<p>HI--I am new to this forum but have read quite a few of the threads. I have yet to come across a listing of what might be considered 2nd tier theater programs. My S attends a small Christian school in FL and has some great theater experiences, however he may not be cut out for the "top" schools--his grades are good but not topnotch. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any suggestions? He is looking at BFAs in Acting, but his dad and I are hoping for a BA program with an emphasis on performance, so he can experience more L.A. coursework.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info--my head is spinning with it--we are trying to get our act together for a spring break trip to visit school.</p>
<p>The top programs coming to mind are NYU Tisch and Yale. Other very good programs are Conn College, Franklin and Marshall, Muhlenberg. The Rugg’s Book of Colleges lists majors like drama and programs recommended by most selective, very selective or selective. That should give you a good range. Find Rugg’s in your library or at any bookstore.</p>
<p>Yale does not have an undergraduate performance major (although many performance opportunities are available to undergrads at the university). The Yale Drama School is a graduate school. </p>
<p>Some L.A. Colleges with strong theatre programs include:</p>
<p>Muhlenberg
Vassar
Skidmore
Bard
Sarah Lawrence
Kenyon
Denison
Rollins</p>
<p>Some universities which offer BA programs with strong performance:
SUNY New Paltz
Temple
James Madison
Penn State
UCLA</p>
<p>Elon is a BFA program where students take quite a few L.A. classes.</p>
<p>Yale has an undergraduate theater studies major and graduate programs considered the best in the country. </p>
<p>In this area of New England, NYU and Connecticut College are considered top programs. Franklin and Marshall and Muhlenberg are also good schools with theater/performance majors.</p>
<p>Johnsuz - I think you’re selling your son a little short; don’t fall for too much of an “elite” perception of college admissions. He should have an excellent chance academically virtually anywhere he wants to apply! </p>
<p>Many of us have been in your shoes - this is a hard and complicated decision, as you say.</p>
<p>There are excellent suggestions here. Do you have any more info about size, location, other interests? Good luck with your search.</p>
<p>yep… Yale has an undergraduate Theatre Studies major that is VERY strong, and they have tons of co/ extra-curricular performance opportunities for undergraduates.</p>
<p>For the most part the undergraduates do not have much interaction with graduate students or the professors in the Drama School… although I have seen a few undergraduates in graduate student directed performances and Yale Cabaret productions. Of course being on campus with the Drama School and the professional Yale Repertory Theatre will provide many opportunities for students to see high level graduate and professional theatrical productions in addition to their theatre classes, the terrific master classes on campus, and the undergraduate productions on campus. Not exactly an “easy” admit though ;)</p>
<p>NYU has strong undergraduate and graduate programs… not much interaction between the undergrads and the grads. NYU students do take a fair number of L.A. courses in addition to their studio classes, I have also known student to double major.</p>
<p>to amend my previous post… Skidmore is a L.A. college that offers a B.S. in Theatre not a B.A. </p>
<p>Syracuse university also gives students the option of a B.S. in Drama. All students B.F.A and B.S. follow a similar course of study in performance for the first two years. B.S. student take more general education classes in the junior and senior year.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. He prefers a medium to large university with an urban/suburban location. He also enjoys music and would probably have a chance to do a bit at a larger school. Any insight into theater at Belmont, TCU or Vanderbilt?</p>
<p>I hate to keep riding this horse but after visiting the University, I believe JMU will be an outstanding in much more recognized programed. The program is flexible, has an outstanding faculity, a great campus and a brand new performaning art palace. I meet hundreds of graduates from JMU over the years, everyone that I have meet loved the school. But that is my two cents.</p>
<p>Thanks, Wineguy, we are definitely planning to visit JMU. Their website is great and has piqued our interest. Thanks for you opinion–I’ll let y’all know how it goes for us!</p>
<p>Johnsuz, those stats are better than my daughter’s and she got academic acceptance into every one of her schools. She didn’t apply to any Ivy’s but she did apply to several pretty selective LAC’s and even got money from them all. Though the more picky the school, the less money they offered. But those are great stats and nothing to be ashamed of at all, lots of very academically rigorous schools will take that.</p>
<p>The hardest part of this process is almost always the program and not the school, with few exceptions, has been my observation so far.</p>
<p>I’d love to know where she applied and what kind of HS she attended. We have found with friends’ kids that our small HS does not always get the same recognition in the app process–although that is changing now that a large number of AP course are offered.</p>
<p>And, of course, where she ended up and why :)</p>
<p>Johnsuz - Your S’s stats are pretty close to my D’s, who is now a freshman MT major. She attended a very small charter school (senior class was 19 graduates) and no one from her school had ever applied at any of the schools she applied to. Academically she was accepted everywhere she applied - including NYU, U Miami, Elon, plus quite a few LACs and OOS publics. She took 1 AP class (AP English 4 her senior year) and no honors classes because her school didn’t offer them. She took some dual enrollment classes but those were really fine arts classes (art history, piano, jazz) because her school didn’t offer any real fine arts electives. (The school is a compressed schedule half day program so it is very limited in what they offer.) Any way, she did fine in the application process. She did have very strong ECs, good work experience and excellent recommendations. If you would like more details on her list just PM me and I would be happy to share more details.</p>
<p>I"m PMing you about apps; don’t know where she will end up yet!
But like austinmtmom’s daughter, mine had a lot of work experience, lots of EC’s, very strong recommendations, and a good amount of volunteer hours, and for schools that admit wholistically, those are, so they tell us, what they are looking for in addition to strong academics.</p>
<p>She did attend a large public “town” high school -not one of the several suburban so called ‘white flight’ options - which in our community means her high school had a lot of disadvantaged kids, so their overall graduation rate is somewhat lower than the schools who have literally nothing but middle class or higher student body. BUT it is from what they tell us, one of the best schools of that type in the country according to whatever criteria it is they use, I dunno.</p>
<p>I do know that pretty much every single core class she took was available as either AP or DC, and they have an Independent Research program where they can do a project in a class which is not offered as honors (generally PE or the arts) and basically turn it into a weighted honors class; the requirements themselves are on a par with college work. They can do a total of 8 of them - two per semester in jr and sr year. My daughter only had time to do one, I wish she could have done more but HAH you know how busy they are.</p>
<p>Anyway we hear horror stories about how bad public schools are and other than a couple awful teachers amongst mostly good ones, I can’t say her school was awful. In many ways, very good. But certainly a far far cry from a prep school, or a private school, or anything particularly special. The opportunity was there and she was a solid student but nothing particularly special, and probably wouldn’t have been no matter where she went; her brilliance is in areas other than academics. I’d have put her in a prep or private school if we had been able to but our town doesn’t even have one that goes past 5th grade except for a couple real small ones that don’t have enough ECs.</p>
<p>So that’s the kind of high school she went to - a big public school with a lot of diversity in a smallish town. Very average middle America; not really privileged and not really disadvantaged either.</p>
Not exactly an “easy” admit though ;)</p>