Does anyone know anything about Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and their musical theatre program?
Marywood university in PA is also Catholic
To theatrework: It’s a good thing your D thought to ask DeSales whether it required a successful audition to get in the theatre department. Some students (or parents) might not know the difference between audition and non-audition schools (or BA vs BFA), especially early on during the college search.
I challenge anyone to find on DeSales website or in its marketing materials an explicit statement informing that your acceptance to the theatre program as a theatre major depends upon acceptance academically by the university AND a successful outcome of the “talent scholarship audition”. DeSales makes it look like the talent auditions are for scholarship money only.
Muhlenberg, on the other hand, is a non-audition school (BA theatre program also) and makes it clear on its website that anyone who is accepted academically can major in theatre and no talent audition is required; a talent audition is optional and it is for scholarship money only. Why DeSales can’t be as clear about its dual admission requirement is beyond me. Why make it harder for students and their parents to obtain this information???
@LookB4ULeap you obviously have some issues with DeSales from the looks of this post and your post on anther thread… I don’t have any stake in DeSales other then we really enjoyed our visit there & yes, my D had already inquired as to the audition aspect of the dept. She actually always brings that up first thing when we discuss schools. (She prefers audition based schools and really has little interest in non audition schools. Just her personal preference. ) I am not sure why they don’t have a clearer picture of the audition process on their website. Perhaps it is an oversight, not sure . I’m sure you could ask them why & let them know it is confusing. I do believe that the program previously was non audition and maybe that’s why it’s not clear as they never re
worded it? I could be wrong about that…
We actually visited Muhlenberg as well since we were already in the area . My D did not have interest in that school but I am sure it is a great program and the school puts a great deal of $ in the theatre dept. I believe it is the largest dept in the school actually.
If your child is interested in DeSales I wouldn’t discount them for that reason alone. It really is worth further looking into. My D is applying there I do believe this fall.
I found that during visits, DeSales goes out of its way to say they are not a BFA school…that they are a BA theatre program /liberal arts. Yet, they say, “we consider our training to be very professional and at the level of a BFA”. Maybe they’d should put in their literature, “We are not a BFA but you need to have BFA talent to be here”. I like Muhlenberg’s approach to theatre as part of the liberal arts, i.e., “if you have an interest and desire to learn about theatre, we are here to educate”. Just like they would say to a student interested in studying chemistry, or biology, or psychology, or English, or art, or history…no audition required.
Viterbo is catholic and has a great MT program.
Re: DeSales…yes, I do have an issue -> you have to ASK to find out you need to successfully audition to get in the theatre program !! This requirement should be fully explained and stated on its department website and marketing materials. They should explain that “Talent Scholarship Audition Days” serve a dual purpose; not only to award money (a tuition discount) but as a competition to gain acceptance into the theatre department as a theatre major.
Well @LookB4ULeap I guess you need to bring that up with the folks at DeSales. Sounds like if you are looking for a non audition program then muhlenberg would be a good option.
If you are recently researching MT programs, you will find most are actually audition based , whether they are BFA or BA. My D has a mix of both on her list with many BA & I think none of them are non audition, well maybe one is. There is a list at the top of the forum that lists schools & which require auditions and which don’t that o found useful.
If you’re not feeling the Desales thing just cross them off the list…we did that with muhlenberg but I know some people love that place. My D just didn’t get a good feel for it when we visited. Everyone’s different…
Marymount Manhattan was originally an all girls Catholic school but is no longer. We were just there for accepted students day this past Sat. and had this conversation with the admissions president.