She visited Purchase when she had her audition and she fell in love with the spirit of excellence, the arts vibe and the diversity which has been rare in the dance world…an alumnus from our studio, George Lawrence, went there before he did “SO You Think You Can Dance” and he loved it…my son, who is a graduate of UArts, highly recommends Purchase and thinks it’s the BEST but one of the most under-rated programs…he wants his sister to go there. The Studio School used to be The Relativity School. It is only in its 4th year. The school is inside a movie studio. Most students get signed with MSA right away…It is purely commercial dance. The concern is that the dance program is not strong enough for my daughters level…the commercial connections are there but she also cares about her technique.
So happy I found this thread! My DD only decided last year that she wanted to pursue a BFA in dance. It has been such a daunting, stressful, and expensive application/audition season. I wish I had found this thread earlier in the process. We had to quickly educate ourselves on the schools and programs. She decided to eliminate any performing arts only schools because she wanted the option of double majoring. She ended up applying to Wayne State, University of Michigan, Indiana, Point Park, PACE, Marymount Manhattan, NYU, and USC. We live in Michigan. She was accepted into BFA programs at Wayne State, University of Michigan, Point Park, and Marymount Manhattan. She was admitted to Indiana academically but could not make the audition date work. She made cuts at USC, PACE and NYU but was denied at PACE and USC. She is waitlisted at NYU.
She received good scholarships from Marymount, Point Park and Wayne. She loved Marymount and is leaning that way. Any insight that anyone has would be great!
Congratulations to everyone for surviving the year!
Okay, not sure anyone is still on this thread since most students have probably made their choices. However, we’ve finally visited my son’s four finalist schools and wanted to see if anyone had any further input. Our take is that UC Irvine, Cal State Long Beach and even Fordham/Ailey are all more classical/traditional dance programs with heavy focus on ballet and modern (and maybe repertory). Chapman on the other hand seems to be more of a commercial program. Does anyone generally agree or disagree? Any input is welcome as he is really struggling with this choice. Chapman is comfortable to him because it’s what he knows but some of the other choices seem like great programs and could be a way for him to stretch a bit.
Yes we’d agree Chapman was very commercially focused, lots of students dance at Disneyland (just down the street) for example. We also felt it was less encouraging of academic double majors. D18 liked the location, especially old town Orange. She was waitlisted at Chapman, admitted to both UC Irvine and Fordham/Ailey.
She felt that Fordham/Ailey would have been very good prep for professional (especially modern) dance, but was not as ballet focused as she wanted (hence she chose Utah) and she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of living in New York (though plenty of other kids would be I’m sure). We felt the reputation of Ailey in the professional dance world was definitely above Chapman and Irvine. But it is very expensive unless you get a great scholarship offer.
UC Irvine didn’t seem to offer quite as good preparation for professional dance (though still better than UCSB and UCLA). We heard that classes are quite large. But it was encouraging of double majors, and academically more prestigious than Chapman (and probably Fordham too).
So I’d think about how important is an academic double major (which would push me towards UCI) vs how important is professional dance (Fordham) vs commercial dance (Chapman). Don’t know anything about CSULB.
@dudedrum You are not alone. My son hasn’t clicked the ‘accept’ button yet. I can’t offer suggestions since my son didn’t apply for any of these programs and is stuck with academic programs he is deciding…is cost an issue for you?
@dudedrum I have heard from students that the Dance program at CSULB is not quite what it used to be, if that helps any.
@Twoin18 This is SUPER helpful. He really loves the idea of going to school in New York and he did get a scholarship (which doesn’t make it cheap but makes it way cheaper than Chapman), however, he keeps coming back to the idea that he’s really more interested in commercial dance and he’s afraid he’s not going to like the program, even though we agree 100% that Ailey’s name alone has such cachet.
@SCMHAALUM Good luck to your son! Cost is an issue in that Chapman hasn’t yet come to the table with anything and we only have about 1/3 of the full 4 year costs saved so far if he goes there. Fordham offered a decent academic scholarship which cuts tuition in half but the other costs there are some of the highest in the country. UCI and CSULB are my personal faves because the in-state tuition is SO DAMN CHEAP! 
@Undercovermom1 We have heard the same thing. In fact, right before our visit I did a bunch of digging on the website and right in front of me on the home page of the dance program is a big job listing for a new director of the entire program! not a good sign.
Thank you to everyone for the quick responses. I’m so glad I found this forum as it is has helped so much to talk to other families going through the same decision process.
Personally I would not choose full pay at Chapman. I just don’t think it’s worth paying more than UCI for what it offers, especially as the reputation outside dance isn’t the greatest (my D18’s teacher asked “why are you applying to a school for B students?” when she mentioned it). For Fordham I would consider paying a modest premium over UCI, but only if he’s going to be happy there.
