<p>Hey guys, I have a question for people who know theater schools from their very best attributes to their not so very good ones.</p>
<p>I have been blessed with great choices of schools which makes it hard for me to determine where I am going to end up next year. To tell you the truth I have no clue which schools has the biggest rep out there. Due to financial circumstances, I can only afford to visit one college...that is UNCSA</p>
<p>Location, size, and tuition does not matter to me at the moment. </p>
<p>The schools I have been accepted to are:</p>
<ol>
<li>North Carolina School of the Arts</li>
<li>SMU-BFA Acting</li>
<li>SUNY Purchase</li>
<li>Rutgers-Mason Gross</li>
<li>NYU Tisch-Undergraduate</li>
</ol>
<p>How is it that the cost of tuition does not matter to you but you can only afford to visit one school due to financial circumstances? </p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptances…they are all great programs. But you really need to look deeper and asking which of them has “biggest rep out there” isn’t exactly doing it. Location, size and tuition SHOULD matter to you or you just may find yourself miserable and in debt.</p>
<p>they all have great reputations, and when you get out in the world, it’s your auditions you’ll be judged on, not where you went to school. Maybe making connections and contacts is a question you could ask.</p>
<p>You really need to determine which school is the best fit for YOU. Take a look at the curriculum, including specific classes required. Also, determine what things are important to you - senior showcase, open casting, flexibility in scheduling, specific acting techniques, etc. If you are choosing purely based on someone else’s “opinion” (and that’s basically what you’re asking) then you may end up very unhappy.</p>
<p>I say look more at what they offer for training and what recent graduates have done. I will risk making some people mad by saying why I eliminated Tisch and SMU when I was doing my search.</p>
<p>Tisch = Over a quarter of a million dollars for a degree in acting??? My grandparents who will be paying for my college are NYU alumni from other majors and wanted me to go there until I showed them what it now costs. </p>
<p>Another problem I see is that they will not cut students unless they totally flunk out. It is possible to slack your way through with Cs that would get you cut at the other schools. One alumnus I talked to who was in the Adler studio said it is partially what you make of it, but that she would sometimes look around at some of her classmates and wonder, What are these people even doing here? It is important to remember your own growth as an actor partly depends on who you are working with and it will be a wash if you get a slacker for a scene partner. Another problem is that you might get someone that is more focused on another academic subject that might put your collaborative work on the backburner. </p>
<p>Another thing you have to think about there is studio placement. The quality, contact hours and expectations seem to vary wildly between them. </p>
<p>Something else is that over 200 actors graduate from Tisch every year and they have no more highly successful graduates than the others that graduate less than 10% as many. Also notice that most of their successful alumni came from the MFA or are mainly known for doing musicals. </p>
<p>SMU = Located in Dallas, TX with no industry showcase and no recent alumni that have done anything in the business except go to grad school. Its reputation was built decades ago and the faculty that taught people like Kathy Bates have long since left. They have some people that got on a soap opera from a competition but they were not acting majors. They also have a MFA and you have to compete against them for castings. </p>
<p>I talked to someone that has a friend that went to SMU on a full ride scholarship and won acting awards while there. She went to Los Angeles after graduation to pursue film acting where she found she was totally unprepared and she had to start over with her technique at one of the Hollywood studios and take other classes on the business before she even had a clue about what was going on. Yes that is third hand, but it came from someone that got a MFA from another school that is not part of the conversation and had no reason to lie. </p>
<p>I think the other three are about as equal as you can get and it depends on which style of training you like best and what you want your surroundings to be like. I am sure you already saw them but there are already two vs. threads between them where I said what I think.</p>
<p>Yes. My question is superficial and is based on rep.(rightnow) In no way am I going to choose a school based solely on how prestigious they are. I have done some research and know the tuition, student life, and what techniques they are teaching. I simply said money doesn’t matter for a number of reasons. I told myself of I got into a school like Julliard I would do anything I can to go there. I qualify for a lot of financial aid and have scholarships that will follow me to wherever I go. </p>
<p>But one thing though…this is not the case for me…but people do attend a school with the more prestigious program. A person who going to Harvard for school vs someone is going to Hope international university might be learning the same thing from equally great teachers…but the person from Harvard would get more doors open for him…more opportunities. The person who went to Hope might be smarter. </p>
<p>Maybe I am brainwashed…but there are thousands of theater schools I’m positive would fit me just fine. However, I agree with the article I read a while ago where it mentions the comparison of theater to sports… Everyone knows how hard it is to be in the NBA if you don’t…30 out of thousands get drafted and half of them don’t make it. That’s one comparison. The other is in choosing schools. The article mentioned that a theater kid should choose the school not based on making it because It’s not guaranteed, but which is going to best help / prepare you for the next level. Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Connecticut are some of the best teams in the country they get NBA talent every year with the best coaches. If I were recruited to Duke or one of those schools for basketball then I wouldn’t hesitate to commit. </p>
