<p>My daughter is going to look into colleges this summer, and I was hoping to get some useful info to offer up to her. She's thinking about theater & musical theater, but wants adequate academic preparation for possibly law school if the theater thing doesn't work out. She is a very good student (and very talented, if I do say so myself. No bias here!)</p>
<p>We'd been discussing mostly BA programs so far, but I was wondering if there might be some BFA programs she ought to consider that would enable her to properly fulfill her back-up plan fully, while providing better preparation in MT.</p>
<p>I've read here that there is considerable variation in BFA programs in the number of out-of-major electives students are expected to take. Which programs are ones that offer relatively lots of electives, and perhaps also have relatively strong academic reputations outside of the creative arts (might help her more with the whole law school thing if it comes to that)?</p>
<p>I happen to know quite a bit about UCLA's theater program, as we attended their reception day a couple weeks ago and got a lot of details of how it works. They offer both acting and MT options. It is a BA program, but they strongly emphasized that it is much more like a BFA in practice. Here is a link to the main site where you can click on the major requirements, electives, and gen ed requirements.
<a href="http://www.tft.ucla.edu/dot_ba/%5B/url%5D">http://www.tft.ucla.edu/dot_ba/</a>
However it is very difficult to get into. Also I believe they said in the presentation that about 50% of your credits come from GE.</p>
<p>The other one I know about is Penn State's MT program. This is a BFA but I'm told it has one of the higher proportions of GEs for a BFA program--about 35%. It is also however known as a selective program.</p>
<p>Either place would provide some back up options for your D, or at least a more diverse academic experience than a pure arts/conservatory type of school. I don't know anything about the law part though.</p>
<p>First - this information is from dancersmom. Her D goes to FSU and she analyzed several programs. The percentages are the percentage of classes taken in your major, so the lower, the more GEs.</p>
<p>Carnegie-Mellon - 95%
Webster - 90%
Boston Conservatory - 87%
Ithaca - 85%
Roosevelt - 81%
U. Hartford (the Hartt School) - 74 - 78%
Syracuse - 70 - 78%
U. Michigan - 76%
Point Park - 75%
CCM - 74%
U. Arts - 73%
Florida State - 71 - 73%
Otterbein - 71%
Wright State - 70%
Kent State - 69%
U. Akron - 68%
Penn State - 65%</p>
<p>The University of Evansville requires forty-one hours of General Studies most of which I plan to exempt via APs. Mwahahahaaaa After Ive finished those and attained junior standing hours-wise, Ill be able to take whichever outside courses I want Pass/Fail. Im considering taking on the Russian Studies minor if I can work it out in my schedule. They also encourage students in their B.S. Generalist track (Performance or Tech) to do an associate study or minor in another area and they have an honors program. They dont have MT as a major, but the BFA and BS degrees are in Performance which entails some MT training though they only do one musical per year mainstage. (Jane Eyre last year.) Evansville isnt exactly Ivy League, but its a good school overall and they attract a lot of stat rich/aid poor kids from middle class families with their generous [url=<a href="http://www.evansville.edu/prospects/financialaid/scholarships/firsttimescholarships.asp%5Dscholarships%5B/url">www.evansville.edu/prospects/financialaid/scholarships/firsttimescholarships.asp]scholarships[/url</a>]. I saw no shortage of bright lights when I visited.</p>
<p>Hey monydad. I have the same scenario as your daughter in wanting high quality academics and opportunities to explore other areas, as well as stellar theatre training (the best of both worlds). I still have tons of research to do-- but right now, it looks like I may be applying/auditioning for NYU as one of the FEW B.F.As I apply to. I actually didn't think I'd like NYU. The idea of having no campus didn't really appeal to me. But after visiting, (and realizing that NYU students practically own Washington Square Park-- which is soo beautiful) and seeing the Kimmel Center and the library- AND hearing that you can double major in Tisch and the school of arts and sciences... I was sold. Still don't know where I'll end up (it'd be great if we could compare notes, myself and your D!)... but NYU is on the list for sure.</p>
<p>I can only speak to the programs we looked into. I hear you asking two things...programs that offer more academic electives beyond the BFA and secondly which have particularly "strong" academic reputations. </p>
<p>For the first question, I would have said NYU, Syracuse, Penn State, UMichigan and Emerson, and maybe Ithaca. Penn State had the most required academic courses outside the BFA. NYU even allows double majors or a minor. Emerson had quite a few academic requirements. </p>
