<p>If I can throw in my 2 cents for what its worth, as I have previously mentioned, my daughter attended UArt's summer MT program for high school students. Though not at the level of a dance major, my daughter has a pretty solid foundation in ballet, pointe, jazz and hip-hop. (She characterizes herself as a singer who can dance as opposed to a dancer who can sing.) She found the level of dance instruction she received at UArts to be demanding in a very supportive atmosphere. (Sheerviolette hits the nail on the head when she speaks of "nurturing". It seems to be one of the mainstays of the educational values that infuses this school.) My daughter tells us that there was a lot of emphasis on ballet technique and body positioning as the foundation for everything else. Her dance instructor was and still is part of the regular dance faculty for the MT program and according to my daughter really knows her stuff and how to teach it. My wife, who had many years of formal ballet training prior to college, felt that our daughter noticably grew as a dancer during her 4 weeks in the summer program. While I certainly can't speak with the same depth of knowledge and experience as sheerviolette, my impression is that UArt's dance component for MT students is among the stronger of the programs we have seen at various east coast schools we have visited and observed. Hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>Still nothing on Visual Arts? There must be someone out there.</p>
<p>Okay, I'll share. My child went to UArts for about 2 years. Was an illustration then graphic design major and well into her 2nd year had not used a computer for a class project yet. Freshman yr. all FA take the same program. It is very elementary and she found it boring and frustrating. 2nd year she showed me her homework. Drawing one inch lines on a piece of paper for a couple weeks at 3 hrs. a stint. Her friends at MICA and Tyler were doing great things by then. She talked to numerous people trying to find out if it "got "better and asking about job placement and received very negative feedback. In addition the drug culture was rampant in FA and as a non partier she spent many times with nothing to do. There is a reason half the kids at Uarts leave. Many kids regardless of talent received half tuition scholarships.
She left and to this day says it's the best decision she ever made.</p>
<p>As a parent their lack of a food plan made it difficult for her to eat cheaply and healthfully. Food in the city is expensive. Weekly/daily art supplies that could only be bought at the "college" art store were extremely expensive. She could not buy things at a discount. She went through money at a breakneck speed. I never knew how much she needed on a daily basis.</p>
<p>She did have 2 teachers she thought were great. However the work was designed for kids going in who had no art background. She had been producing great pieces by her senior year in HS and lost momentum going into and being in college. The worst mistake we ever made.We also found the adnimistration difficult to work with. Sorry....but my honest take on this school and I am trying to be diplomatic.</p>
<p>Sax, you say that "half of the kids at UArts" leave. Is that half in visual arts or half over all arts disciplines? Also, where did you get that figure? Forgive me for questioning you, but whenever someone throws out a startling stat like that, I feel I have to delve deeper. It would be unfair to to UArts and the many genuinely talented kids there not to verify.</p>
<p>NotmamaRose: From a speech from the president of the university at student orientation. I was in the audience. Also reported in USNews college book. This included all programs.</p>
<p>Sax, thanks for the detail. Did the president say why this happens or what the university is trying to do about it?</p>
<p>Sax, you don't indicate when your daughter was there, and I don't know much about the FA program, but I wonder whether there have been changes since your daughter's experience. In this regard, included in the tuition package now is a Mac Pro computer configured with software for the specific program a student is in. My daughter received a letter from UArts advising that freshman students will receive the computers and the program is being rolled out to existing students. I wonder how this impacts on the issue of computer usage. As to art supplies, there are a load of art supply houses in center city Phila. To the extent that prices are "high", I suspect it is a function of center city Phila prices and not UArts specific.</p>