Cost was definitely a consideration for us with twins (Utah was her cheapest option as well as the best ballet-focused program she got into, so fortunately the stars aligned for us). The NPC for Chapman showed a merit discount of I think ~$30K for us, did you check that?
@dudedrum my daughter will be attending Chapman in the fall. Yes, it is more of a commercial and well rounded program.They bring in a lot of great teachers and the location lends itself to employment. She grew up a competition kid and although she went to a performing arts high school with training in ballet and modern, she decided she wanted the versatility to make her more employable. I have heard nothing but great things about Chapman and several friends of friends kids love it. It was important for our daughter to have the equal emphasis on jazz and not many programs support that. Yes, Chapman is so expensive but she was not accepted into her other schools (Arizona and Pace) that had the versatility and Point Park which had it was not for her. It’s a bit of the same situation where she was left with one modern program and while she liked many things about it, it came down to the fact that she was not ready to commit to probably being in a modern company coming out of school. She would miss the other styles too much and we feared boredom or possibly her falling out of love with dance because it wasn’t truly what made her happy. It’s a situation we didn’t think we’d be in, but she has worked so hard (just like everyone) that we decided to pay more than we thought we would. Chapman also has great academics and out of all the schools my daughter applied to was the most difficult to get into.
When we sat down with my daughter and all her pros and cons, we realized what the most important thing was to her. I think that’s what your son will have to determine, which is sometimes really hard for them to know. Fordham is an outstanding program, difficult to get into, and has a great reputation. Is your son ready to do modern day in and day out and essentially be in a modern company? As far as the other Cali schools, essentially how important is the versatility and is Chapman way above the others to justify the cost? I’m glad your son has choices! It was heartbreaking for us, but I have to trust that where she ended up is exactly where she’s suppose to be and it has already taught us all so many lessons. Let me know what your son decides, maybe they will see each other in the fall!
@Twoin18 Can you explain further on the NPC merit discount? He applied “early action” at Chapman and got in academically in December and then did auditions first part of the year and got into the dance program. When I called about why I hadn’t received any info on scholarships his admissions counselor just congratulated him for making it in and said there was nothing available. Have a call with dance program director later this week.
@izzyb1 Thanks for the background. I think we are where you guys were a few weeks ago. I think he’s honestly leaning towards Chapman but doesn’t want to make the wrong choice. Doing a pros and cons exercise now and hope to help him get closer to a decision soon.
@dudedrum When we did the NPC for Chapman it asked for GPA/ACT scores (in her case 4.0UW/35 ACT) and showed a scholarship of $29K (this is academic merit, not dance talent, in fact it didn’t ask about major).
My understanding was that the academic merit was essentially automatic at Chapman if you applied by the early deadline. Their website (https://www.chapman.edu/students/tuition-and-aid/financial-aid/scholarships-and-grants/institutional-awards.aspx) states “The Presidential, Chancellors or Provost, and Deans Scholarships are academic awards based on a student’s entering grade point average and test scores.” Though since D18 was waitlisted we didn’t actually receive a financial aid offer.
So did the NPC show any academic merit scholarship for your son? If it did then you should have a decent argument that they should at least give you that. Though previous CC threads suggest they don’t always provide the amount indicated (http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/chapman-university/1946688-what-are-the-different-levels-of-scholarships.html)
@dudedrum My daughter was accepted to both Fordham and Chapman and received academic merit scholarships from both (slightly more from Fordham).
I have to respectfully disagree with the comment above implying that Chapman Dance discourages double majors. I asked at the info session after the audition and was told that many dance majors do have a second major or minor, and I met with Leah Brandon of NYCDA at one of her Dance in College sessions and she said that Chapman is one of the most supportive of double majors. Another positive is that everyone enters the program as a BA and auditions for BFA at the end of sophomore year. This makes double-majoring even easier – staying in the BA track would allow more time for other coursework.
Everything on paper from Ailey/Fordham states that double majoring is very difficult, but my daughter has friends there now and many are double majoring. The only absolute is that it’s impossible to double major in a field only offered at the Rose Hill campus.
My daughter chose Ailey/Fordham because she felt it offered the best of both worlds – academic and dance. Fordham’s many internship opportunities is also a big plus. And she knows any genre she may not be able to find at Ailey, she can certainly find at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. If you’re not familiar them, take a look at their websites. When she did the Ailey summer intensive, she took contemporary and hip hop classes at BDC and pointe at Steps.
