<p>Let me start by saying I graduated from the U of Wisconsin so the thought of my daughter becoming a Wolverine (Michigan) or, heaven forbid, a Gopher (Minnesota) will take some adjustment. Thankfully, she has no interest in sports so there is no risk in seeing her in the stands decked out in the dreadfull colors of those schools. </p>
<p>Now that my digression is over, I've used the search function to try to figure out what I could about the program. At least according to the posts, its a small acceptance number (under 20), you have to meet some minimum requirement academically to get an audition, even if you audition you still have to get into the school but audition is weighed significantly and sounds like that if the auditioners want a student they are a decent bet to get in based on a closer review of the academics. If anyone thinks any of the above is wrong -- please let me know. </p>
<p>What I have not been able to find any discussion of is what the program is actually like with respect to things like conservatory training versus academics, type of training -- acting techniques (tool box approach like Purchase or specific technique like Rutgers (Meisner), time in studio versus classroom, specifics about faculty, etc.). My daugher is much more drawn to Purchase (where is almost all studio based) than NYU (where two days a week the kids are in a classroom). Purchase versus NYU are sort of my benchmarks -- is Michigan BFA more like NYU or Purchase?</p>
<p>Tedious and complicated as this might be, you really need to look thoroughly into their website to get the basics for the degree and then look here for more of the nuances.</p>
<p>I’m relatively new to posting here but I’ve been reading for a while. I’ve even read through all the old archived threads. I understand your point as a general principle and there are lots of examples here of no effort to look for past threads (e.g. BA verus BFA) but if the standard for asking about a college was thoroughly researching the past threads on College Confidential AND thoroughly researching college web sites before asking a question, I’m not sure many questions here would meet that standard. </p>
<p>I did spend about 1.5 hours reading through old threads to try to find some insight into Michigan and I was struck by how little discussion there is about the program as compared to some others. Since your post, I did review the web site. It does appear to be less conservatory based then some – 45 academic credits out of 122. My reason for asking the questions though was not just to get the sort of list of facts one can get on a web site. I was asking here to get the kind of fuzzy information about the program that I’ve seen lots of with respect to programs like NCSA, Purchase, Tisch, Minn, CMU and many others.</p>
<p>hiya! i’m going to be a junior a michigan this year, with this year being my second at this school after transferring in. i’d love to answer any questions you have about michigan to the best of my ability!
i wouldn’t really compare michigan to purchase or nyu- i’m sorry to say i don’t know much about how scheduling or how classes work at purchase, but like you said, at nyu its 3 days completely in studio, 2 days out.
at michigan its more integrated with the university, depending on how you schedule your classes. you might have two or three theatre classes and then pop over to your english/history/math/ etc class next. last semester i had a theatre class every day, which i personally prefer, but others may not.
and don’t worry about seeing your daughter in maize and blue- my mom was a buckeye ( now she sports a Michigan bumper sticker on the back of her car) hahah</p>
<p>i hope that helped a bit and please let me know if you have anymore questions!</p>
<p>These are really good questions. A great piece of advice someone gave us is to try to have 4-5 solid criteria in choosing schools to apply to - they can waver a bit, but following your gut is very helpful. It sounds like “as much time in theatre classes as possible” is one of your D’s highest goals, which many students here have shared. What else does she want? Does it have to be in a university setting? Is she interested in stand-alone conservatories? Does she have a geographic preference? Is money an issue? Etc.</p>
<p>My D was more towards the other end of the spectrum; for a kid whose strong desire was to do a BFA, she did want to be “at college” and to get a solid liberal arts foundation. But while she had some amazing BA options she went with a BFA where she could be in a university setting and take some great other courses (although she doesn’t want to double major). To her it’s the best of both worlds - but I don’t say that to convince anyone to do the same, only that it helped a lot that she knew this from the beginning. She doesn’t mind that she isn’t getting that “all theatre all the time” experience, because that wasn’t her prime interest. And she was willing to drop down some in “prestige” (whatever that means) to have a really great fit and be able to meet so many of her personal criteria (also, her lesser-known school gave her a terrific scholarship).</p>
<p>We asked this question directly of the schools, at our campus tours, in e-mails, phone calls, etc. We did end up using websites to create curriculum charts, even sample daily schedules. We looked at what would day-to-day life be like, because yes, it is very different at different schools, even where the “degree” seems to be the same. </p>
<p>By looking around and asking questions, your D can build a list that has mostly Purchase-like conservatory programs (since you say that’s her gold standard). I’m glad you were able to find a wonderful UMich contact here to get some details. One student last year chose the Hartt school because it is more of an immersive conservatory experience that doesn’t “make” you do regular college so much as other BFAs (and for this reason turned down the school my D will be attending). You all might want to look at Hartt.</p>
