<p>Oh, Curmudgeon,</p>
<p>"Put me in coach:" when I heard that song (not paying attention to the rest of the lyrics and responding to the odd linguistic emphasis) I thought it was about airplane travel. Put me in COACH.
:D</p>
<p>OK. This is NOT east coast. But U Mich has a very well respected behind-the-scenes theater program (stage management), said to have (this should be verified) 100% employment after graduation. And Ann Arbor is pretty darn cool. If you posted her stats, I missed them. </p>
<p>Second the suggestion of CMU.</p>
<p>BU has an affiliation with the Huntington Theater. And Texans would probably qualify as URMs.</p>
<p>Hi Curmudgeon!</p>
<p>There are some good suggestions here. I'd also suggest that she take a look at Drew. It has a top-rated Theater program (Princeton Review) and gorgeous theater facilities. They offer a Semester on Broadway for juniors. The NJ Shakespeare Theater is in residence on campus. And they are on a commuter line to NYC. Also, they've been fairly generous with merit aid. Of particular interest, they have a competitive Presidential Scholarship in the arts that would be worth looking into.</p>
<p>My D looked at theater tech programs last year, although not on the east coast. Some suggestions: Not Manhattan, but close-DePaul and Loyola in Chicago. DePaul's theater program is great, but very competitive, and is "conservatory-like". In Chicago, I've heard that theater types prefer Loyola's program.</p>
<p>More Manhattan, Kansas than Manhattan, N.Y.-Indiana University in Bloomington. A beautiful campus, a great theater program, and a good value.</p>
<p>Not Manhattan, and you can't even see it from there-Knox, Beloit and Wittenberg. Witt in particular has a well-regarded theater program, and is very generous with scholarship money.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>
Minor correction: Sarah Lawrence currently refuses to even look at SAT scores-- they say don't bother to send them, they won't look & they won't record. Can't get much more forgiving than that. </p>
<p>SLC is actually a very good bet for an artsy kid, especially one who is very independent minded, and they can be fairly generous with need based aid. So it may be indeed be a very good bet for Ms. Artsypants -- and worth sending off an application. Barnard, on the other hand, is probably best for students who are more driven -- plenty for the arts there, but more of an intense, competitive environment as well -- it doesn't sound like such a good match from Cur's description-- and of course its kind of reachy for the stated GPA in any case. </p>
<p>Note to Cur: my daughter probably should have had a "NYC or bust" sticker pasted across her forehead during the college app year -- she had her heart set on the big city and that was the year that I learned from her that Washington DC "is not a happening town" and that suburban LAC's have "too many trees". The novelty of gritty, cold, rainy urban living wore off fast ... the kid who took off confidently telling me I'd never see her again in the fall couldn't wait to return over winter break. I don't know how to ever convince a 17 year old of this truth other than setting them down on a Manhattan street-corner in mid-November, but a westerner or a kid from rural Texas might have some serious adjusting to do. My kid has made the adjustment .... but please encourage your niece to keep an open mind.</p>
<p>I second Sarah Lawrence -- great school for the right kid, and easy access to NYC.</p>
<p>I agree with Justamom. We toured the Eugene Lang New School. We were told that students can take classes at any of the nine New School colleges which includes Parsons. It's a modern urban campus and DS liked the energy and creativity there.</p>
<p>Edited to add that I forgot to say that it is in the same area as NYU so it's the same general campus feel.</p>
<p>I don't think Texans should go to NYC or Philadelphia. It's just too big of a culture shock.