<p>As far as strong academic reputations outside the BFA...I would say NYU and UMichigan. That was one of the appeals of these two schools for my daughter, also a strong student. CMU has the academic reputation as well but their BFA has very few academic electives built into their curriculum. </p>
<p>In my opinion, based on your double question....if going for BFA....two options worth looking into are NYU/Tisch and UMichigan. </p>
<p>Monydad--your D might want to check out Oberlin and Muhlenberg. They are supposed to have good drama depts, music, etc and strong academics. Another program to check out is American in DC. I'll know more next year because my D begins there in the fall. It is not as competitive academically as most of the schools you mentioned, although this year, it apparently became a very popular school, and as a result, it's average GPA and test scores have gone up. Their MT program is a BA, but it is performance based. General ed requirements are about 36 credits, so if a student chose, the rest of the credits could all be in drama, dance and music--which comes to about 70%. However, because it's a BA program, the student can take more academics, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks Newmtmom (and the others of course).</p>
<p>I was trying to go at this from both angles- by identifying the best target BFA programs in this thread and narrowing down the target BA programs in another thread I started. </p>
<p>We will certainly be checking out Oberlin, since my oldest child is actually attending college there. I'm told they have strong programs in theater, but we haven't investigated MT opportunities specifically yet.</p>
<p>Then there's the matter that the younger one doesn't want to go where the older one is...</p>
<p>Think of this as a continuation of the post I recently put on your BA thread. After reading your post above and before going down, I was thinking of referring you to DizzyDani - you all need to compare notes on schools, as she has corresponded especially about BA programs. </p>
<p>See the MT vs. Classical thread postings of today for information on Northwestern (relating to your BA thread) and also for my posting about Indiana Univ., which I highly recommend based on your above info. on your daughter.</p>
<p>In addition, I would recommend you look at University of Tulsa and Texas Christian University (TCU - offers BA or BFA)</p>
<p>On the BFA side, I agree with the above on looking at Elon, NYU, and U Michigan. I would add U Miami to that list, although we've only researched and have not visited. Also, Ithaca is mentioned as a possibility above - I believe they are more like CMU in that their required courses take much time and extra courses seem to be limited (so I wouldn't put them in the category of these others).</p>
<p>I've posted this before, but USC has a wonderful BFA acting, BA Theater, BM, Music with strong, diverse and competetive academics. I met the head admissions officer this year and she said that it is VERY popular for students to put together a custom MT program by doing the BA with a minor in music. A plus is the L.A. location and proximity to all things Hollywood. This past year they had guests artists like Twla Tharp, Jason Roberts Brown & Moises Kaufman (director of The Laramie Project and the Pulitzer-Prize-winning play I Am My Own Wife). Their acclaimed School of Cinema-Television offers young actors and filmmakers many opportunities to collaborate. </p>
<p>Does anyone know of any schools that have good programs in stagecraft/stage management. My son, a solid B student who got 2050 on his PSATs and who has been the stage manager of his high school's productions since freshman year, is trying to find some schools he'll be able to get into.</p>
<p>Look at Cal Arts and CMU. CMU is one of those schools where the quality of your portfolio is what gets you in. Cal Arts is the same. Also talk to doctorjohn on the MT thread from Otterbein because that may be another good choice.</p>
<p>mchs: You might want to start a separate thread with this topic, so that the two types of schools don't get confused. Otherwise someone will post a response here and it may not be clear which question they are answering.</p>
<p>Monydad, if you are looking for MT, it's a bit more limiting. If your daughter is looking for a theatre or drama program, those are usually more flexible even those with BFAs. Also many of the schools, including the most selective ones, have excellent theatre programs along with their top drawer academics. But when you start venturing into MT territory, it becomes a bit more complicated as there are not that many schools with BFAs in MT that are also top rated academically, particularly if you go for the BFA. I think the posters have listed a goodly number of such schools.</p>