<p>Okay, so I've never acted or done any plays or anything or have anything to do with acting on my application. I want to do the 10 min video but i have no one to record it professionally or whatever to make it look good. All i have is a digital camera and photobooth and i don't think that would look that great...? I'm currently a freshman looking to transfer to NYU if I get in which is very unlikely, but i'm going to go for it! cause i have nothin to lose. (except money). </p>
<p>How is the audition? Any info will help! Did u do it? how many people are watching? what can you choose as far as monologues and where are some good places to get them? I have 2 or 3 that i really like but one is really long and idk if i'm allowed to cut it up into pieces. and i have NO idea how to do the shakespearean one or whatever it is..! im sure youtube videos would help tho..i guess? </p>
<p>Do u know any transfers who got in? I'm from UC Berkeley</p>
<p>The first part of the audition is a movement warmup that they watch, and then you are one-on-one with the auditor; you will do your two monologues and then interview with them. Sometimes, the auditors ask you to do a monologue again, but in a different way.</p>
<p>Tisch wants to see two contemporary monologues, not a classic one (as Shakespeare is). The requirements for the artistic review can be found on the Tisch website. </p>
<p>Tisch does ask for a performing arts resume. It expects people to come in with different levels of experience, and does admit students with a varying range of experience and casting success. </p>
<p>However, I would have to imagine that if you come in with no theater training or experience whatsoever, it may be tough. Part of what Tisch wants to see is a student’s “natural ability” as an actor (and this is why they won’t accept recommendations from arts coaches; they want to make their own determination); but Tisch also needs to know that applicants have the persistence and dedication to meet the rigors of the training, and are not doing this just because they think acting might be fun.</p>
<p>Do you really want to spend $200,000 to major in something that you have no idea if you’re good at, or even like doing? My suggestion: put off the transfer for a year and spend that year auditioning for everything you can - school plays, community theatre, film school productions, etc. See if you really enjoy the work (and the rejections, because that is part of the business) before you commit to it.</p>
<p>To follow up some of the comments you received, consider the following. Admission to a BFA program as a transfer is usually even more daunting than as a freshman because most programs have very few spots that they make available to transfer students. Moreover, BFA curricula are extremely structured and sequenced so that more often than not, a transfer student must start at the beginning of the departmental curriculum even if the student has enough credits to be treated as an upperclassman for general academic standing. This often results in the need for the student to spend an additional year in college to complete the departmental curriculum. In your case, with no theater background or course work, you would undoubtedly have to start as a freshman in the program and go through the 4 year sequence.</p>
<p>In addition, someone who has no experience at all in theater and acting, who has not been in any shows, taken acting classes, is going to be at a great disadvantage in auditioning against students who typically have spent their entire high school careers deeply involved in theater in one form or another, particularly given the very low acceptance rates for BFA programs. BFA acting programs typically accept from 3-10% of applicants, depending on the school.</p>
<p>All of that being said, that does not mean you can not successfully pursue a career in theater if that’s what you want. There are many, many successful actors who started out in a BA program in theater, even double majoring in something else, and then pursued more advanced and intensive training through a MFA program or studio work. The nice thing about this approach is that most BA theater/acting programs are non-audition with admissions criteria the same as for any liberal arts degree (and therefore acceptance rates are much higher), provide ample opportunities to get a fine education in theater and performance and provide opportunities to obtain a broader educational foundation which serves a developing actor well. There are many very, very talented students who choose to go the BA/MFA or BA/studio training route who thereafter are successful working actors.</p>
<p>As applied to your situation, you don’t make clear whether you have general dissatisfactions with UC Berkley or whether your desire to transfer is driven solely by your desire to to obtain training as an actor. UC Berkley has a non-audition Theater program with an emphasis possible in acting. You could explore majoring in theater with an emphasis on acting at Berkley. Or, if there are reasons that Berkley is not the right school/program for you, there are many excellent BA programs in theater/acting around the country to which you could transfer. Taking this route would enable you to get experience and training and provide you with an opportunity to explore whether acting as a career is really something you desire to pursue. If you conclude that it is, you will have an excellent foundation for advanced training and will not be crushed by taking on extended undergraduate schooling required by transferring from your current BA non-theater program to a BFA program.</p>
<p>If you want it, then there’s a way to pursue it without all the pitfalls that attempting to transfer to a BFA program would present under your facts and circumstances. Best of luck in your future endeavors.</p>
<p>Well I mean since the chances are so low of being accepted, I’m not going to be upset that I didn’t get in or anything. And I think if I got in, I would have a good chance of getting a good job afterwards because it IS USC. It’s like if you go to tisch at NYU, you’re almost guaranteed a good job. So many of the mainstream actors and actresses are from nyu, and if they weren’t good, they wouldn’t’ve been accepted. I want to apply to NYU’s tisch too, but you have to submit a portfolio thing and I want to do the movie but i don’t have someone to record me really. but u can also take pictures and send that so i might do that. i don’t really have a good camera but idk.</p>
<p>I don’t know what you’re talking about… admissions for Tisch’s BFA and USC’s BFA (or BA) are nothing like that. Also, there is no guarantee at all of getting a job after graduating from either of those programs. There are a lot of people who go through those programs who do get jobs, but there are also a fair amount who don’t. It’s just that we only hear about those who do get jobs. Also, I’m going to reiterate MichaelNKat–what don’t you like about Cal? It’s a great school (though obviously I like mine better, but objectively speaking). It seems like you’d be fine with not transferring (since “I’m not going to be upset that I didn’t get in or anything”), so why is it that you want to transfer in the first place? I don’t know, I’d think if I were in your position, I’d take advantage of the opportunities I already had around me.</p>
