<p>I am an aspiring actress who just graduated from high school last year. Theatre is basically my entire life. I know there are many colleges/conservatories with good acting programs but the thing is, I really really really hate academics. I would like to go somewhere that focuses solely on acting/musical theatre training.</p>
<p>I hear that you don't have to apply to the University of Cincinnati in order to go to the Conservatory of Music. Is this true? If so, are there any other schools like that? What about Emerson? Do you have to go through applications process for the school in general in order to apply to the BFA program? Does your academic transcript influence whether or not you get accepted?</p>
<p>Other schools I am looking at: Stella Adler Conservatory, AMDA, Atlantic Theatre Co. Drama School, Boston Conservatory, Neighborhood Playhouse, RADA and Juilliard. I know that the latter two are extremely hard to get into but what do I have to lose?</p>
<p>For most colleges/universities with BFA programs, yes you have to apply to the school first. If the issue is that you are afraid you won’t get into a school because of low grades, some schools consider academic success more highly than others. You can find those if you search these forums.
However, most of the schools on your list are conservatories that are not a part of an academic institution, and therefore the process is more acting based than academic based and they would require little to no general education courses. I would assume admissions would reflect that.
You can find all the specifics of the admissions to schools you are considering on their website. It should list all of the components needed, and what they look for in applicants.</p>
<p>At conservatory style BFA programs that are on college campuses you DO have to also apply to the university to be admitted. However, the weight of the audition vs. academics will vary from school to school, as will the HS GPA and test scores required, as will the number of academic courses you will be required to take inside (theatre academics) and outside (general education) of your major.</p>
<p>Of the schools you list to begin with… Boston Conservatory is a Musical Theatre program. The others are mostly conservatory based programs that will more highly weight your audition over academics and require little to no courses outside of your major. Carnegie Mellon is similar in this regard. As are UNCARTS, SUNY Purchase, CalArts… although the amount of theatre related academics you will be required to take will vary from school to school.</p>
<p>Look at the admissions requirements AND the graduation requirements for all schools you are interested in attending and you are sure to find a list of schools that will meet your criteria.</p>
<p>I think you should go for the schools on your list, including RADA and Juilliard. As you say, what have you got to lose?</p>
<p>Would you be willing, if this year you don’t get into any of the schools on your list, to take a year off, really work on your audition (and maybe get some more acting experience) then try again next year? That’s an approach some people like you take. College isn’t going anywhere, you can always do it some other time.</p>
<p>Which are you worried about a) getting admitted, or b) academic work once you get admitted. Or both? We can talk about which are the “safety schools” with the lowest admissions requirements, but it looks like you already have chosen quite a few schools you are really interested in.</p>
<p>I’m worried about both of them. For one thing, my high school grades were somewhat poor. A few A’s, but mostly B’s and C’s and an occasional D. I can’t imagine that any good academic institutions will seriously look at students with a transcript like that.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I found high school to be a terrible experience and I want as little to do with academics as possible. I have learning disabilities and I don’t think I could handle a significant academic courseload in addition to full-time theatrical training. It would be too overwhelming and stressful.</p>
<p>Most of the schools on your list base their acceptances on talent, but they usually will require transcripts and - in many cases - test scores. My son’s grades were no better than your’s, although he was an underachiever with no learning disabilities (his test scores were good, with one truly outstanding Critical Reading SAT). Emerson is academically selective. Juilliard is notoriously difficult for everyone, but it is also particularly hard for young (ie. high-school seniors) applicants. Hartt, Cornish, Savannah College of Art & Design, and UArts are not terribly selective in terms of academic qualifications. UArts is introducing a new Honors program, along with a Creative Writing major, in order to attract better-qualified applicants. They have some liberal arts requirements, but they’re not too bad about it. Columbia College Chicago is a popular “safety” school for theater majors. It has a very high acceptance rate, with no audition required for admission (auditions are required for certain courses and majors). The conservatories you mentioned (ie. Stela Adler, AMDA, and Neighborhood Playhouse) can be applied to without a university admission (although Adler, Neighborhood Playhouse, et al have studio programs affiliated with Tisch/NYU). </p>
