<p>Ah, Northwestern. Those who also want MT can audition for the MT certification track. All in a very challenging and very selective academic environment. For those who have the academic credentials and want a BA program with intense theatre training, a great, great choice. Glad your daughter is enjoying it so much.</p>
<p>I think what a lot of us learn as we go through this process is how we define “education” and “training.” Having had a more conventional college experience, and a D1 who also pursued more conventional academics, I wasn’t really clear on what “training” meant, even though I’m very experienced in the arts.</p>
<p>What my D saw very clearly was where BAs (and actually some BFAs) didn’t suit her in terms of offering enough actual training. It is definitely more likely that a BA would lack training courses and rely more on academic-style classes to “educate” students about theatre. But many BA schools - and I agree NU is one of them - can provide excellent training experience for a student who really wants it. </p>
<p>On the other hand, BFAs are very heavy on training, and a kid who doesn’t want to be on his/her feet for hours a day doing experiential work could find it overwhelming. It’s perfectly OK to prefer a more academic kind of college life. But the word “training” is key to use in talking to programs and finding out what their focus is, if you can’t tell from the curriculum on the website.</p>
<p>Unless you have some kind of special knack or ability, or you get training on the outside, getting a BA with little or no experiential training is likely to be a detriment when you are trying to work in the field after graduation. Or, more personally, you might find yourself itching to do hands-on work and be stuck reading about theatre “ideas” instead of doing theatre itself.</p>