Did you prioritize the theatre dept when visiting schools?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>We live in Wisconsin and are hoping to come east in March to do some college visits. Probably we will focus on the NY/NJ/PA area. My D is a junior and pretty sure she wants to be a theatre major, probably not at a conservatory, but perhaps as a BFA (she'll also have schools that don't require auditions on her list). I'm wondering what you experienced folks think about college visits when theatre is the goal, and how we can maximize our trip's effectiveness.</p>

<p>We've visited a number of colleges by now, so we all know the general deal (we have an older D who is a jr in college). When we were in Boston we visited BU, and to save time and energy, my D chose just to visit the Theatre Dept. She was really glad she did; even though the only person we talked to was a 1st year BFA student, hearing about her experience getting in and being there was like eating whipped cream for my D. Although my H and I felt we hadn't heard nearly enough "regular" info about the school, my D felt perfectly satisfied. We drove around campus, and she knows she can learn a lot of basic facts from the internet.</p>

<p>I know everyone has their own way of getting a school's vibe, whether it's meeting professors, or sitting in the student union watching people interact, or attending a class. I guess this is my daughter's best way - meeting someone she feels is "like her" and finding out what their experience is. </p>

<p>What advice does anyone have about planning our trip? The schools I'm imagining we might consider looking at are:</p>

<p>SUNY Purchase
Manhattanville
Sarah Lawrence
NYU
Drew
Muhlenberg
U Arts
Adelphi and Wagner might be worth checking out, too. She's got about a 3.6, great ECs (like most theatre/music kids), and OK tests (she'd love to go test-optional).</p>

<p>Suggestions welcome!</p>

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<p>^^How much time do you have? She’s a junior, so you should have a lot. Good! Start with the very top of the Theatre/Drams Majors Forum. Access the 12 part Archived Threads started years ago by CollegeMom. It is the smartest thing you can do. Don’t let it overwhelm you; quit when you’ve read enough for one day, then come back the next day. It took me 3 weeks to get through it! But worth its weight in gold. Because of what my daughter and I learned in this forum, she is already accepted in a BFA program (applied and auditioned Early Action), and will be doing the rest of her auditions in the coming three to four weeks. We’re happy and at peace because of all we learned right here on this forum. So dig in, and don’t let up until you feel confident that you know everything you need to know to select the right theatre programs for her, as well as everything there is to know about auditioning. There’s soooooo much to learn. Good luck!</p>

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<p>EmmyBet – I recommend looking into test prep for your daughter. A lot of schools use test scores to determine eligibility for merit scholarships. A $1000 investment in test prep can yield many times that in renewable scholarship money. If you are considering Adelphi which is a fine school with a brand new performing arts facility, I would also urge you to consider Hofstra which is nearby and also offers a BFA in Acting. Hofstra doesn’t require its students to audition until the end of the freshman year when they are more familiar with the program and are in a better position to gauge whether a BFA is best route for them. I might also suggest adding Fordham, Pace and Marymount Manhattan to your list of NYC schools. Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>When my D was looking at colleges 4 years ago, we made a point of trying to see a production on campus whenever possible – it made a big difference in her eventual decision; she is now a senior at Syracuse. And definitely take the time to visit and talk to students in the theater department if at all possible. Particularly if she is accepted into a BFA program, she will not be spending much time in other areas of the campus – my daughter was in the theater building 95% of the time.<br>
By the way – when you come east, you might consider adding Syracuse to your list. It’s a wonderful program; you seem to be looking at schools closer to NYC, but during the final semester at Syracuse, theater students actually move into NYC and study there with professionals who are affiliated with the university.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the help, everyone.</p>

<p>We’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking, and we’re certainly going to broaden our list beyond this trip. I think she should look at Syracuse, too. She likes all kinds of schools - finds CMU and BU very exciting, bigger and in the city, but also liked Bard, Vassar and Lawrence as BA possibilities. </p>

<p>I’m thinking if she keeps wanting to talk pretty exclusively to theatre folks and is willing to have just cursory looks at the rest of the place, she’s indicating that she’s one of those kinds of theatre kids, the eat-sleep-breathe types. And that’s fine. It’s a little hard as a parent, since the acceptances seem very elusive, and I’d like to know she can be at a school where she could have a backup plan. She herself is reluctant to look at too many pure conservatories, or schools like Pace that aren’t as academic, don’t have quite the full spectrum of majors if the theatre plan doesn’t work out.</p>

