Vassar would be a reach but meets a lot of his criteria. If he improves his test scores, he might a have a shot, especially since acceptance rates are much higher for males than females. Good luck to your son!
Have a look at Trinity College in Hartford. It has a beautifully rennovate cine studio from the 1920’s and sponsors an annual juried film festival. In addition Trinity sponsors a La MaMa performing arts semester in nearby New York City. It is aprogram committed to urban place based learning and utilizes New York City to provide an immersion experience in theater, dance and performing arts communities.
Trinity is part of the elite NESCAC colleges and is SAT optional. Located in CT capital city of Hartford with the prestigious Bushnell Theater near campus as well. Best of luck.
Thank you. I had no idea that Trinity had such a program!
Thank you !
Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. Has a beautiful campus on Boca Ciega Bay, theater and film majors offered as well as a 2+2 BFA musical theater program with Circle in the Square in NYC. Productions at school are open to all students. A local theater company, (Simple Theater), also is housed at Eckerd. There is an award winning improv group, One Man’s Treasure, an a cappella group, The Tritones and a number of ensembles including a rock band, eckerd.edu/music/performance-ensembles/. One of Eckerd’s goals is to have 100% participation in a study abroad program, there are scholarships offered. They operate on a 4-1-4 calendar and have a very active winter term abroad program as well as semester, spring into summer and summer programs.
I would second Knox College in Illinois. Excellent Theater and Top notch Creative writing/English departments. Solid Biology dept, too. They actually have an immersion term for the theater department. Check our the theater and english dept websites. Big into internships and experiential education. They also offer excellent merit aid, which, I’m pretty sure your son would qualify for. It’s in Galesburg., Illinois, about 3 hour train ride from Chicago (Amtrak station right next to campus).
http://knoxtheatre.org/
Knox definitely is worth a look but not sure if they want to come this far. Small group of professors but you get a lot of one on one training. Their productions are good. Laid back vibe to the school. Kids that go there like the school. They also stack merit which is an advantage.
Son2 not interested in Florida location. Too far away.
Thanks! I’ll pass it on to him. Are acceptance rates higher at Vassar for males in all majors, or just theater?
All majors.
Illinois does not fit his distance criteria. However, since Chicago is an easy flight from Philadelphia, and a good location for theater, film, improv, he recently started considering it. Knox is an additional 3 hours by train. However, a friend of his who is in a theater program elsewhere, also visited Knox and had a positive report despite not choosing it himself, so my son is curious enough to peruse their website. My guess is that it will be too rural for him. However, he has Illinois Wesleyan to look at on line as well because Bloomington is apparently the home of an Illinois Shakespeare festival and because of a previous suggestion on this thread. I think Bloomington may be closer to Chicago too If he likes what he sees on line, I’ll break out a map, and plan a trip. Thank you for the tips.
Illinois does not fit his distance criteria. However, since Chicago is easy to get to from Philadelphia by plane and a good location for theater, film, improv, he recently started considering it. But Knox is an additional 3 hours by train. However, a friend of his who is in a theater program elsewhere, also visited Knox and had a positive report despite not choosing it himself, so he is curious enough to peruse their website. I think he had Illinois Wesleyan to look at on line as well because Bloomington is home of an Illinois Shakespeare festival and he thought that IW may have a good program. If he likes what he sees on line, maybe we will take a trip out.
@sn189144 Yeah…I get the whole distance thing. We were shooting for the Northeast as well (we’re from NYC). A particularly solid LAC in PA (Allegheny College) seemed like a slam-dunk after his accepted student overnight there. My son said, “Dad I’m probably not going to college in Illinois”, but we went to the accepted student overnight there the next week. The drive from Chicago to Galesurg in April was bleak - empty cornfields as far as the eye can see. The passion of the professors and the friendly, warm student body really made an impression on him. And he’s not even an English/Theater person. He’ll be starting Knox this fall. Chicago, as you know, has a solid theater, film and TV world - often called the “Third Coast”. It’s actually closer to fly in to Peoria or the Quad Cities/Moline which are only about 45 minutes from campus. If he’s interested in English, particularly Creative Writing, it’s got one of the most solid undergrad programs in the country.
@sn189144
I forgot about Franklin and Marshall. I have worked with students from both Franklin and Marshall and Gettysburg, and it may be worth looking at both if you can on a visit.
In terms of diversity and environment at and around JMU… Harrisonburg is a refugee resettlement community, there are many languages spoken in the schools, it is my understanding that it is in one of the most diverse counties in VA, and I have not noticed or heard of any specific issues in regards to race and diversity in the Harrisonburg community or at JMU.
The university is a welcoming community, and in my interactions with faculty and students I have found that diversity and inclusivity are valued and strived for at the university, and in regards to the theatre program. I can only speak for myself and my experiences and observations, but I have not experienced the issues your son mentioned.
@sn189144. My daughter did 2 years at Illinois Wesleyan for theater design. She transferred to Beloit College after that to change her major.
Please PM me with any questions or ask and I will do my best to answer. It’s 2 hours by Amtrack but you can make it in 1.5 hours driving depending on traffic. She used to come home some weekends to work professionally with the Chicago Children’s Theater in Chicago. She done professional work in Chicago Theater also. A good friend of hers just graduated DePaul for Acting and just signed with an agent and is auditioning currently.
They never cease to surprise us, do they, Theoden? Allegheny is on my S2s list to visit too. And yes in addition to theater he is also interested in creative writing, directing, film and philosophy. (And intramurals, and outdoors club , maybe a fraternity, improv club and good food) If we do get to visit, It will indeed have to be a special place for him to overlook the cornfields.
Good to hear KatMT! Thanks.
Thank you for the offer of more information Knowstuff. May just take you up on it, if he decides he is interested enough in the Chicago area and these schools to visit/apply.
Wayyyy out of regional range, but a great safety could be Southern Oregon University - a public LAC in Ashland, home of the Shakespeare festival. Fantastic theater Dept. And relatively easy university to get into.
Yeah they surprise us! My son is really into Environmental Science and Allegheny is much stronger in that than Knox. Also they have an amazing outing club (partly due to its location in the forests of Western, PA). Both schools have solid, but small philosophy departments. Both schools have Greek life at about 25-30%. My son ended up talking with Env Science profs and History profs on the campus visits to both schools and, in the end, Knox lured him to the corn fields. I think, overall, both schools have more in common than what separates them (both are featured in the book Colleges that Change Lives, both offer generous merit aid). If I had to contrast them, Knox is probably stronger in the humanities and Allegheny is probably stronger in the sciences. Knox is a bit more quirky/artsy and diverse while Allegheny is more traditional in the student body. Knox leans left; Allegheny is more middle of the road politically. Both are isolated - while Knox is 3 hours by train to Chicago, Allegheny is roughly 1.5 to 2 hours by car or bus from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
FYI - Vir Das, who came to Knox as an Econ major, discovered theater and is now India’s top stand-up comedian, a Bollywood actor and has his own Netflix special.
If you want further info on either school send me a PM. He also got accepted to Bard, Muhlenberg and Ithaca College which are sort of in your zone of interest.