<p>As to a lack of a meal plan and food, UArts makes it clear up front that there is no meal plan. Each dorm room is a converted apartment with a full kitchen and there are supermarkets in center city Phila, within walking distance of the dorms, including a Whole Foods which specializes in organic and other "healthy foods. In addition, there is a large food court in the Bellevue Hotel on Avenue of the Arts (Broad Street) which offers a wide variety of foods at reasonable prices, including healthy salads, sandwiches, pasta, stir fry etc. There is also the Reading Terminal Farmers Market about 5 blocks from the UArts Campus. After having visited many college campuses over the last few months, the quality, variety and cost of food available to UArts students certainly does not appear to be any worse than at any other school (and in many respects offers opportunities for far greater variety and healthy eating). What differs is the "delivery system" and I can understand some students prefering the convenience of a meal plan. Other students prefer the independence and flexibility of not being tied into a meal plan (most of which are overpriced in my view, offer foods that make healthy eating difficult and are more expensive than shopping for your own food).</p>
<p>With respect to the drug scene, you are going to find that on most college campuses with perhaps a skewed percentage of involvement by creative/performing arts students. I have had the opportunity to have very candid conversations about this with 3 current UArts students in 3 different majors, who are close friends of my daughter, who have advised that recreational drugs and alcohol are available for those who are inclined to partake. They have been equally emphatic, however, that there is an equal number of students who choose not to partake and that none of the 3 felt any "pressure" to do drugs and drink in order to be included socially. It seems that there is a "live and let live" attitude among the students</p>
<p>Well said MichaelNKat. I agree with everything you have stated. I try to use this forum for information gathering in addition to what I find on my own. As far as dorms/apartments, meal plan or lack of, and location, those are all things that are what they are at different schools and if you don't like what they have to offer, you don't consider that school. Personally, I would like the typical college campus, dining hall, dorms, etc. but my daughter doesn't feel that way and she's the one going to school so it's whatever she likes. She hates dining halls and loves the fact that UArts has apartments with kitchens. She pretty much does her own thing for meals at home now so it wouldn't be much different. And honestly, I think you do end up spending more money on food when you're on a mandatory meal plan than when you're on your own. My older daughter was on a mandatory plan first two years of college which cost us somewhere between $3500 and $4000 a year. She's in an apartment now and I give her much less money each month to cover both food and expenses. </p>
<p>But back to the visual arts program and acedemics. I too would like to know when sax's daughter was a student. And where did she transfer? I have read some of the student journals and have gotten the impression that the classes are demanding and the students are being taught well. Any art school will have first year foundation classes and from what I have read in the UArts journals, the kids are not spending all year drawing lines. I can't imagine a GD major wouldn't be using a computer by sophomore year. I've seen examples of student work and have been impressed. It doesn't appear to me from what I have seen that the classes are designed for kids with no art background. I think it would be hard to find many kids like that applying to a school like UArts. </p>
<p>I like the school from what I have seen so far but was just looking for some input from current visual art/design students if any are reading this forum. My daughter is pretty familiar with the school since she did a pre-college program there last summer and is doing a Saturday pre-college program currently. I just wanted to hear how the undergraduate program was. Any students out there?</p>
<p>Well everyone, my daughter was a freshman just 2 yrs. ago. Everything I said is what we experienced. I tried to be honest and not too harsh but I believe I conveyed the reality of it pretty well. We bought my d the mac pro and extra software (these were at a phenomenal savings set up by UArts at the UPenn bookstore). She was told they would not be using these until 3rd yr. </p>
<p>The "drawing one inch lines" was in the second year by the way. I was in absolute shock.</p>
<p>Take it for what it's worth. Good Luck.</p>
<p>MomofAlex,</p>
<p>You might want to post your question about the Visual Arts program at U. Arts on the Arts Forum. You can find the Arts Forum under the heading College Majors - the same place the Musical Theatre forum is listed. I imagine that you are not getting much feedback because you have posted your question on the MT forum (that's why everyone here is posting about musical theatre!!), where most of the posters are not knowledgeable about visual arts. There are quite a few posts on the subject over on the Arts Forum. Hopefully, someone there will have some additional knowledge about the program at U.Arts.</p>
