<p>What about the audition process? Are people feeling like their HS Drama teacher can get them into this really elite programs, or is a private coach needed? How do we find out what the college audition process is like and what they’re looking for at these top schools?</p>
<p>[Don’t</a> Bring a knife to a gun fight](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1164995-dont-bring-knife-gun-fight.html?highlight=knife+gun+fight]Don’t”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1164995-dont-bring-knife-gun-fight.html?highlight=knife+gun+fight)</p>
<p>Kelly LJ1 - We visited American last week, and thought the Performing Arts department looked pretty good, but my son was not awestruck. He enjoyed the classes he sat in on, but felt they were no more challenging than anything he’s already doing in IB Theater Arts as a senior. It seemed to be a closeknit, collegial group, evenly split between musical theater and dramatic acting. AU also has more opportunities to double-major or branch out beyond your department than many schools do. The campus is in a quiet residential area, so it doesn’t have quite the urban “vibe” that I’d expected.</p>
<p>Hi everyone! I’m looking for a BA in theatre arts/acting or theatre education with an acting component if possible. My GPA is 4.52 on a 4.2+ scale…I don’t understand it either. I have had all A’s and B’s throughout high school with all honors and 4 total APs. My SAT is a 1950. If anyone can give me feedback on any of these schools (can i get in, am i classifying them right, how is their program, anything really!) I would really appreciate it :)</p>
<p>Reach
NYU Steinhardt - theatre ed
Fordham - acting</p>
<p>Match
Emerson - theatre ed: acting
Elon - theatre studies
Muhlenberg - theatre studies</p>
<p>Safety
Penn State - acting</p>
<p>I just have to throw a recommendation out there for the Texas State program. D is a freshman (after doing the audition season with an MT focus - only straight acting audition was Texas State as a walk-in at Unifieds). She ended up with four MT acceptances to some great places and one BFA acting at Texas State. She could not be happier with her choice to go to TS!! Their faculty are working actors - her current instructor is working in a show in Austin so lots of connections in the industry. The Acting and MT programs work amazingly well together. Kids are encouraged to audition for everything - D was cast in the main stage musical her first freshman semester!! As a parent who is 1200 miles away from San Marcos, I can’t say enough about both the Acting and MT faculty! They truly care about the kids and they have quickly formed a “family”. On top of all the other wonderful things about the program - you truly can’t beat the $$$$. Out of state students receive in-state tuition! That was not the deciding factor for D but it sure made mom and dad happy! She will also have the opportunity to study in England between her junior and senior year.</p>
<p>I just want to second KAT MT’s advice and mention that the folks I know who were at UVa have gone on to do production and direction and screenwriting, mainly, with a handful of actors making a living in the arts. </p>
<p>JMU draws some amazing talent and has a beautiful facility. Many of its alumni have gone on to do great things in the business. </p>
<p>VCU is audition, but to tell you the truth, I can’t see the person who is looking at UVa, William and Mary and JMU to also be looking at VCU. Have you visited? Its very urban and artsy – a really different vibe than the other three, which all have their art communities, but aren’t as edgy as VCU. Then again, maybe she likes that and the other three she wouldn’t like :)</p>
<p>I might consider putting Wake Forest on that list, too. Although their program is non-audition, they send reps to the big cattle call auditions nationwide, indicating that they are serious about recruiting talent and brains. (ooops. just added this and didn’t see that WF was already mentioned)</p>
<p>And finally, this is for the entire thread, since so many people seem to be giving shout-outs to Texas schools, I’ll put a plug in for one of the South’s best theater programs, SMU. Gorgeous campus, decent scholarships, successful alumni. incredible faculty. Amazing arts school.</p>
<p>Thanks, UvaHoo87. All good information. Yes, my D has visited VCU. In fact, she spent 3 weeks there this summer doing the Summer Arts Intensive in Theatre. She loved the training/ faculty, disliked the campus. It is still on the list for that reason, but probably at the bottom of the list. Glad to hear another positive report on UVA and JMU; mom and dad would be thrilled to see her at either of those schools. Going to see a show at JMU in October, hope to do the same for UVA. </p>