<p>clueless – I think you may have stumbled upon audition information for Tisch’s Special Programs – which DOES accept videos, but it’s a separate program. Also, the deadline for Spring at Tisch has passed. It is for college students enrolled at other colleges, but it’s sort of like a semester abroad deal (as I read it) – you take a leave (with permission) from your current school, then return afterward. You are not enrolled at NYU through this program, although you can take it for credits. Do some more research/planning, as others have said. If you’re still interested next year, send your audition early…but do a lot of soul searching, too – figuring out what you want to do “when you grow up” (heck I’m in my 40s and still working on that!) takes a while.</p>
<p>Well I love Berkeley, but in order for me to pursue my dreams here, that would mean getting a very high gpa to get into the schools I want and their programs. I think I’d be better off doing something I enjoy more and work toward that goal, knowing that i have a better chance in being successful there (USC).</p>
<p>Clueless, your posts are very confusing. As a current Berkley student, you can declare a theater performance major as long as you are in academic good standing. The only prerequisite is that you take 1 theater and 1 performance course first and the theater website provides the details. You could then pursue a major concentrating on acting, audition for shows, get experience and upon graduation either try to work in the industry, apply to MFA programs/advanced studio programs or both. This would seem to be a pretty logical path for someone who is currently a freshman at Berkley and has zero prior acting or theater experience or training.</p>
<p>I’m all for a student pursuing his or her dream to get a degree in theatre and to pursue a career as a performer. But do it in a way that will give you the best opportunity to get the experience and training you need and to build success upon success. Right now, you’ve got the proverbial “bird in the hand”. While you have no background what so ever in theatre, you are at a school which has a good theatre program and in which you can declare a major focusing on acting. Given your circumstances, it would seem to make preeminent sense to take advantage of what you have, get all the training and experience Berkley has to offer and then take stock of where you want to go from there. At least at that point you will be able to make decisions informed by the experience and training you have received. If you decide that continuing to pursue theatre is the path you want, you will have a credential that will open up opportunities for you. If you conclude that theatre is not the path for you, you will have a credible undergrad degree to pursue other directions. If the problem is that the Berkeley theater program is not a good match for you, there are loads of other very good non-audition BA theater programs to which your odds of acceptance as a transfer student would be much greater. Don’t discount this approach based on a mistaken belief that a degree from Tisch (about which you acknowledge your chances of admission are low) is some kind of magic bullet that will get you success as an actor. Tisch is an excellent school, no doubt. But graduating from Tisch (or any other top shelf BFA program) is no assurance of employment as an actor. There are plenty of unemployed Tisch graduates. You will serve yourself better by mapping out a path that makes the most sense for you given where you are at this point in your life and experience.</p>
<p>wow thank you! So if I major in theatre here at berkeley, when will i get the chance to be in film/television shows? If I do an MFA, isn’t that 8 years? what does an MFA do for you? Like if you are in premed, you do that 13 years because thats the path that you HAVE to take. sorry i can’t type too much, i’m in class.</p>
<p>Clueless, my best suggestion to you at this point is to schedule a meeting with the head of the theater department at Berkley or another theater department rep to discuss your performing interests and goals. You will be able to get very specific information about Berkley’s programs and the varied paths that are available to pursue a career as a performer. You really need someone who can help you map out a game plan in the context of your current academic circumstances and provide you with personalized guidance. The best folks to do this are the resources you have right now at your school. In discussing all of this, it is fair for you to inquire whether Berkley’s program will provide you with the foundation you need. For example, your earlier posts talked about theater. Now you are raising film and television. These are very different areas of training and not all programs cover both.</p>
<p>An MFA degree typically is a 2 year program and provides advanced training as a performer. It is the “terminal” degree for a performance based program as opposed to academic programs in theater that can lead to a PhD. </p>
<p>Oh okay. Well, I meant to say that I want to be acting in film or in television. I will do the theatre classes that are offered at my school because they have to do with acting, but my main goal is the above. The only thing I wouldn’t mind doing in theatre is something like broadway.</p>
<p>All I can say is “wow” to that last sentence clueless! I am going to steer you in a different direction and suggest you head over to the film school at UC Berkeley and find where the film students post/hold their auditions for their films. If Berkeley offers “acting for film or television” classes sign up for those. If not offered at school, go take them off campus. Learn the basics like how to slate for the camera. Then go audition for the student films. See how you do. And as MichaelNKat said, good luck.</p>
<p>So…you want to be a THEATER major at Tisch…but you don’t have any real interest in actually DOING theater work except for broadway, (because Broadway directors love to cast people who “don’t mind” being there…) and you’re willing to leave UC Berkley to go to one of the best THEATER schools in the country to be in movies and tv shows, but you’re not even 100 percent sure if you like acting???</p>
<p>I’m completely baffled by your logic. It seems to me that you’re not actually interested in acting, but you’re interested in becoming famous. This is a rather shallow pursuit, and as most cases show usually result in non-fame. Don’t throw away your education at a really good school to pursue something you may not be capable of doing. That’s like me (a BFA acting major at BU) deciding that I want to go Pre-Med at Harvard without any thought other than “I think I might like it.” </p>
<p>My (constructive) suggestion would be to start off by taking an acting class at Berkley. That’s the most rational thing to do. </p>
<p>Acting, ESPECIALLY for film and television, is incredibly difficult for anyone to be successful at. If you’ve never done anything acting related in your life, are you sure you can handle everything that goes along with it??</p>
<p>I hope you figure everything out…but think about what you’re doing before you do it.</p>
<p>I don’t think this OP is real. Who is in school in CA (UCB, no less- for smart kids) and doesn’t know about majoring in theatre—and has zero experience—and wants Tisch, a program that accepts what, 28-30 kids?</p>