<p>My daughter has decided to follow her passion in Acting. she is a top academic student 33 act and 2200 sat but wants acting. She has been accepted to BU - BA Communications major with a minor in acting (this was before she decided to pursue acting as a major), Emerson College BA Theater Studies - Acting Pace University BA Acting, and waiting on SUNY Purchase BFA Acting and NYU Tish BFA Acting. Can anyone suggest the best place to go ranking these four schools with a 1-4 with 1 being the first recommended place to go. Thank you!!</p>
<p>Your daughter should look at what she wants out of an acting program and see how that compares to what each program offers. All of those are very good schools with very different things to offer. </p>
<p>She’s a top student, but does she crave an academic environment? My daughter had similar scores to yours and she chose UMBC, which is strong academically. She is a BFA acting major (they apply for that at the end of their freshman year–they begin as BA students) and she is also a BA French major and in the Honors program, so she’s required to take Honors seminars, which are academic in nature, not necessarily theater-based. If your daughter gets into Purchase or Tisch, she will be much more focused on theater than on academic interests. The BA degrees at Pace and Emerson have more of an academic component. BU also will offer more academics, and is more challenging academically than Pace or Emerson. All of those programs have produced successful alumni. Another thought is what type of environment she wants to be in. BU is in a city, but it’s almost like a campus in a city. Pace, Emerson and Tisch are very urban. Purchase is a self-contained campus and although you can get to NYC pretty quickly on mass transit, you’re in more of a traditional environment. Mine wanted a campus, noting that this is her only chance to live on a traditional campus and NYC will be there when she’s done.</p>
<p>The Emerson BA involves built in opportunities to travel to London and/or LA I believe so that might influence her preference. </p>
<p>Wish I knew about UMBC earlier. Sounds great but too late for my d. The opportunities at Emerson for travel to LA and abroad are drawing her to that school. Just not sure if it is the right place for her. Also trying to understand the difference between a BA and a BFA. Can u go to grad school after a BFA if the acting road does not work out? </p>
<p>Yes, you can go to graduate school after a BFA!</p>
<p>My S’14 wrestled with this question for quite awhile. He was also a top academic kid and really enjoys his classes, especially english and writing. He has a pretty heavy hitting resume, with national awards, medals,and some pretty prestigious summer programs. He LOVES everything about acting. BUT, in the end he decided on a BA school. He will attend Kenyon College after a gap year. He felt that the BFA was too limiting, and he has recently developed a love of directing too. So the BA was best for him… btu every person has to make that decision for themselves. I don’t think one path is the only path. </p>
<p>My girls (both acting students) are also strong students in other areas and enjoy many of the course offerings of a traditional liberal arts curriculum. For that reason, we decided the BA route was a better choice for them and my older daughter is a very happy Theater Performance/ Public Communications double major sophomore at American University. Additionally, when my younger daughter was at Governor School for theater this past summer, the working professional actors (some with extremely impressive resumes) that were teaching some of their courses indicated that whether they had a BA or a BFA would make absolutely no difference in terms of their ability to get jobs after graduation. For that reason, my younger D felt completely comfortable with the plan to pursue a broader educational experience within the context of seeking further acting training. She is leaning very strongly towards the BA Theater studies at Emerson, partly because she is also intrigued by their Writing, Literature and Publishing program as well. </p>
<p>For both kids, we took a close look at what courses they would take and how much freedom they would have in their schedule to explore other offerings. My older D, for instance, LOVED her philosophy course her freshman year. She eventually chose a 2nd major because she tried a communications class and saw the applications to her love of theater as well. I would recommend that you look closely at how each of those schools structure their theater major, whether BFA or BA, and see which one she is most drawn to. Best of luck…maybe we will see you at Emerson in the fall!</p>
<p>My D attended the Rutgers Summer Acting Conservatory last summer at Mason Gross, and they talked extensively about the difference between a BA and a BFA. She was told that a BFA and MFA are redundant, that you really only go after an MFA if you earned a BA (or BS), but not if you earned a BFA. This is why my D prefers the BA Performance at Fordham or BA Acting at Emerson, because they are both audition-based acceptance programs, but she’d still like to earn an MFA degree afterwards. </p>
<p>Thank you for all of your replies. Just found out last night she got accepted in NYU Tish BFA and can also doublle major or minor in one of their college of Ats and Sciences as well. So the top 2 choices now are NYU BFA or Emerson College BA theater studies acting with a minor in communications. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>@actingdaughter we have the same choice, but throw Fordham in the mix for us. I welcome everyone’s thoughts as well. I loved Emerson when we visited, I thought I could see her there and felt she’d be so happy there. NYU is the big name school. But Fordham is practically a conservatory in its training, and it’s in NYC.</p>
<p>We are headed to Emerson on Friday for the Picture Yourself at Emerson event. Are any of you planning to attend? If not, I will be happy to share our impressions when we return. </p>
<p>We are not, but please do share @kellylj1, as it is one of our choices!</p>
<p>@KellyLJ1, being on the wait list we’d love to hear too! </p>
<p>We will be attending picture yourself at Emerson this Friday as well as long as D doesn’t tell me she definitely wants Tish between now and then. I’d be happy to share when we return. </p>
<p>As promised, here’s my report on our visit to Emerson with my daughter today:</p>
<p>First, you should know our day ended with us putting down her enrollment deposit. Looks like she will be part of the Emerson Class of 2018!</p>
<p>Extremely well done and professional day. Programming all day for both parents and students, starting with a welcome session in a beautiful theater. One of their 5 theaters! Then the students broke into their departmental groups and got to go sit in on a class. While she was busy with the other performing arts students, my husband and I attended a panel discussion that included representatives from several departments; advising, student life, study abroad, diversity, etc. Warm, articulate, professional across the board. The second half of the parent morning was spent in a department presentation for Performing Arts majors. Extremely helpful, done by Eric Weiss who you probably all met in the parent session at auditions (at least the ones in Boston.) He went over the difference in degree plans for BFA and BAs, the multitude of opportunities to be involved in productions and the overall philosophy of the department. The most helpful thing he shared was a list of what a number of recent graduates are doing now. We’ve all heard of the big name, famous alumni (Dennis Leary, Henry Winkler, etc.) but these were all kids who had graduated in the last 3 or 4 years. It was an impressive group of artists who are working and creating in a number of interesting and innovative ways in a number of different cities. Truly helpful to hear some of their stories. They may not be famous (yet,) but they are working!</p>
<p>We met back up with D at noon for another meal (great hospitality!) and then we toured the campus and 2 of the dorms. She was bubbling over with enthusiasm about the “amazing” class she had seen…the dept. chair teaching a directing class and working with students. While it is a weird, vertical campus in the heart of the city, the facilities are top notch. Equally impressed by the Visual and Media Arts, Marketing, Journalism, etc facilities we saw. Knowing full well that they were there to “sell” us, we were still struck throughout the day by the warmth, friendliness and accessibility of all the staff and students we met. It really feels like a close knit community.</p>
<p>Adding to all the offerings there in Boston, was the castle program in the Netherlands and the program in L.A.! My daughter was convinced and finally, even dad was sold!</p>
<p>This is getting long, so I will end there. If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask here or PM me. Perhaps we will see some of you there at Parents Weekend next fall!</p>
<p>Yay! Thx for sharing the details; I remember being wowed last summer. We are attending accepted students day on the 15th at the new LA location! Congrats @kellyLj1! Super excited for you and your family. Maybe we will meet someday if my D chooses Emerson as well!!</p>
<p>Congratulations, @KellyLJ1 !!!</p>