<p>She came home the other day talking about Coastal Carolina University’s theatre program? Just got on here today to see if I could find anything out about their program. Anyone know about CCU?</p>
<p>KellyLJ1, check out [Coastal</a> Carolina University - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/coastal-carolina-university/]Coastal”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/coastal-carolina-university/) on the MT forum. I know that kjgc - a CCU College Rep, austinmtmom - a CC Senior Member who has a daughter at CCU, and AlexaMT -who is austinMTmom’s daughter would be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding Coastal Carolina; not just MT, but all their theatre programs.</p>
<p>KellyLJ1 - As jbehland noted, I am more than happy to answer questions about Coastal Carolina’s theatre program. CCU offers a BFA in Acting and a BFA in Physical Theatre:
[CCU</a> Department of Theatre](<a href=“http://www.coastal.edu/theatre/]CCU”>Theatre - Coastal Carolina University)</p>
<p>My D is a very happy sophomore BFA MT major. She posts here as AlexaMT and is always happy to answer questions from prospective students and parents. She works in the theatre office as the recruitment coordinator so she is the one who schedules auditions and responds to inquiries about the program.</p>
<p>If you have specific questions, you can post them here or send me a PM and I am happy to respond either way.</p>
<p>My almost-definite list - applying to Northeastern schools for a BA in theater performance and a minor or double major to be determined later. </p>
<p>Brandeis
Connecticut College
Drew
Fordham
Marymount Manhattan
Muhlenberg
New Paltz
Pace
Sarah Lawrence
Skidmore</p>
<p>(Eugene Lang, Temple, Vassar are maybe’s)</p>
<p>Any I should consider adding or taking off?</p>
<p>We just took a hard look at our list and the number of essays my daughter needs to write (and keep track of) in such a short time-- does anyone else feel completely overwhelmed by the paperwork? This is my 4th child applying to college but the process somehow seems even more intricate and impossible-- essay after essay after essay. The common application keeps many of them organized in the same place, but the supplements are exhausting. And then there are outliers, like Rutgers, which makes you manually enter every course of your high school career (why won’t they just accept a transcript?!)</p>
<p>It really is overwhelming, glassharmonica. That’s one reason my son applied to only six programs, figuring he would take a gap year and reapply if he were not accepted into any of them.</p>
<p>Fortunately, he was accepted into three of the six, so our gamble paid off.</p>
<p>Reading these threads, it seems as if others don’t feel as overwhelmed as we do and we’re a pretty get-things-done family. My daughter worked for a couple of hours today on aps, but it’s like crawling through molasses with so many essays. I guess we will triage it so that she does the applications for the audition programs first. So far, even her Common Ap essays are not finished, and the only completed application is for her safety. Some of the software is frustrating-- fields that must be typed in directly, not pasted in from word processing. And, three times she’s been distracted from the computer for a few minutes only to return to find that the program timed out and her material was not saved.</p>
<p>Sorry to chime in again-- promise this is the last revision. Mostly cost-motivated, and I had to cut the schools where I wouldn’t get enough aid or be able to afford it outright. So, without further ado:</p>
<p>Cal State University-- Long Beach
Chapman University
DePaul University
Emerson College
Southern Utah University
Texas Christian University
Texas State University-- San Marcos
University of California-- Santa Barbara
University of North Carolina-- Greensboro</p>
<p>@glassharmonica: Yeah, the common app essay is tricky; I’ve never found it hard to express myself, but it’s hard to write a meaningful personal statement in under 500 words.</p>
<p>birdsofparadise - That is a very nice list for BAs. Without knowing your stats, I can’t tell what is reach/match/safety, but it seems balanced for just about anybody.</p>
<p>The only comments I would make are:</p>
<p>1) some of your schools have BFAs as well as BAs - like Marymount and Pace. Do some thinking and asking about what it’s like there between BA/BFA students. It’s not inherently a problem, but some schools manage this better than others
2) some of your schools have incredibly different student life experiences - urban/suburban, structured/unstructured, etc. Go ahead and apply, so you can have choices, but keep researching as the decision time rolls around. This will be a big deal in the spring