<p>There is no harm in trying to take in a few academic courses, even if you don’t excel in them. They will help you with historical and literary contexts, when you are working with scripts. If you are talented and dedicated, you can probably skip a traditional degree, and work on professional development, but don’t rule out some sort of college program.</p>
<p>I’m older than the average high school senior. I turned 20 a few months ago; I’m taking a gap year to get some community theatre experience before (hopefully) going to an acting school next year. </p>
<p>How selective is Stella Adler? I can’t find any info on the web about its acceptance rate. What about William Esper?</p>
<p>RADA bases admittance 100% on audition and interview. They don’t care AT ALL about academics. You wouldn’t even need a high school diploma (a concept that doesn’t really exist in the UK anyway . . .). LAMDA is another acting school in London that is 100% audition and interview, if you are looking at RADA, I think looking at LAMDA is another good idea.</p>
<p>Of course, these are very hard schools to get into, you will need an INCREDIBLE audition.</p>
<p>If you want a degree (BA or BFA) you will have to take general ed classes. No way around that. Some schools are less rigorous than others, but schools have to establish academic minimums in order to maintain their accreditation. If you just don’t want to go that route I suggest a certificate program with no degree involved.</p>
<p>Every BA program in the United States will require you to take these “general education” classes, and apparently at least some American BFA programs require them as well. These classes always seem to involve just a little bit of English, a little science, a little social science, etc. Small enough that you really haven’t learned anything.</p>
<p>I think, however, that if you look you should be able to find a BFA program in the US that doesn’t have any of these general education classes. But the OP already listed one foreign school on her list, RADA. She may want to keep looking at foreign schools if she doesn’t like the American approach to education, where you learn tiny amounts of so many different things that in the end you really know nothing. The more typical British system for a Bachelor’s degree is to spend three years only studying the subject you are majoring in (or “reading” as the Brits call it). There are no “general education” classes in British universities. This is true of any subject in Britain, not just theatre. And as far as I know, British people with British Bachelor’s degrees are just as competent (if not more competent) than Americans with American Bachelor’s degrees.</p>
<p>But I do agree with kyndcookie that the OP should consider whether she really NEEDS a degree, or if there is some other way to achieve her life goals.</p>
<p>As to the selectivity of Stella Adler and Esper, I would say that most of the top acting studios are reasonably selective – I can’t give you percentages – but its certainly not as selective as for the very top BFA acting programs based on my research. Esper I think is more selective than most. I hear Circle on the Square is also fairly selective. The alphabet ones like AMDA are much less selective which is one of the issues amony many.</p>
<p>It’s not necessarily a degree itself that I feel I need. I just want to go somewhere that I can get a good theatrical education and hopefully also establish a network. I’ve been told that the best way into the business is through a school of some kind. Of course the quality of training is the most important thing. I could put up with a minimal amount of academics if it meant that the majority of my time would be spent on the acting work. </p>
<p>In regards to English schools, I’ve been doing some online research. With the exception of RADA and LAMDA, it seems like a lot of those schools have a very complex application process that would make it difficult to apply from abroad. For instance, the Central program requires you to go through some kind of UK school bureau and send in your A-levels, which I’m not sure translate to American grades. They don’t even give an audition to everyone who applies.</p>
<p>Have you researched actors who are doing the sort of work that you want to do? Actors you admire and respect? Find out how they got their “theatrical education” and how they managed to network. There is more than one way into this industry.</p>
<p>There is another part of CC where we discuss folks who are considering going to college or uni in the UK. Obviously, as a foreign applicant, you will not be expected to have gone through the British system. When you contact these schools, make sure you find the information for foreign applicants.</p>
<p>Generally, British colleges and unis accept AP test scores from American applicants instead of A-levels. (Although I have also heard of people using “Advanced SAT” scores instead). Usually, an AP score of “5” is roughly equivalent to an “A” on an A-level, a “4” to a “B”, and so on down.</p>
<p>Many Americans fill out British “UCAS” forms.</p>