BFA Acting Pre-Screen and Auditions. Class of 2022 - Sharing!

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
2801

@bisouu - indeed not. But was exposed to ideas/teachers there that helped him on the path - possibly

As for the list - everyone is entitled to their opinion. Ask 10 people, get 10 different lists. It’s completely subjective. For example - @actorparent1 mentions that they are surprised Rutgers isn’t on the list. Who knows - of the people @2lights talked to (2 people? 10 people? 50 people?) maybe someone has a personal beef with Rutgers - so they talk it down. I myself have a school that people on CC love that I will never have ONE nice thing to say (in person) about. they treated my kid poorly, and I don’t have a forgiving nature.

2802

Love, love, love @proudcalidad insight. Thank you!

Along the lines of “it only takes one”. Although the odds of making it in this business are “one in a million” - when you are the one, it is 100%. But what does it mean to “make it”? Is a Broadway lead the only measure of success? My husband and I tell our two creative kids to not focus on fame or “making it”. And so their only goals are to be working artists. “Full heart, full belly”. This is how our family arrived collectively at that singular vision.

Years ago I met a Broadway actor with 50 yrs of “success”. When introducing him to my daughter, I asked for his advice to a young person pursuing the arts. Without hesitation, he replied with wisdom for BOTH child and parent.

He said (paraphrased) - “I didn’t have a plan B. My parents were my safety net. They believed in me wholeheartedly and were there to catch me if it didn’t work out. We agreed it was only at a disappointing endpoint that we’d reassess and redirect. I was young and had time to pursue what I loved first. If we started the journey thinking it wouldn’t be successful, it wouldn’t be. Pour everything into your art, don’t be distracted by fear. It will derail you. If later the path leads elsewhere, you’ll be richer for the experiences you’ve had”.

Wow! That changed everything. How we define success, how we no longer have a plan B. The plan is to be a working artist; period. And that doesn’t necessarily mean Broadway. It means using their creativity to be fulfilled. That might be performing on stage, writing scripts, directing musicals, producing special events, giving voice lessons, being a jack-of-all trades at a local theatre, or writing newspaper reviews for the local arts scene.

If my daughter adds an English or Psychology major to the mix - it will be because she’s interested in the topic and it will enhance her artistic journey. Never will it be added only as an alternative path.

And one last thought - experiencing art and creating art is a shared privilege. John Adams reminds me of this…paraphrased:

Our grandfathers were soldiers,
So our father could be farmers,
So we could be artists.

Original quote here : http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/John.Adams.Quote.0CAD

2803

Great story @coronado!!

2804

Love this so much @coronado! Beautiful and true.

2805

Well said @coronado . Wonderful point. We’ve talked about this too and how believing in yourself with humility and generosity can be a gift and a vocation. No matter what the accolades.

2806

Each of us can look through our research and create a completely different list - based on your own OPINION. That’s all it is. OPINION. And it’s nice that we have this place to post our opinion.

There are many schools on this list that I know students dropped out of because they were “JUST REALLY TERRIBLE TRAINING!”. But there are many schools not on that list that won’t even make the cut - because they are new and no one knows them yet. For instance, Rider’s new BFA program has had only 3 graduating classes so far - and they already have people on Broadway. It’s important to go to college to study, but what you do with it is up to you.

My D didn’t even want to do pre-screens for CMU because … well, it wasn’t her. She didn’t want to go anywhere in Pittsburgh because she really wanted to be away from this tiny little theater scene (we always say “Pittsburgh loves you if you have a New York address”). I did well with my Point Park BFA degree, but not because it was Point Park — it was just because I had a degree!!! The touring company that cast me in the tour that I was in for two years DID NOT CARE what my resume said.

2807

Pursuing a degree is a great time to learn the next stage of discipline and stamina… no matter where you go, what school it is, or what they decide to study. I think that’s a lot of what our kids will and are learning in these programs. Keeping it together, being prepared, responsible, staying healthy and challenging themselves to try new things. I know that’s what I hope for them all.

2808

@proudcalidad and @coronado. Thank you for your beautiful words full of wise observations. Honestly, these are the little nuggets that we collect along the journey. My daughter actually keeps them in a notebook; they accumulated particularly during her summer training at strong programs full of strong instructors. Many who cared shared their gems of how to approach the artistic journey and the words to guide her. I am grateful to those on this board and in life who share those guiding principles for those for whom there is simply no other journey but this one.

