<p>I know UCLA is the best, but I'd love your opinions of the other schools.</p>
<ol>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>UCSD</li>
<li>UCSB</li>
<li>UCD, UCI</li>
<li>UCSC</li>
</ol>
<p>This would be for undergrad.</p>
<p>Hi, Nifty:</p>
<p>My daughter and I visited UCLA, UCSD, UCI, and UCSC last year. My overall impression was that the UC system is not for everyone. The schools range from big to huge and do not offer much individual attention plus they all show at least some bias for academics rather than experience. In addition, the schools suffer from the lack of a community for theater on the west coast.</p>
<p>UCLA claims to be both a great university and a great theater conservatory but I’m not sure it is actually possible to do both at the same time. At any rate, a lot of students leave UCLA early and I suspect these are the ones who wanted a conservatory because this is primarily a university. The very traditional GE requirements are extensive and in addition, the program requires specialization in two, different, design disciplines to give you a good, general background in theater design as opposed to an in-depth, professional education in one discipline. Finally, they have little to no technical or management education.</p>
<p>On the other hand, you get an outstanding university education, which is a long-range advantage, and an experienced, exciting theater school with the option of a minor in film (or anything else).</p>
<p>Although the graduate program at UCSD is supposed to be top-tier, I have not heard anything about the undergrad program and the department was not at all welcoming. They seemed completely uninterested in my D without knowing anything at all about her.</p>
<p>I was impressed by the UCI theater program, however. It is not a major league theater school like UCLA but it has several advantages over UCLA. It has less attitude, for one. The GA requirements are more flexible. There are more opportunities for undergrads. They have a satellite program in NYC. They have a detailed honors program for each theater discipline. And, finally, the theater department is not competing with a world-renowned film school for department resources.</p>
<p>I’ve heard different things about the UCSC Theater department but I gather it is best for people who really want to study or teach theater rather than those who want to work in the theater. However, it is a great place to make Bay Area contacts, if you are interested in establishing yourself in this region.</p>
<p>Those are my thoughts but I hope you will visit yourself instead of taking my word for anything.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. Interesting about UCLA attrition. When we took the tour it did seem like a very intense program.</p>
<p>I’ve been checking out the websites and UCI seems to have a MT emphasis, Santa Cruz looks experimental, and Santa Barbara seems like the only UC to offer a BFA option. And even Davis has a theater department with guest artists from England in residence. (I always liked Davis.) So there do seem to be options.</p>
<p>Do you know what you want out of these choices?</p>
<p>Good acting training that offers lots of opportunities plus the option to minor in something unrelated to theater.</p>
<p>What I was really asking was: having sketched the differences between the schools, which ones are most appealing to you? </p>
<p>I think you can probably find some good teachers at all of these schools as well as interesting classes outside your major. However, assuming you mean opportunities that could lead to a career in stag acting then I doubt that Santa Cruz or Davis or anything else outside of Southern California would really be a good bet on the west coast and I think it’s worth questioning whether you want to be on the west coast.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you’re a more outside-the-box person, then there are a lot more options because other factors become more important.</p>
<p>Thanks for your perspective TM. The UCs are financial safeties at this point. My S is an out of the box person, and this will be a very interesting year.</p>
<p>Thanks for clarifying. Sorry I didn’t put this together with your other posts.</p>