I am confused by the few schools that do not have an audition admittance requirement but require you to audition after like soph year. What if you don’t “pass” the audition? Would you go into another program ? That doesn’t make any sense. Seems like I read Hofstra does this?
No, you would not go to another program (well, unless you wanted to). In schools like Hofstra, you are admitted into the BA program. They also offer a BFA track you can audition into later on. But if you don’t get into the BFA track, you can continue in the BA degree program in theater. Same idea at Northwestern. You can audition after the first year for the MT Certificate program, but if you don’t get into it, you can still continue on in the BA Theater degree program.
So i guess if you have your heart set on a BFA track then those schools would not be a good option since you never know and then you already have time invested there… Gotta see if there are other schools on our list that this applies to…
If you are only willing to do a BFA, then it’s true, there is no guarantee that a program that has auditions after a year or two into the BFA track, will put you into the BFA track, though you would still be able to do the BA track. However, I recommend such programs all the time as a way to balance a college list for someone who prefers a BFA degree. As an example, someone who primarily wants a BFA degree, might consider having 9 audition BFA programs on a list, 1 or 2 audition BA programs, 1 or 2 BA - audition after 1-2 years for BFA track programs, and 2 non-audition BA programs (one of which is an academic safety). Ya know, there is no guarantee one will get into a BFA program as a freshman applicant anyway and so a BA school that has a BFA track or some other audition-based track (like Northwestern’s MT Certificate which is a BA) still leaves such an option open once in college.
If you’re looking for a guaranteed BFA, look into Catawba College in North Carolina. You select either the BA or BFA track there your sophomore year. They were my safety, but I auditioned for them for scholarships and toured the campus, and holy COW, the faculty were the nicest people I had EVER met. DEFINITELY a family. (The woman who auditioned me even had her young daughter in the room with her during my audition. A little odd, but very relaxed!) Something to look at!
My daughter attends one of these schools and just completed her 1st year. She will audition for the BFA at the end of her 3rd semester. She just had her juries where they gave her constructive feedback and what they expect from her when she auditions next semester. She said the juries went very well and she is pleased. She has her marching orders for improvement.
During audition season last year, she was accepted to 2 BFA programs and waitlisted at 2 BFA programs in which she removed herself. When we visited the school she now attends, WKU (which was her safety), she fell in love with it. We were a bit worried about her having to audition later, but we met with the MT director, they listened to her sing and interviewed her and told her they thought she would do very well there.
She feels she made the right choice for her. She loves the school, the Theatre and Dance department, and all the friends she has made.
@theaterwork - you are absolutely correct that if you attend one of these schools, have your heart set on an auditioned BFA program, and don’t get accepted your Sophomore year (or whatever), then you could end up not exactly where you are want to be. Some of these programs do offer multiple chances to audition if you don’t get accepted in the first attempt, and most of them, like Western Kentucky, offer feedback and juries along the way. But if a student would not be satisfied finishing within the BA or non-certificate curriculum, then this is a somewhat risky proposition. Not saying these are not great and wonderful programs, no doubt they are, just that there is some possibility that a student might NOT be accepted after spending a year or two at the school and end up outside the curriculum that they really want. Not saying that BA programs are not wonderful either, but they may not be what a student with their heart set on a full BFA curriculum is looking for in terms of dance, voice, acting, music, and MT studio coursework.
In a somewhat similar vein, my d was offered the “come for the BA and re-audition for BFA/BM” option for several schools that she was rejected from and thought hard about a couple of the offers. But, in the end, she was not really interested in the BA curricula available if she did not get into the auditioned BFA/BM programs (limited dance, different acting track, no studio/workshop courses, etc.) and decided the “risk” was not worth it. For other students, this sort of arrangement might be very attractive. This is not exactly the same thing as programs in which everyone auditions in the first or second year, since the odds are obviously longer, but the idea that you need to happy staying within the BA program is similar.
