<p>Any informed advice welcome to assist my S choose between theatre majors at the above schools. He was fortunate to have been accepted to these and many other top theatre programs, but has narrowed his choice to 4.
He is a working actor, who has decided to stop working in order to obtain at least a BA/BFA degree. He has grown up in and lives in LA. He is somewhat exhausted from an extremely rigorous high school experience, and (my opinion) may thrive in a BFA program. However, he doesn't want to spend the next 4 years seeing only the same students each day.
School spirit is something he did not get to experience at his tiny private high school, which makes him think he would like a college that has at least some spirit.
He would like to do a semester abroad, which he cannot do at UCLA (unless he goes in the summer, which adds to expense of college education).
He attended Tisch last summer and loved it, but wonders about 4 years in such an urban setting, and w/o a traditional campus.
He will visit BU next week for the first time. He loves the faculty and staff he met during the audition process. Uncertain about how urban the campus is, and if the lack of a traditional campus is an issue.
He loves USC, but was not accepted into the BFA program, so would have to enroll as a Theatre BA major. This excludes him from most BFA lower division courses.
We wonder if no acting classes at UCLA until winter of sophomore year will be a problem.
Finances do not need to be factored into his decision at this point (great aid and scholarships all around).
He wants to learn about the world, people, and himself, but he definitely plans to pursue a career as a professional actor.
Thoughts?</p>
<p>UCLA would give him the opportunity to continue to work a bit where he is already successful. He can always go abroad on his own after graduation. I would not let that be a deciding factor, especially considering the generous financial support the schools have offered, which you say take finances out of the list of concerns for school choice.</p>
<p>^^^I think UCLA is not all that flexible about major outside work commitments.</p>
<p>There is another thread here that discusses choices between many of these same schools but your son’s background and decision criteria are different so the answers are different.</p>
<p>First off, I’ll warn you that if your son is exhausted already from an extremely rigorous highs school he will probably need to buckle up in any BFA program. My daughter attended an incredibly rigorous HS and I thought for sure in comparison college would be easier and less exhausting. Not even close.</p>
<p>Not wanting to see the same students every day was also in my daughter’s thinking. Thus larger programs like those at BU, NYU and UCLA are good choices for students that care about that. (She didn’t apply to USC but I assume the BA program is large plus you’d have all the other core courses to complete). I’ve seen NYU, BU and UCLA. My son just returned from visiting USC with his father and loved it but you living in LA I assume have that school down pretty well so I’ll comment on my thoughts about what you’re asking on the other 3.</p>
<p>NYU: (This one I know the best. My daughter is a freshman in Tisch).</p>
<p>School spirit: Depends on how you define it. If you mean rah rah about sporting events, Greek life etc. You won’t find it. But NYU students are very proud of the school they attend and most of them cannot imagine being anywhere else so by that definition, the school spirit is strong.</p>
<p>Semester abroad: I believe this is in an option in all studios</p>
<p>Campus: Well if you mean rolling green lawns with ivy covered buildings, you’re right, no campus. But Washington Square and the surrounding academic buildings, dorms, theatres, cafes, subway stops, street corners, falafel vendors etc. are in essence a type of campus swarming with NYU students. If you like the kind of energy that comes with that scene, believe me you’ll never miss the rolling green lawn. Personal decision.</p>
<p>UCLA: </p>
<p>School spirit: Really strong both for athletic teams and about the school in general. Greek life is present. </p>
<p>Semester abroad: you just answered that</p>
<p>Campus: Few are nicer and heaven knows, the weather is great so you can really take advantage of being outdoors. Both buildings and open spaces are lovely. It’s amazingly compact and accessible for a school its size. Westwood has plenty to do, (cafes, bars, theatres etc.) I assume since you are in LA, you know this already.</p>
<p>BU:
School Spirit: Also strong. Hockey games are a must even if you hate the sport. Don’t know about Greek life since it wasn’t something we paid attention to. In general you’ll find that school spirit in most of the Boston area schools is strong partially because many of them are rivals.</p>
<p>Semester abroad: I think yes? I forget.</p>
<p>Campus: BU is a long thin campus that is more or less bordered by the Charles River and the Fenway. The Charles River has long stretches of parks on both sides that are excellent for sunning, jogging, biking, throwing a Frisbee etc. BU students make full use of the “BU Beach” between Storrow Drive and the river. Looks pretty green to me. Plus you have Boston itself which is just about the best city to be a student in one can imagine by virtue of the sheer number of colleges/universities that are there. (I used to live there.) BU also draws a large international student body so if he is looking to learn about “the world, people and himself” it’s a good place to be. (Ditto with NYU for that matter.) I would also agree with his favorable impressions about the faculty and staff one would find at BU.</p>
