<p>Thanks so much WasatchMom. </p>
<p>If your daughter sees an unfamiliar dark haired boy running around this Thursday with one or two freshman male students in the performance core (initials S.M. and D.S.), that is my son on a visit!</p>
<p>Oddly, NYU offered my son considerably more grant money than BU did. Go figure…</p>
<p>I’m glad your daughter is really happy at Boston University. I’m going to share your MT-related comments with lpc on the MT forum who also has a decision to make.</p>
<p>WOW!!! NYU hardly EVER gives money to ANY Underclassman. That is most impressive and excellent!</p>
<p>Absolutely, NJTheatreMOM. Boston University was a top choice of mine (along with Minnesota)…so I did feel bad that I was not accepted. Some of the elements I really enjoyed about it was the fact that third years study a semester or two abroad in England! Also, there is a professional theatre company on campus (fairly similar to Minnesota’s Guthrie) where students have the opportunity to act in and may have a chance to intern/apprentice there (over the summer?). Also, I got the impression that there was just a plethora of performance opportunities. You could be involved many so many different things there, yet at the same time, yet despite the thousand and one things, there is still a focus on the education and the craft. I think I would really enjoy that kind of environment…especially in a city like Boston (which I have never been to, but I hear great things). It can allow the public to see you before the senior showcase! How cool is that!!! To be reviewed in college before you graduate!!! The tyoe of learning was not surrounded around one specific type of technique, but it is rather eclectic (at least, that is what I think, and I do know that the British and American system of training are different). Some people prefer the eclectic colleges, taking the best of all worlds to create a process that works for them, you know?</p>
<p>CalArts is very similar. One thing that turned me on to CalArts was the fact that my high school director went there (she speaks about it with such great fondness and passion), but it is a place of many different mediums…what I mean is that there are plenty of opportunities to perform there as well…only, you are not limited to performing. Actors can try there hand at technical and artistic elements of a performance. There is also a great deal of inter-disciplinary collaboration, and this was one thing that they particularly stress. For instance, a light designer will ask to hear a musician’s composition, the musician will then call in a dancer for inspiration to compose a piece, the dancer will collaborate with an actor, who will collaborate with a set design student, etc., etc. I found that to be really, really cool. However, some people who go to school for acting, tend to look for a more traditional and focused type of environment. CalArts looks at acting in a practical light…it is the type of university that teaches you process, but exposes you to the different artistic mediums to help you hone your craft. If it is new and cutting edge, CalArts has it (this is where the Pixar people came from, and their technical innovations are one thing that I have not seen in another university). However, I do have a friend who is involved with the puppetry program, and he has told me that CalArts is surrounded by a bunch of very laid-back type B personalities. Now, that is something that conflicts with a very “This needs to get done NOW and it needs to be somewhat organized,” Type A personality like myself. Another thing is the cost of tuition, which is more expensive than Boston and ranks with NYU as far as expenses. They also do not hand out acholarships often to underclassmen (seniority rules).</p>
<p>NCSA is another college that I really have come to love. This university is set up in its own little intensive bubble. It is a tight knit, intensive, artistic college community that leaves the impression of being oh, so very focused on the craft. Another thing that I like about NCSA is a man, who is Dean of the theatre school, named Gerald Freedman. He was head of the theatre department of Julliard for a decade or so, taught at the esteemed Yale Reperatory Theatre, was the first American director asked to direct a show at the New Globe in England, has directed numerous professional Broadway shows (many Shakespearean). I aspire to work with this person. He works intensively with third and fourth years. I have come to really like the prospect of working with such a faculty, actually. He has hand-picked them. NCSA is VERY Russian based…a senior year class is based on Chekhov…Part of me really likes the focus and intensity of this place…it seems extremely Type A on the personality scale, and it is in North Carolina (which is a very beautiful state). My sister is currently working on her PhD. at Duke, so there is more of a practicality of going to North Carolina.</p>
<p>Hope this answers your question.</p>
<p>I did not choose NYU mainly because of costs. I know people who were accepted, but the most they have recieved artistically was $7,000 (excellent for an undergraduate in a major university that dishes most of its money out on its graduate students), and $7,000 is merely a drop in the bucket. If I may speak candidly, I feel as though there are many people who are wealthy and talented who can get into NYU and there are many people willing to go over $200K into debt. Frankly, I do not think the theatre school feels the need to dish out more money…but then again, I am not an expert…that is just how I view it. </p>
<p>I know that if I went to NYU, which graduates a total of how many out of there BFA actong class (all studios combined)? Over 200 or something? I feel like I would easily get lost in that crown.</p>
<p>I recall when I was researching the programs, looking for the twelve I would audition for, that SUNY Purchase was a university where a majority of the faculty had once taught at NYU. Now, Purchase is a third of the cost of NYU, and the faculty is almost the same…I chose to audition for Purchase over NYU…small, intensive, and almost the same…</p>
<p>NYU has the prestige, though…a graduate with NYU on his/her transcript has an aura anout them that people seem to like…and a degree from the top liberal arts university in the country (if not, the world) is definitely not a throw-away degree…</p>
<p>I like NYU too, but I would never be in $200,000 in debt. My mom’s friend went to NYU and is still in debt and is almost 40.</p>
<p>She also lived at home when she went, so don’t count the housing.</p>