2809

@TwinGMom Thank you for your reply. I have a question about your comment about your D’s test scores not being high enough for NYU (if that is what you were referring to). The Tisch website said, “Applicants to programs in our Steinhardt School of Culture, … and our Tisch School of the Arts requiring an audition or portfolio are not required to submit standardized testing for consideration and doing so is entirely optional.” So the SAT shouldn’t hold her back, at least! :)>-

https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/how-to-apply/standardized-tests.html

2810

Wow had no idea that NYU didn’t care about grades and test scores…this is news…

2811

@bisouu - Grades, yes, Test Scores, optional!

2812

@Fergie978 this is great news for a lot of kids <3 Is this new or has it been this way for awhile? Because I had always thought NYU was on par with places like NU. But if test scores aren’t required then I would think it’s not.

2813

Something interesting that I wasn’t able to find when I started researching, is where kids who get into top MFA acting programs come from? Is there a school that produces more than others? We have been more on the BA track with an MFA as the long game. I found lists of best schools and programs but couldn’t find what schools produced the most students admitted to the top MFA programs. Would love to see, but it will definitely be too late for my D. After all the applications, video auditions, and live auditions, she chose the school she had her very first audition at. To think we could have been done in December! She is excited for the BA theatre program and excited to have a traditional big school college experience. I’m excited she is staying close to home (University of Texas) since a few of her favorite schools (which we still haven’t heard from) were overseas. Unfortunately though, if everything goes as planned, she will have to do the whole school audition thing again for grad school.

2814

I have a friend whose daughter graduated with a BA from a very small state school in something other than theatre. She has a full ride to YALE drama MFA. :slight_smile:

2815

@bisouu - I have 0 knowledge about this new policy (and as you know, my kid is about to graduate from NYU) BUT - I can tell you that schools with “test optional” applications does not necessarily mean less rigorous, or less academically selective - it just means there are other ways to show it beyond that one number. NYU has actually gotten harder to get into academically just in the 4 years the kid has been there. The article below is from last year- but illustrates the trend

https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2017/april/nyu-s-accpetance-rate-drops-to-lowest-in-16-years.html

2816

@bisouu that is fantastic!! My S would love to go to Yale for MFA or to NYU for their BFA. I know that it’s hard to get into either of those programs. Kudo’s to her

@gulf1609 I’m assuming anywhere! I think that if you obtain your bfa degree from Tisch, you can’t apply to their MFA program or if you can, you’re unlikely to be chosen out of their pool.

2817

@bisouu regarding the mention of Yale MFA my D has chosen to attend University of Minnesota Duluth, BFA Acting … Tom Isbell is a graduate of Yale, MFA and has an impressive acting resume prior to switching to teaching at Duluth … a program rarely discussed here they have a lot of talented faculty and she is very excited to attend

2818

@bisouu and @toowonderful What I have been hearing is that the trend for some of these schools is that they are starting to understand that the test isn’t any predictor of academic achievement, as their statistics have indicated to them. Especially in the arts, where MATH is SOOO important! :))

That article is interesting. It seems to say, forget about NYU (for my demographic). I wonder what the stats will be for 2018.

2819

I would actually consider math important for art, since a huge part of being an artist is running a business devoted to packaging and promoting yourself. Discussing this with various types of artists – visual and performing – they say that a large part of their time is actually spent on business rather than creative pursuits.

On the other hand, I agree that people in the arts can be very intelligent in ways that do not show up on a bubble test. From that standpoint, it’s wise to say that test scores will not make-or-break a prospective student.

But math? Agent fees, budgets – both personal and project budgets, X pages of dialog equals X minutes of run time, grant proposals, saving for retirement or the next generation’s college costs … Math is everywhere. It’s simply another way of communicating, and has a certain type of story to tell. Artists need to be conversant in it if they want to control the trajectory of their lives and careers.

2820

@“Jamieand Winthrop” I am strictly talking about test scores as a predictor of college aptitude - I certainly am not knocking math. I was a BFA theater major at Point Park, then years later went for an MBA in Sports, Arts, and Entertainment Management… That’s why I have the laughing face in my post.