<p>What a wealth of excellent choices he has. It’s a nice problem to have but I get the struggle for sure. Good luck!!</p>
<p>Our grad student tour guide said that it was possible to work while at UCLA, for short projects. Longer projects might be granted a leave of absence and allowed to return.</p>
<p>Thank you each so much for jumping in with support. A couple of points:
Greek life is NOT an issue. By “school spirit” I think my S means a sense of camaraderie amongst all the students at the college. Granted, he is a huge basketball and football fan, and was extremely impressed by USC’s “fight on” spirit, but he loves acting more than attending games. The acting program is the most important factor in his decision.</p>
<p>UCLA: One possible negative is no acting classes until winter quarter of Sophomore year.
Is there adequate practical acting training throughout the undergrad experience? BTW: If you take a break for work, you are not able to return to the acting track major, I think.</p>
<p>We are trying to keep him away from working during undergrad time, so not concerned about outside work. In fact, some have suggested that NOT attending college in LA or NYC is preferable, as it eliminates the temptation to drop out of school and just start working. S believes he will be a much better lifetime actor with the benefits of an education first.</p>
<p>Abroad:
BU: Yes, semester in junior year
NYU: Yes, semester in junior year
UCLA: No
USC (I think even for BAs): yes, semester.</p>
<p>Only negative associated with USC is: location downtown and NOT in BFA program. I see the BA versus BFA as a huge problem, although S doesn’t. He does not yet realize that he would not be in the practical acting classes (lower level) and that the BA program is more academic based than practical acting based.</p>
<p>halflokum: Does your D find the Village at all distracting? In what studio was she placed? Supposedly, theatre placements will be announced this week for my son’s class. Does she find just the GE courses extremely challenging, or also the BFA courses themselves? And, can you define the sort of rigor to which you refer?</p>
<p>hmmmmm I didn’t think the BFA’s at USC could study abroad, only the BA’s. But I might be wrong.</p>
<p>Touchstone1, My daughter is in New Studio (NSB). She’s also an MT.</p>
<p>Of course the Village is distracting. Deliciously so. So are the friends in the dorm that pop in at all hours or any of the other delights of just being on one’s own in great city. All of your locations will have the same problem no more, no less. But distraction has its limits because they have so much darn work that there isn’t time to walk around distracted all the time and still keep up. First semester (and probably this one too I haven’t counted), she essentially had 13 different classes. Which meant 13 different things that you might have things due for (papers, reading, rehearsing, researching – heck even dance classes can have reading/writing assignments). It’s a lot to juggle and there is not a ton of time outside of the classroom to get it all done and actually sleep. It’s hard to even get to the dining hall because the distance between classes can mean you need to eat while you’re walking. It’s hard to go to the health center because it’s open during the hours when you’re in studio and you can’t miss your studio classes. And so on. I don’t know if this is unique to TIsch (doubt it). It probably looks much like any BFA program minus maybe the walking if you go to a small school or go to a big one where things are a little bit more contained. </p>
<p>She has had two academic classes each semester. The dreaded “Writing the Essay” which other schools may refer to as freshman English is both semesters. Few people love it (it’s somewhat instructor dependent) because there is always a ton to do for it so it hangs over your head constantly. Then you have either Theatre Studies (which she LOVED) or Theatre Production which she appreciates less because it is lecture style but she enjoyed crewing one of the productions with the exception of the late night hours it entailed. Next year she’ll mix up the GE courses a little more because it is less set but this is all I can comment about so far. Yes though, they are challenging in a way that is appropriate to the kids NYU admits. </p>
<p>The BFA courses themselves are fantastic without exception because the faculty is outstanding. Yes the expectations are high and you can’t be absent, you can’t be late, you can’t be unprepared – any one of these things will impact your grade negatively. The students are expected to behave professionally which is a good standard. Doesn’t mean they don’t have fun though but it’s within those reasonable boundaries.</p>
<p>I am SO SORRY that the studio decisions are taking so long. I think this might actually be the longest wait ever which would be fine if that was the common practice but the fact that it keeps slipping beyond any historical notification date makes for a whole lot of screen refreshing for anyone that is waiting. Anyway, I hope that I’ve answered what you asked me and I wish you the best of luck. Feel free to PM me if you have more you need to know. I’m sure there are also NYU parents with students in the acting studios that would also be happy to chime in.</p>
<p>I"m going to chime in on what I know about BU in general and I hope this is helpful.
