<p>Totally agree with MichaelNKat’s post – sometimes the link is purely historical. The main reason I would see as identifying a school’s affiliation would be that at a few schools, there may be some scholarships or grant money based on a student’s membership in a particular denomination, or for children of clergy of that denomination.</p>
<p>Upon looking at the curriculum and general further investigation - and in light of the fact that D already has one acceptance at a school that is in fact known for having a nice program, and is still less expensive than Tex Wes (being a public school) I’m taking it off the list. Daughter is relieved to know she’ll be missing one less day of school. </p>
<p>I had put in on the list way back last summer and it hadn’t occurred to me to compare it to her list of acceptances, it just slipped my mind. What we have been doing is, any schools that we know for certain aren’t compellingly either better or as good but cheaper than the schools that she knows she can attend, we have been weeding out so as to save the time, energy and resources towards trying to get into the harder ones on her list.</p>
<p>Once more CC MT thread saves us from a headache. I think if we lived in the area it would be worth a look, but as D is missing a few days already this spring and as it really stresses her out to miss school, I think we will follow musicmom1215 advice.</p>
<p>Still gonna see Nebraska Wes though; they were one of D’s callbacks at NTDA and I did think their program sounded pretty exciting. And come to think of it I don’t remember seeing TexWes there, though maybe they were and I don’t remember.</p>
<p>As far as the Christian aspect, I agree it’s an important distinction. It took about 30 seconds on the Abilene Christian’s website for my D to realize it was not the scene for her, and though she has several friends attending Ouachita Baptist, which is supposed to have a great theater program and is overall a fantastic school, it was also not her scene. But some kids are looking for exactly that environment, even if she’s not. She does, however, really dig the spiritual but somewhat more liberal vibe at St. Ed’s and TCU. (comparatively that is. Neither is going to be exactly Oberlin; Oberlin would have totally been number one on her list if they’d had an actual MT program. lol.)</p>
<p>Was this the “Big List” you were referring to? If not, the Christian Schools forum might be helpful. That where this link is.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/christian-colleges/876276-2010-updated-christian-college-university-list.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/christian-colleges/876276-2010-updated-christian-college-university-list.html</a></p>
<p>Ooops! Just noticed this was an '07 thread!</p>
<p>~ it occurs to me, on the question of affliated in history only vs fairly steeped in the faith on a day to day level, that all of the religiously affiliated schools we have visited so far, have had both an on campus chapel with services every week, AND had no classes scheduled during those times. This would include Oklahoma City University, Southwestern University, and St. Edwards University. We did visit TCU but got a tour from a good natured enthusiastic drama student, not a trained tour guide student, and she didn’t mention the chapel or services so I can’t say what they do. I bet someone here knows.</p>
<p>Anyway, of those three I mention, IIRC they also all did have a requirement of one religion course, but they had a lot of offerings that would not be in the least bit proslytizing, such as comparative religions, or, in the case of St Ed’s, one on the writings of CS Lewis.</p>
<p>So I’d say those were a bit more than just a history of affiliation, but less than you would find at Ouachita or Abilene. 
I have found that the schools are extremely informative and transparent about exactly how much Christianity is involved: I imagine they know that getting someone who had vastly different expectations about something like that is not at all conducive to a “good fit” between student and school!</p>
<p>My limited experience would suggest that you will find people of various religious affiliations at most of these schools. I think most of the church affiliated schools value and support diversity. I believe that a student can find people of like minds at most any university, whether public or private.</p>
<p>Elon is affiliated with the United Church of Christ, and I believe did require religion classes as part of their core (I can’t remember details). I believe someone told me that Catholic students were the single largest population of religious affiliation on campus. I know they also offer services for Jewish students at Elon.</p>
<p>I went to TCU many years ago, and at that time, 2 Bible courses were required as part of the core. TCU is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ denomination. I felt very welcome there as a United Methodist.</p>
<p>We’ve known several successful MT or music graduates from Ouachita Baptist University, which is located about an hour or so from my home. I believe they probably offer one of the best music training programs in the state of Arkansas. I have heard, though, that the MT students are not allowed to take dance classes (because their Baptist heritage does not support dancing). Therefore, the MT students who want to dance have to go over to Henderson State University, a public university in the same town, to take dance. This could potentially hinder one’s MT career, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Belmont University is a student-centered Christian community providing an academically challenging education that empowers men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.</p>
<p>As has been mentioned, different people have different views on what a Christian college is. Most historically church affiliated schools no longer have Christian worldviews or they have non-Biblical Christian worldviews. That being said, they still draw Christian students which can be a plus from a social perspective. In looking for a MT program, I would look for a couple of things. First, what types of shows do they do? Are they appropriate from a Christian worldview? If they do some that aren’t…would they let your child opt out of those shows? Some schools I have found that do shows that are appropriate from a Christian worldview include Ouchita and Belmont. We did not consider Liberty University but it seems to also fit here although I can’t tell whether their program is a musical theatre program or a theatre program that does some MT. There are non-Christian schools that embrace the diversity a Christian brings and will work with that student allowing them to opt out of shows the student is uncomfortable with. There are also some schools that find it offensive for a student to suggest that possibility. So ask ahead of time if you don’t want to be in the wrong place for you.</p>
<p>St. Ed’s does have an MT concentration; they call it a Specialization in MT Performance. Theater kids can go general or pick from 1/5 areas, one of which is MT Performance. They are well known locally for their MT shows.</p>
<p>OKCU felt very religious (Evangelical Christian) on our tour–and includes things like weekly (or bi-weekly) dorm room checks for drugs, alcohol, “hygiene,” and “morality.” This is according to our tour guide who, incidentally, was a transfer student from Ouachita Baptist. OKCU seems like it would be a perfect fit for some people and rough for others; it definitely does not have a generic big university feel. They are very well known for the high number of pageant winners they have (as well as the oft-cited facts on CC that Kristin Chenoweth went there and I forget, Paige O’Hara? Kelly something?) so if you are into pageants OKCU would be a great place to pursue that.</p>
<p>Kelli O’Hara. And quite wonderful.</p>