<p>I have a question. Why is it that schools like NYU, CCM and CMU all seem to be noticeably favored over Boston by people evaluating their college choices in discussions on this forum? Is Boston not worthy of that top, top eschalon of musical theatre schools? Is the training actually better than at Boston? Or is it just a case of Boston not being one of the "sexy" schools with the state-of-the-art facilities?</p>
<p>When I decided to apply there, its because it seemed to be reputed to be among the very top tier theatre educations. But it always seems to get snubbed whenever I read these threads? Why?</p>
<p>I'll frankly never understand it. I LOVE BoCo. I feel that the students, faculty and alumni there are all very nice people, and you probably cant get better training. Plus Boston is a great city. I prefer it to NY because its not as crowded and polluted. Its certainly more beautiful and easier to get around. Although the campus is small, I believe the buildings have character. I still wish I had been accepted. Hopefully next year! :)</p>
<p>A friend of mine's teacher went to BoCo and she told her that although there isn't a mandatory # cut each year, they did cut quite a few, even after sophomore year, and then they told about 30% of the people left to persue something a little different (not sure what, either theatre arts or BA theatre switch so they could teach theatre, because they didn't think they were good enough actors)</p>
<p>This may not be the case anymore, and I'm sure they aren't as bluntly told as I was through my friend, but I think it might be something along those lines as to why it isn't considered as highly, too big of a risk.</p>
<p>To be frank, the cut program isn't figuring into my concern. I'm 21 and probably would to be a veritable 'grizzled veteran' compared to most of the high school students I'd be studying with. Which is one of the reasons I'm concerned; for the past few years I've been working hard to further my theatre career on my own, and now work steadily with equity houses in the bay area and almost have enough weeks to be equity myself. So if I'm going to commit 4 more years of my 20s that I could be using to develop my resume and learn through work-experience, I want to make sure its a world-class education.</p>
<p>BOCO is a very well regarded program. It is best to not judge which schools are "top" by how much certain schools are discussed on this particular forum. To ascertain reputation of a program, ask around in the theater world. Certain programs are discussed on this forum because there are posters who go to those colleges, or have children who attend or are applying. For instance, you may notice that OCU and Otterbein have a lot of posts on this forum. One could conclude that those schools are the most popular or well regarded because they are talked about more frequently on CC. Those schools are well regarded, no question, but how often a school is discussed here doesn't always mean the program is tops or not tops. The absence of many posts on a school likewise doesn't imply it is not a good program.</p>
<p>To my knowledge, Boston Conservatory is one of the well known MT programs. However, it is strictly a conservatory and not all the other programs are. Therefore, certain colleges appeal to certain students depending on what they want in a college, as it should be. This year, I believe we had many posters applying to BOCO and several who were accepted, including a transfer student. </p>
<p>CC doesn't represent all those looking into MT programs. It is just made up of whoever happens to visit the forum. I would not put too much stock into which programs are discussed more often on CC and to correlate that with "best". On CC's other forums, the Ivy league schools are talked about a great deal but that doesn't necessarily make them the best or appropriate schools for all students. </p>
<p>You are a new poster and I welcome you to our forum and encourage you to read through the many old threads and archives as there is a wealth of information and opinions, and also quite a bit about BOCO within various thread topics. Free free to PM posters who attend, will attend, or are parents of those who have chosen this school to get some first hand accounts. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>GregoryPaul - I love your "grizzled veteran" comment. I'm the transfer CollegeMom mentioned who will be attending BoCo this fall as a sophomore, and I'll be turning 23 in July - so old compared to the 19-year-olds I'll be taking classes with! As far as I know, BoCo is considered a top-notch program and the people there really ARE great. I had one of my most pleasant audition experiences there because of how great the faculty members leading the auditions were. All of the students I met were really nice and helpful too. I don't know why BoCo doesn't seem to get as much "play" on CC as some other schools do, and the presence of a cut system does not account for it, since CCM has one of the most notoriously rigorous cut systems out there, and everyone still talks about them. I wonder why BoCo seems to be left out so often.</p>
<p>BoCo is strictly a conservatory, whereas NYU, CCM and CMU are all universities or conservatory programs connected to universities. Maybe that has something to do with it. But I would say that people certainly DO hold BoCo in high esteem.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to BOCO and was accepted but ended up choosing to attend NYU/Tisch. She liked what she saw of BOCO and we saw a production that was full of talent there. Ideally, for her, her college preferences included some liberal arts with conservatory training. BOCO does have some liberal arts in the Humanities and the courses interested her but they are very limited. Since she had a choice and did get into schools that had conservatory training within a university setting with some liberal arts, she chose that (along with other reasons). But she did like BOCO. It didn't boil down to which program is the best but more to which program met her own list of criteria when selecting a college. The school she enrolled in ultimately fit more of her criteria than did BOCO but she stil thinks very well of BOCO's program. I have seen shows at a professional summer stock theater where there often are several BOCO students in the cast and they seem to be talented performers. </p>
<p>There is a parent on this forum whose D is finishing up her freshman year and perhaps you can PM her if you need to hear first hand experiences (parent-wise)....Catsmom. Also LynnM's daughter is set to matriculate at BOCO in the fall and we've got Samia who is set to enroll as a transfer student. We also have many posters, including myself, who have either applied, gotten accepted, or have a kid who has. So, there are several people you can talk to here about BOCO.</p>
<p>you CAN transfer from a non-BFA into a BFA, but a lot of times you will have to re-start as a freshman in terms of the training courses. some of your liberal arts classes may transfer (some probably won't) but a lot of times you'd be looking at another 4 years because of the MT classes and how tiered they are.</p>