I do not have a stake in BU acting program, My DH is a LAC alum, my cousins daughter just graduated from a completely diff College and MY D has been involved with auditions for student films. Halflokum did a nice job in describing the “campus” I feel compelled to follow that up. BU offers very challenging gen eds and to the degree that BFA students (don’t know) can take courses outside of their major he will have open to him a world of opportunities to study anything he could imagine. The spirit at BU is incredible, whether you want it or not there is an active greek life and all sorts of extra curriulars in anything you could imagine to take advantage of. The BU beach is someplace that I gravitated to when I went to another grad school in Boston, just because I loved it. Green grass, courtyards, bordering the river, bridges to the river, boating, crewing, Kayaking, sailing. All the food you could imagine at your fingertips or a T ride away if the amazing Dining Commons bore you. Convenient transportation system to all over Metro Boston and especially to Newbury St, Boylston St, Boston commons and to the PRU and Copley Place which other than the Marathon Bombing is one of the safest, cleanest, robust student areas to hang out in the world a mecca for college students from colleges within a 3 mile radius: Emerson, Northeastern, Berkley, BOCO, New England Conservatory, Boston Ballet, Simmons, Wentworth Institute of Tech and more that I can’t even recall. There are intense Basketball and Hockey rivalries and every sport imaginable other than Football to rally school spirit. On any given day you will see more BU clothing than any other kind of clothing. If he is interested in acting for film opportunities while in college, not sure if he wants to take a break from all of that or not, BU is on par with Emerson for having exquisite quality productions and organization for auditions and filming, with an infinite amount of possibilities to network and be involved to the degree he 'd like to be involved with the confidence that he will be involved in cutting edge film artistry with state of the art equipment rather than entry level attempts at students experimenting with camcorders. I really can’t speak to the Theatre depart except to say that reading threads and hearing my friends talk about the faculty and the undergrads, watching showcases and productions, that it is a warm, inviting, invigorating, stimulating program that fosters growth and development of artistry and talent that rivals the finest programs in the country. My D wanted out of the state and out of New England so much to my dismay did not consider this program. Hope this was helpful.</p>
<p>^^^Sign me up! I love BU too. We will absolutely be considering it for my non-theatre son.</p>
<p>We went to the BU Open House last Saturday. Our S will be attending in the fall. I was really impressed with all of the faculty that gave a panel discussion. But I will say that Jim Petosa, the Director of the School of Theatre is absolutely brilliant! He talks - as all the faculty did - about process over product, and the importance of collaboration. He is very cerebral in his approach, and the faculty echoes that. I wanted to work with him - LOL! We also saw a senior showcase, and the students told us what they were planning on doing after school (lots of NYC and LA destinations!).</p>
<p>I can’t compare the schools because I know nothing about the others, but I am thrilled to send my son to BU to work with the faculty (including the design/tech faculty). Both the Theatre Arts track and the Acting track (both BFAs) offer wonderful training. The campus/area is hopping with lots of things to do (My S found out about a cappella groups that he may try out for). And we ate in the dining hall - lots of variety and tasty food!</p>
<p>Congrats on all the acceptances and good luck in making a tough decision!</p>
<p>Sounds to me that to get what he is looking for, it would be down to BU or NYU. Both are great schools, both have outstanding drama programs and both are in amazing cities. Can’t go wrong. Really.</p>
<p>One thing you did not mention is how he feels about taking academic classes. If he wants to be able to take many different types of classes outside of theatre, I’d go NYU. The 3 day studio/2 day academics allows better scheduling. At BU I’ve been told by students there, that it is hard to fit academic classes into the schedule. If he’s not into academics as much… I’d go BU.
