@Dusing2 - Major Studio:
“Since “average” playing or composing may not be enough to sustain a career in music performance or composition, the faculty considers a “C” grade in the major studio area as an indication of either insufficient ability or undistinguished work as demonstrated during the semester.”
@soozieVT you still get individual grades and narration at least in New Studio but in the end you only get one single grade for studio that goes on your transcript which is used to factor into your GPA. I don’t exactly know how the individual grades from the various classes are tallied to come up with that single grade. I would assume some sort of weighting by hours?? but that’s how it works in New Studio anyway. Your daughter graduated a while ago and was in Cap21 and ETW studios, perhaps things were different but in any case, as I said, I don’t know how things work in other studios. Maybe studio A’s are more common in other studios. They are not in New Studio.
To graduate with honors from Tisch Drama, you have to have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. So if you are getting B’s (3.0) in New Studio which seems to be the “you are doing what we expect” threshold you need to pair that with more or less a solid A (4.0) in all of your other academic classes to get to the 3.5 average. Likewise for B+'s needing to be paired with A- and so on. I didn’t say it was impossible, it’s just hard when getting an A/A- in studio is rare and studio accounts for more or less half of your GPA. My daughter may pull it off but it isn’t a slam dunk and she is a strong student.
Within Adler at NYU there was a list of grades for various “sections” of studio (voice and speech, scene study, etc- I think around 8 parts) and then they took an average of the various grade. And then that “studio grade” (which as halflokum points out represents a huge chunk of your semester hours) was factored with liberal arts credits for overall gpa
@CollegeDadofTwo your link seems to corroborate what I said about the MT grades at CMU. They tell the students and parents that a D is passing. I interpret the bold print in your link to be additions from the School of Music, which does not agree with that philosophy.
@halflokum It was exactly the same at CAP21 as it is now at New Studio and other studios…while you get evaluations and a letter grade in each class in studio, you only get ONE grade for ALL of studio for that semester on your transcript and yes, it counts for a chunk of semester hours! AND yes, it was very hard to get an A in studio!!! It was like that when my D went and is still like that. I agree and tried to post that it is challenging to graduate with honors at NYU/Tisch and as you say, it is not impossible. I’m just saying that not only did my kid get honors, but a bunch of her friends did too (I only know this from all the yellow tassels on their grad caps!). Definitely not a slam dunk and surely a challenge to achieve, but not an unreasonable goal for a strong student, even at Tisch.
@soozieVT, actually neither of us can tell if things are exactly the same as they were for an NYU MT student in Cap21 back in 2004-2005 as they are today in NSB. I don’t even know if things are exactly the same for a freshman in NSB as they were back in 2012. It sounds like getting one grade for studio was the practice back then as it is today and maybe that is how it works in all studios since toowonderful mentioned it works like that in Adler.
My point was that what is considered “good work” rarely starts with the letter “A” in current New Studio practice (which is the only studio I know about) and because of that, everything else you do has to be close to perfect to secure graduation honors. What you wrote in post #37 is that it is “not too difficult to graduate with honors from NYU/Tisch” and then you went on to mention that your daughter graduated with honors and so did a bunch of her friends I guess as evidence. So you are disagreeing with me but I don’t know how you know that about today. Your daughter and her friends did not go through New Studio. Perhaps if they had they still would have all graduated with even greater honors but I stand by what I said about current grading practice and the mathematical challenge it creates for graduation honors because it is current and specific to the studio that I’m talking about. I have no idea what went/goes on in Cap21, or ETW or any other studio, or in Steinhardt, or in other Tisch majors or the rest of NYU and most certainly no idea what goes on in other schools either. Sounds like one could find similar challenges at CMU from some of the other discussion above.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I mainly waded into this because of what Dusing2 wrote in post #29. I was agreeing with her and then just happened to mention the impact of that system on graduation honors.
