What I’m looking for is to double major MT & Undecided as of now, but i dont want to leave college with JUST an MT degree because, yaknow, im NOT good enough for Broadway and I want a job. I’m also looking for something that’s not as intensive, hence the BA and not BFA. I want to be financially stable in the future and do what I love on the side, but minoring or just not studying it all together doesn’t give me the opportunities I want to be involved in theater, if that makes sense?
Not too many schools offer a musical theater BA, and the ones that do are either reaches academically, really competitive in terms of the program, or are TINY LACs; no thanks! I’ve seen some theater with MT concentrations, however. Does anyone know a school like this? I feel like this would give me more options; SUNY New Paltz has something similar to this which puts them at the top of my list
Bonus points if the schools are on the East Coast and are 7k+ students, extra bonus points if it’s a public college/university so I’m not throwing my life savings away (I already have a dream of a Master’s degree from NYU- please, no more student debt, i’m only a smol child)
PS; Academically I’m at a weighted 85% GPA (I think that’s 3.2 on a 4.0 scale but i’m not sure), plus upward curve on that and continued upward curve in senior year grades, SAT 1750 (1850 superscore) with 1190 CR&Math (1200 SS), and ACT 27. Lots of theater/music extracurricular and a few scattered other things, pretty darn good recommendations from US History teacher (got B+/A- quarter grades in the class and 95 on the final exam and it’s one of my favorite subjects so I was REALLY involved in class) and my Choir teacher (I’m one of the lead sopranos so duh), and of course my guidance counselor. So if any of said schools are targets (or any of the 3 schools im about to mention), please let me know!!!
PSS: I’ve looked at Purchase, Rutgers, and Binghamton (last one is a reach, i know), and they all have Theater but I don’t know how happy a MUSICAL theater kid would be there! Does anyone have any input for these three schools? Because I know Binghamton just finished Spring Awakening (and yes, I’m jealous.)
I think these schools fit most of your criteria (although I am not quite sure what your cost limits are); these are all audition based. Although many are private schools, many private schools offer academic merit scholarships for grades within your range:
Fairleigh Dickinson Madison/Florham BA w/MT Conc NJ 6,048
Indiana Pennsylvania BA w/MT Track PA 12,130
New Jersey City BA Music MT NJ 6,229
Point Park PA BA MT 3,226 (artistically more competitive for entry)
Plymouth State NH BA MT 3,787
Rhode Island College BA w/MT Conc 7,518
SUNY Cortland NY BA MT6,317
SUNY Geneseo NY BA MT5,553
SUNY New Paltz NY BA Theatre Perf w/MT Conc 6,642
Temple BA w/MT Conc PA 28,408 (artistically more competitive for entry)
West Chester BA w/MT Emp PA 13,844
Western Connecticut State CT 5,492
These audtion-based schools may be too small (not sure what you meant by “tiny”):
Manhattanville College BA Music w/MT Conc NY 1,798
Marywood PA 2,003
Seton Hill PA 1,582
Susquehanna BA w/MT Emp PA 2,084
Wilkes PA 2,360
Here are some non-audition based programs:
Christopher Newport BA w/MT Track VA
Muhlenberg College BA PA (more academically selective and expensive)
SUNY-Oswego BA w/MT Track NY
If you go to the “Big List of MT College by Program Type” thread, which is posted near the top of the threads, you can find many more programs outside the Northeast that fit your criteria:
The major at Susquehanna in PA is a theatre major with a performance emphasis, doesn’t seem to really be MT. I don’t see any dance or voice classes on the requirements. Maybe you’d have to minor in dance?
California State University, Northridge offers BA Theatre with MT Minor. (Yeah, I know…not East Coast…but FYI for any others searching for this option…)
Keep in mind that some places give you a lot of flexibility with the BA and you can create your own path even if they don’t formally offer a BA MT option. My daughter is at Northern Kentucky U and doing this. She is taking voice, dance and acting, including MT classes. Not always in the same section as the BFA students, but certainly would meet what you described. It is a public school, about 16k total students. Your grades should get you some merit money, although I haven’t looked at their criteria lately.
@theaterwork no not BFA, she is in the BA program. She will probably try for the BFA again in April, but the coursework is largely the same. Like I mentioned above there are some sections reserved for BFA, but BAs can typically take the same classes. For example she has taken MT Performance, just couldn’t be in the BFA section. But from what I’ve heard from her and friends I’ve spoken with the programs are pretty integrated, although the BFA sections are more rigorous. The other big difference is the BFAs get priority for voice lessons. While she has had lessons all 3 semesters she never knows for sure until start of the semester.
Cool that’s interesting. I actually just posted a question to others that are doing this in BA programs etc to get an idea to discuss with my D some options if she doesn’t get into BFA programs or wants more flexibility
As the parent of a BA-theatre student I think having this sort of discussion is really important. And I applaud the OP for the self-awareness to look for this type of option. I know this part of the forum is focused on musical theatre and that tends to imply the BFA, but BA doesn’t mean you can’t do MT. There are lots if good options mentioned above and in other posts. As has been said on this forum before - there are many paths and options. Each person needs to find the right one for his/her own situation.
University of Kentucky has BA theater with MT Certificate. Also University of Tennessee has BA theater and music theater concentration. Both of them have 1 main musical a year and several straight plays. Both offer voice through the music department and some dance. UT has an arrangement of having students perform in additional musicals with professionals because they are a LORT school.
It might be a little smaller than you wanted, but check out Wagner. It’s a BA because of ‘The Wagner Plan’ liberal arts requirements, but it’s an MT program. Beautiful campus on Staten Island.
^^ Wagner is among the more artistically competitive programs, that’s why I left it off the list, along with Marymount Manhatten, given that the OP seemed to indicate a preference for avoiding the more competitive programs.
My D applied to BA’s although Florida Southern and UTampa just changed to BFA’s but in reality still require the same liberal arts credits and allow for and encourage second majors and/or minors. Here is the list we started with, did not apply to all of them for various reasons but our initial list to investigate
Muhlenberg, JMU, Christopher Newport, Catholic, American, U Alabama, Wagner, Northwestern, Florida Southern, U Tampa, Brandeis, Northeastern, Emerson, Seton Hill they have BA and BFA, Have to look and see if there were more. Hope this helps.
