I have questions about several schools my daughter applied to. She got into Montclair academically, but not into the BFA MT program. The admission suggested changing the major to the BA Theatre Studies and re audition next year. She received a Merit Scholarship from the school and a letter from Clay James. Which he also state that she could re audition for the program.
She was also accepted at UARTS to there BFA MT program and to Molloy College to their BFA MT program. She really wants to attend Montclair but I don’t want to waist time and money if she did attend and then audition and not get in.
I have read other comments and was just curious, if your child was in my child’s shoes what would he or she do.
I don’t know anything about these particular programs. But to me the questions to ask would be could your D be happy getting a BA in Theater Studies at Montclair if she did not get into the BFA program? And what opportunities exist for BA students to be involved in shows etc.?
You might want to post this in the MT forum.
I am new to this how do I post this to the MT forum?
To happy 1: This is a discussion we are having now. I do believe she could get more out of a BA degree in Theatre Studies. We are still researching this. We were just trying to get opinions from others and or to see if someone else has had any experience with this.
Moving to MT Forum
Since it’s unsafe to assume you will get in the following year, you need to weigh the desire of going to school at Montclair vs getting a BFA.
For some the BFA is all they want and they’d turn down any vanilla BA theatre studies sort of thing. This is why people audition for around 10 schools and sometimes more. Others feel more strongly toward a specific school and don’t necessity care about getting an exact degree. Both situations are wonderful, it just comes down to assessing what is most important to you. Easier said than done.
Anyway, from what I’ve read Montclair’s BA program has a lot of opportunities and is still close to NYC, the BA program is one of my back ups if I don’t get into their BFA or any other school’s auditioned program.
My D knew early on that she wanted a BFA program, and that she didn’t want to go to a program in hopes of auditioning and getting in during or after the first or second year. So, for her, the decision would be to go to a BFA program or, if she didn’t get into any she wanted (which we tried to prevent by carefully crafting her list, although the audition season really showed her ones she wanted more than others), to go to NY and train, maybe to audition again the following year, but maybe not.
It is such a personal choice! D’s choice does not mean that going to a BA in hopes of a later admittance is wrong; it was just her personal decision. I do advise you to see how the opportunities (classes, productions, casting, faculty, lessons, showcases, master classes, etc.) differ between Montclair’s BA and BFA, and what attitudes seem to be in place there between the programs (both students and faculty).
If you are really interested in getting a BFA, you should think hard about entering a BA program at the same school where you are hoping to enter through a re-audition the next year. There may be little in a BA program that would help prepare you for your re-audition, and, if your re-audition is not successful, it is important to consider if you will you be happy completing the BA program at that school.
There are normally considerable differences between BFA and BA programs at the same school:
- BA Theatre Studies programs normally feature mostly courses in History of the Theatre, Theatre Design and Production, Playwrighting, etc. vs. the performance-related courses in a BFA curriculum: Acting, Musical Theatre, Private Voice, Dance, etc.
- BA students may not be able to take performance-related courses in Acting and Musical Theatre that BFA majors take, or they be limited to only taking the first level of these courses. For example at Montclair, the Acting I course included in the BA curriculum is described as "Basic introduction to acting for the non-major."
- At some/many programs, there may be limits or exclusions on the courses that BA students can take in Dance and Music.
- BA students may not be cast frequently and in some cases, may not be able to audition for some or all of the Theatre Department productions (I believe at Montclair non-BFA's can audition for all shows - the question would be "what are the odds of being cast for non-majors?").
to add to the list:
–BA students may not get the same voice teachers as BFAs, they may not get priority scheduling for those lessons (meaning they could get shut out), they may have an extra charge for the lessons. They also may not receive the additional vocal coaching (which is separate from the lessons) that BFAs do.
–they may not be included in weekly or bi-weekly repertory/whole group sessions/whatever a program calls it that most BFA programs have.
I think ParachuteBoy had the best answer, that it is a really personal decision based on what you are looking for. Many students actually prefer a BA because they want the opportunity to delve into more non-performing aspects of the business as well as other interests. I don’t know much about the BA program at Montclair (my daughter is BFA MT), but I will tell you that non-BFA’s are cast in the musicals occasionally. What other opportunities they have, I don’t know. I also don’t know how often they are cast in straight plays. But I have not heard of kids moving into the BFA program from the BA program. Not that it couldn’t happen or hasn’t happened or that a new pathway isn’t being created, I just haven’t heard of it. If your daughter really wants a BFA and knows that for sure, I wouldn’t risk it.
Just a quick side note for those new to the forum. Many of the above general comments about BA versus BFA, while well-intentioned and true in some cases (maybe true for Montclair), do not apply equally to all programs. Some BAs actually allow for as much as or even more performance training and stage time than some BFAs. It is important to carefully study curriculum, flexibility and transfer credit (eg for AP courses, etc.) for individual programs rather than relying on blanket generalizations. Our D and many other professional MT performers I know had a list including both BFAs and BAs but in our D’s case three BAs were higher on the list than any BFAs.
Now back to the Montclair discussion…
I think the difference here if I am reading correctly, is that the BA being offered in this case is in Theater Studies which is different than BA in MT or BA in Theater.
@MomCares is certainly correct that there are many BAs which offer phenomenal performance training. But there is sometimes a question within programs that offer both a BA and BFA as to whether the BA kids have same opportunities. I have no idea how things work at Montclair.
As everyone said above, it’s a personal decision, no right or wrong answer. But personally, speaking only for myself, i feel that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. She has two excellent BFA MT offers, so if she wants a BFA, and doesn’t have a major reason to dislike the two other schools (other than that they’re not Montclair), I’d choose one of them, rather than taking the BA in Theater Studies at Montclair and risk possibly not getting into the BFA later.
But that’s just me. As others have said, if she loves Montclair so much that she’d still be happy there even if she DIDN’T get into the BFA program, then Montclair would be the answer.
Not to mention that there is probably no in state tuition waiver for anything other than a BFA at Montclair.
@Momcares - to clarify my comments in post #9 were specifically directed at BA Theatre Studies programs in schools that also offers a BFA in MT, such as Montclair, which was the question posed by the OP.
A BA in MT program would be a completely different subject and my comments would not apply.
I got that distinction @EmsDad, and as always your post was very helpful, but I wanted to be sure the comments of you and several others weren’t understood by any newer readers to be generalized distinctions between BAs and BFAs lest that cause anyone to overlook programs that might be ideal for them.