Hey, guys! Since this major is new at Point Park, I’d love to help answer any questions you guys might have and give a brief overview of the program.
A little background on how I ended up at PPU: I was dead set on a BFA Acting program for pretty much all of high school. I went to an arts school as a musical theatre major and quickly realized that while I could act and dance the pants off anyone in my program, I couldn’t belt and that’s all BFA MT programs seem to want these days. 
So I auditioned for a ton of schools at Unifieds and ended up getting into some pretty prestigious acting programs; I also got some waitlists and rejections, as one does. However, in all the interview portions of my auditions, I found myself talking at length about my goals as an actor and they all came back around to social change, something I’m passionate about. Of course, at the time, I still had the idea in my head that I could only be successful with a BFA, so I never gave any thought to any BA programs until I interviewed with Point Park. They told me that, while they thought I would be an excellent BFA Acting candidate, they also thought that, with my goals and interest in directing as well as acting in mind, I would be a great guinea pig for this new program. And, as fate would have it, they also gave me the most money out of any out-of-state school I auditioned for, so I committed, not sure if I’d made the right decision.
I’ve been here almost two months and I have to say that I really am happy here. While I’ve considered transferring, it has nothing to do with the program. Only the lack of academic rigor and the lack of a gender studies option, however, I have much to discuss with my advisor about my junior and senior years and my options for a concentration, so I likely won’t be transferring.
The BA is set up totally unlike any other BA Theatre Arts program I’ve ever heard of. We start out with two years on the BFA Acting or MT track, depending on our concentration (there’s a slight difference between BFA MT and BA Theatre Arts - MT I think?). For freshman and sophomore years, you can only concentrate in Acting or MT, but once you get to your junior or senior year, you can begin a concentration or a minor in pretty much anything. Directing, stage management, technical theatre, production, dance, cinema. You can also minor or even double major outside of COPA, or self-design a concentration (my plan).
The rigorous, strong foundation in acting we get as BA’s before we split off as opposed to the liberal arts foundation found in other BA programs is definitely one of my favorite things about my major. As COPA students, we can also take work study or apprenticeships in pretty much any field. My parents wouldn’t let me do work study this year, even though I qualify, but I plan on working in electrics next year, something I’ve always had a lot of interest in.
My teachers are simply amazing. I’ve learned so much in less than two months, it’s honestly crazy. All my teachers have legitimate professional experience; even my adviser has been on Broadway and in feature films. As a dancer, I was kind of bummed that I had 8 a.m. movement class twice a week rather than the daily 8 a.m. ballet class my MT friends have, but now movement is rivaling acting and stagecraft for my favorite class.
I kind of vaguely covered a LOT of points, so if anyone has any more detailed questions, I’d be happy to answer them!