<p>Hi all!</p>
<p>I'm a high school junior looking at MT summer programs for this summer and it's come down to CMU's MT program or Cherubs with the MT extension. They both look amazing and I can't decide! Can anyone give me some opinions on which would be the better program?</p>
<p>My D did Cherubs last year and was highly disappointed. Many love it but she was disappointed that so very few kids seemed to really be knowledgeable or experienced in musical theatre - her absolute passion. She also found the training to be very “old school”. Lots of “walking on the grid”, “be a tree”, etc kind of thing which she was well beyond in her own training. The program is also very strictly run with rules (she got a 3 page typed out list of rules first day) and they got punished for things like not being in their dorm room at the nightly check - which included a girl who was in the room but stuck her head out the door to see if the RA was coming to check so she could go brush her teeth! I know of 2 girls who did the CMU program and both loved it. Perhaps someone who went there can give you specifics. Cherubs prides itself on being a good program, but I think it is dated and badly needs to be updated to reflect newer and better acting training.</p>
<p>Our D never did either program, but she did MPulse at UMich and one of her friends from there did Cherubs w/ MT the following summer (he was only a rising Junior their year at MPulse) and he absolutely LOVED Cherubs and subsequently matriculated to Northwestern. He was on Broadway as a teen, so I assume he is quite knowledgeable about MT. I offer this just to point out that at least some kids have a different experience with Cherubs than @prntosome’s D did, but again I have no firsthand experience.</p>
<p>Also - I don’t think any Northwestern faculty teach at Cherubs, while I think MPulse included UMich faculty. I don’t know where the CMU program falls in this spectrum.</p>
<p>Cherubs is not a Northwestern program. It is a stand-alone private program that uses the NW campus and facilities. None of the teachers are from Northwestern and they make it clear (at the meeting after you arrive) that attending Cherubs will not help you in any way in terms of applying to Northwestern. Lots of kids love the program, though
.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! Is there anyone out there who attended both programs and could give me a comparison? Or just let me know which was a better experience?</p>
<p>MissMac-my son was a Cherub, although not in the MT portion, and simply loved it, called it “life changing,” etc. It is a very strict, exhausting program. They pretty much keep them going from 7 a.m. -10p.m. I can’t comment about the “old school” notion put forth by another poster. I don’t think my son thought it was anything other than great training. He is currently attending NU as a theatre major. If I recall correctly, a bit more than 20 students from the Cherubs program are in his class at NU.</p>
<p>Many kids from my D’s high school attend Cherubs and love it and we know several people who teach there and find it so rewarding to work with the kids. My daughter felt some pressure to apply, but felt there were several other things she wanted to do this summer.
I will say that I have seen kids perform before and after their summers at Cherubs and have seen acting skills improve noticeably, so I can say that the acting training must be worthwhile.
I do think it is a little restrictive for kids their age – I think the CMU kids have a totally different experience.</p>
<p>Can anyone give me a day-in-the-life of Cherubs and CMU?</p>