@katew529 I think you are talking about Drew and it is true that the Shakespeare Company of NJ is housed on campus. It is separate from the University as it is a professional equity theatre, but students do get internships and acting opportunities with the company. Drew also has a relationship with the Bickford Theatre. This is where my daughter worked and received equity points that have her in the EMC program now. Often times the admissions office knows little about the departments. I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Drew is ranked high (top 10) but those rankings truly mean nothing and most people know that. The training is what you make of it and the connection one makes are due to being aggressive and making things happen. For my kid, the proximity to NYC and the mentors that have come from the industry have been invaluable. Her training may have not been from a stellar program, but when she makes it, it will be because she persevered and made things happen.
@katew529 thank you for your response! You make really great points!
I know of only a handful of kids signed after CCPA showcase, though more got meetings.
I have a confession here. My S is more TV/film focused then theatre if he makes a name for himself. He will accept those too if those options are available. Also, he isn’t really into Musicals but we loved Hamilton so much, we were able to see it twice. He’s drawn to dramatic and comedic type of plays. Of course he’d take opportunities as they are available to him but he has always started out wanting to do the law and order or some other type of great show.
Ugh, it is a NO from Pace and their two programs (MT & FTVC) …not even a Waitlist. :((
I’m so sorry, @HopeinMT . 
As for the “polishing the silver” argument made a while back… couldn’t the same argument be made about Ivies etc? Isn’t the kid who is smart enough to get into HYP going to be successful no matter what? It is clear that there are many many many paths - but I think that there are certain places that provide something. Maybe it is world class faculty, or performance opportunities, or alumni connections (I often think about Syracuse’s Sorkin week - what could POSSIBLY be a better entree into LA?)
@HopeinMT - I’m really sorry! I know your son was hoping Pace would come through. This is a brutal process.
@HopeinMT - I am so sorry. The same thing happened to us. I don’t know if you saw my story on the MT board - but it was pretty horrific, after they got her hopes up. So sorry.
Agree it’s not the name of the program it’s the talent! My D choose to not go to school has no training, has a great agent in L.A. and has done several shows with CMU graduates!
@proudcalidad You nailed it. This is the one thing that scares me the most about D’s pursuit of this path. One thing she has going for her is tenacity and a singular, fierce focus that filters out all distraction. I know she’s not alone in this, but it is one of her strengths. She’s always been that way, literally from the day BEFORE she was born (another story).
So, I have hesitated for a year to share her path, but here goes. She decided early on what her number one, top program was. It just so happens it was also at her number one, top school. She applied EA and got in. She auditioned, along with 1400+ other talented kids and got in (the only one admitted who auditioned on campus). That was it. One school. Way too easy, I thought. I was/am so happy for her and she’s had an incredible first year right where she belongs. Truly.
Was it stressful? Yep. Did we try to up her odds? Oh yes. Truly know we did not go through what many of you have. Do we think she was lucky? Yes and no. No doubt she was efficient (ha!)! She most certainly will have (and has) experienced rejection in other ways. But has this experience just prolonged her acceptance of how tough this is? Like all of you, I worry that when the bloom is off the rose, she’ll still want to be in the garden. That’s when they all have to get tough(er) and get real; when it comes to the point where they’re still planting the seeds of their talent after everything is spent and they’re exhausted from the effort.
Thoughts?
@HopeinMT Oh no… I’m so sorry about Pace. Dang it!
@frontrowmama My D’s agent told me last year when we were struggling with the BA vs BFA decision, that she goes to the Juilliard showcase every year and takes maybe one person!
Yikes, @bisouu, I thought I was being more discreet than that. (I just sent you a PM!)
But for anyone else reading this, true, it was CLEARLY a case of a clueless admissions person. Talk about un-selling your school! Even if she had just smiled and said, “OK, great” and let it at that, it wouldn’t have gotten our visit started on the wrong foot.
Drew was lovely (we both liked it, even in the rain) and I’ve often read your stories on here and wished we’d had a different Welcome Center encounter and a different tour guide (ours was also a dud).Your reports about the program are WAY more meaningful than anything written in some dumb reference book.
My point about that Princeton (Fisk?) methodology was really that random students who answer these questionnaires might have little to no experience with the school’s drama dept. OR with theater in general, and that a school making or not making those lists doesn’t seem super meaningful to me.
It’s so hard to rank MT and Acting programs but right now not 2015 or 2010 after talking to quite a few agents, managers, casting agents and college audition coaches, I would personally rank them this way. It’s open for debate and this list doesn’t include cost which has to be factored in if your not one of those families that cost doesn’t matter. Some people might say a #10 school is as good as a #5 school and they probably could come up with a good argument. This is just as I see it based on talking to many people over the last 5 years.
MT
- Carnegie Mellon
1A. Michigan - Baldwin Wallace
3A. CCM - Elon
6… Ithaca - Texas State
- Penn State
- Florida State
- Boston Conservatory
- Syracuse
- Oklahoma City
- Pace
13B. Shenandoah
13C. Webster
13D. Point Park
13F University of the Arts
Acting - Julliard
- Carnegie Mellon
- UNCSA
- Minnesota - Guthrie
- Boston University
- Michigan
- Northwestern
- SUNY Purchase
- USC
- Ithaca
- Syracuse
- Otterbein
- Pace
@2lights it is interesting that NYU isn’t on the list. That is the last school we are waiting on. But honestly the disappointing acceptance turn-out we have had points to another rejection I am sure.
@toowonderful Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard so I don’t think Harvard made the man…
@actingdreams my daughter has the same goals as you (except it was American Horror Story a few years back)… the great news is that everyone had a chance to do Law & Order (maybe not speaking much) it seems! Now that they are down to one series it may not work out, but something new like it will come along by the time he graduates!
Even my brother in law was an extra in a few episodes, and he’s a graphic novel artist, not an actor! 
@HopeinMT and @Fergie978 I feel you, it was the same for us with Pace and that was her very top pick from the very beginning… But there are only around 20 slots in each of the programs for actors and I think 1000 applicants+ (give or take) for each of those 20, so the odds were the absolutely slimmest. Everything else near the top was below it in her eyes, but, we’re lucky because in that next tier mine already has one acceptance and 2 colleges left to hear from in that top 4… One is almost assuredly a no as her gpa/sat isn’t what they want (NYU) and the other seems to have her on a mysterious form of a waitlist without being called that… we should get a response by mid-April and it would be a real contender, but it’ll be pins and needles for a few more weeks!
I hate those lists…just saying…
Surprised Rutgers isn’t on the list.