My daughter is a Freshman at Boco and absolutely loves it there. Every student we have met there feels the same. I can tell you my daughter says the training is intense. Unlike other programs the kids at Boco are on the go and in classes from
9:00 am until 7;00 pm 5 days a week. Then there are rehersals, (if your cast) tons of homework, and preparing for the next day’s workload. You definitely have to be the “right fit” to succeed at Boco. You have to be “hungry” because everyone there is driven and the talent is mind blowing. If your son or daughter was “the big fish” in their high school oroductions, that may not be the case as a Freshman in Boco. Some may or may not be able to deal with that. It is extremely difficult to be cast because you are auditioning against the entire program. However, as some stated, the class sizes are small because they are broken into 4 “cores”. They do get a lot of Individual attention in the classroom. As far as auditioning against 200+ kids for every production (main stage AND student run) it could be very intimidating but I believe it is preparing them well for the real world. My daughter has been lucky and managed to be cast in 2 student run productions but I will say it’s not easy. We know seniors who have never stepped foot on the Main Stage.
My daughter knows she made the right choice and is thriving in this environment. She is the kid who wants to do nothing but sing dance and act. Boco is very connected and several theaters come to the school to hold auditions for summer stock. There are a lot of outside opportunities open to Boco students. There are light academics offered, but I believe you really have to want the Cunservatory program to be happy here. It’s no joke at Boco… It’s INTENSE training, If that is what your kids want they will be very happy there!
@dusing2 - a larger program might also have 4x the faculty members- so again that keeps thing intimate, at least that is what my kid has found so far
My D went to a large program. Faculty knew her extremely well. I can think of a faculty member (Tony nominated Broadway director/playwright) who hired my D while she was still in college to musically direct this faculty member’s world premiere in NYC (my D was only 18) and mentored her in many things after that. My D got to sing a LOT in her vocal classes by the way. I just attended a major concert of my D’s (who is out of college) in NYC and in the audience were former professors who still support her. Another professor, once my D had graduated, cast my D to sing in a concert of hers in Germany. I noticed on my D’s professional FB wall this past week that another Broadway director/playwright, who worked with a SMALL group of hers in her class for an entire semester, congratulated her on her recent performance in NYC (so many still keep in touch). Even though my D went to Tisch, which is a large school, the Dean of Tisch, who oversees all of Tisch (not just drama), and the Head of Tisch Drama, came to attend my D senior year independent project at ETW studio, an original musical she created and starred in. I recall when attending graduation, there was a special Dean’s reception for Tisch parents and students, and we (parents) met the Dean for the first time and she knew who our daughter was and told us she knew she’d see her on a NYC stage in the future.
One neat thing in a larger program is the opportunity to work with a variety of teachers rather than a handful and so you learn new things from different people.
While my anecdotes are not about BOCO, I’m sharing a personal story how it is very possible to know faculty VERY closely in a large program, because the class sizes are small as in other programs. You simply get exposure to more faculty over the course of four years. The idea that there is no individual attention or that faculty do not know your name is not true in a large program, since the classroom size is kept small. I think it is important to hear from those who actually have attended or have had a kid attend a large program, rather than second hand speculation or heresy.
@Dusing2…you mention the bringing in of big name guest faculty and very little chance to sing. I will give you another example where that wasn’t true. At Tisch/NSB (a large program), Sutton Foster was the vocal performance class teacher one year for all the freshmen sections. My D was on faculty at NSB as the accompanist to Sutton’s classes and worked with Sutton and the students. All the students sang many times throughout the semester and Sutton knew all of their names, as did my D who worked with them. Each class had about 15 students. Not every student sings in every session. This is true at smaller programs. We sat in at Brent Wagner’s Vocal Performance class at U of Michigan. The day we observed the class, only TWO students sang and were coached and everyone learned from watching that. But I am sure, just like at Tisch, that the U of Michigan kids in that class of about 15 students got to sing many times in class over the course of a semester.
And I wondered if anyone would even notice my question on CC… Thanks for your input and opinions.
It seems to me it’s all about the individual and what they make of the situation they are handed. The business in general seems to be all about tenacity, timing, ambition, who you know, LUCK, hard work,… And lastly talent!
<---- seems to be a plethora of that rolling around out there…
I go back and forth with the conservatory training… My D has grown up in the helicopter parenting world where her education was part of my parental badge. From ‘the gifted program’ and award winning county science projects, to IB and AP classes… She’s always been stimulated Intellectually and succeeded in that world, would she miss it? She will tell you she is burnt out… Wants to focus on what she loves to do- all day,everyday sounds pretty good to her right about now… But is that the senioritis speaking?
And the truth is, she has not been accepted into the top tier big university BFA programs she applied to that might have given her both worlds. So maybe the universe has chosen for her… Ha!
I’m a little winded and all over the place this AM… This process has made my brain mush… I appreciate all sides of this convo, lots of things that made me say ‘hmmmmm’…, creating a list of questions for my D and to use when I call the dept…
Like your daughter @pookiesunshine mine excelled academically and when college auditions rolled around she wanted nothing to do with another class that was not related to theatre. She never wanted to see another history, science or math class. She swore up and down a BFA conservatory program was what she wanted. But as we have seen time and time again these 17 year olds can change their minds and mine did. Once the heavy load of her junior year settled down and her senior year was underway, she realized she wanted a BA after all. So if by chance your daughter changes her mind, don’t be surprised. 
