<p>My D is about to audition at Wagner. She is interested in MT. I know that they don’t have a MT program. I believe its a BA in “Theater & Speech”. But they seem to put on an impressive number of musicals each year. I have been looking at their website and come up with a few questions. I hope someone can help:
1.) They state that “Wagner College Theatre has been in the top 5 theatre programs in The Princeton Review for over a decade…” Given this information does anyone know why you don’t hear much about the program?<br>
2.)The website said “Dance classes can be taken for a $200 fee by registering for the 0 unit lab. Tuition is not charged.” Does that mean that dance classes are not covered by the tuition and you must pay an additional fee of $200 per dance class? If so, is this typical in other programs?
3.)If majoring in “Theatre & Speech: Performance Concentration”, do most kids who are interested in MT minor in music and/or dance ?
4.) I don’t see any individual voice lessons listed in the “requirements for a major in Theater” can you enroll in voice lessons if you are a music minor (similar to Muhlenberg)? (without an additional fee…)
5.) Has anyone seen a musical at Wagner? What is the quality?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Are theater majors required to take science / math courses? </p>
<p>What percentage of required courses are within the major?</p>
<p>Are theater students with MT concentrations required to take voice weekly voice lessons every semester?</p>
<p>Are voice lessons included in tuition or do you pay extra?</p>
<p>We are supposed to be auditioning this weekend, but suddenly not sure if the program is right for my son who really wants equal preparation in singing / acting / dance.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My D was planning on auditioning this weekend as well but has since changed her mind. After reading some less than flattering student reviews she has decided Wagner is not for her.</p>
<p>stagemom23, can you tell me where you read these reviews? I’d like to read them myself before the audition. Thanks</p>
<p>My d has also changed her mind about auditioning and I would like to see those student reviews!</p>
<p>My D is a current Jr and wants to look at Wagner. It would be helpful to hear what has turned these kids on/off. She’d probably minor in MT somewhere at most, but does love it. She has become very curious about Wagner through its website and Princeton Review (not so much the theater listing, but general college info).</p>
<p>There are student review sites that in my opinion are dominated by people who just want to rant about their personal issues, or who are using an anonymous soapbox to say whatever they want, even if it’s completely untrue. A way to get some perspective on them is to read reviews there of schools that you do know. I’ve found some to be completely unrecognizable from reality. I actually would strongly urge my D not to read those reviews - they are scary. Even the people who try to balance with a thoughtful post can’t undo some of the careless and nasty things others have written.</p>
<p>If any students / parents can respond soon to the questions in the first two post it would be GREATLY appreciated!</p>
<p>My D is not auditioning for Wagner, but I wanted to suggest that you send a PM to some of the people who have posted before on the Wagner forum as it looks like some of their kids attend the school. This may give you a more balanced perspective.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Our decision was based not only on various online reviews but from personal visits and a long chat with a Wagner student. I know some of the student reviews are slanted and we take everything with a grain of salt. After looking at other BA programs we just felt Wagner wasn’t the program for us…I really don’t want to get into he said/she said stuff so suffice it to say that we felt our $40,000 would be better spent elsewhere. That is not to say that Wagner doesn’t have positives…they just didn’t wow us with their program. It’s just our gut feeling about the place…your take may be completely different.</p>
<p>FWIW…The Princeton Review is a test prep and admissions consulting company. I believe they are often criticized for their inaccurate and sometimes biased reviews. There are many schools who rank well with them…just take the results with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Hi to all who are confused here. My D auditioned because Wagner was so close to NYC.
It is also close to home (NJ); this was not where she was leaning towards initially.</p>
<p>She had Muhlenberg and point park to choose from, and other liberal arts colleges, and at the last minute decided to choose Wagner College. She loves it. She says students either love it or hate it. Seems there is no in between.</p>
<p>So if you have your auditions set up, and it’s not a big deal to go, then I suggest you do. You never know what will happen 4 months from now. They also are very generous with their scholarship money. They go by grades and sats, as well as talent. We were given $16,000.00 a year. And if her sats had been higher, it could have been 20K.(All Merit- no need based)</p>
<p>Their theatre facilities leave a lot to be desired, but are adequate. Muhlenberg, ithica, CCM, even point park put them to shame. But they have NYC in their backyard. That’s the draw.</p>
<p>Tommy and Brigadoon was very good- Dancing and vocals in brigadoon were exceptional.