I agree with soozievt that these programs can help balance a list of schools for those aiming primarily at auditioned BFA’s, but I could not get my d interested in any of them since she wanted to begin and end in a full auditioned BFA (or a similar auditioned BA) curriculum and nothing else.
I agree if you ONLY want a BFA, then the ones where you audition into a BFA track after a year or two would be too risky. However, there really is no guarantee either that if you want to get into a BFA program as a freshman, that you will. So, if you are aiming for a BFA but don’t get into one, then perhaps a BA that has the possibility of a BFA later down the line in the program might be chosen over a strictly BA safety school.
Like EmsDad’s daughter, my D ONLY wanted a BFA in MT program and so that was that. I have had advisees add schools like Hofstra (as one example) to a list of BFA schools as their safety (if it is indeed an academic safety for them and it is not for all people). By the way, Hofstra also has a MT Minor and not all BA in Theater schools offer that.
Wow, great advice here…thanks! So much to consider. We have Catawba on the list as well @HannahMTheatre .Also Western Kentucky on the list…this forum is so very helpful 
@theaterwork I am so glad you asked this question. Since we want a BA for my D and she wants a BFA hearing this info is very helpful.I was ruling out BA to BFA programs but they may be good to look t to give her the option as she moves along.
I want to offer a different perspective.
Our D’s first choice program after much research, including attending MPulse and having friends at virtually every top 20 BFA program in the country, was Northwestern University. As many here know, NU is a BA with a highly selective academic admit with no initial audition (except for VP and other students in the Bienen school of music). Towards the end of the first Quarter, both MT and VP students can audition for the MT Certificate program.
NU was her top choice for many reasons, but one of them was actually the unique way the program is organized. Importantly, the Theatre program, which is very performance oriented, is intentionally designed to enable all students to explore all aspects of theatre over 4 years, and to structure very individualized curriculum, often including various Certificates and/ or majors. Over 4 years some will decide to focus on MT, others on TYA, straight theatre, comedy, writing, Directing, Stage Management, producing, dance, teaching, theatrical business management… the options are limited only by imagination.
D never had even the slightest ambivalence about becoming an MT performer, but the ability to interact with people with different interests and to shape her own curriculum was a high priority for her. She was never overly worried about needing to audition for the MT Certificate, as she was getting plenty of strong MT training even before the auditions and preferred being at NU with or without being in the Certificate program. Many talented and well-trained MTs graduate from NU without it.
During D’s four years it’s been a joy to watch her NU peers discovering and exploring their passions, unlike some friends in BFA programs who grew to understand they wanted to move in different directions but were stuck moving through a prescribed curriculum to complete their degrees.
As an example that this change in focus happens at every school, one might say that UMich’s most famous “MTs” weren’t even in their MT BFA program (Darren Criss and Madonna) or didn’t become performers (Pasek and Paul).
I’ve heard that 70% of kids change majors over their 4 years of college, so in some ways it feels like asking most 17 year olds to commit to a narrow curriculum might make even less sense than applying for a specialized track a year or so into college (which is done in many other majors as well). This of course isn’t true for everyone, but is for many.
I think ANY type of program can be perfect for the right kids, so I wouldn’t write off all of these programs out of hand.
^^ … both Theatre and VP students… ^^
@MomCares … you make a good point about how with a BFA, you not only commit to a major before entering college, but it is a very prescribed curriculum at many programs with little flexibility. And yes, a huge number of college students change majors in college and so committing to a BFA at a young age is not for everyone and can have limitations. My D felt ready to commit (and she was particularly young as she was applying around her 16th birthday) and it worked for her, but many change their minds in college.