<p>Your D might want to find some back-up non-auditioned BFAs if she really doesn’t want to “have to” do a BA. Some BA programs, while very wonderful and great theatre experiences, don’t have that many theatre courses the first year (and onward), which could be hard on a kid who was dead-set on a conservatory-like BFA. There is a thread that lists many of those schools on this forum.</p>
<p>Thanks Emmy Bet. My daughter is a Junior. We’re leanding strongly towards hiring some outside help to work with us on this process (given how the local high school counselling just doesn’t cut it for this sort of thing.) Still, that is no substitute for doing your own homework.</p>
<p>She has the acting “bug” bad. Has had it since she was little. Has a lot of training under her belt (and some professional work) and spent 5 weeks at Stella Adler. Loved every minute of being in the studio all the time. Is absolutely dreading going back to the class room (she goes to a regular high school). So I think we have a pretty good read on the type of environment that would make her happy. Her safeties are likely to be non-degree conservatory programs – Circle on the Square, Stella Adler, Atlantic, Bill Esper, etc. – we know quite a bit about whats good and whats not in NYC from being close to NY, and working in NY (until she grew to over 5’9" and grew herself out most jobs available to kids under 18) Schools that appear to fit the bill for her are Julliard, CMU, NCSA, Rutgers, Purchase, Minn-Guthrie, BU and U of Arts (still need to do some more looking at the last two). Since acting training is the number one criteria for her, she’s not willing to drop down to a “safety” that she believes is a big drop in training from the type of training at the non-degree programs I listed above.</p>
<p>I’m a little confused by your reponse re: scheduling. It sounds like you have flexibility as to when to schedule theater classes. Is it not the same 20 or less kids going through the same training regimen? Or is it kind of more like college scheduling in a liberal arts school where you could choose to take a particular movement class one year or the next and thus have kids from different years in the same class? And when you say theater classes – do you mean clasess in a studio – voice, movement, scene study, improv, etc. or are some theater classes also not studio. </p>
<p>Is there a particular acting technique taught or is it more of a tool box approach?</p>
<p>Do you know if Michigan BFA does show cases in NY and/or LA?</p>
<p>Thanks! And P.S. – I will NEVER have maize and blue anywhere even if my daughter goes to Michigan.</p>
<p>sorry about the confusion- i meant you have flexibility about when you schedule your academic classes. it is the same class of >20 or so that continue with you through senior year.
and by theatre classes i do mean ‘studio’ classes, but i didn’t want to use that word because i think it’s slightly different in the approach than in the studio of say nyu. so yes, the theatre classes are voice (vocal production), movement (depending on the year it could be Le Coq, Tai Chi… etc), acting (classics,american drama, shakespeare, acting for the camera), senior year there is clowning, stage combat, and additionally there’s a variety of theatre electives for those electives you would have some scheduling flexibility.
my core theatre classes are the same core theatre classes that the rest of the junior BFA acting majors are taking.</p>
<p>there is not a particular acting technique taught, but as you said its rather a tool box approach, which each professor giving you their preferred way of going about a scene/role which I prefer to one standard method. Finding out your personal preference about that is something that I think is really important about selecting a school- does your daughter have a preference about a single method vs toolbox?</p>
<p>At the moment, Michigan Acting does not do a showcase in NYC or LA, but we do have a program for seniors called Capstone where agents and directors from different cities come to us and work with our seniors on audition pieces and such.</p>
<p>Monologue–are you MT or straight acting–one criticism I have heard is that the outstanding strength of the Michigan MT program obliterates opportunities and resources for acting kids. Is that your experience?</p>
<p>I am straight acting. In my experience I would say that’s not true at all as they are separate departments albeit in the same school- School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Areas of study that fall under the Dept. of Theatre and Drama include the BFA in performance, both Acting and Directing, the Bachelor of theatre Arts (BTA) the Interarts program and design and production. Dept. of MT is just MT. hope this helps!
Was there anything specifically that you had heard that had concerned you?</p>
<p>Things like MT has priority over rehearsal space, production space, higher priority to recruitment for better faculty for MT over acting/directing…</p>
<p>I think this all may have come from when everyone was in the old Frieze Building. But now that we’re all in the Walgreen I’ve never really heard any of that. For rehearsal space, we generally use Studio 2 before moving into a theatre space, and I believe MT uses their MT Studio ( I can double check with my roomie from last year who is an MT). The production space is pretty much the same. Of the 5 shows acting is doing this year, 3 are in the Arthur Miller, 1 is in the Mendelssohn and 1 is in the Power Center. of the 4 MT are doing 2 are in the Arthur Miller, 1 is in the Mendelssohn and 1 is in the Power Center. All Shows are directed by regular Acting/ MT faculty except each dept also has a guest director. MT students take their core acting/ acting for the camera classes from acting dept faculty. I really haven’t had any personal experience of those things happening here, so I think they’re just old rumors floating around from several+ years ago before things were changed. Hope that helps!</p>