<p>My D goes on lots of auditions in LA for film/TV/Theater...during high school this hasn't been a problem. Also whenever she is cast the hs has allowed her to miss class as long as she makes up the work. Do any of you know which colleges are open to this? if at all...</p>
<p>College vary widely on this issue. Some are absolutely strict about not allowing outside auditioning, or taking work, while you are in the program. Others encourage it, and many are somewhere in between. This is a question you have to ask of each school. I suggest asking it very delicately. Only a few schools are so open to this kind of thing that they would say, “Sure, we don’t mind if you miss class.” Theatre classes are experiential - most schools expect 100% attendance, including at rehearsal and in other production assignments.</p>
<p>I’m thinking she will be putting outside auditioning on hold especially if she gets into the BFA program she wants. I was just wondering what the thoughts were on this and if anyone had heard any specific. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Pace University in NYC seems to have a fairly liberal philosophy in this regard in that they actively encourage students to audition and have made allowances for leaves of absence for students who’ve been cast. However, I’m not sure how that works for the Gen Ed courses, although the school’s overall philosophy is one of experiential learning so they may all be supportive.</p>
<p>Lightingmom is absolutely right about Pace. Out of all the BFA programs my daughter auditioned for, it was the only program that was amenable to outside auditioning and work. That was a question we asked all schools as my daughter was in the same position as yours. As a matter of fact some schools have the student sign a contract that they would not do any outside work. Some do say that you can run a project by the director of the program and maybe they would allow it. I believe NYU does that. But the amount of time they are spending in class in conservatory programs doesn’t seem to allow them time to do outside auditioning. My daughter decided that this is the path she wanted to go, to get the serious training she is willing to forgo the work. With all the auditioning this year and travels for school auditions, her agent is already been placed on the back burner. It was a hard decision for my D but I believe and hopefully it will pan out to be a good one. Good luck!</p>
<p>UCLA tells you in their info session that absolutely no auditioning is permitted.</p>
<p>CCPA/Roosevelt’s policy is no outside auditions freshman year. For Sophomores on up, permission must be obtained BEFORE the audition. And schoolwork, rehearsals etc come first. Of course being in Chicago there are lots of opportunities for summer jobs, internships etc.</p>
<p>In the end, you are just going to have to ask each school individually what their policy is. Some have a flat rule that you can’t do outside work, period. Some will say you can, but won’t give you any time off from classes (so make sure it doesn’t interfere). Some may give you time off from classes, but I don’t think there would be too many of those.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>You will need to check the attendance policies iof the BFA programs your D is interested in. At my S’s program there is a very strict attendance policy for each class and he adheres to it. I believe a number of other BFA programs have similar policies. Some students have taken a leave of absence to participate, eg, in a national touring show, but that can involve a number of steps (eg, getting permission and a guarantee of re-admittance to the program).</p>
<p>As a current UCLA theater student I can say that you can definitely audition/work outside of the school (and MANY do), but you just can’t miss any required theater classes (for any reason at all). So as long as you work it around that it’s fine. A professor who also serves as the artistic director of a local theater cast two of our MT students as the lead in a musical at his company last spring and they rehearsed and performed on top of school commitments. Certainly not banned.</p>
<p>WOW - talk about passion! That must have been hard for the students to pull off, but if you want it, you gotta go for it, right?</p>
<p>WOW - theatrehopeful - that is the absolute opposite of what we were told during the info session, but that was five years ago, so maybe things have changed. We were given examples of notable names who were asked to leave because of auditioning even when they (and their director) promised to work around the school’s schedule. Guess they’ve loosened up a bit, good to know.</p>
<p>Theatrehopeful, At UCLA could a student book a film and take a semester off and be able to return to the program after filming?</p>
<p>Every working (or wants to work in college) actor I know goes to Pace, great program that works around your schedule and lets you audition!</p>
<p>I heard about a student at Ithaca who took a year off to go on a national tour of some sort, then returned to finish her BFA. So it happens.</p>
<p>The PACE reviews have scared us off…</p>
<p>you can find negative reviews of every school if you look enough places, nothing beats your own impression of the school from your own kids visit and talking to current students.</p>
<p>I agree m2g…since we live on the west coast I was doing to internet research before heading out…I love what you wrote in the other thread.</p>
<p>Thank you. 
at this stage, your kid should visit visit visit and hopefully do so when school is in process, and cast a wide net because acceptances are rather arbitrary and scarce when you think that some of these programs have 15 kids total in them. Check to see if the academic stats are in sink with your kid’s stats and if the program offers the type of program your kid is interested in, if the location is palatable and apply. Many applicants have a completely different orientation towards this process after visits, auditions and changed more mature perspectives of the senior year and the reality of actual acceptances.</p>
<p>And of course Pace has a pre-screen, so you should at least submit that and give the school a chance!</p>