Pepperdine in CA has a great BA program. They say one of the tops in the country
And location- Wow!!!
@marg928 – JMU has about 19,000 undergraduates and only 30% are from out of state… not all from NJ :-). I do not think she would have to worry too much about running into kids she knows from HS on a regular basis unless she wants to … so, if she thinks she might like the program, I would not let that dissuade her. <3
Yep it’s on the list @KatMT!!!
I can’t figure out if Pepperdine is audition or not…can’t find it on the website. Does anyone know?
It is audition based. Look in the Seaver College (arts college)— Pepperdine page. Click apply for theatre and it says you have to do a live audition
It’s a religious college that requires attendance at church if I remember correctly…
Yes, @bisouu. I think you are correct it is religious. I don’t think you have to go to church but you have to do some requirements that are religious in nature…I believe they have a wide variety to pick from.
I didn’t realize it was religious at all until recently.
Loyola Marymount is also religious…Jesuit just like Notre Dame and Georgetown…
Chapman University in Orange, CA.
UC Irvine.
If you want to check out east coast schools, UMBC in Maryland is an ‘off the radar’ school.
My 2 cents…
A list of 45 schools is NOT too many to start with. It is far too many to apply to, but you should be looking at many factors to whittle that list down to a manageable level. What is manageable? Only you can answer that – we thought that our daughter’s final list of 11 was pretty good (that was 5 audition schools ranging in competitiveness, 6 non-audition schools of various academic selectivity and merit aid availability). Others have applied to more than 20, which is mind boggling to me.
Some factors to consider (because I am not at all familiar with west coast schools):
- Conservatory program vs Liberal Arts: My daughter did not want a conservatory style program, which knocked out places like Carnegie Mellon, Hartt School, etc.
- BFA vs BA: this is an artificial distinction. Instead, look at the number of credits in the major and the number and type of electives available. My daughter was accepted into 3 of the 4 BFA programs to which she applied, and those programs have 60, 76, and 84 credits in-major
- Availability of voice/dance courses, if that matters. Some schools (e.g. Wagner) will have classes in dance and voice available for credit as electives for non-majors, while others reserve those classes for dance or music majors
- Campus setting: my daughter spend 2 weeks at Pace University’s summer program in NYC, and absolutely LOVED being in the city. At that point we eliminated a handful of schools that were traditional small liberal arts campuses. She has friends who had exactly the opposite preference. They found the city too noisy and busy, and wanted the more cloistered feel of a traditional campus.
- Training vs Performing: this one is a bit more nebulous, but really take a look at what the students will be doing throughout the 4 years. At some programs there are far more “main stage” performance opportunities, while at others the focus is really on training and a student might appear in 2 productions over 4 years
Those are some of the things that influenced my daughter’s final list of schools. She was only looking at schools within a 5-hour drive of New Hampshire, and the factors above led to eliminating several very good schools like Ithaca, SUNY Purchase, Hartt, Julliard, and Boston Conservatory from consideration. You might have a completely different perspective that leads you to eliminate the schools my daughter liked (Pace, NYU, Marymount Manhattan, Emerson, etc.). The important thing is to look beyond the ratings and rankings and find the characteristics that are important to your student.
Oh, and I totally get the “I don’t want to go there because too many people from my hometown are already there.” That’s a very legitimate attitude and not uncommon.
@Delegator, are you from NH? (Me, too.)