Hi all,
I am a current college freshman looking to transfer to either American or George Mason for Fall 2015. I was accepted to American’s Musical Theatre program and George Mason’s Theatre program. I’m trying to decide - does anybody have any strong feelings one way or the other? Any inkling as to which is better overall?
Speaking as a theatre transfer from a major fine arts/theatre school in VA as well if you plan on staying local then GMU is your best bet they actually have a pretty decent program and nice performance space considering the arts are not the schools focus by any means.
Note it was only about two or three years ago that they did their first “musical” (Into the Woods of course) which had the voice and acting majors work together for the first time. I saw it and as that show goes it was decent. So if musical theatre is your draw you would be better off with American.
This being said American is private and double the price of any public arts school in VA( instate tuition). My advice as someone in your shoes before If you want a more traditional conservatory experience and one with a more well known reputation- which apparently means a lot :-@ . Shenandoah conservatory down in rural VA has a great program and I believe was one of the schools at unifieds this year. Which as you may or may not know is basically the audition circuit where pretty much all the schools of any “clout” gather. The Ripley Grier studios being the next level above that.
My advice given I don’t know your situation make sure you visit and reach out and talk to students at the programs. I’m talking Facebook and networking if you can. I find the student liaisons we are often put with aren’t truly able to give us their opinions of a program. If I knew then what I know now I definitely would have done more research and took a gap year in preparation for this year. If you have any reservations about your current selections go with your gut it’s not worth thousands in loans (or not) just to have to transfer again next year, because you realize you are being ill prepared for the future or aren’t the right fit.
Hope I was able to help some. I’m a transfer with a capital “T”. 
lol
Also let me clarify please…not “All” of the schools with “merit” gather at unifieds. Though that would make it much easier…sigh. However many of the schools with good programs are present and accounted for at Unified and Ripley. There are a large handful of fantastic programs that hold their own elsewhere at the same time. Sorry just had to add that didn’t want to give out false info.
@StarryEyed14, a former student of mine did the acting major at George Mason and got very good training; he is a working actor in DC and got a great start (including connections) from GMU. His take on it is that it’s very much one of those “you get out of it what you put into it” programs. You may get more info about American’s MT program if you ask about it specifically on the Musical Theatre forum; there are a couple of AU parents who post there occasionally and who have said very positive things about the school. Good luck–congratulations on your choices!