Son is a rising senior and planning to apply to a number of very hard to get into acting bfa’s and a few music programs for jazz/pop vocal as well. Affordability is a major concern, though income is likely too high to qualify for FA. At odds with the affordability need is son’s desire to be out of the house but within spitting distance of nyc or la (we’re in a suburb of nyc).
We’ve got a pretty good list of usual suspect “name” programs and he’s open to some way out locations for programs that have very high renown. But for safeties, we’re looking in or near nyc:
Current local safety list, which i think is too long:
Adelphi
Brooklyn College
Drew (BA)
LIU Post
LIU Brooklyn
Montclair State
SUNY New Paltz (BA & this is more like two hours from nyc but lower tuition and having a good music department as well could create possibilities)
Purchase is on the reach list but not looking to the BA for the safety list bc he’s not a fan of the campus being too close to home.
Would love to hear some feedback re the above list as far as reasons to cut some. Drew seems to have a lot of fans on here but also a rather high starting cost. Are they really generous enough to bring them down to near the cost of the state schools? How does Montclair compare? How do the two LIU’s compare? Post campus is further out geographically but are they more generous with aid? How do the two programs compare otherwise, etc.
A two year acting school is also a possibility if we don’t find a great college fit. Open to hearing about those and haven’t really gotten into researching that yet.
More remote schools like UMBC are worth talking about too. if they’re in cities he can bear (17 year old judgment is kinda arbitrary tbh) and could be candidates to become very affordable through scholarships (seems UMBC might be?)
Hope this isn’t too scattershot a post. Thanks again CC community!
Just want to give you my .02 on the two year acting programs: if the performing arts as a career doesn’t work out, we still wanted our daughter to have a college degree from a 4 year school to fall back on. Just our perspective and I’m sure your mileage may vary.
@cptofthehouse trying to keep things at a max of around SUNY prices, 20-30k / year with boarding if possible. even that is going to be a major challenge for us, especially with younger sibling 4 years behind.
@4gsmom we also prefer to see a four year college and agree on the risk inherent in the field. OTOH a 4 year degree isn’t necessarily granting financial stability these days either - depending on the degree. so if he’s set on this risky path (and he definitely does have talent and drive), we’re trying to prioritize lack of debt for him as an outcome.
My son goes to Brooklyn College. Very affordable, but two things to consider: 1) the first year is all academics; the acting program is a 3-year program that starts in the second year. 2) It’s mainly a commuter school - they have one or two dorms, but there isn’t really a “campus life” if that’s what you’re looking for.
LIU Post was very generous with merit aid last year. My d was accepted into the MT program, and the total cost for everything (tuition, room and board) would have been around $10,000. We had other friends who also got excellent merit packages.
My D didn’t apply to any of those but I don’t think Montclair belongs on a safety list? Maybe it’s just the MT program but my impression was they are more selective. LIU-Post has been very generous with aid the last couple of cycles. Definitely not in the safety category but I had to mention that Pace provides fantastic financial aid if the applicant’s grades and scores are high.
@actorparent1 thanks, that’s a very helpful reminder. how has your son’s experience with it been so far?
@MTdreamin great to know! from searching old threads, it seems they might be more generous than liu brooklyn. it’s kind of strange that there’s an entirely separate performing arts school on each liu campus. where did your d end up going?
@CaMom13 oh, good point. i didn’t realize how selective montclair is. i think when i first threw them in the mix, i was viewing them as a financial safety with potential in-state tuition for OOS students. also, i appreciate your comment re Pace - it’s on our other list!
Unless your son has high stats I wouldn’t consider New Paltz a safety. Even then, any kind of performing arts major is likely to be more competitive than the SAT/GPA ranges imply. The 2018-19 CDS reports that NP received 15,000 applications. Their freshman class that year was ~1140 students. When we were looking at colleges a couple years ago their website said they get more apps than any other SUNY. I suspect they get a lot of apps because of their proximity to the City.
The freshman class size is misleading, through - over 6000 applicants were accepted to SUNY New Palz out of those 15k applicants. They have a 41% acceptance rate so they don’t meet the 50% requirement for an academic safety but close enough that an applicant with good scores and grades could feel confident in their chances. New Palz Theatre only interviews / auditions students after admission and they admit current students from other departments to the major so I would totally leave it as a “soft landing” safety for an ambitious actor. If audition season goes badly it’s great to have an academic admit where you can prove yourself.
LIU Brooklyn is starting a new program this year, in association with The New Group. It seems to be an audition program as well, but looks like it will be quite separate and different from the one at LIU Post.
The acceptance rate for men was 36% last year. That’s down 4% from the previous year. I have friends who live near there and I made some inquiries for one of my siblings’ kids who’s interested in the theater. They said nobody who lives in the area considers New Paltz a safety anymore.
@arkham My d is going to Western Connecticut for MT. We are leaving tonight to drop her off: she is very excited! West Conn offers in state tuition to students from NY and NJ as well as those from Connecticut. It is an audition program, not a safety.
What are his prospects and chances of getting into schools in general, academically? Many schools have non audition theater departments and music departments that offer great opportunities to students. I know many actors and musicians who did not go to audition programs, didn’t even major in the arts. They say that they got far more opportunities at their schools than they might have at schools with directed audition programs. My friend’s daughter went to University of Rhode Island and had a wonderful theater and music experience. She ended up going later for a MFA at Case Western which was funded.
Hofstra is a great school for theater; lots of merit money for the right academic stats. One doesn’t have to go to BFA programs to get the training and experience
Thanks everyone. I’ve been doing some lumping of academic and admissions safeties together here.
I wonder what the new LIU Brooklyn program will be like and if they’re going to have a similar approach to aid as LIU Post.
@cptofthehouse academics are ok but not exceptional. 3.0 average cumulative but 3.7 junior year. He missed a lot of 7th & 8th grade and part of 9th due to severe health issues. excels in perf arts, pretty decent in humanities, struggles in math and science. he’s about to retake SAT but 1140 the first time and probably will do better after tutoring the past few weeks. Guessing 1200s? agreed that BA is a very legit option and that undergrad school doesn’t make or break a future. but a conservatory program seems to be a more likely match for him. he’s itching to throw himself into the arts and work on building a career of it.
@arkham Brooklyn College and Montclair are definitely not safeties. None of the auditioned programs are as they get a lot of candidates. Brooklyn college definitely prefers local area students though (both academically and BFA, two separate acceptances), they only have about 20 spots or so (per conversation with the new dept head earlier this year). Montclair is easy to get in academically but hard for BFA (again few spots, many candidates).
LIU Brooklyn’s program is brand new this year, D was accepted, so cannot say how it will shape up competitively in the coming years.