<p>Thanks dancersmom. I guess I wasn't paying attention to exactly which forum I was in. I thought I was in Arts Majors and was just adding to a previous poster's questions on the art and design school.</p>
<p>Just need to say on behalf of UARTS that we went to visit last week. My d has 3 friends there from our High School all in different years. They are all extremely happy there, they are all learning so much and none of them have had any encounters with the "drug scene". Be careful to do your own research and yes this forum is about Musical Theater. My d said they did the most extensive and professional audition of all her auditions and yes they did seem caring and nuturing.</p>
<p>As a parent of a Uarts Freshman ("Broadwaywannabe"),l will attempt to respond to some of the points made by others. </p>
<p>People leave schools -- all schools -- fro a variety of reasons. I made an effort to google overall stats for all schools, but could not find them. But I recall that the number of students who do not finish at the school they started at is very very large. I am not in a position to say whether Uarts is more or less than the national average, but clearly transferring (or "retention" as the schools call it) is a big thing in many places. </p>
<p>As far as Uarts, a couple of observations:</p>
<p>There are people who love the fact that there is no food plan. My daughter, as a freshman, would have preferred to have one, but the trade off is having one's own kitchen AND BATHROOM. I am not sure which my daughter would opt for. Either way, it will be moot next year as she will be living off campus (as do many non freshman at many other schools).</p>
<p>Campus, no Campus: Again, ideally how great to have a traditional campus. The tradeoff here is having wonderful Philly theater location. Which is better is a personal preference. City schools do not tend to have campuses -- or at least not in prime location. (My son goes to McGill in MOntreal -- and there is an exception, a campus in the middle of the downtown area.) Either NYU nor Emerson nor Boco nor BU have traditional campuses. (Columbia does indeed have a campus in NYC, but not in the mid-town area.)</p>
<p>So everything is a trade off. Each person has to decide for herself/himself:</p>
<p>How important is a good plan, or would you rather have a bathroom?</p>
<p>How important is a campus, or would you rather have a vibrant city with a next-door theater district?</p>
<p>Are there too many liberal arts credits, or too few? </p>
<p>How is the training? </p>
<p>Is the program worth the cost?</p>
<p>ETC.</p>
<p>These are valid questions for all programs.</p>
<p>nytheatremom brings up excellent points that every student (and his/her parents!) should consider when deciding on a program. I doubt that there is any one college program that has absolutely <em>everything</em> that each student wants. Life doesn't work that way. :) My D and I visited UArts and the students seemed very happy, talented and engaged and the location (despite not having a traditional "quad" or ivy-covered brick buildings) is fantastic.</p>
<p>I think I may have posted on the arts forum before asking about the art and design program at UArts but got no response. So since the MT posters seem to be so much more responsive, how about if I ask some questions about the school not related to the art program? Do the kids tend to hang around on the weekends or do most go home? Do the MT kids mingle with the kids in other programs such as art and design? Are the kids roomed with others in the same program or are some of you here rooming with kids in art/design? How are the dorms? My daughter lived in Juniper over the summer for pre-college which was very nice. I heard upperclassmen are mostly housed in Juniper and the freshman dorms aren't quite as nice. Any comments?</p>
<p>Hi Mom of Alex,
Here are my answers to the best I can answer. As with many many MT programs, the MT kids don't have aton of spare time. My daughter has stayed at school most weekends -- I don't think you would consider this a "commuter school" if that is what you are really asking. She stays at school to do her home work, catch up on sleep, grocery shop, hang out with friends, see plays, help out at plays, etc. </p>
<p>Juniper is by all accounts the nicest of the dorms. I have not seene it.I am familiar with Furness and Pine. They are old converted apartments. But the highlight of course is having one's own bathroom. Most kids apparently go into off-campus apartments after the first year; but you are right, Juniper is generally "reserved" for them. Roommates are assigned somewhat randomly, so kids do get assigned roommates outside of their own major. The school has a system that allows for changing of roommates at particular "open" times, that worked fine for my daughter.</p>
<p>Certain classes -- freshman English, for example -- are mixes of all majors. By definition, others (those in your core major) are not. </p>
<p>Feel free to email me if you have any other questions. Not sure if you have checked out the online journals, but I think you will find a wealth of info there</p>