They offer ballroom 
For SUNYs, New Paltz and Buffalo have good programs. CUNY Brooklyns got a really good program, but it’s a city commuter school (not sure there are any dorms.) I don’t think Brooklyns an easy admit though.
Brooklyn doesn’t have dorms per se, but it does have some housing available on the website. My S17 visited Brooklyn and hated it. I thought it seemed like a good program but he had a really visceral reaction to the area, as did my D who took him. My D, who is 24, commented that she thought Brooklyn was a good school for those who commuted and for graduate students who weren’t looking for an on campus life.
@techmom99 I think you’re asking if he doesn’t even apply with a portfolio this year, would he be able to enroll and then apply to the BFA using a portfolio next year. Is that right? If so, are you thinking that he’d develop a portfolio in his freshman year? Does he have any experience up to this point (even if he doesn’t have the documents he’d need to develop a portfolio) in tech/design? Also, what area of tech/design is he interested in? Costuming, lighting, set design, tech production, etc?
Doesn’t Pace give pretty good aid?
Yes, that is what I am asking. I would hope that he would be able to develop a body of work in the BA program and that the proximity to the BFA people would get him noticed. He would like to get into Purchase and is thinking that he might have a better shot at the BA than the BFA. He was told that intramajor transfers are permitted.
As of now, he has been in the Drama Club since 6th grade, when he did props and assisted on lights. In 7th grade, he did spot and sound and in 8th grade, he stage managed the middle school performance of “Bye, Bye Birdie.” In HS, he has primarily done lights and build, plus he is the liaison between the backstage and the crew and the directors. He has done sound but a friend he recruited is a musician who is in the sound engineering class so that kid does more sound than S17.
For the past 3 years, he has done a summer performance program in our town, which he was invited to stage manage next year. He declined to be SM this past year, although it was offered, but I suggested he consider it for next year to get that experience. He does tech at school sports events and other activities like Battle of the Bands, the annual one act play performances and a drama club activity where kids write their own plays and then direct them. He has done tech at several community activities. He has done tech for several seniors who were doing their capstone performances, some of which have been held in a local venue (not the HS auditorium). He was the only techie at a debut performance of a play written by a graduate of our HS, which was performed there. He has also appeared as an extra in an independent film which will come out next year. The director encouraged him to continue with acting, but he prefers tech.
My concern with the portfolio is that it’s virtually impossible to show what he has done. He isn’t the one who designs the sets (in middle school, the sets are rented for the most part), although he has studied drafting and 3-D printing. He doesn’t do the drawing. He isn’t the one who physically builds them because he’s under 18 and not allowed to use power tools in the school yet. It’s impossible to show what he did with lighting, although he has one script with lighting cues in it.
We just don’t know what to put into a portfolio. LIU-Post apparently interviews tech candidates, which is a possibility because he is articulate and passionate. The drama club advisor, who has known him since he was 2 (when my D joined the club), is writing a recommendation for him. Other than that, I have no ideas.
Thanks for responding. Any and all suggestions are taken gratefully.
@Jkellynh17 is correct-
Pace does give good merit scholarships and aid money. The drama and MT programs are very competitive for admittance so not sure if it is a safety. However, it may be affordable after scholarships and aid are applied if accepted.
That’s what I’d heard anecdotally, that several people had gotten their best FA offers from Pace.
I ran the Pace NPC yesterday and don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. It said S17 qualified for about $32K in scholarships and institutional grants. The remainder was $2K in work study, $5500 in loans, sub and unsub, and almost $27K in Parent Plus loans. No way! I will not take a PPlus loan for a school like Pace that is in an amount greater than the entire cost for a SUNY!
Yep- no argument, it is still expensive. But $27k makes it a lot more reasonable for some families. That is a little less than our in state flagship COA would be (it is an expensive state school). And it is less than OOS total COA at other public universities. And of course less than most private schools even with scholarships. Trust me- we got SO exited when our D got her Pace award and then we figured out room and board would be more than tuition and added up the total and were hit with the “aha” moment that we would still owe a lot. My D ended up at a different school but the costs were not that much different in the big picture. And it was not due to money that she did not go to Pace. I had to come to terms with the fact that we would have to pay our EFC one way or another at most schools (even with big scholarships).
In hindsight, there are schools she could have applied to and gotten a better deal (mainly smaller state schools that give in state tuition for OOS students with high stats). But they didn’t have the specific program or training she wanted.
It is good to go into applications knowing what you can afford or are willing to pay. Less surprised in the spring. Ignorance isn’t bliss in this case.
We don’t live in NY so in state tuition for a SUNY or CUNY doesn’t apply. Of course that is the most reasonable option for NY residents and it is nice NY residents have the option. Our state doesn’t really even offer a reputable BFA program anyplace.
