As a parent of a dancer who got two rejections in the fall (rolling admissions), it would have been so nice if the school she is attending had been able to accept her in the fall, but they wait until all auditions are complete to send acceptances. It was a rough time between early November and mid-February.
@grit2018 Could you share a little about how PPU’s graduates find work after the program. Do they bring casting agents on campus or do the dancers tend to go to NYC or other locations to audition. My daughter is in love with the PPU dance program and was impressed by the dancers she saw there- our only concern is finding work after the program if she doesn’t plan to stay in Pittsburgh.
My daughter is deciding between University of Oklahoma and Southern Methodist University. She wants to double major in ballet and accounting. Any advice would be appreciated.
My D really liked Oklahoma and would potentially have attended if she had been admitted for ballet rather than modern. We considered the top colleges for classical ballet performance to be Indiana, Butler, Oklahoma and Utah, and from what we were told, they are generally ranked roughly in that order. For modern the list would be quite different and include NYU, USC and Fordham/Ailey. So preferred style is a very relevant consideration, though I don’t know much about SMU.
Thank you Twoin18. This is an exciting, nerve-wracking experience. Thankful to have good options, but it will really come down to final cost of attendance. So far rec’d very generous academic money, but am now waiting on dance scholarships. Realizing that traveling from East Coast to either school will add to overall cost. Good luck to you!
How did you compile/research your top college lists? Other then a couple subjective blogs/websites I can’t find objective reviews and ratings based on real world metrics. For example, the experience/seniority of the staff, the quality of the facilities, the experience of the student body, the history of the program, post graduate opportunities, annual events, linkage to top productions etc. It’s hard to develop a list to explore comparable to a Divsion 1 athletic program.
@Dodger3 Mostly from talking to staff and students at ballet intensives (and to a lesser extent the ballet teachers at her studio). My D did intensives at Interlochen, ABT (at UNCSA) and Indiana during HS and the last in particular was very useful (it also allowed you to be exempted from the video prescreen and move directly to auditions). There were several Oklahoma ballet majors (pre and post freshman year) attending who were quite open about their opinion of rankings (including that Indiana was above Oklahoma) and talked to her about where they applied to and got in. I’d definitely recommend a program in summer of junior year of HS that is organized by a college, rather than ABT or a conservatory, if serious consideration is being given to doing a BFA. Look for ones where the students themselves are also participating.
But you can’t easily compare/rank across styles, since it depends what type of dance you are looking for (for example is Indiana better or worse than USC?). Whether you want pointe is a big factor. Do you want commercial dance (for example Chapman is known for dancers going down the street to Disneyland or doing music videos in LA)?
So looking at the style is critical, although that doesn’t mean limiting yourself to only four applications. I’d expect 8-10 (plus academic backups) to be about right to give a decent choice afterwards (my D had 6 admits from 11 dance applications). And then think about style and whether they train dancers for a professional career (if that’s the objective). So my D’s final decision (between Utah, Oklahoma and Fordham/Ailey) came down mostly to the style of dance, although location and cost were also important considerations (happily Utah won on all three). She ruled out the other three (UCSB, UCI and UT Austin) because she felt none of them were as professionally oriented.
I agree- it is hard. In addition to visiting each campus- we have compared curriculum requirements (per school websites), read bios on current faculty, compared alumnae success stories (again from each school’s own website), and read a ton of web articles naming “the top schools for dance”- which almost always named the same ten or schools. What we would love to know is the rates of employment in the dance field upon graduation.
@Dodger3 since my daughter was focused on classical ballet, I was able to use Ballet Talk for Dancers as a rich resource for research. Like others, we also talked to other dancers (from her school, SIs, etc.), other parents, and her teachers. We did a lot of digging around on school websites to see what was offered, how often students had pointe, performance opportunities, etc. When it comes down to it, there are very few schools offering ballet-focused programs, so however you rank them, there aren’t that many to consider. Utah, IU, Butler, and I think OU all offer summer programs so a dancer good get a sense of a program’s facilities, professors, etc. that way.
