<p>helloooo
I'm new to the site but have been looking at posts for a while. I had a question. I'm currently in a BA program (my mom didn't approve of my musical theatre "habit" so she refused to let me audition for programs) well i'm a sophomore at my university with a pretty good theatre program. and i've been cast in some shows. anywhooo. i've heard people talking that the BA means you're not going to succeed in the business. is this true? i'm really worried musical theatre and acting are my passion. i can't see myself doing anything else. nor do i want to do anything else! am i really at a great disadvantage if i don't have a BFA? should i transfer? i just don't know what to do. tips and advice would be GREATLY appeciated!</p>
<p>You in my opinion should stay with the ba program if your happy there and the only reason your thinking of leaving is to pursue a bfa. The reason I feel this way is because my daughter is already leaving her bfa program after just one semester. She has multiple reasons why but mostly because she feels its too narrow of a college education and alittle overkill. This is a girl who lived MT for over 10 years,did tons of training all thru the years,attended intensive summer programs and was lucky enough to get into 5 bfa MT programs with pretty bad academic grades to boot.
Needless to say, it has broken my heart when I think about all the time and money we have invested in college auditions and training for her to get into her #1 school,which she did and is still transfering. But thats just our story,I’m sure you will find the opposite is true for many others. All I can suggest is to look at the thread that lists all the tony winners for the past 10 years,where they went to school and the type of degree they sought. You will see a mixture of ba,bfa and no college ed. at all…
The best advice I can give you is to really talk to everyone over and over about what their program is like and then take into consideration what the lifestlye will be like at that school.
My daughter thought she knew what she wanted but learned that she missed spending time with people who weren’t immersed in the arts,and felt like she was almost in a working atmosphere rather than a college atmosphere.She also went to a conservatory type university.
Just take your time because you knw what you have but don’t really know what you’d get when you leave.
Best of luck to you!!!</p>
<p>If you are not happy, or do not feel like your needs are being served in your BA program you could look into transferring. But you should be aware that you will most likely increase the amount of time you spend in undergraduate school. Not necessarily a bad thing if it is truly the best path for you. However, I would not do so because you have “heard people talking that the BA means you’re not going to succeed in the business.” </p>
<p>There are many successful performers who have BA degrees… I have taught at 2 BA programs, and graduates of both programs are currently working on Broadway, off-Broadway, in TV/ Film, at regional theatres, on national and international tours, etc… There is no one path to a successful career in the performing arts. If you feel that you are getting good training, a strong education, and enjoy your school you may be best served to stay. As a junior transfer to a BFA program you would most likely have to start over in your training and spend four more years in college. If you are going to spend six+ years in college you might prefer to pursue an MFA degree if you feel that you would like additional training within the context of a degree program. You could also look into pursuing a two year conservatory program after graduating… ie. Circle in the Square, AMDA, etc…</p>
<p>Another option is to look for a semester program that might enhance your training…</p>
<p>Syracuse University Tepper Semester – [Syracuse</a> University Drama Department - The Tepper Semester](<a href=“http://vpa.syr.edu/drama/tepper/teppersemester.html]Syracuse”>http://vpa.syr.edu/drama/tepper/teppersemester.html)</p>
<p>NYU- Tish Visiting College Student Program – [Visiting</a> College Students: Tisch School of the Arts at NYU](<a href=“Special Programs”>Special Programs)</p>
<p>O’Neill National Theatre Institute – [National</a> Theater Institute](<a href=“http://nti.conncoll.edu/]National”>http://nti.conncoll.edu/) </p>
<p>There are also summer programs for college students that you could look into to supplement your academic training during the year… Yale, Penn State, Cap21, Circle in the Square, NYU (Tisch and Steinhardt), Stella Adler, and others offer summer training programs for college students. </p>
<p>None of these supplementary options are needed to be successful professionally – but I list them to illustrate that there are programs that you could look into to supplement training while staying at your current program if you were interested in a “more intense” experience. </p>
<p>Good Luck :)</p>
<p>Ditto all the great advice that KatMT wrote!</p>
<p>To the initial poster:</p>
<p>If it’s your passion go for it. It doesn’t matter your degree. Casting directors don’t care where you went to school or what degree you got. All they care about is can they cast you.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>My D is about to take the Tepper Semester at Syracuse. It is a semester in NYC, studying with professionals in the industry; students from any university may apply. If you’d like more specific information on the program, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>It is not correct that whether you have a BA or a BFA will make a difference with casting directors. As someone correctly pointed out on this page, most actors do not even receive a degree at all. As for BA’s, UCLA has put out countless famous and successful actors with BA’s, not BFA’s, and it has not led to any problem with their students rising the top. For example, Jack Black, Tim Robbins, Mark Harmon, Adam Brody, Autumn Reeser, Kal Penn, Susan Egan, Josh Cooke, Sam Golzari, Ben Stiller, Gabrielle Union, Elizabeth McGovern, Heather Locklear, Ally Sheedy, Laurie Holden, and Sean Astin are just a few of the many BA UCLA grads. And yet I am sure there are some BFA producing programs that only wish for a fraction of that number of successful actors to come from their programs. </p>
<p>Just because a program is labelled BA or BFA does not necessarily give it the label of excellence. The singular best indicator is the success of its graduates. The second best indicator is how you feel when you are there. Are you learning? Growing? Reaching? If so, you are developing yourself as an actor and that will show in auditions.</p>
<p>Northwestern University (a BA with a by-audition MT Certificate program) counts the following among its graduates:</p>
<p>Kate Baldwin, Craig Bierko, Warren Beatty, Richard Benjamin, Stephen Colbert, Zooey Deschanel, Nancy Dussault, Heather Headley, Stacy Keach, Richard Kind, Carol Lawrence, Cloris Leachman, Laura Linney, Shelley Long, Julia Louise-Dreyfuss, Paul Lynde, Dermot Mulroney, Patricia Neal, Denis O’Hare, Jerry Orbach, Tony Randall, Tony Roberts, Marg Helgenberger, David Schwimmer, Kate Shindle, McLean Stevenson and Noah Wyle. </p>
<p>Additionally, Northwestern alums include Ana Gasteyer, Seth Meyers, Megan Mullally and Zach Braff, none of whom even majored in theatre.</p>
<p>The letters on the degree don’t matter. Your talent and training do!!</p>