My son changed his mind in the other direction, was a very good HS student and is now very happy at a straight conservatory. Your daughter is very smart, it sounds like. and will continue to be very smart wherever she is and whatever she does. Smart kids find their own intellectual challenges…and there is certainly plenty to think about in even the most training-heavy theater/MT curriculum. The discipline it takes to excel in IB and AP classes will pay off, too. Sometimes I think my son’s main edge in theater is the toughness he learned as a competitive XC skiier. He just works the heck out of every opportunity and if it doesn’t pay off, on to the next. I guess what I’m saying is that your kid’s strengths will still be strengths wherever she lands, and if she has her heart set on BoCo, people certainly do succeed there, why not her?
@pookiesunshine - good luck with your daughter’s decision. This thread has been very informative for us - S is considering applying to BoCo next year. One thing that he read and was concerning is that apparently, there’s an artistic cut at the end of sophomore year. Can anyone confirm/refute this? I thought most MT programs had gotten rid of the dreaded ‘cut’.
Pookie- I like your comment about the universe deciding It gets said over and over here that kids (almost) always end up happy with their final choice- and can’t imagine themselves anywhere else. They fall in love with their new world- and big/small, urban/not etc don’t matter- they have found their home. It’s the parents who worry- and I am still doing it a year later, even though my kid LOVES her school. She will love what she chooses
Though I don’t know which of the larger schools the poster is referring to I assume it isn’t Tisch. In any event, I was asked by a friend privately to clarify how this works at currently in the MT studio at Tisch as that is one of the larger schools. Hopefully someone who can represent the other larger programs can elaborate on how their programs work currently as well so that this as a concern could either be verified or dismissed by someone with first hand experience.
There are master teachers brought in to teach at Tisch. These have included Jonathan Groff, Sutton Foster, Felecia Rashad, Eden Espinoza (who is now an adjunct faculty member) and many others. They do not ever teach in a large class. They couldn’t even if they wanted to. That’s because studio class days are packed and broken into 4 sections without all vocal classes (or dance, acting etc. classes) happening at the same time. So you can’t just randomly combine all vocal performance sections to catch a master class because that would mean missing ballet, or music theory, or acting etc. These master classes are taught one 15-16 student section at a time and often over multiple days.
Hope this helps and that somebody chimes in to clarify how it works at the other larger programs.
I can verify that is how it was with Sutton Foster’s classes in NSB studio at Tisch. When my D was in ETW studio, she had an entire semester working with Moises Kaufman and there were only 12 students in the class.
THIS!!! 
Northwestern University (broken record, yes, but it’s the only college our MT has attended full time ) admits ~100 Theatre majors (~20 are primarily MTs), and there are a few general classes freshman year (possibly only one class, not sure) which are taught in a large group but they rapidly divide into very small groups, both through auditions like dance placements, MT Certificate auditions, voice placements, through varying interests (e.g. TYA, Devised Theatre, Directing, etc.) and also into defined cohorts (like the very small 3-year acting cohorts). I think the average class size is 8 students. Many Master Classes involve small invited audiences based on shared interests, or are held in multiple small sessions. There are 60+ shows produced on campus every year, for which every student may audition.
Some upsides of this larger program are, as others have said, the vast array of teaching styles and future contacts available, the fact that the overall quality of the program is not tied to a few key players who might leave or not click with specific students, diverse options for friend groups, a large and powerful alumni network, and every individual student can customize their education to an amazing extent.
There are pros and cons to both larger and smaller programs, but our D very specifically sought out and preferred a larger program after experiencing a smaller summer program at MPulse, which fit her individual desires for her college years better. Vive la difference!!
Oh - and I love Boston and imagine it would be a fantastic place to be in school! Best of luck to all who are weighing your options!!
It is all about fit and how much you are comfortable spending. Even with a 20% scholarship, BoCo is still a very expensive program. My D was like a few others here have described- she was very successful academically in high school and was sure she wanted a conservatory training where she would not have to work hard academically. Big mistake- after one semester at BoCo, she found she missed the academics more than she ever dreamed. She was doing well as far as MT training- she was cast in a production her first semester, and seemed to be challenged, but very unhappy with her choice. She ended up transferring to a BFA non-conservatory program and it was the perfect fit for her. Keep in mind that BoCo was just not a good fit for HER, and that it is a great program with wonderful training. She has friends who have attended and graduated from BoCo and were very happy and have had successes. It just wasn’t the right place for my D.
Does anyone know if it is okay to accept at one school, then after May 1st if your dream school accepts you (off waitlist) to go to your dream school? Is it only a matter of losing a deposit and not a binding contract? Son is in this predicament right now- ugh
Exactly. You forfeit the deposit.
Yes @grapejuice100 … It happens all the time. Most wait list movement happens after May 1 once schools see what the yield from their initial acceptances is. So it is not uncommon to be offered a spot off the wait list after May 1. if you’re offered a spot at a wait listed program, you should be free to accept it. But you will lose any deposits you made to the first school to which you accepted. Usually a small price to pay in exchange for 4 years at your dream school!
Thanks everyone!