<p>Hey!!! I’m sure these have already been asked, but im a high school Junior and my dream is to go to BoCo!!! My Questions are:</p>
<p>1.Do they accept Baritones or just a bunch of Tenors? </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do they tend to cut a lot?</p></li>
<li><p>Has anyone ever gotten half to full scholarship there?</p></li>
<li><p>Whats the campus Like?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks Again!!!</p>
<ol>
<li>They accept all voice types. They try to have a variety, but they’re not looking for a certain number of anything.<br></li>
<li>They don’t “tend to cut a lot.” Sometimes 1 to 3 people will get cut, but only at the promotionals at the end of sophomore year. If you’re going to get cut, you’ll first get a warning, etc etc. </li>
<li>Yes, several of my friends in the freshman class this year have half scholarships. And I know of one kid who got a full. It is pretty rare though.</li>
<li>The campus is beautiful. We have two big beautiful buildings, one is called 8 The Fenway and it is the original building, it’s historic and the halls are wonderful to sing in, there are practice rooms/etc, and we have a black box theatre called the Zack Box in the basement level. The second is a brand new building on 31 Hemenway which has a brand new theatre, several big dance studios and some smaller rehearsal spaces. Beyond that, we have studios at 181 Mass Ave, 1112 Boylston and The “Annexes” right next door.</li>
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<p>Good Luck with your college search! BoCo is a wonderful school to be considering. I love it here!</p>
<p>(disclaimer: I didn’t go to BoCo, I just lived with various folks who did, mostly grad students)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The Musical Theater Department accepts skilled singers of all voice parts. The emphasis here is on ‘skilled’. If you’re a genuine baritone, great. If you sing baritone in your school shows because you can’t hit the high notes for the tenor roles or the low notes for the bass roles, you might not be ready for a singing-intensive program yet.</p></li>
<li><p>There’s no formal cut system (i.e. “We accepted 50 freshmen but we have to get that down to 30 by their junior year”.) BoCo undergrads work on a promotional system: during your sophomore year, you have to pass promotional exams/juries/etc to be allowed to continue. I got the impression that this results in maybe four or five kids a year not being allowed to continue.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know any specifics on this one, but I know that full scholarships are super super rare, like maybe 30 kids in the whole school in any given year, and most of those are music and dance students. (And if you have full scholarship, you still have to pay for your books and your dorm and your meal plan and sometimes your health insurance.) </p></li>
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<p>The theater department is more competitive (both to get into and to get scholarship from) than either of the other departments. All of my friends who went to BoCo knew kids who got into the school, but couldn’t afford to go because they didn’t have enough scholarship from the school.</p>
<ol>
<li>I can actually answer this one, since I have lived in Boston for 36 years. The Conservatory is right in the middle of the city, it is near Northeastern U and Berklee College of Music. The campus consists of the main building, several dorms which used to be private residences (so all the rooms are different shapes and sizes, some of them have high ceilings, big windows, fake fireplaces, etc.) and the new theater/dance building. They just finished the new building this year, I haven’t been to a show there yet but I’ve seen the outside and it is HUGE and gorgeous. </li>
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<p>BoCo doesn’t have a cafeteria or a gym. Students use the cafeteria and athletic building at Northeastern U, which is like a ten minute walk away–no big deal in daylight, but most freshmen who walk it after dark go in groups if they’re not used to a big city! Except for those two buildings and a couple of the orchestra practice studios, everything is right there on the same block, my friends call it the ‘BoCo Bubble’ and the school actually does a lot of activities for freshmen to get them out of the ‘Bubble’ and get some experience with the rest of the city.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>“There’s no formal cut system (i.e. “We accepted 50 freshmen but we have to get that down to 30 by their junior year”.)”</p>
<p>COMPLETELY disagree!!! There is absolutely no cutting based on class size. </p>
<p>There is a natural attrition from freshman through senior year with most taking place in the first two years. There are “promotionals” which at the most, 5 students (average) are cut from the program. There are more students that realize the program is either too intense, or they grow home sick, or finances change. My daughter is a senior this year who’s incoming class numbered 75. I believe 50 will graduate. Again they do not “HAVE” to reduce the class size to a certain number.</p>
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<p>That’s exactly what I said: There is no cut system based on how many students they accept vs. how many they want to graduate.</p>
<p>I agree with beenthere as to the “cuts”. My daughter was only there for 1 semester, but she still is in touch with students there. There are a few cuts at the “promotional” but they are kids who are just not progressing. They are given warnings numerous times and it is not a surprise. </p>
<p>As for the campus, it is in a beautiful area across from Fenway Park. It is in the center of everything so there is a lot to do. Do be aware though, that it is not a “campus” in the traditional sense of a university campus, where there is a central campus that is owned by the school. It is set on a city street and is really not separated by any noticeable boundaries from the city. The buildings are beautiful old buildings and the dorms, while not uniform in how they are set up, are fairly roomy and are well-maintained and nice. The set-up is definitely not a negative, but also may not be for everyone; especially if you are looking for a more traditional campus atmosphere.</p>
<p>Also, as for scholarships, there are definitely 1/2 scholarships as well as very rare larger ones. I believe the school uses a lot of their scholarship money to entice music and dance majors there. There is not as much available for the MT program because it is such a competetive program that there is not as much need to “entice” students.</p>
<p>Re#5</p>
<p>“We accepted 50 freshmen but we have to get >>that down to 30 by their junior year”.)" </p>
<p>My problem is with that quote. No one at BOCO will say “we have to get to”. By saying “we have to get down to 30 from 50” suggests that there is a directive to down size the class. “Ideally” they would like the class to be no more than 35 from an accepted class of 50 - 55. This is usually attained by attrition as I mentioned earlier. 35 is the maximum number to have a successful showcase.</p>
<p>beenthere- she started that quote with i.e.- she is giving an example of what a cut system would be and saying that BoCo does NOT do that. I think you misunderstood her post…</p>
<p>Yes - the bit in quote is an example of what they don’t do. No worries.</p>
<p>If that’s the case…MY BAD.</p>
<p>Takeitallin-Why did your daughter leave?</p>
<p>First let me say that I am only a freshman at BoCo, but hopefully I can give you some useful information. </p>
<h1>1: There are definately more tenors than baritones (in the freshman class), BUT I am a baritone and please don’t get the idea that they accept more of one than the other. If you give a good audition, it makes no difference what voice type you are. Sing what fits in your voice and feels comfortable; your range is still changing! A male voice isn’t fully developed till their mid-twenties so what you are now could completely change by the time you graduate. Just be you!</h1>
<h1>2: Don’t worry about it! Every conservatory type program has some form of cut/promotional system within their four years. It’s not something you have to worry about at BoCo as much (at least until you’re sophmore year)</h1>
<h1>3: I second ZoeRphl on that. She is correct!</h1>
<h1>4: There’s not much more I can say that hasn’t been said, but I can tell you that I was looking to go to a school in a city and this is perfect. It isn’t overwhelming, it isn’t crazy and loud, it’s a simple city but you can always go somewhere different if you need to get away. Boston is just so accessible (with the subway system) so you never get the feeling that you’re in the middle of no where, but you never feel like you are in a HUGE and CRAZY city.</h1>
<p>Break legs in your search and all your auditions!
If you have any other questions about freshman year (or the school in general) I’m more than happy to answer them!</p>