Cheering inside that it’s almost March! Let’s get through this month dance mommas, almost there!
DD and I have remarked more than once how glad we both are to not be going through the whole audition process and how stressful it all was! Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear decisions so you can make YOUR decisions!
Are anyone’s dancers auditioning at Juilliard starting tomorrow?
Thank you. Great insight. It’s appeara Ballet has more mature programs that are easier to rank. My daughter is more focused on contemporary and jazz. Ballet is important to her, but a solid 3rd. I wish there was a formal way to rank them, such as by the NCAA so it was much more objective. I still feel like we are going off a couple blogs or dance magazine articles to compile our list. We all know those are biased and tied to ad revenue.
I see what you’re saying. Even rankings might not be helpful, given dance is an art and a much more subjective pursuit. Keep reading this forum and see where others have auditioned and why. It will help steer you I think.
Anyone else feel like the month of March is already dragging? :))
@Undercovermom1 yessssss ?? I made my daughter check her portals today before school just because and she rolled her eyes at me the entire time. I guess I have more anxiety than she does!
@grit2018 , would love to learn more about what your daughter loves about PPU dance program. Is she a freshman? What does she wish was different? Feedback on performance opportunities? Is she pursuing BA or BFA and what concentration has she selected. How are the academics? We were impressed with the dance facilities when we tour fall of her junior year but not so much about other aspects of the university experience (classrooms, student space, housing, cafeteria). My daughter was accepted tp PPU back in early December and if she attends she would opt for the BFA Jazz track. She auditioned at PACE in December, obviously with no news yet, albeit not expecting to get in but happy to have another audition experience. She also auditioned for Chapman’s program in early January although she applied early action and we are anxiously awaiting their decision in mid-March as it is her first choice. PPU is second choice knowing Pace will be a No Go. If she gets in Chapman we will need to consider the cost differential as have twins headed off to college. Sorry for the details as I can’t send a PM to yet since I’m new to site.
Good luck to everyone who is still waiting and those who are in decision making process.
My daughter is a freshman - BFA majoring in modern. All dancers take jazz (4 days) ballet (5 days) and modern (4 days) regardless of their major The BA and BFA tracks start off similar and are treated equally unlike other programs were BA students are viewed less seriously or looked down upon by bfa students. My daughter liked that in case she wanted to switch over and double major. She loves the dance faculty, facilities, and conservatory rigor. She wanted an urban campus and likes the design and compact nature of PPU. She enjoys the size of the program because she is meeting so many dancers from all over he country with unique styles and personalities. She loves the artsy city of Pittsburgh and enjoys exploring its many nooks and crannies. it is an easy city to navigate and there is much diversity in available activities. As artists and athletes she and her friends are quite busy. There are many performance opportunities but you need to audition for all and it is competitive so you could never be casted, as is true in life after college. On the plus side you practice auditioning and get better accepting rejection lol. My daughter has not complained about academics or dorms. She made the deans list last semester and is in the honors program. She is in Lawrence and has her own bathroom which she appreciates. There is no a/c and WiFi isn’t great but she doesn’t complain. Her main focus has always been the dance training and urban location (& cost) were her top decision filters. (Additionally she cannot do pointe due to an injury). The social life is very different from a traditional college. There is no rah rah and no fraternity parties and my daughter says no drugs although sometimes they drink. She is quite happy though because her focus is on the dancing and she likes the conservatory community. Her friends report very different experiences as non dancers. The only thing she really doesn’t like is the food. The cafeteria is terrible despite continued claims they will improve it. If you can visit these programs to see a show do it because it helped us also to make decisions. Good luck to everyone!!!
With regards to how to researching programs I agree with the others - speak to everyone you can - visit programs,ask questions,email people,drill down on websites ,compare and contrast based upon what your criteria is. Honestly the choice of which college is never absolute and can only be a guesstimate based upon what information you can find and what your options are. Make your best selection based upon your gut. Good luck!!