@JLTAGTEKT I just looked at the USC dance site a bit more and here’s a list of the dance classes available to non-majors - they have ballet levels a, b, c and d https://kaufman.usc.edu/degrees/classes-for-all-usc-students/
@JLTAGTEKT The first thing to think about is how much she wants to dance in college. Does she want to do 15-20 hours a week (typical of a BFA) or 2-5 hours a week (a minor or drop in classes)? That decision is hard, my D had lots of people saying she should do something more “useful”, like engineering, and she only committed do trying for an audition based BFA late in her junior year.
Then consider affordability, note that most top classical ballet programs are at state schools, so merit aid is often more relevant than need-based aid. The range of cost can be enormous - we deliberately ruled out the most expensive schools but still had options that varied from $5K to $50K per year.
Then think about the style of dance, does she want modern or ballet? Not all programs offer pointe, so look at whether the school offers what you are looking for.
@JLTAGTEKT
Look into Barnard – they have a very strong commitment to their dance program, with heavy emphasis on ballet - 5 or 6 levels of classes. The studio technique classes are open to all, and students have all sort of off-campus opportunities to dance as well. Classes at studios like Steps on Broadway, master classes offered by ballet companies like ABT. Columbia now has two student-run ballet companies – one (CUBE - Columbia University Ballet Ensemble) is focused on classical ballet; whereas the other, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, is more focused on contemporary with original choreography. Both have auditions open to all - they each also have facebook pages that it is a good resource for current info. And of course there exceptional opportunities to attend ballet and other dance performances in NYC. And as far as major – the sky is the limit. Your daughter could choose to major in dance, or minor in dance – or major/minor/double-major in just about anything else and take dance classes whenever they could fit her schedule. Barnard admissions has gotten extremely competitive these days, but your daughter’s dance history & level of training along with the writing awards would bode well for her chances.
Very helpful CAtransplant, Twoin18 and calmom - thank you! DD has chosen a summer intensive in NYC this year that will allow her to live pretty independently in the City - it will give her a chance to see if that is something she really thinks she will like for college or not. She went for an SI when she was much younger but she has a different perspective now. We will definitely check out Columbia and Barnard - she has two teachers who danced professionally in NYC who are Barnard grads. But I suspect that even if she can get in, the finances will not work for those two schools. California is very far for us, but USC keeps coming up and I think she would love it. She would probably be a good candidate for merit aid at the big state schools with top ballet programs, but not sure that is the type of school she wants. Having an opportunity for a high-level extra-curricular like CUBE at Columbia seems perfect. Just hoping to find that a school with a more realistic entry-point (both admissions and price!).
@calmom My son applied for Columbia as you recommended but didn’t get in last year. He would’ve loved to attend. @JLTAGTEKT I believe Harvard and Princeton also have strong ballet programs. Dance minors at USC would not be able to take the advanced classes.
@SCMHAALUM I’m curious about your comment that Dance minors at USC would not be able to take the advanced classes. When I look at this page on the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance website:
https://kaufman.usc.edu/degrees/classes-for-all-usc-students/
which is titled “Classes for All USC Students,” they wrote this:
The below courses at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance are open to all. Courses listed may satisfy one or both minors. Complete information about courses of instruction is available through the USC Course Catalogue.
"Technique Courses (2 units each)
USC Kaufman offers the following technique courses in multiple levels, as denoted by the lettering “a, b, c, d”.
DANC 181abc Contemporary Dance
DANC 183abcd Ballet
DANC 184abc Jazz Dance
DANC 185ab Hip-Hop Dance
DANC 186 Afro-Cuban Dance
DANC 187 Bollywood Dance
DANC 188ab International Style Ballroom Dance
DANC 189ab Tap Dance
Students with previous dance experience may place into intermediate (b-level), intermediate/advanced (c-level) or advanced (d-level) courses. Such students may complete and return a Prerequisite Waiver Form—which requires approval by the instructor. If the instructor is not on campus during the time of the request, students may fill out the student portion of the form and return it along with a dance resume or detailed description of their dance training."
So to me that sounds like anyone, even someone not minoring in Dance, could take the advanced classes (level d) assuming they are qualified with approval from the instructor, or presumably move up to them while they are at USC.
Can you tell me if I’m missing something?
@CAtransplant I’ve been asking around about how it works at USC b/c my D19 is considering minoring in dance there. Another mom of someone minoring in dance explained to me that “the BFA’s studio classes are not open to other students.” So apparently the list you posted is of classes for non-majors; they’re not the technique classes that the BFA dancers take to earn their degree (although presumably they can take the classes on that list too if they want).
@Curiosa oh I see - interesting. Well I am sure those classes for non-majors with multiple levels would be fine for my daughter as she’s nowhere near the level of the BFA dancers!
@CAtransplant I should’ve made it clearer that the students taking dance as minors would not bel able to the advanced classes for BFA students as @Curiosa commented.
Hi everyone. I can’t find any posts from anyone who auditioned at UCLA Dance this year, so I’ve been reading this thread and see a few who auditioned. My daughter had her audition this past Friday and didn’t feel it went well. I feel badly for her and can’t gauge if she’s just reading too much into things or if she’s right. Can anyone give insight from last year’s audition? Thank you so much ahead of time! This is only my second time posting so please be patient if I don’t know correct protocol. Thank you again!
Hi! I think I read your son applied to UCLA Dance last year? Would you have any insight on the admissions process? My daughter auditioned on Friday and is discouraged and I can’t seem to find much about UCLA on the threads. Thank you!! @SCMHAALUM
@hinande It was @Pusheen1’s daughter who ended up going to UCLA last fall (we had some discussion about it earlier in this thread). Remember there’s lots of randomness involved, often one kid will get into X but not Y and another will do the reverse. Good luck to your daughter.
@Twoin18 thank you so much for responding to me! I so appreciate it.
@Pusheen1 , do you mind sharing a bit about your daughter’s audition last year? Do you know if they weigh the application and research paper more heavily than the audition, or vice versa? And did they ask your daughter any questions after she performed her solo piece? Thank you so much!!!
@hinande My son didn’t apply for UCLA Dance. He applied for bio at UCLA. Let me ask around about the dance audition…
@hinande A sophomore in the program got back to me saying they asked her about her dance and UC essays. She thinks application + essays and fitting in with the program is important…
My daughter was just accepted at SUNY Purchase for dance. We are out of state and heard they don’t offer much in scholarships since tuition is pretty low to begin with. Does anyone know about how much they might offer? She was also accepted to Point Park and received both academic and artistic scholarships which was pretty generous. Trying to weigh things out to visit schools. We are still waiting to hear from Cal Arts and UCI. Those would be in state for us so tuition would probably be less since we qualify for cal grants.
@SDCmom2019 Congrats on SUNY Purchase! No idea about the financial offers but I know a few outstanding dancers attending.
@SDCmom2019 Congrats to your daughter! How long after your audition did you hear from SUNY? My daughter has an audition on Saturday (she was invited for a callback after an audition at Dancewave in NYC in Oct.).
Does anyone here know how many BFA dance majors are accepted each year at NYU Tisch? Is it equal gender? Thanks!
We are waiting on Pace also, but have been unclear about when to expect it since no one asked during Q and A. So it’s mid March??
The program is so small it’s hard to expect a positive result even though my daughter was one of four held after the audition for an interview.
So, right now the decision is between Point Park or Marymount Manhattan.