We didn’t apply to Pace, so this is all second hand. I know of a couple of people who got net cost down below $20K. We made the switch from LAC to BFA too late in the process to get a prescreen in to Pace, so it was off the table before we even started.
@techmom99 I’m not sure that he’d get the level of school-based experience in his freshman year in a BA program that would allow him to build a portfolio to transfer/apply to the tech program that would require a portfolio. Or at least not one that would be any different than what he has now. If the school has a tech major, the professors and older students will be designing and building, while the younger students will be doing what your son is doing now–tech/crewing shows in the various disciplines, and following others’ direction in what to do, with little room for initiative with which to build an advanced portfolio that quickly. That being said, for some schools, you may be overthinking what the portfolio is looking for and underestimating what you can include.
For example, SUNY Purchase has students read a play that they will be asked about in the interview, bring a resume with their experience (I’m sure they ask questions about the various experiences in the interview), letters of recommendation from adults who have worked tech with the applicant, and pictures of objects they’ve built, or rehearsal notes, or cue sheets. He really may be able to get that together from what he’s done.
Middle school experience is too old. Stick with the stuff he’s done since starting high school. He’s done set building. Does he have pictures of the sets that he’s helped to build? The script with lighting cues is perfect. What about lighting cues or sound board info from the community stuff he’s done? Or, since you said he has drafting and 3-D printing, maybe some of the projects he’s worked on in those classes could be used for his portfolio?
Where do you find out about the play? S17 is dyslexic and reads slowly so he would need to get a start on it. I know CUNY Brooklyn required one, but S17 visited and didn’t like the school.
Maybe I am overthinking the portfolio. He will get a very good recommendation from the drama club director and if he gets an interview, I think he will do well. He can be personable when he is not being a typical teen. He can get together a decent resume.
He has a marked script from a play last year and I told him to get whatever he can from the show he is teching later this month. I don’t think he has anything left from his drafting class and in the 3-D class, they just made little things. He made me a ring. I might be able to get some photos of the sets he helped build for the summer production, which has a website. The sound boards are all digital and S17 says that nothing is saved. He has worked for a young man who now has his own lighting company so maybe he can get an outside rec from him.
Ah well, what’s they worst that can happen? He can be rejected, which I suppose is a step up from never even trying.
@techmom99 here’s the link to all the Purchase audition/portfolio/interview requirements:
https://www.purchase.edu/Departments/Admissions/ApplicationInstructions/talent-review.aspx
-tech is bottom of the list.
Also, you can google theater tech portfolio and some schools are more specific about what they’d like, which might help you in developing what you have. Here’s what Chapman says, for example (the last sentence may help):
“Create a theatrical portfolio that documents and demonstrates your
experience in areas of interest to you and your range of skills in theatre. Your
portfolio should contain five (5) to ten (10) pieces illustrating your technical or
design work and/or skills in related areas (such as drawing or drafting). The
overall idea is to document your experiences in theatre. If you have technical
drawings or drafts, present them along with a pictorial representation of the
executed drawings. Stage Managers may include pages from a prompt
book or other rehearsal/production paperwork. Beginning technicians
who do not have a portfolio of drawings may use photographs, production
videos, digital films or their resume to show the work they have done.”
Thank you yet again. Have you considered going into college advising?
He can probably get some photos. I know they video the shows but he doesn’t get a copy, only the cast members do. I can suggest that he ask the drama club advisor for copies and perhaps his computer genius friend can help him edit it to show what he has done, e.g. the follow and spot lights. He doesn’t draw or draft. My understanding is that tech design is for those who want to draw and draft and tech production is for those who want to build and do the heavy lifting; he’s in the latter category, but I am not certain about that.
Honestly, it was a lot easier when he wanted to major in psych.
Pace does get good aid if you can get accepted into the theatre program. I thought it was a safety because they had given us so much merit money. Wrong! It’s a great acting, mt and dance program if you can get in. And we passed the prescreen too!
We are going to apply to Pace.
By the way, the play for the theater tech at Purchase this year is Night of the Iguana.
@techmom99 I think your son has plenty of experience to be accepted into a BFA tech program. You have lots of great ideas about what to put in the portfolio, and his interview and expressed desire will carry him far. If you are still worried about the portfolio, you could contact someone at a school to which he will not apply, and ask to pay for a few hours of their time. I think a lot of the programs are looking more for potential, interest and a personality fit then a perfect portfolio. A year ago I thought the same as you, especially after my D’s first review where she had no connection with the interviewer, but in the end it didn’t turn out to be nearly as difficult as I had imagined.
Thank you. Is your daughter in a theater program now?
S17 is going to apply to both BA and BFA programs. If he doesn’t get into a BFA program, he could either try to transfer or stay in the BA and pursue a double major in psychology.
@techmom99 I sent you a pm