@ua1992 congratulations!
@crashboat Yes, Sam Houston is actually a medium sized state school with about 20,000-22,000 students. They had a great football season this year and play in a conference similar to Big 12 - actually play some of those schools early season). There are tons of traditions there during the fall and the dancers have time to do some of them for sure. There is sorority and fraternity life, honors, plenty of student clubs etc (I think over 250). Like I said there is also a dance Greek honor organization and they do quite a few activities: have Bigs/Littles, teach Dance Sat mornings to special needs kids, host a weekend high school dance intensive fall & spring where they teach all the master classes, do community outreach and food drive, host a student choreography show every semester, and more.
The dance department also has a house where they host a Nutcracker where each room is an experience from various scenes of the Nutcracker and the dancers decorate and perform I the various rooms. It is also an annual fundraiser for scholarships etc. Something happened to the planning process last summer and they did not do it this year for the first time in many years I guess but they are already talking about making sure it happens next year.
Every Wednesday on the quad most organizations have booths set up to promote some activity or another. And the student affairs & activities department are constantly posting about things happening on campus.
Hopefully that answers some of your questions. Let me know if there are more!
@NavigatingMom would you mind sharing the form you used to compare programs?
@brightwriter I posted a message with the links to a folder but it has been flagged for moderation. I am hoping they will let it post in case it is useful to anyone else as well.
Someone asked about Ball State and I just “re-found” my notes from last year so thought I would share.
Ball State. We both LOVED the campus! Absolutely fabulous! And I will tell you about the feeling of the dance department because that is what was most impressive to both of us. My D wanted Ball State to be her #1 pick because she wanted that big school feel in the midwest and loved so many things about it there. When we went, it was the polar vortex so the campus tour was cancelled and we put a call in to the dance dept asking if there were any current majors that would show us the dorm with the dance floor and rooms and then talk to us on the day before the audition.
Two students called us and were absolutely incredible to spend time with us and show us around and then just sit with us in their dorm lobby and give us insight to the program and life of a dancer there. The dorm that has a dance floor is a pretty standard dorm and rooms are not too small. Bathrooms are communal but the step was great with individual toilet / shower rooms and open sink areas. Sort of the best of both worlds because the cleaning was done for them but they could have a small room to themselves to use toilet or shower. The atmosphere in the dorm was fun and because many dancers lived there we ended up meeting many as they were coming through the lobby or the girls we were with would call/text them to join us and give insight. We got about 3 hours of their time which was so fun and informative. All the dancers we met that day and also at the audition were very down-to-earth. open, friendly, and great at cheering each other on and seeing what others were great at and accepting of each other. No matter what question we asked, all of the students constantly answered by edifying the faculty or each other in some way. It was very refreshing. And that must be an atmosphere that is created there.
The audition started with a small performance of a modern number they were taking to NYC and then the dancers went in to the studio. They did ballet, modern/contemporary, jazz, an african of some sort, and tap for those who could. Then they did their solos and a small interview in numerical order. During that time, the parents went on a tour, and did a Q & A with department chair and a couple of students. Again, the chair was incredibly proud of their students and took every opportunity to give them credit for things that they were doing and use them as examples to answer questions. It also showed how much interest and care they have in every student to know them all well enough to use them to answer the questions. That supportive environment was something that was important to my D as well as myself so we really did love the people and environment as well as the campus.
For Ball State, results were emailed for acceptance and scholarship information was to be sent at a later date after acceptance was confirmed.
Not to add another one to anyone’s list but I truly think another hidden gem is in Troy, Alabama at Troy University. Here are my notes from last year. They continue to take applications year round.
Troy. I did not want to like it honestly and went with an attitude that they would really have to prove themselves for me to be supportive of my D going there. We are not from the south and lived in GA because of a military move which was why we really heard of Troy. Also, they have great academics and support for military but I had no idea about the dance. We met a dancer that was a freshman there at a convention who we just adored and really picked her brains about the program, etc. That was enough (plus seeing her dance) for me to want to look into it.
When we went, we saw a show that was entirely choreographed by students that was pretty incredible. And the technique of every dancer to the last one was impressive. I loved the campus and the dorms (single rooms, full size beds, etc). The money was really awesome as well. Opportunity wise - they offer really incredible things to their students. The students that work in a job for the school are given a title and responsibility that gives them a very impressive resume right out of school. From being an admission recruiter and coordinator for the dance department as a Sophomore to working with a dean to managing the ticket office, etc. They really respect the talents of their students and use them as a resource if they are wanting to work.
The faculty was very understanding of the parental “fear” of having an arts degree and really reassuring that they make sure there students are ready and well placed. the atmosphere is very encouraging and the dancers seemed to be a close knit group. About 100-110 of them total I believe. They do all genres and their technique instruction is great (check out the bios of the instructors). The other thing that really impressed both my D and myself was the confidence of the dancers - they spoke openly about no worries for future employment. Most had plans and were working towards them already as sophomores and they were very confident in the connections they would have coming out of Troy.
There is the international study as well as NYC option open to dancers as well. Many dancers said that the department will take them to auditions for various things from gigs to movie sets - many had ongoing gigs from auditions done and would make an extra $400-500 working those when they had time. Many also teach classes locally and can do master classes I guess with a couple of the studios who like to use them.
SO - Troy was a top choice for my D because they do ALL genres even though she had options of some of the big name schools that everyone thinks they want to go to.
As far as the audition for Troy: There is quite the package of information to submit prior to the audition so get started right way if you haven’t already! At the actual audition, they did ballet and contemporary and jazz and tap. It was all taught like a class with current students demo-ing. They did solos after ward one at a time with an interview (while out of breath from solo LOL) immediately following. They were very gracious during the interview. Results were physically mailed with scholarship offer included.
Where did your daughter end up going for dance?