Location was also a factor for her. She loves New York and it’s very easy to immerse yourself in the dance world. Orange is lovely (I grew up 5 minutes from campus) but you have to schlep to LA for a remotely comparable experience.
One thing to consider with UCI is that the UCs are research institutions, as compared to the CSUs which are teaching institutions. I’m not sure how that impacts the dance instruction but it might be worth investigating.
“I asked at the info session after the audition and was told that many dance majors do have a second major or minor,”
For Chapman our sense was it depends on the major. We also asked the same question and got the same answer, but then when they asked the dozen or so students who were there what second majors/minors they were doing, the only example given (and only from just one or two of them) was teaching (dance). There was more emphasis on taking advantage of additional dance opportunities (like working at Disneyland) than doing extra academics. So my feeling is it’s not that you couldnt double major, but that you would be extremely unusual doing (in my D18’s case), dance and environmental science. Whether that would be supported (for example if there are class conflicts) is therefore unclear to me.
Also no one mentioned Chapman’s Honors College as something relevant to dancers. So I didn’t come away very convinced compared to (say) Oklahoma or Utah, where applying for their Honors Colleges was specifically encouraged.
= ) My daughter was accepted to the Chapman Honors program. No one had to encourage her — she was interested so she applied.
Our experience may well have resulted from the group of students there answering questions at our audition. Definitely agree that YMMV.
My D18 loved her first visit last year and put it very high on her list. After the audition and her teacher’s comments, she wasn’t that bothered when she was waitlisted. She might have felt differently if she hadn’t already had the acceptance in hand from Utah at that point. Hard to tell.
Her thinking definitely evolved, for example the PAC-12 sports (and associated school spirit) at Utah ended up being something that she was really enthused about, whereas she hadn’t even considered it at the start of the process.
After lots of growth, soul searching and thinking, my dancer has decided to attend the Univ of AZ… and NOT as a dance major! She will be studying education and may re-audition in the hopes of earning a dance minor. She fell in love with Tucson and the campus on her visits and can’t picture herself anywhere else. She’s hoping to find a studio where she can take classes and continue her training and plans to audition for the Arizona Pomline next year. So many things went into this decision for her and I am so proud of her and can’t wait to see where her future takes her! Congrats to everyone and happy decision weekend!!
We’ve been going to USC Kaufman’s shows every year. The theme of this year is “living legends”, pieces choreographed, and in some cases taught by Dwight Rhoden, Paul Taylor, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, etc. The show and dancers were fantastic! The program is only 3 years old and we’ve seen amazing growth in the students. Didn’t give much thoughts before reserving tickets, but my son was really sad after the show last night he is wait listed. I am giving him till 4/30 to click the “accept” button for his #2 choice. I will only know which school then…
Congrats to everyone who’s made decisions!!
You never know! I have seen dancers come off the waitlist June-August there. It is such a tough journey for Senior dancers!
Hello dance tribe! I am learning a lot from reading all the discussions here. So thankful for this forum and your combined experience/knowledge! I would love to get your thoughts on our situation, since I really don’t know very much about the dance world and DD didn’t grow up in the competition or dance world. She just began dancing in 7th grade at school and added ballet and “real” dance classes at outside studios 2-3 years ago (10th grade), but fell in love with dancing around that time and decided she was going to pursue her passion, so here we are. She’s worked extra hard to catch up to a level to compete for a spot at these schools through the audition process, but we had no idea if she would be competitive enough to get in for dance ANYwhere, or be able to get a job when she graduates, so we had a caveat that she also had to think about schools with good academic reputations outside of dance in case she didn’t get in to dance or needed to minor in another area to get a job upon graduating. We just didn’t want her to get too far out on a limb in the dance world where she may not be at that level yet or be able to make a living. So that eliminated a lot of the schools who were mainly known just for dance (and probably too high a level for her, like the conservatories).
That said, she applied to 13 schools, got in to 5, rejected by 5, and waitlisted at 3. She was considering more seriously 3 of the 5 where she got accepted - UCSB (BFA), UCLA, and Connecticut College (BFA). I would love to hear anything you know about the type of programs these are, their strengths or weaknesses, your impressions, etc. as this is all so new to me. By the way, what is “commercial dance”? I think her main goal is to perform in a modern company upon graduating.
She also got waitlisted at Fordham/Ailey (her top choice overall) and Columbia /Barnard dance (her top choice city - NY). Thoughts on these two would also be helpful, as I understand if she were to get an opportunity to get off the waitlist that you have very little time to make your decision, sometimes only 24-48 hours, so we need to be prepared to make that decision should the long-shot come through. Or maybe write these off now if they aren’t the best choice for her.
Thank you in advance for any wisdom you can share!