<p>I am not saying there is one top school in the country for acting…but there are a few. Few that constantly turns out a class that agents, casting directors. and alumni will notice. I have already factored in
the tuition, location, so I am not asking for that. </p>
<p>I hope this make any sense…I sort of just wrote </p>
<p>And you’re right to be looking for what’s important to you. I’d just watch out for looking at too many intangibles. I’ll say this about your classmates: you’re going to like some of them, and you’re not going to like others. You’ll think some are really smart and talented, and you’ll end up with “slacker scene partners” wherever you go. I’ve been around too many “elite” universities not to be convinced that people can be disappointing anywhere.</p>
<p>I would give you the advice I want to give my daughter: Imagine the experience YOU will have, with the program, with the faculty, and with the resources (including contacts, connections and yes, to a certain extent, reputation in the profession) available. In the long run it is just you and your education. </p>
<p>I’ll add a tiny recommendation to look at location. You do have to live there for 4 years, and your choices vary SO widely. Maybe if two schools really feel similar, you might want to choose based on that kind of quality of life question.</p>
<p>Purchase, Rutgers (MFA I believe though, correct me if I’m wrong), and North Carolina showcase together in the New Leagues Showcase. I acknowledge my bias since I am a student at Purchase, but I would say, strictly based on reputation alone, that Purchase, Rutgers and North Carolina seem to have an edge.</p>
<p>the good news is, those are all top places, so I don’t think you can go wrong! your list is as if you have the Brown, Duke, Princeton, Stanford and UVa of theater schools on it :)</p>
<p>Emmybet’s right – with those choices, I think you need to look at the intangibles, the “where do I fit in? What do I like?” Do you like a big city and urban campus? NYU. Do you want an art school? NC. Do you want a huge campus? Rutgers. </p>
<p>Seriously. You have really good choices.</p>
<p>Even the school that’s probably the least “prestigious” on your list has Stan Wojewodski, former dean of Yale School of Drama, as the theater chair, at least for the next two years. It’s probably his presence that apparently boosted their applications for BFA theater to nearly 1,000 this year (not verified, but that’s what the current SMU students have heard). But if you can’t see yourself in Dallas,
or Winston-Salem
or NYC
or New Jersey,
well, you get the picture!</p>
<p>Have you visited them all? where did you feel most comfortable – or which one scared the hell out of you and you want to take the bull by the horns and go for it?</p>
<p>^ Exactly. Any of those schools will meet your big criteria of giving you access and opportunities. You now have the luxury of picking the place that makes you happy. The place where you can see yourself for 4 years, the place that excites you. Enjoy!</p>
That might be true about the RU MFAs showcasing in NYC with the Purchase and UNCSA BFAs. The RU BFAs do theirs at a different time in March for some reason. They get a good response there. The alums I talked to were signed across the board with Don Buchwald and Associates and Abrams Artists Agency which are both about as good as you could expect coming out of college. An advantage Purchase and UNCSA have over RU is that they showcase in both NYC and LA while RU only showcases in NYC.</p>
<p>NYU seems to me to be similar to a “factory” I am not quite sure about their numbers but I was told they audition over 1000 students and take 375 between the seven studios. The campus is too spread out for me and I also like the personal attention that my top three offers. Don’t get me wrong, Tisch is great for some and it all depends on what you’re placed in I hear.</p>
<p>SMU- I am scared of Texas. lol One thing I often hear is that SMU doesn’t quite prepare you for the profession but helps you into a “top flight” (their website) graduate school. Yes, the old Yale Dean is there…but how much tutelage will first year students get with him?..and lastly it’s Texas…However, they give great financial aid packages which one of the reasons it is/was a possibility. I have also spoken to a student who said if my goal was to look for work upon graduation…don’t come to SMU. Whatever that means I don’t know…</p>
<p>I want to thank you guys for giving me some of thoughts. It helps me put things into perceptive. I had no idea the difference between say UNCSA, Carnegie Mellon, Julliard, Rutgers, etc…than a community college theater program until I stumbled on CC. I REALLY do appreciate it. I understand I am fortunate with good options, and I in no way want to rub anything into anyone’s face at all. </p>
<p>I am not going to quibble with your decision. you have great choices, and you have to narrow it down.</p>
<p>But, I do take umbrage at the description of Tisch as a factory. Just because the school has chosen to offer more students than other places the chance to get a BFA in drama, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t provide close personal attention or an individualized experience!</p>
<p>the fact is, it has taken advantage of its location in NYC by gaining access to the wide array of working professionals who can teach in its studios. I say bravo for expanding the opportunities for students as a result!</p>
But you really need to look deeper and asking which of them has “biggest rep out there” isn’t exactly doing it. Location, size and tuition SHOULD matter to you or you just may find yourself miserable and in debt.</p>