<p>Backgrond: My daughter is a rising senior (i.e., current 11th grader.) She will be applying to BFA and BA acting programs in the fall. She is honing a "short" (haha) list of 16 potential schools, mostly on the East Coast and 3 in California. For the two previous summers she attended Stagedoor and had a good experience, cast in major roles in the Garden Theater production. This summer she decided she wanted a more college-prep experience and applied to the summer pre-college programs at NYU Tisch, Carnegie, and BADA. Only BADA was auditioned, requiring a Shakespeare and a contemporary monologue and a "sight reading" of a sonnet. The other two programs required essays and recommendations. She was admitted to Carnegie and rejected from Tisch (not sure why, similar essays, same recommendation letters.)</p>
<p>So now she must choose between the two programs. The cost will be the same. Carnegie is longer (6 weeks) and ends early in August, which is a plus because she is doing two Fringe Festival shows in early September. BADA runs until August 23, which would make life more complicated. </p>
<p>Carnegie's program offers more variety, and she can take electives such as playwriting (she also writes plays.) But she adores Shakespeare and BADA's concentration on Shakespeare sounds heavenly to her-- but, she would not be able to work on her contemporary monologues (not sure how important that is.) Her acting coach reviewed the list of faculty on the BADA website (but they are not necessarily the list that will be there this year-- the faculty for this year has not been set) and she says it is a very impressive line up. </p>
<p>Less important, but important is the fact that she would be traveling to England on her own, whereas we would simply drive 4 hours to drop her off in Pittsburgh. The former does seem like a terrific growth opportunity.</p>
<p>I would be grateful for any input, both from people who know about these programs from experience and those who may have insights that have eluded us. Thanks!!</p>
<p>Hi I have taken Carnegie Mellon program and it was a great experience. And one of my friends did Bada and it was a great experience as well. Either program she will surely grow as an artist. A few things to consider…
-Is she MT or Straight Acting for Carnegie Mellon? There are alot more MT’s at Carnegie Mellon and they can be overwhelming
-BADA on the flip side is very small - my friend had trouble making friends because there were less people. Also they liked staying in the dorms and it was hard for her to get them to explore london with her.
-Carnegie Mellon was really helpful for rising seniors (i did it as a rising junior) find audition pieces, work on them, mock auditions, they really prepared us for the college process (recommended other schools). Outside of class we practiced lines, researched plays, it was a really rewarding experience and really helped other people feel ready for college auditions… this year when i had college auditions all i learned while at carnegie mellon was really helpful (and has paid off in my acceptances!)
— I took the playwriting class and it was great! I had never written a play before and by the end of the program the play I had written was performed in a staged reading by fellow classmates.
—sorry i can’t really speak more about Bada you should do more research my friend went because first and foremost she loves Shakespeare, yet she will get some Shakespeare through Carnegie Mellon - styles classes, audition classes, voice and movement, acting depending on teachers all have the potential to include Shakespeare
— hope this was helpful is you have any more specific questions you can send me a message</p>
<p>I can’t speak for BADA, but CMU is awesome and such great preparation for heading into the college audition season. It seems that another summer could be spent on a Shakespeare intensive.</p>
<p>Has your daughter decided about her summer program? My daughter is also considering BADA, as well as Tisch Dublin and TheatreBridge at Brown. You seem to do a lot of research (a parent after my own heart!) and I was curious whether you had impressions of these other programs too?</p>
<p>My daughter did not apply to Carnegie Mellon, though a good friend of hers did and is currently deciding between that program and Tisch Dublin…</p>
<p>lattegirl, we have been going back and forth about it. BADA sounds like heaven to my daughter, but she recently found out she will be in two fringe festival shoes in early September, and if she goes to BADA she will not be back until late August, causing a serious schedule crunch. The CMU program ends in early August. As SDonCC points out, she will (we hope) have the opportunity to do BADA next summer (although with the '12 Olympics in London, that might be difficult) or during college. But it’s still up in the air…</p>