My D said the dramas were very good also. They do 4 musicals and 3 dramas a year and a dance project. </p>
<p>Dance classes are fit into their schedules if open. They are not charged if taken for credit.<br>
My D is double majoring and is using all available credits for academic classes. However, you can take as many dance classes as you want for the $200.00. Voice lessons are not part of tuition. $200.00 per semester. 10 lessons for $20.00 a piece seems very reasonable. The trick is to get a good teacher. They seem to come with seniority. Freshmen get open spots. Luck of the draw. Any other college we looked into last year also charged for private lessons. However, they have a great music dept. and music minors are available. Along with a dance minor. So those credits are part of the tuition.</p>
<p>Doesn’t seem to be too much of a party school. That’s not to say drinking is not there. Just very hard to do in the freshman dorms. Their freshmen dorm -Harborview-is old and adequate. If they are lucky enough to get the harbor view, that makes up for the plain rooms. Upperclassmen move to bigger and more comfortable dorms. They just opened a new senior housing dorm this semester. Food is very good- no complaints from my picky eater. That is huge!!</p>
<p>The acting program is laid out and is not adjustable. It is a set 4 year syllabus. 1st year is acting one that breaks up into 3 parts with 3 teachers- acting- movement- and speech. 2nd semester is acting 2 and is with 1 teacher the whole semester. My D loves all her theatre teachers. Voice and dance is fit in as their schedule allows. They are required to work on 4 shows as tech-hair & make-up- costume- stage management , sound, lighting, etc. before graduation. Most try to get this done freshmen/soph yr. so they can do shows senior year if lucky enough to get cast.</p>
<p>Academic classes fill the rest of their schedules.</p>
<p>I hope I have answered some of your questions. I’ll reread and post again if I see any new ones. </p>
<p>good luck to you and your kids!! ;)</p>
<p>Just found the new addition to CC- CampusVibe. If you click on the link to the left margin- “new! Campus Vibe”- and search wagner college, it will bring up the video about the Wagner Plan- interesting concept of education with some great video of wagner.</p>
<p>Thank you for that honest evaluation sashusmom! It really helps to hear directly from a student and/or parent who is familiar with the program!! Still not sure if we will attend the audition (we live in PA but are only about 2 hours from SI) or not. It doesn’t help that we are expecting the mother of all snowstorms over the next 2 days! Your post does give us another perspective on Wagner. Just not thrilled with the set up of the program or the facilities available…but we shall see. :)</p>
<p>Hi Stagemom23!
My best to you and your D on your search for that perfect fit. It is so hard to find. The one we thought was that perfect fit was only one sided. Tough competition for those 15 to 20 spots available in the incoming freshman class at your dream school. So audition for as many as you can, and then choose from your acceptances. Sounds simple, but far from it when crunch time comes for a decision. Wagner College was a compromise for my D. It had some of but not all of what she wanted. After the 1st semester, she was happy and that’s what counts. In the end, it was right for her. We asked if she wanted to try again for her other schools as a transfer and said absolutely not. She has the best of both worlds at Wagner.
I can’t imagine they would stick to an audition schedule with a huge storm involved. Since this is their only audition day, “this is” their freshman class. People from over 44 states attend Wagner, so they will be coming from all over the country. Call Jackie in admissions and maybe she can let you know how they will handle this approaching storm.
Good luck in whatever you decide! ;)</p>
<p>Anyone worried about the travel to NYC for this audition? My D has her audition at Wagner on Sunday but her school show is next weekend and of course she is the lead!!! We are worried about cancelled flights coming back to California and missing tech rehearsals. What to do?</p>
<p>We received an email saying that if you can’t attend the audition due to weather you can send a video by March 3rd</p>
<p>Hi CalMTmom-
We’re here in NJ- 30 min west of NYC and we got 18 in. of snow. SI and NYC got 9 inches. by Sunday it should be cleared up completely. Traveling by tomorrow should be OK. All the highways look clear and airports should be OK. They do a great job of snow removal here. Hope this helps! Good luck to you and your D in her show and college search! ;)</p>
<p>haha sashusmom…we’re in the Pocono’s and we were slammed with snow!! We live about 80 miles northwest of NYC. I know NY and SI will probably be ok but I’m not sure if WE will be dug outta here by 5 am Sunday so we’re going to send in a tape just in case!! I haven’t seen this much snow since my childhood growing up about 40 minutes outside of Syracuse NY!</p>
<p>Hi Stagemom23-
Sorry to hear you got so…much… snow where you are ;(. It’s good they gave you the option of sending in a video. If you decide to brave the weather and drive out good luck and safe traveling. The kids at Wagner have had 4 snow days in the past 2 weeks. My D hasn’t gone sledding this much since she was little and didn’t mind the cold. They were unsure of what kind of snow conveyance to use last week and came up with sliding on garbage bags. It worked!!! They had a great time and " no one got hurt!" They repeated today but I haven’t heard if all are in one piece. Tell your D to break a leg in her audition for me. If you make it to SI look for a 5 foot blonde, blue eyed young lady, that’s my D. She will be a student helper. 
Anyone else who braves the trip, same to your kids…Break a leg and have fun!!!</p>
<p>Awww.thanks sashusmom! If we get there we’ll definitely look for your daughter! It should be funny 'cause my D is 5’1, blonde and blue eyed…maybe they’re each other dopplegangers!! :)</p>