BU has guaranteed casting, and overall is a smaller program so there would be less competition for casting. </p>
<p>Both would have small Studio class size. Even though NYUs program is larger as a whole, class size is still small and intimate. All my daughters classes ths year, including the 2 academic classes in Tisch, were capped at 18. Her acting classes had 12 kids.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Touchstone1, many prospective students don’t mind BU’s unusual urban linear campus, but some do. When you visit, you’ll find out how it strikes your son.</p>
<p>My son is a senior at BU and has had a fabulous four years there. One thing that has perhaps not been touched on in this thread is that the Boston University School of Theatre offers two different kinds of experiences.</p>
<p>At the end of freshman year, students choose either the Acting track or the Theatre Arts track. Acting students follow a fixed curriculum for the next three years, concentrating on performance training. Theatre Arts students have more flexibility in course choice. They can concentrate on performance training to almost the same extent as Acting track students if they wish, but they also have the choice of picking up a minor and/or exploring different areas of theatre like directing, playwriting, design, etc, etc.</p>
<p>Very few gen eds are required in either of the two tracks of the performance curriculum at BU, but Theatre Arts majors can choose from a vast number of offerings if they are so inclined. </p>
<p>With regard to “seeing the same students every day,” each class of consists of approximately 50 students…larger than many other programs. There are different sections, with different mixes of students. Particularly for Theatre Arts students in the second two years of the program, classes may consist of students from different years and different tracks, all mixed together.</p>
<p>I hope you have a great visit to BU. Good luck to your son with his decision!</p>
<p>Touchstone1, congratulations to your son. All are really amazing schools and he cannot go wrong.</p>
<p>My sons both attended USC, and my younger son is there now double majoring in Theatre Design (BA) and at the School of Cinematic Arts. He’s busy!</p>
<p>I don’t quite agree with your impressions of the BA vs BFA acting programs there, so thought I’d chime in. </p>
<p>You wrote: “Only negative associated with USC is: location downtown…”</p>
<p>Well, downtown is actually pretty hip and lots to do, but I also live in L.A. and there are certainly more attractive and more upscale areas than that which surrounds the USC campus. 
Still, my sons really liked the urban vibe, Korean BBQ not far, downtown art scene, connections to the Music Center, quick car access to the westside–and the campus itself is beautiful. This is really a personal taste thing, since there are pros and cons to all the schools you listed as to area/campus I think. </p>
<p>You also mentioned: “…and NOT in BFA program. I see the BA versus BFA as a huge problem, although S doesn’t. He does not yet realize that he would not be in the practical acting classes (lower level) and that the BA program is more academic based than practical acting based.”</p>
<p>I am not sure this is entirely true. For one thing, the BA is not more academic-based, as both BA and BFA take exactly the same academic-based courses. BA’s do not take any more! The difference is that BFAs take a specific curriculum of 84 units in the major, while BA’s are given more freedom in course selection and must take only 54 units in the major. However, BAs can take as many more as they choose. They have all that extra free-space in their schedules so they take what they want. Some may choose to take a minor or second major, as my son has chosen to do, while others like to load up on extra acting practice courses. I have posted elsewhere (so apologies to those who have read this many other times), we know young professional actors who chose the BA over the BFA in order to have less pressure/time drain. </p>
<p>As to the real differences, the BFA acting students take one performance class as a group each semester, and that is not open to BAs. However, there is an identical section of the class for non-BFAs. There is also a BFA-only production each semester after freshman year, I think. This takes a lot of time and is one reason there so many university productions are cast with mostly BAs. </p>
<p>If you have more questions, I would recommend you call the School and talk to one of the advisers, or one of the professors your son may have met last weekend. </p>
<p>I admire your son and your family for encouraging him to get a good undergrad education before pursuing his acting career as an adult. With this goal in mind, I think USC BA is very strong, but so is UCLA, and NYU. Apologies to BU, which I know almost nothing about, so can’t speak about the BFA / humanities connections there. </p>