<p>But she’ll have a varied list, like everyone who’s looking at this field. I’m just trying to respect her. She is doing her homework, is trying to be in every production she can, see all the theatre she can, is already looking at monologues, coaching, talking to people. As for test prep, she adamantly does NOT want to do a class. We have a friend who’s an experienced test tutor, and she’ll do a few sessions with her, before either her 1st ACT, or 2nd, depending on how nervous about it she is. I think she’s hoping she’ll get an adequate score the first time, and apply mostly to schools that don’t care; honestly her scores will probably be pretty much in line with her GPA, mid-high 20s, 600s SAT. But I’m having to leave that ball in her corner. As with most kids, she’s less invested in things if I micromanage. She’ll be a lot more proud of herself if she’s made it happen. </p>

<p>As many good parents have advised, I’ll be the travel manager and cheerleader, as needed. I appreciate the advice on how to be a cheerleader in this process, one I’m not so familiar with. My H and I had a million questions and were so frustrated at the BU theatre info session, and she came out saying it was the most helpful thing she’d ever been to. And so it should be - it’s her education and her life!</p>

<p>Thanks for the moral support. It’s so helpful to read and hear about others’ journeys.</p>

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<p>SUNY Purchase is a more of a conservatory type program that requires an audition.</p>

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<p>I’ll clarify: She’s perfectly happy to audition, and her first choice schools are all auditioned programs. She knows a lot of BAs (and even theatre minors) require an audition. What I meant by not being as interested in a “conservatory” program is that she’d rather do theatre within a university where there are all of the other academics available, and students who are working in them. Purchase seems to fit this criterion (another SUNY she likes is New Paltz). She’s less likely to want a school like Emerson or one of the music conservatories that offer theatre, than a college or university based program. She’s also less interested in ones like Pace, where most of the other majors are in things like business or health care. But nothing’s in stone yet.</p>

<p>She is, however, very curious about University of the Arts. I’ve read a lot here and she may want to give it a look. The suggestions to see college productions are excellent. She’s hoping to see some Broadway shows, too - we’ll see how much we can juggle!</p>

<p>Thanks again, everyone. My question still is: As parents, did you find yourself honing in on the details of the theatre dept and realizing what’s outside it becomes less important? Or did your student need to consider the “big picture” all the way through the process? It seems like with theatre, you have to take what you can get, that with the auditions and all you can’t really choose a “type” of school (location, size, public/private) like you can if your field of study is more wide open. So maybe the dept. is the most important aspect, and should be the priority in doing the visits? Yet you do have to spend 4 years of your life there. I know there are no magic answers, just looking for stories that will give us a picture of the experience.</p>

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<p>Everyone has different priorities; it does sound like your D wants a true university experience, with all of the variety of experiences that can offer. My D felt the same way, and was very happy with her choice to attend Syracuse. However, in retrospect, she participated in few of the other activities that school had to offer, because she was so busy with the BFA MT program. Classes all day till 5 pm, rehearsals till 11pm and also on the weekends; she was in the honors school and had plans to take many extra credits, but it was difficult to fit them in to her schedule. The reality is that for a BFA program, the department itself probably the most important thing to look at (along with financial aid), and will take precedence over location, size, public/private.</p>

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<p>Like onstage’s D, I went to Syracuse, and one of the things I liked about it when I was looking was that the university itself offered many varied opportunities outside of the drama department. However, like onstage’s D, I didn’t really end up taking advantage in most of those opportunities because I was so busy with classes and rehearsals in the department. I think I went to a few lectures… Elie Weisel, Dr. Ruth…, concerts, etc… but not many.</p>

<p>I now teach at a BA school with a pretty intensive program where the students are super involved in major and non-major classes during the day, rehearsals at night and on weekends (pretty similar to my experience at Syracuse – except more classes outside of the major), but they are also participate in other campus opportunities… a cappella groups, student ambassadors (tour guides), university choirs, improv groups, attend sporting events, etc… I think I COULD have found the time to participate in some of these kinds of opportunities while at Syracuse if I wanted to, but didn’t. The students I now teach seem to be choosing our program because they want strong training, but they also want to be in an environment where they can take advantage of some other opportunities on campus. As a result, I find that many prospective students coming to campus want to BOTH take the campus tour AND visit the department, talk to students, sit in on a class.</p>

