<p>Can someone please answer the following question:</p>
<p>Which BFA programs on the East Coast (from Washington, D.C. north) are considered "conservatories" or "conservatory-style" programs?</p>
<p>Tisch is conservatory style training within a large university.</p>
<p>The degree usually indicates the kind of program. Conservatories mostly award a BFA. </p>
<p>Here is an no-doubt incomplete list:
NYU
Julliard
Marymount Manhattan
SUNY Purchase
Carnegie Mellon
Boston University
Emerson
De Paul
NCSA
UArts
Point Park
CCM</p>
<p>I would add USC to that list and Northwestern. NC of the arts is also good too.</p>
<p>alwaysamom and theater mom -- thanks. Does a BFA automatically = conservatory? It seems like BFAs differ from school to school as far as the # of credits within the major they require, etc. My son has it in his head that he wants to attend a conservatory...</p>
<p>early_college -- thanks, but I was looking for East Coast schools north of Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>BFA doesn't equal conservatory. Conservatories mostly offer BFAs, but BFAs are also offered by non-conservatories. The conservatory programs generally have few, if any, general education requirements. BFAs that are offered by non-conservatories often have the same or similar general education requirements as other majors within the college. Even that, however, varies by the school.</p>
<p>I thought the OP wanted conservatory or conservatory style programs on the EAST COAST! That would leave out DePaul, USC and, well, all of 'em that are not on the East Coast. :)</p>
<p>I don’t know of any exceptions to the BFA = conservatory rule. Conservatory means art school so they offer art degrees. This means a school or department within a large university OR a small arts college. They can both be referred to as conservatories. This includes all of the schools on my list. </p>
<p>Sorry about De Paul, NCSA, and CCM. They are east for me (in California) but not for your purposes. Do you consider PA east coast? If not, drop Carnegie Mellon, UArts and Point Park. </p>
<p>BFAs do differ enormously. The number of general ed credits required in the programs I’ve listed ranges from 12% to around 50%. I haven't encountered any without general ed requirements but I looked only at college programs.</p>
<p>CMU requires only 1 and 1/2 non-major courses and the 1/2 credit is how to use the college's computer system.</p>
<p>As a New Jersey resident who lives right across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, I can say that folks around here consider the eastern part of Pennsylvania to be "East Coast" (thus UArts would be East Coast).....but the western part "not East Coast."</p>
<p>Thus schools in the Pittsburgh area, which is about an 8-hour drive away from Philadelphia, aren't East Coast schools from our perspective. :-)</p>
<p>Oh I'm sorry, lol. Yale has a good program, and that's something you may want to look into more for graduate school.</p>
<p>WellmeaningDad- I think the question we need answered from you is what you consider a conservatory. My D did not want to spend the majority of her time in college taking general education courses. She graduated HS with an IB diploma so she felt she had a strong foundation in collegiate level general ed. We discovered that a conservatory "conserves" the students' studies to a specific course focus. She's an MT so almost all of her courseload focuses on MT (dance, muscianship, script analysis, movement, acting, dialectical training, etc.). My D wanted to have college be an opportunity to focus on honing her skills for her career, which is hopefully MT. Some schools feel like a conservatory yet require equal or close to equal credits in gen. ed. as they do the major. You can look at the major's required courses and credits. If, as someone previously said, you find equal distribution of credits between GE and major courses than you probably don't have what most would consider a conservatory. These are just my and my D's experience. Hope it helps.</p>
<p>SEATA - the reason for my original post is because I don't know the answer to your question...</p>
<p>What is a conservatory or a conservatory-style BFA Theatre program?</p>
<p>East Coast for the purposes of this post are schools located in or near the following cities: Boston, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>The following schools offer BFA Theatre/Acting degrees but have not been mentioned so far: Boston Conservatory, University of Hartford/Hartt, Pace, Adelphi, Hofstra, Kean, Montclair State, Rutgers/Mason Gross, and Arcadia</p>
<p>I would also be interested to know which BA programs in the vicinity of the cities listed above might be considered as backups in case my son doesn't make it into a BFA program. </p>
<p>Thanks for your insights.</p>
<p>Oops -- in my previous post I listed some schools hoping to find out where they fall on the conservatory/conservatory-style scale. Thanks.</p>
<p>I understand your dilemma. Last year, when my D was going through the process of auditioning and selecting the right school for her, we researched many programs. I can only speak to two of the colleges you mentioned, but hopefully I can add one to you list. Both Boston Conservatory and HARTT (in Hartford, Conn.) are conservatory programs. I might also suggest Emerson, which from what I understand is also a conservatory. Hope this helps a little.</p>