<p>Your son’s interest in school spirit, interest in football, etc, makes USC and UCLA rise a little higher.</p>
<p>The fact that so many of us here on this forum are so jazzed about our son’s and daughter’s schools is really all you need to know. They are all amazing programs.</p>
<p>Madbean, the way you describe the BA vs BFA programs at USC, it really sounds quite a bit like the difference between the Acting and Theatre Arts tracks at BU.</p>
<p>As others have pointed out, BU does have guaranteed casting, and Acting and Theatre Arts students are in the same casting pool for all productions.</p>
<p>There has been exceptional advice given in this thread, especially the thorough, detailed posts given by Halflokum!</p>
<p>Proud Tisch alum, but I see a few red flags here honestly that I think need to be seriously addressed.</p>
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<p>It’s actually the absolute opposite, at least at NYU. If he’s feeling exhausted from a rigorous high school experience, NYU is going to tax him to the max. I transferred into NYU as a working actor who was regularly booking paid work, starring in college productions, leading a sizable drama club at my pretty large CC, where I directed, and taught, had a full roster of classes most semesters, on top of my other considerable club, and social, obligations. I was so busy one year that I had to go down to part time because I was rehearsing three different productions at one time.</p>
<p>And none of that was as exhausting as my NYU training. Studio three times a week from 9-5:30, academic classes during the other three days, left you spending close to 30 hours just in the classroom alone. I took 16 credits per semester, but this is deceptive for the drama kids. Studio only counts for 8 credits, but if you actually broke down the number of classes you took, and credited them individually, BFA acting students are easily taking over 30 credit hours. Most schools would NEVER allow a student to take that many credits, yet that’s what is expected of you at NYU-Tisch Drama.</p>
<p>Now this is all pure classroom time. This does does not even count your rehearsals for scenes, monologues, movement, speech, and voice pieces, homework for both studio and non-studio classes, papers, and when you get to the point of possibly going out for NYU productions, in-studio productions, and if you can sneak it in, outside work. When I went to NYU I took a break from ALL theatrical productions (I did do some student films). I had been working so much that I concentrated only on my education, and didn’t even pursue studio, or stage, work within the school. And still my time was pressed. By the time I graduated from NYU, between my high school theatre years, first college, NYU, and the work I’d been doing outside, I was the very model of a burn-out. I went back home and vegged out for months after finishing up!</p>
<p>It doesn’t help that I was also placed in Atlantic, arguably the hardest working non-MT studio at NYU, so our work load might have been a tad more than some of the others at the time. </p>
<p>But it most definitely is all doable, but if he’s already feeling exhausted from a rigorous high school it might be time to do some serious reconsidering about him heading straight into a BFA program for the next 4 years.</p>
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<p>He’s not going to get this at NYU. Yes there is a palpable school pride, in that the average NYUer recognizes the incredible merits of just being there, and being in this city, and reveling in those facts. I mean if your kid is the kind who loves the fact that he’d be attending an uber liberal uni that lets everyone be themselves (conservatives might get some gruff), has really eclectic, intelligent, interesting people, and he just LOVES the fact that he can run down to the corner and have a latte, and a deep conversation, at 1 in the morning, he’ll love it. That’s the kind of “spirit” that is at NYU for a lot of the students. There is this collective knowing that THIS is the school many of us dreamed of, a dream that is based on the fact that it’s so very unlike a “normal” school.</p>
<p>There is no collective sense of “school spirit” among “all” the students at NYU though. In Tisch Drama you end up fostering most of your connections with other drama majors, particularly others in your specific studio(s). Of course you can make friends anywhere, that’s totally up to you, especially in your dorms, but NYU is an extremely segregated school. It is actually quite easy to spend years there and never connect with many people outside of your individualized school. Now I transferred in, so my non-theatre related academics were all completed. I’m sure students who start off as Freshmen have a better chance at meeting non-Tisch kids, but honestly most of the freshmen and sophomores I knew hung with other kids from their studios, or at most, other Tisch students. So people end up classifying NYU as their departement first; Stern-NYU, Tisch-Drama-NYU, Tisch-Film-NYU, Gallatin-NYU, etc, versus the greater NYU being the major rallying point of your school identity, and sense of community. There is no great sports team to connect you, no “must attend” major school event to force inter-departmental bonding, no apparent sense of school spirit, no uni wide parades, or any such business like that typical to most colleges. You don’t see a lot of NYU kids walking around in purple sweatshirts, with NYU’s decal shining brightly. They’re more likely to buy those and ship them off to proud parents at home. But I never even did that.</p>