But one thing I think was great at her particular program, NYU/Tisch, is that there is a lot of flexibility in one’s curriculum that one might not find at all BFA in MT programs. At Tisch, you can change studios after two years or after three years. If you are an MT, for example, you can do an acting studio for part of your training or an acting for the screen semester in a different studio. You can study abroad. You can do an academic semester. You can double major or minor in something else. You can veer off into directing or producing or writing. If you had told me my D would not do the MT studio all four years at Tisch when she entered, I would have been shocked. However, she did the MT studio for five semesters and Experimental Theater Wing studio for three semesters (she had to audition to get into that studio!) where she could focus more on acting training, but also in the final year of college, there were many course choices in that studio and it was not as prescribed as in the MT studio. Further, she could do what is called an Independent Project in her final semester in ETW studio that she could not have done in her MT studio and for that, she wrote/composed her first original musical that was staged and she starred in it. She wanted that experience as part of her college studies. This kind of thing happens at NU of course. But as you say, it is not as common in some BFA programs, but it is doable at Tisch.
When I first registered on CC, I was fourteen years old and absolutely CERTAIN that I wanted to major in MT when I got to college. I always considered myself very lucky that I knew exactly what I wanted to do “when I grew up”, because I know committing to a major is something that a lot of my peers struggle with. But you know, it’s interesting. I am so happy that I picked the major I did (especially after having to study something else at an institution I didn’t particularly want to attend for a year before I got to major in MT due to finances–because by the time I got to majoring in MT, I knew I really wanted it), but the longer I’m in it, the more I want to broaden my horizons. And I don’t think this is something I could have predicted by attending a summer program or anything else that would have given me the BFA experience before college, because I THRIVE on being a BFA MT student: I love waking up early for dance classes, spending all day in the Fine Arts Center, sometimes not getting back to my dorm until 11:30 or midnight after rehearsals. But I found near the end of first semester, I was thinking things along the lines of “Oh wow, the bookwork I did in class today really piqued my interest in dramaturgy,” or “Theatre can’t exist in a vacuum, right? What impact does this show have on its community when it is produced?” I wanted to explore these concepts, and then felt guilty that I might be taking away from my MT training by doing so–after all, there are only so many hours in a day! I can’t be in the dance studio stretching as well as in the library researching Theatre of the Oppressed, I’m not Hermione Granger! I felt really guilty and torn and wondered if I was in the right program. I even considered starting transfer applications for a BFA in Dramaturgy. But I knew I would miss my MT training so much if I went through with that.
I brought up my concerns and my feelings of guilt with the faculty, who were extraordinarily receptive, and are continuing to help me engineer the type of education I want, one where I have opportunities to explore a little bit of everything without “sacrificing” anything. I’m lucky at Viterbo that the different majors within the Department of Theatre and Music Theatre are encouraged to “play” with each other–there are very few classes that aren’t open to the entire department. I’m also lucky that my particular BFA in MT requires a large liberal arts core, so I feel less like I’m buckled in to one curriculum.
I don’t think I could have predicted any of these feelings emerging this time last year, when I was just getting ready to go off and study MT in college (even though I knew full well what I was getting into)! But as I progress further into my program and learn more about myself, flexibility becomes more and more important to me. I learned this year that I have a propensity for classical acting, and that’s certainly a skill I want to foster, especially because I will probably have to age into my type a little bit as a musical theatre performer. At Viterbo, I’m lucky enough to be able to explore that further. At some other programs, that may not be the case if the curriculum is very rigid.
I look at that fourteen year old girl who was precocious enough to sign up for CC with this username, and in some ways I don’t even recognize her. I think five years ago, I would have said “I’m going to be on Broadway someday or I’m going to die trying.” And that isn’t true anymore. I still love musical theatre–cut me open and I’ll bleed it!–but my goals and my definition of success have certainly changed since then. I want to do more than just MT, and curiously enough, it’s my musical theatre training that has shown me that.
This is beautiful and so important. @CanadianMTgirl you are my hero.
@CanadianMTgirl Iagree completely with @MTVT2015 !! This message is so important,how wonderful that you were ope to all around you and kudos to your faculty for listening and supporting your interests… I am going to share this with my D so she understands how many roads & opportunities potentially await!!