I was recently admitted into University of Cincinnati’s CCM drama program for their Acting BFA, Point Park’s drama program for their Acting BFA, and Marymount Manhattan’s drama program for their’s as well. While I’m still waiting for a few responses left, these are looking like my three best options. I’ve been to all three schools, and as of now I’m kind of leaning toward CCM. They’re all good drama programs, but just from straight up objective point of view, which one is the best drama program for Acting?
My daughter attended MMC last fall in the BFA Acting program with an MT minor, and just days into the semester she realized it was not the right fit for her, and she has reapplied to transfer elsewhere. For my D, the acting program was just too large and didn’t have enough community, and the training wasn’t intense enough for her. The urban campus, with no real center or community, combined with the large number of theatre majors to make her feel very isolated. Having said that, she knows others who were happy, but the experience made her realize she wanted a more authentic college experience. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
I think @tarheelMTMa is referring to MMC’s BA with MT minor program. MMC’s BFA Acting program doesn’t have an MT minor and is a strong program. And no offense, but quitting after a few days in any program wouldn’t give a good measure of it’s value. I’m glad she found a program that fits her better though. NYC isn’t for everyone. Point Park is great as well. CCM is know more for MT but I’m sure the acting program is right up there. It also depends where you want to be and if you want to start making connections during or after college. Obviously, being in NY will give you more access to the industry and more chances to intern etc. MMC has more alumni on broadway, film and television than the other 2 put together but that doesn’t equal getting the best training. I think sitting in on classes could help you make a solid decision. Best of luck!!!
@samigaga, when you audition for MMC, you can audition for BFA Acting alone, BFA Acting with MT minor, BA Acting alone, or BA Acting with MT minor. The MT minor is most commonly paired with the BA Acting, but it IS possible to pair it with the BFA Acting as well (although it’s more difficult because the BFA Acting has more credits than the BA, so it takes some juggling to fit everything in along with the academic “core” credits).
There is one student that was allowed to pursue the MT minor after 2 years in the Acting program but it is not true that you can audition for a BFA Acting with an MT minor. It would have been a BA with an MT minor as an incoming freshman. They don’t allow entering freshman to combine the BFA with an MT minor. They can however combine an Arts Management or a few other minors.
Oh and the BA is considered Theater Arts (Theater Performance) not Acting. It does include 42 credit hours of acting with other theater related courses but it is designed to compliment the other minors, specifically MT, or for people who are double majoring in other areas. Let me know if I can clear anything else up for you lol.
From the MMC website “Frequently Asked Questions”:
“CAN I BE A MUSICAL THEATRE MINOR WITH A NON-THEATRE MAJOR?
The Minor is designed to specifically compliment either the BA in Theatre Performance or the BFA in Acting. You may not combine it with any other major.”
That means the MT minor can be combined with EITHER the BA Acting OR the BFA Acting.
Also from the MMC website: “REQUIREMENTS FOR MUSICAL THEATRE – This program is open to Theatre Arts and Acting majors by audition.” Again, Theatre Arts Majors OR Acting majors.
I emailed the MMC Theater Arts department last year to ask this very question, and they emailed back:
“The BFA in Acting program with the MT minor is very possible and doable as long as the student is willing to work hard and possibly take a few extra courses either during the fall and spring semester or even over the winter and summer sessions.”
They said that the reason they recommend the BA with MT is that the BFA has more required credits, so it can be difficult to fit in all the BFA classes, MT classes, and academic requirements. However, they told me that it IS possible, it IS permitted, and some students DO go that route.
So if you have some inside information that they’ve CHANGED the rules and no longer allow it, please share.
I neither work or attend there. We attended and information session at my daughters audition on Saturday and the information is from Kevin Connell, Assistant Chair of Theatre Arts,who said they advise against it and will only allow it in special circumstances and not for incoming freshman. My daughter is interested in a BFA in Acting and we asked because she was auditioning for MT. He did say the BFA would pair well with Arts Management but not MT due to scheduling conflicts. They emphasized that the BA is actually more credits when combined with the MT minor and is they best option for people who want both. If they were to make it a BFA they would have to take away some of the performance classes, so they actually get more theater training in the BA. I forgot the actual amount of credits that were mentioned but that is what they said. You should call the dept. head. I don’t want to give you bad information, this is just what they told us. Maybe it would be different for you.
I heard essentially the same this as @samigaga at my daughter’s audition this past Saturday. Although there was an upper classman on stage who was a BFA Acting student with a MT Minor, it was an exception and the student himself emphasized that it was an extremely difficult combination to manage and that he does not recommend it.
While listening to the info session, I was surprised to realize that the Theater Arts BA program at MMC is apparently very strong even for aspiring actors, relative to Theater BA’s at other schools that also have BFA Acting programs. While I have the general impression that BA programs where there are also BFA programs are typically geared more toward students who have an interest in a Theater career OTHER than acting on stage, I now believe that it is not at all the case at MMC, especially when there is also an interest in Musical Theater.
