good performing arts, and is an easy train-ride from NYC; it is also very expensive. Is there any reason you’re not auditioning for SUNY Purchase? It’s highly selective, but a real bargain for NY residents.</p>
<p>We visited Syracuse today. A serious program. One useful piece of information I learned: for the academic classes outside the bfa curriculum there are no “core” or “general education” requirements. Students can pretty much take classes as they like, except for a mandatory first year writing class…</p>
<p>This does not seem like enough to me. Gotta keep working on it, to strike the balance between not overworking her so that she’s exhausted but keeping her options open.</p>
<p>My D auditioned at unified with only six schools last year for both MT and Acting, two accepted her on the spot for acting but she didn’t no if she would be happy with a BFA in acting so guess what gap year.A few of her friends auditioned for upwards of twelve programs and did every walk in they could and only got accepted into one of there walk ins, so they settled for that one school even though it was never on their list ,so just keep all your options open.</p>
<p>Just to let you know, as of the class of '16 and onward, DePaul will no long have a numbered cut from freshman to sophomore year. They now accept 32 students for incoming BFA acting classes with no intention of lowering the class size (though a cut policy still exists, it just won’t be for a mandatory set number). So there you go. DePaul won’t be so infamous anymore.</p>
<p>glassharmonica – why not NCSA? Your D’s list seems leaning towards conservatory – studio all the time type programs – Julliard, CMU, Purchase, and Rutgers. NCSA would seem like a good fit. Those four plus NCSA are probably my daughter’s top five (although she’s a 2012 so we’re still early on our thinking). Also, curious if you have looked at U of Arts – given you have Temple and UPenn on your list and not the school in Philly thats more like the others on your list. And if you have, what are your thoughts on it?</p>
<p>ActingDad, I am encouraging her to apply to Uarts (and kind of insisting on Penn for different reasons, but she does not want to go there.) We live in Philly and she would like to go to college in a different city. Temple is a no-brainer because it’s an academic, non-auditioned safety with a good acting program. I also want her to audition for NCSA, but she is is not so sure about the NC part. This list may well evolve! I forgot to put Chapman on the list. I think, like typecast’s D, she might opt for a gap year over a program she would have to “settle” for, but it’s hard to know for sure.</p>
<p>will apply to UofI only for fallback and theatre program…
still working on the list
PS: I know students starting at DePaul and have also heard the drop is being cut</p>
<p>abstmom- Fortunately, DePaul doesn’t have the cut program anymore! They will cut on a case by case basis if there are students not taking the program seriously, but there is no longer a numerical cut. They are just going to take a bit less to begin with- around 32.</p>