<p>First welcome to this very informative forum! I am glad you posted and your post is a very thoughtful one showing me great maturity regarding thinking through your options. </p>
<p>Yes, you are correct that my daughter was in Nine with Skylar and she played Lilian LaFleur (the producer). If you are Skylar's close friend, you likely even met during your visit. She is a very good friend of Skylar's from their summers together. Her roomie was Skylar's girlfriend and his roomie was my D's boylfriend. Between first and second session, my daughter went with them all to stay at Skylar's house in fact. I appreciate your not posting my daughter's name and also thank you for such affirming sweet feedback. I am sorry to not have ever seen you on stage but we were not at third session performances. Skylar is enormously talented and will go places. I hope their paths cross again. He was amazing in Nine and the production itself was excellent and one of the best ones I have seen done there. Lotsa talent. Which show did you do and did you like the program? </p>
<p>You raise very pertinent points and I am not sure how much I can help you with it. It is a big decision but is not one that involves such permanency in your life as to change its course. Like you, my daughter is also a very good student, besides her theater endeavors. She would like to take courses beyond the conservatory ones. That is one appealing factor at schools such as NYU or UMichigan for example. While that won't be as well rounded of a liberal arts background as a BA degree, it is still a college education. But her deep seated passion is musical theater and she craves intense training type of programs that BFA degrees provide. I think a perfectly good course of action for someone like you who really wants even more liberal arts is to do a BA in theater. That leaves you with the option to then pursue theater after college or something else....but also you could always specialize in grad school by pursuing a MFA degree at that point. You would have your cake and eat it too. You would get the liberal arts degree and background and then if you want professional training, go to grad school for that. That is a viable option. As well, if you don't see yourself as a triple threat necessarily, you can pursue a theater degree that is not specialized in musical theater. I know some kids from SDM who did this. For instance, a very talented boy from past summers is now at Brown and wanted the BA degree. But besides his theater major, at a school like Brown (as well as several others), there is a wealth of extracurricular theater opportunities and groups...he is very active in musical theater there (student run productions, as well as a capella...I think he wrote a musical he is directing now too related to his second major)....and my older D who is a freshman there has met him. In fact, her older peer advisor happens to be a theater major there too and does a lot of theater, so that is a route that might suit you well, if you pick a school where there is both a BA in theater and a very active theater extracurricular involvement. I agree you might not want to pick a BA theater program at a school that has a BFA one too....check that out because I think that IS the case at UMich. I know my D's boyfriend is applying there for the BFA program in Acting and so I know they have that. Likely BA too. </p>
<p>A lot of this depends on what you want your college studies to be like. And for you, you seem to crave some more liberal arts than you might get in a BFA program. BUT, the one thing I disagree with you a little bit about is that if you get a BFA, you are concerned that you would be limitted in your career or jobs down the line. I think a smart girl like you with a college degree would not be "limited" to just performing. While I know that my D wants to perform on stage and is going for that, she also has many other skills that she could always use in another capacity, some even related to theater. She has created/directed/choreographed a show and is doing another this year and enjoys that end of it too. She is a writer and so I know there are many things she could do even with her BFA as a degree/major is not so limiting. I know she is gonna shoot for her dreams but I also know there are many things she could do if not on stage at some point. So, I do not think your job prospects would be limited by this degree. As well, I think at NYU you could double major and that might be an option for you. That is one school where there are many liberal arts opportunties even with the conservatory training. In fact, I think Skylar is applying ED, and is a good student. That is the case of several kids I know in the program....excellent academic students as well as performing talents. Just one thing to look into. </p>
<p>So, I would not let the notion of future career guide you as much as just thinking of what sort of studies you want to have in your college years. I think you would get to do lots of theater in a BA program where there are lots of theater opportunities. But if you want to eat and breathe theater as your deep seated passion and crave that intense type of training, a BFA p rogram is the route to take for those who really have their mind made up. A BA program is good for those who like keeping even more options open and you can always get a MFA later. Specializing this young is not for everyone. I have one child who will be and one who won't be and both paths are good choices. The one who is not in a professional degree program, can go for it in grad school. Only you can decide which avenue suits what you would like to do the most for the next four years. But don't be too swayed by which would take you to X or Y job prospects later on. I think the world of theater will be open to you either way and I think jobs outside of theater are open to you either way....so focus on the next four years and the type of studies you hope to engage in. </p>
<p>Best of luck and many congrats on your accomplishments to date. Your parents must take a lot of pride in you!</p>
<p>Say hi to Skylar from the VT girl's mom. </p>
<p>Susan</p>