My daughter is compiling her list of schools she wishes to audition for this year and we could use some help. She was MT all the way until this past year when she decided she would like to pursue straight acting in college. She does enjoy dance and wants a program where she can still take classes. Her sister is going to be a junior at NYU-Tisch. While she loves the program and curriculum at NYU, she does not particularly want to live in NYC for college. Her grades and test scores are strong, so she should be a contender for academic scholarships. She prefers BFA to BA.
Looking for a school with:
- Class size of at least 15-20+
- Ability to take dance classes
- Study abroad opportunities within major
- TV/film classes- more than just one semester
- Traditional campus feel
Having gone through MT auditions with her older sister a few years ago, I am not as familiar with Acting programs. I was all ready for round two of MT :). Any input is very much appreciated!
Syracuse is a program that jumps to my mind. My D was accepted there MT- but had auditioned for either program, and we spent a lot of time looking at the acting side too. D ended up choosing NYU (she liked the urban setting better than traditional campus 
) but we loved the program.
My daughter is going to University of N Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). It would fit most of your criteria: class size is 28, dance and voice are a part of training, there is a film school on campus which uses the acting students regularly, and it is a small, beautiful campus. There is no study abroad. It is extremely competitive, but all the BFA programs are. They are known for providing more than just acting training, and doing some MT stuff as well. We have been really impressed.
I agree with Yardley Sisa that UNCSA meets some of your criteria for the reasons she described above. However, as to one of your criteria – “traditional campus feel” – UNCSA would register as a less than 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. My now 3rd year daughter Junior there would not trade her UNCSA experience for anything but going to school in all arts oriented college that has less students than many high schools has a trade off and one of those trade off is that its not much like a traditional campus environment. The Fighting Pickles won’t be having a pep rally for the football or basketball team …