<p>Montclair State, in NJ near New York City, has an increasingly well regarded BFA program, but it is not a conservatory type program. There are pretty extensive general education requirements. </p>
<p>Rutgers/Mason Gross, a little farther away from NYC, is a pure conservatory with an excellent reputation. Admission is highly competitive. There are negligible academic requirements outside the BFA curriculum. Acting instruction focuses on the Meisner technique.</p>
<p>NJTheatreMom -- thanks (now I have look up acting techniques - Meisner). Why do I get the feeling that I've entered a strange new world? </p>
<p>Since you're a NJTheatreMom, what can you tell me about Drew, Fairleigh Dickinson, Ramapo and Rider?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi WellMeaningDad, I wish I could tell you something about the four colleges you mentioned...but I must admit that I really know nothing about them! NJ is a small state, but in a way it is more like a big state because it is crammed with people. (We have the densest population in the nation.) Plus, South Jersey people like me are Philadelphia oriented, and North Jersey people are New York oriented. </p>
<p>My son has "theatre kid" friends who have applied to somewhat less competitive programs than he....ALL at out-of-state places like Adelphi, Muhlenberg, Marymount, Pace, etc. </p>
<p>I did see Drew mentioned in this forum once, so I visited their website. I got the impression that it is a bit "lightweight" for theatre. (I believe I concluded this based on the course listings for the program.) No offense to anybody!</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that, regarding Montclair, my son heard positive comments about it from students at the über-exalted Purchase College :-) when we were there for his audition. One Purchase freshman who had been admitted from the waiting list said that he would have applied to Montclair if he had known about it when he was deciding where to apply. </p>
<p>My son has Theatre BFA friends at Montclair who love it, although the most talented of them, a young lady interested in directing, has confided that she feels it is "not rigorous enough." In my son's and my opinion, the Montclair campus is quite attractive and appealing, especially when compared to the Rutgers campus.</p>
<p>Ha, the Meisner technique.....my son and I have tried to research it ourselves, partly because Meisner is one of the NYU/Tisch studios. (Before my DS's Tisch audition, we were trying to learn all about the various studios.) I'll tell you what little we have learned. Maybe others here can chime in and correct me.</p>
<p>As I understand it, Meisner is one of the techniques that is not "method"...i.e., it does NOT involve reaching inside yourself to tap your own emotions in order to interpret the character you're playing. Instead, you learn to respond to the other actors you are working with, in a way that is somewhat improvisational. There is a lot of self discovery involved in this, but in a different way from Method acting because it is more collaborative. If that makes sense, lol. (Atlantic Studio at Tisch teaches a technique that is somewhat similar, but more script based.)</p>
<p>Anecdotally, somebody on this forum remarked that Meisner training is very highly thought of by theatre professionals in New York these days. I tucked that tidbit away in my mind to see if it would be corroborated anywhere. One of the Purchase kids we talked to was of the opinion that Meisner is the best of the Tisch studios (Tisch parents, please don't get mad at me.....I'm just passing along an interesting bit of hearsay).</p>
<p>On the flip side, most BFA acting programs employ more of a "toolbox" approach. That is, they expose the students to a variety of acting techniques so that they can pick and choose among them, according to what works best for them. </p>
<p>Welcome WellMeaningDad, to this strange new world. :-) Please share what you learn. It will help others. Plus, if my son by any chance doesn't get in anywhere he auditioned, he may find himself researching some additional places to apply after a gap year!!</p>
<p>NJTheatreMOM -- thanks for the info about Montclair State and Rutgers as well as the Meisner technique, etc.</p>
<p>Since you're in Southern Jersey, are you perhaps familiar with any of the Philly area programs (e.g. Temple, UArts, Arcadia, etc.)?</p>
<p>Does anyone know how the UArts kids eat since it doesn't appear that they have dining halls? My kid won't turn 18 until the end of October in his freshman year and he doesn't exactly fend for himself at home (if you know what I mean...). I can't see him preparing meals for himself, so am I looking at an outrageous board cost if he goes here?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I have a friend in the meisner studio at nyu. It is the only studio I would recommend other than CAP 21. There are just so many people in Tisch. </p>
<p>Meisner technique is a method of acting developed by Sandy Meisner. I suggest that anyone considering Rutgers or NYU's meisner studio reads "Sandy Meisner On Acting" before making any decisions. It is a method that does not work for everyone. I personally enjoy the exercises. And I love Sandy for defining acting as "living truthfully under imaginary circumstances."</p>