Worth the trip?

kitkatt565
Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:42:01 +0000

Ok, so I’ve been accepted to both OCU and Hartt’s MT programs… and I have a dilemma.

Living in the area, having gone to OCU’s MT summer program the last two years, and knowing several OCU students, I know pretty much everything there is to know about OCU’s program, the good and the bad. On the other spectrum, I have Hartt, which except for the few questions I asked at the audition, I know absolutely NOTHING about.

OCU is definitely the cheaper option. I have nearly $60,000 in scholarships there, whereas at Hartt I only have an $8000 a year talent scholarship, which doesn’t really put a dent in the nearly $40,000 it costs a year to go there. (We don’t qualify for any type of financial aid) Now, I’m sure if I visited Hartt and absolutely fell in love with it, we could find a way to afford it, but I don’t know if I could do that to my parents…

So here’s my question. Should I just stick with OCU and forget about Hartt, or at least visit Hartt and see what it has to offer, even though it would not be the smartest choice financially. (My mom doesn’t want to waste money on a trip if there’s not a chance I would realistically go there.)

I absolutely adore OCU’s program, and I LOVE the faculty, but my concern about it is that it is sooo close to home (literally 20 minutes away), and that fact that it is mainly a music program, whereas I feel I am a much stronger actor (but maybe this would be a good option to work on my weaknesses?). Also the fact that I have a friend who in her four years at OCU has only been cast in the ensemble of one show… but then again I also have friends who have been cast in more than one show in just their freshman year, so you never know! I know this shouldn’t be a concern since this could happen at any school I went to, but it just seems so much realer when you know someone whom it has happened to haha.

And as for Hartt’s program… I like that it is an acting based program, but I don’t like that it is a conservatory. I also like that they work so closely with such great theatres. And I know I wanted to get away from home, but Connecticut might be a little too far for me. And other than that, I know very little about the program.

So I guess I’m just asking for your opinions… is it worth the visit?? I would appreciate any feedback :)