<p>NJTheaterMom~ My D was also at BU yesterday (and is still there today). We spoke to several current freshmen who seemed VERY happy with their choice and eager to welcome her into the program. Also nice was that the kids were choosing evening options which included a dance concert at CFA, students performing at the Hard Rock, and one in a play downtown. The feeling was that the kids were plugged into a very vibrant and artistic environment --a real draw for my D who was also accepted at a couple of State schools which are pretty isolated geographically and nice for a parent who wants for her kid to have options other than the typical college drinking parties. We have not received our final aid number yet, but we were told that it is worth a call to finaid if its not enough because this one boy upped his considerably. Haven’t been to Emerson’s event, but if we can swing it financially, BU felt like a good fit for BOTH of us! Hope to meet you in September!</p>
<p>Directormom – Glad to hear your positive comments about BU. My son said there was a girl from California there yesterday shadowing a freshman and attending classes, as he was. A busy time!</p>
<p>TimThom – NYU’s reputation for stinginess is not really deserved I think. Others have posted about this. My impression is that they are good in cases of great financial need, and talent-based grants are provided too. My son’s Tisch Scholarship offer is more than twice the figure you mentioned.</p>
<p>I just want to back up NJTheatreMom. My D got FA packages from 7 BFA programs. Her highest scholarship offer (and many were substantial) was from NYU/Tisch. It is more like triple the amount you mentioned. That is per year for four years. Then, in her senior year at Tisch, she got three more smaller scholarships from them on top of that. This is not typical but it IS possible…you’ve got two of us here as two examples.</p>
<p>OH MY! </p>
<p>Perhaps my language was too strong about NYU in my last post. I didn’t know that, though. Thank you for informing me! The three people I know personally who were accepted to Tisch and Adler recieved that amount artistically–the $7,000 I listed before (with maybe a couple thousand more for academic merit).</p>
<p>I think that’s phenomenal! However, I stand by my statement. That amount of money is not handed to EVERYONE, you know. I think you two have children who are extremely talented, and are examples on how great talent coupled with great academic finesse can earn a very generous scholarship prize. How many people in the class recieved that much in grant/scholarship money I wonder? I have never heard of that much given from NYU!!! I wonder if the theatre department was recently handed more funds to award scholarship money…</p>
<p>Please do not take my comment on NYU as a jab. I do think it is a great school…just very expensive. When I chose the universities I auditioned for, I was looking at the expenses and my friends’ experiences with their financial aid offerings. Plus, I knew that my competition would be thousands of individuals who came from top-notch magnet and charter schools. My getting accepted was a long-shot and recieving a talent scholarship was an even longer shot (with $21K you are still looking at an additional $30K when you add housing and living in New York). I can barely afford that…and that is assuming I was even offered a scholarship. So, I chose Purchase instead…which I deemed as a cheaper equivalent…</p>
<p>TimThom, I can assure you that I didn’t see your post as a jab. Also, I fully support your well reasoned college decision! </p>
<p>I just wanted to say that while it is not the typical scholarship package, it IS possible to get more scholarship money than you were aware of at NYU/Tisch and while nobody should expect it, they should know that a range of financial aid and scholarship money is awarded by NYU/Tisch. While it often may not be as much as another school offers, it can be, as well as in our case, it was MORE. Nonetheless, it is a very expensive school and many people, like ourselves, have to take out loans to finance some of it.</p>
<p>I have been reviewing this forum and BU looks like an excellent school! What particularly interested me was the BFA in Theater Arts which would give me most of the same classes as the BFA Acting track while allowing me to double major (which would make me feel 100x better about getting the theater degree). How do they feel about transfers?</p>
<p>Krazi, you may also want to know something. I was on the website and researching BU for myself. But they said if you double major it may take up to 5-6 years and you would be a transfer student. Just wanted to let you know.</p>
<p>Hmmm…I thought everyone who was admitted to BU was placed in a core theatre arts class, and then the next year, they would integrate students accordingly (BFA in Acting, BFA in STage Design, etc.,etc.)…I did not know that this existed…</p>
<p>If you are interested in double majoring, people tend to go to University of Michigan. I do not know how well their theatre programs compare with others, but you can double major in their College of Music, Theatre, and Dance AND their College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and make it out with two degrees in four years…I have heard people do that…it can get pretty overwhelming, though, as I hear…</p>
<p>I think it said 5-6 years on the acting track rather than the theater arts track. But maybe I am mistaken. Can somebody give me some more information?</p>
<p>Also I hear they are good with financial aid? Could someone give me some kind of ballpark as to how much they offer now. I have a free ride to a liberal arts non-theater school so the price would have to drop tremendously for my parents to even consider paying now.</p>
<p>Here it is on the website: [Boston</a> University College of Fine Arts](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/cfa/theatre/prospective/undergraduate/double/]Boston”>http://www.bu.edu/cfa/theatre/prospective/undergraduate/double/)</p>
<p>It says most people double major with the theater arts track than acting. And goes on and says if you double major it may take 5-6 yrs.</p>
<p>It says students in BA Theater Arts (or stage management) have more flexibility to finish a double major within 4 years than do the students in BFA Acting. </p>
<p>Regarding FA, BU is both every expensive and very generous but, of course, a free ride is almost impossible to beat. Elsewhere on CC, I’ve read of awards up to 40K (on tuition of 50K).</p>
<p>Oh, ok I read it wrong. I’m sorry, lol.</p>
<p>Are people getting decent financial packages from BU?</p>
<p>Nickeatworld, BU’s financial aid packages are mostly based on need. Ours was decent. I understand that Becca1991, who started this thread, got a really good one.</p>