<p>My D is trying to decide which college to attend. She is torn between Muhlenberg theater and American University MT.
Does the MT program at AU 'measure' up ? Is the program as well developed as the theater major at MU ? Does AU use full time faculty in the MT program ?
Help? Any opinions?</p>
<p>Has anyone even considered one of these programs?</p>
<p>Muhlenberg has an excellent theater department. It does not offer an MT degree, but I believe it is possible to take private voice lessons and dance classes; they also have a summer season of musicals that students can audition for.</p>
<p>A student of mine is about to graduate from AU. She was able to double-major, MT and
biology. I really don’t know a lot about the specifics of the program, but she has been very happy with it, and had frequent performing opportunities. And of course, Washington DC is an exciting city to live in.</p>
<p>I think it is a matter of personal preference. I had a student who graduated in theater from American with a double major a year ago and is working in the field in DC. She loved the program. I have had several students attend Muhlenberg and love it and one last year chose it over American in fact. </p>
<p>As onstage wrote, a student can put together a MT program so to speak at Muhlenberg but they truly do not have a MT degree. American does have a MT degree. American’s program is by audition and Muhlenberg’s is not, though many talented MT kids do choose Muhlenberg. The settings are very different. One is in a major city and one is in a small town though has access to major cities (but not RIGHT there). Muhlenberg is a liberal arts college and American is a university. </p>
<p>I suggest your kid put the curriculum for each school side by side and compare. Examine the production opportunities. </p>
<p>Visit again if possible and spend the night on campus, attend classes, meet with current students and faculty and decide which feels like the best fit, as opposed to which program is the “best.”</p>
<p>My D considered Muhlenberg but she did not look at American. She auditioned for scholarship consideration with both the Theatre department and the Music department since the school does not have a specific MT degree.</p>
<p>She loved both Charlie Richter and Diane Follett (the faculty for whom she auditioned) and she really liked the school and the AMAZING opportunities there. </p>
<p>For her, though, that visit clarified for her that she really wants a more structured program that has the curriculum mapped out. Muhlenberg’s degree is very flexible and allows students a lot of choices. She felt that she might be distracted by all those options and not be as focused as she wants to be. (I personally loved that about the program and it would have been my first choice had the decision been up to me!)</p>
<p>She also found that theater is one of largest departments at the school. The good thing about that is that the department is VERY well funded! We had a tour of the facilities and Mr. Richter pointed out that they have state-of-the-art “everything” from scene and costume shops to performance and rehearsal spaces. They can also afford to bring in some really well-respected professionals in every area to work with their students. But the negative is that there is a lot of very stiff competition for roles in the shows and she felt that there would not be as much nurturing of talent and addressing of specific weaknesses there as there would be in a more intimate program.</p>
<p>Thank you all. Since the programs are so different in size, I was wondering if Muhlenberg is a school for theater, and American is a school that just happens to have a theater program? MU is rated #1 in the Princeton review, AU seems almost unknown?
Why the disparity?</p>
<p>Be careful looking at the Princeton Review college RANKINGS- they are based on student surveys of the college’s own attributes- so, for example, the students at Muhlenberg rate what they think of the theatre at their school and that is compared to what the students at, say, Nazareth College of Rochester think of the theatre department at their school. So it really compares the popularity of theatre and other things at various colleges. </p>
<p>This is what the Princeton review says of its RANKINGS:
The college rankings are lists of “top 20” colleges that The Princeton Review compiles in 62 categories and publishes in The Best 376 Colleges and on its website. Based solely on data from The Princeton Review’s survey of students attending the 376 schools in the book, the ranking list topics cover eight general areas: Academics/Administration, Quality of Life, Politics, Demographics, Social Life, Extracurriculars, Parties, and Schools by Type. Here is information on each of the lists and the student survey question(s) upon which each ranking is based:</p>
<p>Best College Theater
Based on students’ answers to the survey question: “How popular are your college’s theater productions?”</p>
<p>The Princeton Review does not actually rate these categories themselves (their is no independent review). It is different for the RATINGS on the individual college pages in the review.</p>