<p>So, it really comes down to her priorities in terms of checking out schools and programs. </p>

<p>PS. I believe that Purchase is VERY conservatory based. Not sure how much time students have to take classes outside of the major.</p>

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<p>While my son is not a theater major, but a graphics design major, he is a student at SUNY New Paltz. They have a great theater dept…all I hear are raves about it. I can try and answer any questions you have about the school. The students are very down to earth and creative. He has grown as an artist since attending and finds the other students support each other’s creativity. He has had a number of free trips to NYC to go to the museums so I imagine the theater dept. must take advantage of the proximity to NYC as well.
Good luck in your search…I attended NYU many moons ago and had a good friend who was a theater major. Went to see a few of her productions. I was a transfer from Syracuse after 2 years, was not very happy there though, hence the transfer.
If I can be of any help, let me know.</p>

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<p>Thanks, everyone!</p>

<p>I think the “university is there” feeling is similar to the broader location feeling with any school. My older D goes to school just outside of Boston. She goes into the city maybe once a month, and can’t afford to do much of anything it has to offer - shopping, performances, museums, even at a discount - even if she had the time. But she loves knowing it’s there. At rural, isolated schools she feels completely stifled, even though the day-to-day experience is probably the same. </p>

<p>We’ll see what kind of list she comes up with for visiting, and what her priorities are. I’m willing to go with the flow, but I do want to make sure we get the information only a visit can provide.</p>

<p>These stories are great!</p>

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<p>We visited theater departments AND we took the larger school tours for each school we visited and I found that some of the info from the larger school was not even correct for the theater department. For example, some schools were obviously courting students who had not chosen a major yet and they made a point of the fact that students could double major, even outside of a school. Well, of course, that’s rarely true for a conservatory-like theater department. It can be confusing and you should double-check everything.</p>

<p>In almost all cases, for us, the larger school had a different feel than the theater department. In a conservatory-like program, like BU, seeing both mainly creates confusion because students don’t spend a lot of time in the larger school. But at schools with more balanced programs, like NYU, it is important to see what else is there.</p>

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<p>I am with Florida State University and I know for our prospective students it is essential for them to visit the department to get any kind of an impression of what the student experience is like in the BFA programs. Admissions and the Visitor’s Center are very good for general information, but they are serving more then 30,000 prospective students per year, so they really don’t focus on learning the specifics of the student experience for the twenty or so students who will ultimately enroll in Acting and Music Theatre. Nor do they understand the audition process for those specific programs. They are pretty good about referring questions to the department. I agree that department visits that include a show are a great way to explore what the institutions have to offer.</p>

<p>Michele</p>

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<p>Thank you both. We have had the same issue where the regular info session really didn’t meet our needs. BU recommended the same as Michele, that to do both sessions would be excessive, so do the theatre dept instead of the general. Definitely we take a look-see around the campus, too, so my D can get the general vibe. </p>

<p>This is very helpful, since we can only see 3-4, maybe 5 schools on our trip. She’s got a bunch of BA options already, where we’ve done the general tours, but learning the differences among theatre programs, plus assessing her personal reaction to them, will be essential.</p>

<p>We’ll do all we can, but if she now asks “Can we just do theatre like we did at BU?” I’ll be a lot more patient about it.</p>

<p>Any picky advice about what to ask in theatre dept info sessions will be gratefully accepted. We’ve been doing our homework, but I’m curious what makes or breaks a visit for people. I’ve appreciated being told to find out about how BAs/BFAs interact, or how undergrads and grads (if they have them) fit into casting, etc. She’s going to need to know just how many distribution requirements there are and how she feels about that. We’ve already talked about the idea of whether or when undergrads get cast in shows; I think she’s more interested in the coursework than being in productions. </p>

<p>We’ll also keep listening to the audition advice, and ask questions on those threads when that process starts. </p>

<p>Hurray for CC!</p>

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<p>Other things to ask about: does the school have a performance requirement? Is there a showcase for seniors, and is it available to all or by audition only? What kind of professional audition/business training is offered? Does the school offer any post-grad support to students? Does the school offer any special programs to students like semesters abroad or in NYC/LA?</p>