I like the idea of IU for her, although out of state aid might be limited.</p>
<p>If she has to do East--both Fordham and Skidmore get great reviews from kids/families I know. Fordham kid actually completed his degree and immediately had a well paid position in production in NY and recently directed an off-Broadway show as well. </p>
<p>If she would do West and wants both writing and theatre, Whitman is a hidden gem. And Occidental has great theater and a great location for someone with television aspirations. Chapman is also considered strong for film. All of these schools are interested in drawing geographically from somewhere outside their usual "pools", so she would have that added "hook" (to muddle up the fishing metaphor...)</p>
<p>I'll second Muhlenberg. Visit during the summer and you'll still see lots of theatre activity. Nice facilities too.</p>
<p>Vassar & NYU have identical selectivity stats: admission rates: 29%; NYU with a slight edge in the percentage of top 10% admits (70% vs 69%) and Vassar with a slight avg SAT edge (1386 vs 1365.) However, there is simply no comparison between the two in terms of opportunity for an artsy girl to study, work, intern, do teck crew, and just rub elbows with other creative types. NYU is the clear winner. The place is just oozing with the creative vibe. If she could really bump all those stats up, it would be an invigorating place for her to live & study.</p>
<p>The rates for NYU are incorrect..NYU's admission rates are 36%, average GPA is 3.6 and avg SAT's are 1210-1410..also total acceptances were 12,842 for 2006.... on the other hand Vassar's admission rate is at 30%, avg. GPA is 3.7 , total acceptances were 1,829 and avg SAT's were 1300-1450.</p>
<p>Even though the rates are NOT that far apart...Vassar takes a lot less people and the type of students who apply to Vassar are a much more self-selective group than NYU so the competition for the limited spots is going to be much more intense. So an application to Vassar, with her current stats is much more likely to produce a wait list or rejection but hey it never hurts to try..I agree though that NYU is better for the arts, being in NYC.</p>
<p>Track, I don't want to argue, but go to the NYU website & check out their stats. What you posted is incorrect. From an old guide book, perhaps? Even the newly published ones have old data. And while Vassar takes fewer people, it receives applications from far fewer than NYU. It's no more selective simply because fewer people (with comparable stas to NYU accepted students) apply. I would agree that the student profile at Vassar would be much narrower, as just the difference in number of majors offered would produce very different student bodies.</p>
<p>I'll second Chapman. It's a very artsy campus and from what I understand, they can be very generous with merit aid. It's at least worth a look. We have friends at Wagner and they LOVE it there. The University of Hartford might be worth a look...not in NYC, but good theater.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon,
What about Cooper Union? They were fairly aggressive in recruiting a friend's son with stats not anywhere close to niece's. Same friend's chlld has applied to several major art programs around country- several were in NY,o I will check and either PM or post later in the day.</p>
<p>My stats are the official reported numbers from US news and World Report's Rankings from 2006 admissions... I wasn't aware that these year's numbers were already reported.</p>
<p>Of course Vassar has less applications, that's my point..it's much more a self selecting group... it may be the same 30% acceptance rate but it's a much more competitive group...if you have decent stats, your a lot more likely to make the cut at NYU, where a bigger chunk of applicants get thrown out right away for having subpar numbers... AT Vassar, your going to have relatively more people with closer stats competing for less spots...</p>
<p>Anyway, this is an academic argument because we both agree NYU is a better fit for her interests...</p>
<p>Cooper Union is a fantastic option, but she'll need a portfolio that will knock their socks off. That would be a worthwhile goal to get cracking on ASAP.</p>
<p>Drew & Sarah Lawrence are good writing/theater programs with no SAT hurdle. Both have a pretty campus. Both are close to NYC & would like to enroll more Texans. Does she care about the male/female ratio?</p>
<p>Barnard
NYU
New School </p>
<p>SUNY Purchase - only after a visit - there would seem to be a ton of stuff to do backstage if one can deal with the environment - conservatory kids seem happy there - others can get unhappy real fast</p>
<p>Manhattanville</p>
<p>Drew</p>
<p>A friend of mine's daughter attended a creative writing program at Kenyon the summer before senior year on scholarship, then was offered a really big scholarship to Kenyon for college. Lovely creative girl who seems over-the-top happy. Don't believe she was NMSF or Val or anything huge academically but certainly a fine student.</p>