3) Another school that has a great BA (BFA, too) and lots of theatre is Montclair State. You might want to read up on their program if you want proximity to NYC. Lots of people here can tell you about Temple - they apparently have a wonderful BA.</p>
<p>glassharmonica: Good luck to your D, and to you! This is one hard year, and I admire all of these kids that get through it. I’m sorry your D has gotten the bad luck of the draw on essays - my D had several supplements, but not truly horrible. Her deadlines were sprinkled from Nov-Feb so she could stagger her high intensity work periods. She did give up on one EA because it had a specialized essay that she just couldn’t handle getting done in the fall, but she went with RD and everything worked out fine.</p>
<p>I hope the Common App essay comes together soon; it will be a big load off and I presume will make some schools’ apps pretty much done. D found her “why this school/why theatre at this school” was able to be recycled to a certain extent, because she liked a lot of schools for the same reason. She just had to add details. The 2-3 totally “creative” essays were the most work, but she kind of liked the topics and ultimately found them kind of fun. Based on her theatre and music schedule in HS, though, she did save them for the wintertime and was working right up to the deadline. Sending that last app was such a great feeling!</p>
<p>I’m very sorry about the computer woes … I hope that can finish up soon and be out of your lives (for the 4th time! You amaze me!).</p>
<p>StrangeBro - I’m not familiar with those schools so much, but I’ve followed your posts and know you’ve put a lot of careful thinking and planning into your list. I just want to say that I wish you all the best and look forward to cheering you on this year!</p>
<p>We have begun trying to schedule auditions for the winter and just discovered that at least one of the schools (Carnegie Mellon) requires that you have already submitted your application before you can register for an audition date. Because the application due dates aren’t until December 1 or January 1, my D had hoped to do all these application essays after her current high school production is over…another challenge for our actor kids, still performing in their high school productions while keeping up with school work, doing college applications and preparing for/ going on auditions! Anyway, my question is this: will all the audition slots likely fill up if she waits to finish applications and register for auditions until mid to late November (her show is Nov. 10-12?) Or should she go ahead and power through and get these applications in so that she can be sure to get an audition slot? What is the experience of some of you parents/ students who have been through this process in previous years?</p>
<p>KellyLJ1 - two years ago, DS was in the same situation. His fall HS performance was in mid November, and we were concerned about getting audition slots for times and dates that worked for us. Net was that he plowed through his apps, and got them all done by Oct 31. Only one was for EA; and that audition was scheduled in December, so that had to happen in October. However, we got all the dates and times we wanted for his Jan & Feb auditions without any issues. Would I have him wait to a later date to submit? In retrospect, getting things done and submitted early, even for RA, was a winning strategy for us. He focused on his apps, his performance, and his schoolwork, without devoting much time for anything else, during the fall of his senior year. I worked his audition schedule out - after all, it affected me as much as it affected him, as I had to adjust my work schedule so I could take him to auditions.</p>
<p>StrangeBro–if you find UC Santa Barbara fits your budget (instate?), you may as well apply to UCLA or perhaps UC Irvine, which only require checkmarks on the UC application you already have to do, plus the additional fees (is it $60 per campus?) and audition(s). The good news is that the audition is weighted pretty heavily, so your GPA/SATs will not have to be as high as the typical UCLA admit. But then, your audition will need to be great. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>EmmyBet: Thank you! I appreciate the support. I was disappointed that I had to cut a few of the big-ticket schools (Boston, NYU, UNCSA), but I came to realize that any of those schools is gonna give me a good education, and I can make my way to New York-- my ultimate goal-- after college anyway.</p>
<p>madbean: Yup, I’m in-state, but I haven’t a snowball’s chance of getting into UCLA. And Irvine is a great school, but it’d be a little tricky getting in as well-- plus I’m looking for a BFA Acting, while Irvine only has BFA MT.</p>