“Typically paired with the BA in Theatre Arts major, with a concentration in Theatre Performance, the Musical Theatre program prepares students for professional careers as “Triple Threat” Actor-Singer-Dancers.”
@samigaga and @LuvsLabs, thanks for sharing that you got this information from the info session at the audition. It sounds like they have changed the rules from previous years, which is very upsetting to me. As I said, I specifically emailed MMC last year to clarify this issue, and at that time, they assured me that it WAS possible to combine BFA Acting with the MT Minor.
So based on what you two have related, I have emailed MMC again to ask for clarification, but they have not responded yet.
The BFA Acting at MMC has far fewer required credits than at most other colleges. MMC only has 60 required credits for BFA Acting (and only 42 for the BA Theatre Arts), while other schools have 90 or more. (For example, SUNY Purchase has 115 credits in its BFA Acting major. The Hartt School has 137 credits in its BFA Acting major.) So it’s already a less-rigorous program than many others. (On the MMC website, they say that they deliberately limit the number of required credits so students can take electives and explore other interests.)
In my daughter’s opinion, the low number of credits in BFA Acting makes it less attractive than some other BFA Acting programs. However, the possibility of COMBINING that BFA with an MT Minor that includes Daily Dance WAS a big advantage and made it more attractive to her. So if that CAN’T be done, it’s definitely dropping down on her list.
Thank you again for clarifying where you heard the information. If they do reply to my email, I will post what they say.
"For the incoming students, they either go with the BFA in Acting or the BA Theatre Performance and Musical Theatre. The BFA in Acting is a 60 credit major. All students at Marymount have to take 42 Liberal Arts credits. For students doing BA Theatre Performance with Musical Theatre, they have 42 credits for the BA Theatre Performanc plus 24 credits in Musical Theatre. That makes a total of 66 credits which is even more than the BFA.
Here at Marymount we have an MT program, not a minor. Our minors are at the 18 credit mark whereas the MT program is 24. For students to pair the BFA in Acting with the Musical Theatre would be very hard to fit into their schedule and it is very hard to get that many credits with in the four years.
We do have students between their Sophmore and Junior that choose to either add Musical Theatre or add the BFA. Up until that point the Acting classes aren’t too different in what they are teaching, but in Junior and Senior year BFA students do more classical theatre training. The addition of BFA or MT is for very serious students who probably came into Marymount with additional credits from Advance Placement classes or similar courses."
So you were right: it seems that you can only choose to do both AFTER sophomore year - which is different from what they told me last year.
Hi! OP Here. I think the conversation in this thread is an important one, but in case anyone was wondering, I ended up choosing CCM. This post was made almost a year ago and if anyone would like more info on CCM Acting, their program, why I picked it, and how it’s going please let me know! I’d be more than happy to share.
@Act1ngBFA I would love to hear about CCM acting. We generally only hear about MT there. Please share! How many kids per year attend? What is a typical day like? Thanks
@bfahopeful Hi there! First off: I love it here. I’m extremely glad I made the decision I did and can’t wait for the rest of my time here!
Size: There are about 45 students in the entire acting department (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior), and 15 students in my class. CCM is a retention program, not a cut program. This means that if you are not coming to class, not passing your classes, showing up under the influence, or have other issues, you can be asked to leave. However, the program itself does not have a goal of cutting any students, so, the number of kids in my class may change but it is not set in stone.
Schedule: A typical mon/wed/friday for this semester looks like: 10:10am-12:10pm Acting, 12:20pm-1:15pm Script Analysis, 2:30pm-3:30pm History of Theatre, 3:35pm-4:30pm Voice, and 6:00pm-7:00pm E-Media. Voice is only on Fridays for the Monday/Wednesday schedule, but we have it tues/thurdays as well, and a 3 hour movement class on Thursdays. This semester I also take a psychology elective. Last semester, we were required to take a technical theatre class, along with shop hours and two crew assignments.
You can’t be in shows in your freshman year, but you can be cast starting in your sophomore year, and you can do student-directed lab shows in your freshman year if you want to.
We also have a required 48-hour film festival first semester, and a new student works festival (called transmigration) second semester.
That’s a quick overview of CCM Acting!! I know it doesn’t answer everything (but is still kind of long), but it hits some of the highlights the program has to offer (along with an amazing faculty and opportunities!).
Thanks for sharing, @Act1ngBFA - it sounds like a great program, and one that my own daughter would probably have loved! I didn’t know what CCM was, so after reading your post, I googled it and was impressed. (It’s too late for this year, but if my daughter ends up taking a gap year with an eye toward reapplying for next year, I’ll definitely bring it to her attention.)
I think students/families who are reading these boards for future applicants would benefit from reading the auditioning tips from the CCM website. I think the list of plays they prefer you not choose a monologue from is very helpful since I suspect most schools would also prefer not to have those same plays.