<p>I’ve said this before, but the lack of cohesive NYU ra-ra, traditional school spirit is so low that I only attended my Tisch graduation, and totally skipped the greater school ceremony a few days later. Trust me when I say that I was far from the only one who made that decision. </p>
<p>There are many positives I could highlight, but those have been covered well. Especially the idea of him being wary of seeing the same faces every single year. Not a concern at most NYU studios at all. I know at Atlantic my class was broken up into 4 groups of about 15 students that rotated every semester. So there were new faces to act with even within my own studio every semester, and then after you’ve fulfilled your primary studio requirements you can move on to the advanced studio offerings, which finally allow you to begin training with a mixture of students from the various other conservatories. He’ll see fresh faces throughout his time there.</p>
<p>Study abroad is also possible outside of his studio requirements (though they do have the amazing RADA studio option in London). If he can work it out, and opts to not do four years of studio training, he can even do a study abroad for his academic, non-theatre classes. NYU is great in that it will allow students to go to say the Florence campus and do a semester of academic classes in History, Literature, Cinema Studies, most with, of course, a heavy italian concentration.</p>
<p>I didn’t write this absurdly long post to needlessly deter you, but I do want to be as blunt, and honest, as I can about some potential issues he might encounter.</p>
<p>Wow, iwishuwell, that is a great post. I’m exhausted just from reading about your life as a drama student! 
As you said, being a transfer student may have given you a slightly different experience.
Most of my daughters closest friends are from her dorm and she has many friends outside of drama. She has friends in Tisch film, Steinhardt, Gallatain, Stern and CAS. She has friends from every part of the world, all with different life experiences.
The one thing they have in common is that they are all very bright, open minded, politically active and very proud to be at NYU. And yes, my daughter wears a lot of purple!</p>
<p>All the schools will offer fantastic training and experience. So think of the choices as most other kids would. Where do I want to be for the next four years and why.
As a BU grad I believe there is no greater city in the world to live in during the college years. While is doesn’t have a traditional campus, it is nestled in the beautiful Back Bay Area. Love it! It is a college town. It is different than nY in that sense. The Head of the Charles is awesome. Hanging out on the banks of the Charles River watching sailing or crew. Faneuil Hall, Harvard Square, The Redsox (even if you are not a sports fan), kids from all over the country and the world. It’s just plain ol’ fun! (Weekends at the Cape IF you can spare the time). Ah to be 18 again! All the other choices you have are fantastic too. Just had to throw my two cents in. Go Terriers! (although I thought the mascot was a bull dog until I was a junior)</p>
<p>LOL - I guess you were not at BU studying veterinary medicine!!!</p>
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<p>That’s really good to hear. One of the handful of regrets I have about NYU was not expanding my social base far enough beyond the boundaries of Tisch-Drama. By the time I arrived about 90% of my schedule was dominated by theatre/acting, leaving very little opportunity to expand my social base. I ended up having some good friends from Tisch-Film, as my incredible roommate was in that department, but that’s pretty much it. And I do wish that was just a transfer issue, but I knew a lot of Tisch freshman and sophomores who were similarly insulated. It’s not hard at NYU to lead a very myopic life. Your daughter is doing it the RIGHT way!</p>
<p>[The</a> Hollywood Reporter’s List of the 25 Top Drama Schools - The Hollywood Reporter](<a href=“http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/top-25-drama-schools-319963]The”>The Hollywood Reporter’s List of the 25 Top Drama Schools – The Hollywood Reporter)
Don’t know if lists matter to you, but there is this one, which offers some information on schools you are considering.</p>