<p>Hey guys, thought I'd clear up any confusion on the threads here with some BU performance major questions and facts. If you have any more questions about BU or other conservatories, I'd recommend actually contacting the schools. Most are more than happy to answer questions.</p>
<p>Here's some facts.</p>
<p>BU is what is called the New Conservatory. Break this down into SOME aspects.
-- Guaranteed Casting. Once in the Casting pool sophomore year, you are guaranteed a role every quarter of casting from then on.
-- No Cut System. They also don't politely ask you to reassess your career choice midway through... also known as a cut system but some conservatories would like to say otherwise.
-- Study Abroad. Every one of the students studies abroad junior year spring semester. Theatre arts majors may study abroad the entire year as well.
-- Liberal Arts. Each student must at least fulfill BU's liberal arts requirements. (no math & science) You can also declare a minor. Some even double major as BFA Theatre Arts and another major within the university.
-- Students choose which major they want to pursue. BU has two performance majors declared at the end of freshman year, BFA Acting or BFA Theatre Arts.</p>
<p>If you want to find out the differences between the majors or know even more about the university, give them a call. They give information sessions everyday and tour the college of fine arts. For auditions, they are not members of Unifieds, but instead the Consortium which is made up of BU, CMU, Rutgers, SUNY, and UNCSA. As far as sitting in on classes which seems to be a common question, unless you've been accepted already and are choosing between schools, there is no shadowing. Classes can be personal, and if there were constantly high schoolers hanging around in them, the classes may not feel safe, but rather turn into a sort of performance. Once accepted however, give them a call and you can shadow a current freshman, spend a day with them, a weekend, whatever you and the current freshman sort of decide is best for you. Happy school hunting :)</p>
<p>I’d like to add that the consortium schools generally hold auditions along with the Unifieds – in the same cities, around the same dates – though they are not part of the Unifieds. This is convenient for everyone. There are other schools that do the same.</p>
<p>The concept of “The Unifieds” is very confusing to people who are new to this process. Just in case someone reading this doesn’t know already:</p>
<p>The Unifieds is not a cattle-call event where you audition once for a lot of different school representatives, all sitting in the same room. You have to apply to each school separately, and sign up for their auditions (the process is different for each school), and prepare the materials they ask for, and pay their fees. The only “unified” thing about it is the location. Basically someone rents a lot of rooms somewhere, and each college gets to use one of them to do their auditions however they do it. </p>
<p>The big convenience for the students is, they can travel to one city and spend a few days auditioning for a lot of schools during that trip. It really doesn’t matter if it’s at the Unifieds location or somewhere else nearby.</p>
<p>There is also the possibility of doing walk-in auditions at the Unifieds. I think that the Consortium schools are generally too booked up to allow walk-ins, though.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this info, BlueSurge. It’s always nice to hear from students currently enrolled in programs. Most of the people who post on this forum are either parents or prospective students.</p>
<p>I hope you will continue to read CC and contribute, as time allows. </p>
<p>My son was a Theatre Arts student in the BU SOT. He graduated this past May. It is a wonderful program!</p>
<p>Just need some clarification…Major is not declared until end of freshman year? So if a student auditions for BFA in acting before entering BU and are admitted what major are they in?</p>
<p>Ok I went back and read more carefully and see that they are put in a freshman core. When the students audition are they auditioning for the BFA in acting or just admittance to the theater department? What are the chances that they won’t get their desired BFA at the end of their freshman year?</p>
<p>When students audition for BU, they are auditioning for a BFA in performance. At the end of the freshman year, they decide whether they want to choose the Acting track or the Theatre Arts track. Both are performance majors; both lead to a BFA degree.</p>
<p>If I gave the impression that I was suggesting that one was inferior to the other I apologize. That was not what I meant. I know that my D wants the acting track (at this point anyway. She could certainly change her mind). I just wanted to know how it was determined where they would end up. The website made it seem that the instructors had a say in where a student would go.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all the helpful information about BU. My daughter, who is a Junior, is very interested in this program. Your posting was very helpful!</p>