On the good news front- even if your kid is not an über student and graduates WITHOUT honors (gasp) it probably won’t matter in the theater world. I am far from an expert- but have never read any stories about the big break coming from a kid’s gpa.
^^^ 
@halflokum I am agreeing with you. The only thing that I am saying is the same now as before is that the student receives just ONE grade for ALL their studio courses (representing a big chunk of credits) each semester. I also believe this is true in all the Tisch drama studios. I’m also agreeing that As are very difficult to obtain in studio classes. I’m not comparing studios or old or newer studios, but simply it was true back then what you are saying is true now…As are not commonly given in studio classes and incoming students should understand this. I’m agreeing that it is challenging to get honors at graduation given all this. I was simply trying to say that some kids still manage to graduate with honors at Tisch. Maybe it is due to getting high grades in the non-studio classes…don’t know. It certainly isn’t easy to do. That is all I am saying is that the general idea you posted about Tisch is true and has been that way for a while. Yes, specifics change over time or from studio to studio, but pretty much what you describe as current, was what one would have said in the past too on this general idea about honors at Tisch. That is all.
BTW, my D was not at Tisch in 2004-2005. She was in high school.
Can students get A’s in a studio class? Or are they not ever given? If A’s are given out, are the students told what they have to do to acquire one? This fascinates me….
You can get an A in studio, but they are not readily given out or in great abundance.
The evaluations that I saw for studio classes, had a full page for every studio class and rubric with criteria listed and ratings for each of those criteria, plus narrative comments.
Still, all the studio classes are combined/averaged to one letter grade for the semester for ALL studio courses/credits.
But let’s say a student gets a B+ for all the studio credits (which may represent 50% of their coursework per semester…this varies), they still get grades for the Theater Studies classes, writing classes, theater production classes, and liberal arts classes too that all figure into the GPA. So, if they obtain a lot of A’s in all those other courses…do the math…getting a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPA by graduation, while it may be difficult, is possible.
So at least the kids know it is possible to get an A and what the criterion are/is to achieve it? That’s good…It would seem a bit disheartening if they thought it was NEVER attainable.
I apologize for mentioning graduating with honors. I did show the math several posts ago but it has led to a tangent (that I’m still on I guess) that doesn’t mean anything for this thread. The real point which I picked up on was made in post #29 and it pertained to the suggestion that these programs may in practice, not hand out A’s like they are candy for the highly-subjective, professional training work as a matter of practice and may deliberately use lower grades to symbolize on target work and even good work. So as @Dusing2 pointed out with respect to maintaining merit scholarships and as I mentioned in (gulp) the discussion about graduation honors, it puts greater pressure on the other coursework (if it even exists) as a mechanism by which higher GPAs may be possible for some of those rewards. And sure, there are also the random A/A-'s that some exceptional students may acquire in professional training even in that same environment. One can hope and aim for it. My friend’s son for graduated in 2014 was one of those students in New Studio (he was a straight actor, not an MT back when New Studio had an acting track as well) and he got a special top student graduation award as a result. He was the exception, not the rule. .
So true! Getting honors or not getting honors at college graduation won’t matter one bit in the professional theater world! I’m not sure it matters in any respect other than it is a good feeling on graduation day I suppose.
I certainly understand the concern with grades when it comes to maintaining a merit scholarship. And I also strongly value giving your best effort in all classes. But again- I bring up the point, does the gpa of a bfa major matter?
^^Nope! 
(at least not to OTHERS or in your JOB)
Do MFA programs care about your GPA?
I have done VERY limited looking at MFAs- but in what I have seen, audition is what matters - much like many BFAs
I know more about MMus ( vocal performance). There are some limited cases whereGPA makes a difference.
But audition ( and recommendations)seem to be more important in general.
“I certainly understand the concern with grades when it comes to maintaining a merit scholarship. And I also strongly value giving your best effort in all classes. But again- I bring up the point, does the gpa of a bfa major matter?”
There is an old joke: What do you call the number 1 person in the medical school class and the person who finished dead last? Doctor