@Act1ngBFA Thanks for sharing your experience so far at CCM. D has a few admissions to choose from at this point (pending financial aid) and a few we are still waiting on. She was thrilled to be admitted to CCM Acting and it is her top choice at the moment. How did you ultimately decide between your schools? Can you shed any light on the financial aid/scholarship options at CCM? Also, what about safety around campus? Some of the nearby neighborhoods look a bit sketchy. Thank you!
@momto2artists Hi there! So Sorry for the late reply. I ultimately chose between my schools because of financial reasons, after-graduation outlooks, curriculum, and gut feelings.
CCM, unfortunately, doesn’t have a huge amount of financial aid, but there is some. I have two talent scholarships totaling in $4,000 per year, but no academic scholarships (my SAT scores weren’t great). However, UC does offer a scholarship called the Cincinnatus scholarship that I know awards students money based off of academic achievements. I have many friends who have this scholarship. I also have friends who have a CCM scholarship, the Cincinnatus scholarship, and a Pell Grant altogether. So, there are many scholarship options overall, and the CCM faculty is always encouraging the students to be applying and seeking more. (There is also an option of trying to get in-state tuition through not listing your daughter as a dependent, her getting a job and establishing credit and residency, and obtaining all the official Ohio documents. I am currently in the process of doing that this summer, and will hopefully have at least 2 years of in-state tuition, reducing tuition costs by a considerable amount.)
The safety around campus is actually relatively safe. It looks sketchy, but that has mostly to do with the age of the neighborhood (UC was established in 1819!). The people who live surrounding the campus are students, and that can be found at most universities. That being said, it is not any safer than any other school. I wouldn’t advise her or anyone else to go walking around at night here alone (or anywhere else, for that matter). That being said, I do think that how close everything is (housing to campus, and to the many, many restaurants and other vendors in the neighborhood, Clifton, that is closest to CCM), does make things a tad safer. She won’t have to walk very far to get to where she needs to or to get the things she needs.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have nay more questions. (I’ll try to reply faster next time haha)
Back to the original question, both MMC and CCM (apart from being oposite acronyms 
) have strong acting programs. One need only look at the lists of alumni from each to realize that, so I don’t think you could go wrong from a training perspective.
I would base the decision on “fit.” If you are leaning towards CCM, I will bet there is something that just feels better about it, and that kind of gut instinct is important. My daughter came down to MMC versus Pace, and her decision points were about the overall feel of the place (one building versus several spread across a neighborhood), the residence hall situation (MMC’s freshman dorm isn’t too far away, but the Cooper Square building is a goodly distance from campus), the quality of the academics (she specifically wanted a liberal arts performance degree, and academic standards were important to her), and so on.
I don’t think you would go wrong either way.