Google “resume” “BFA Musical Theater” or “BFA Acting” (or just “BFA”) and the name of the school you’re interested in.
Google will bring up a ton of resumes from actors’ websites, which list the name of their school under “training.” You can look at their resumes to see what alumni of the program have been doing since they graduated!
Good idea @actorparent!! I think seeing what students are doing after graduation is really important when deciding among schools.
When googling, remember, some programs like Northwestern, Baldwin Wallace, OCU and Belmont are not BFAs so you may have to google things other than BFA. Also, some students don’t make their resumes available online anywhere so you may not get a comprehensive look at what all alums are doing. So you may also want to check the school’s website and social media pages. Many will post about what their students are doing.
If you’re interested in OCU, you can check out this thread on CC: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/oklahoma-city-university-mt/1769345-where-are-alumni-working-p1.html It may not be completely accurate but it shares what I am aware of or what the school posts.
Some other schools may be keeping a CC specific thread about alums also so check the schools’ threads in which you are interested. Or if your school doesn’t already have a list on CC, help them out by starting one! I think it’s info a lot of CCers are interested in!
@actorparent1 I was curious so I just googled NYU BM vocal performance
For starters, I was surprised that several resumes just listed shows—no dates, theatres or directors.
Second, many shows that were school productions/ showcases (even student run) were listed as New York productions.
I even saw some HS productions and showcases listed by students I know.
No one used dates.
I know for a fact that my D who has been working full time for the last 5+ years in casting, marketing and talent management could come up with a comparable theatre resume that would look like she’s been auditioning/ performing currently.
Based on what I saw, I would take posted resumes with a grain of salt as a way of measuring a program’s success. Especially since these theatrical resumes focus on performances, but do not reflect other means of employment.
There are many NYU BM VP graduates with current or recent Broadway credits that did not even come up on google.
M kid is working professionally and doesn’t have a resume online, as another example.
If you don’t find the information useful or interesting, don’t do the exercise. I never claimed that if you Google the resumes, you will see EVERY single person who ever went to that school, nor did I ever say that if resumes don’t come up, that means that the school has ZERO working professionals. I also never said that it’s the main criteria to use in judging a school.
For me personally, it was a useful exercise because I’d like to at least see that SOME alumni from the school have been cast in professional roles after graduating from the program. That’s all. Your mileage may vary.
I don’t know anything about vocal performance, but for acting and MT resumes, you DO list the theaters. You couldn’t get away with simply saying “New York.” So perhaps it’s not useful for vocal, but it is for acting and MT, IMO.
@uskoolfish , you say the resumes aren’t useful because they focus on performance and “not other means of employment.” Of course we know that performers have other means of employment. But my D is soecifically interested in if they’re getting cast and performing.
@uskoolfish I thought a similar thing while looking over the resumes posted on a college’s senior showcase website. I have known some of the participants since high school, several of them had high school shows listed on their resumes, listed in a way that did not make it clear that they were high school shows, and college shows Listed to appear as if they were not school related
@actorparent…for sure…it is one way to search, though not comprehensive. Many schools don’t publish such information and so look where you can!
Exactly, @soozievt . For example, UArts has hardly any info on its website about alumni. So Googling resumes and seeing UArts graduates with major roles was very helpful.
Even when a school does publish a list of noted alumni, it is not necessarily comprehensive. I just looked at Tisch Drama’s list of noted alumni, and off the top of my head, I can think of at least 10 of my D’s friends/classmates who have been on Broadway (including lead roles), that are not even listed. That doesn’t even include those working in other professional venues.
@toowonderful…I agree…some actors are fudging on their resumes…not making it clear it was a high school credit or not making it clear that it was a college production. Frankly, I’m not into the fudging thing. Also, I don’t think high school credits should be on the resume of someone who is out of college.
@soozievt - one thing I found very interesting was that different students would list the same show in different ways: some had it under “educational” productions, others under “regional” (this school does several productions a year off site). Since one assumes all these students will be handing out resumes to same people at showcase- one wonders if agents/casting directors will notice the discrepancy.
I often wonder what things should stay on the resume, and for how long. My D has removed all of her HS credits (she is a Jr. in college) but has a show that she was in during her HS years (community theater) because it was a specially commissioned world premier with a prominent NY creative team and had an associated Cast Album recording and a 54 Below concert event that resulted from it. Is that the type of thing that can stick around on her resume for longer without it being odd? She is fortunate to be building a great resume that doesn’t require “padding” so I wonder if she needs it, but it is a rather unique experience that she had, so my thought was to keep it on there.
@actorparent1 I did not say you can’t glean any info from searching resumes on line. As a matter of fact, I thought it was an interesting idea which is why I followed through using my D’s program as an example. D graduated with a BM degree in vocal performance with a concentration in Musical Theatre. It is a musical theatre degree with a lot of music classes. Graduates are auditioning for MT roles and their resumes are the same as those with a BFA.
What I did say on my previous post was that I’d take the resumes you might find with a grain of salt and use caution if trying to measure the success of a program by using them.
The resumes coming up were random and did not include any people from the program who are currently on Broadway or have been recently.
I was very surprised that of the dozen or more resumes I viewed, only two had dates on them. And some did not list theatres and directors. Several people listed student run productions that my own D produced while at NYU from 6 and 7 years ago under a heading called NY Theatre or NY Experience.
Without a true chronology of shows, one might assume that an actor was constantly working. Dates and an indication of what was a college or HS production would probably tell a different story.
Again, I responded to your post, not as a critique of your idea, but rather surprise at how padded and down right misleading the resumes were. But I would not consider it “an easy way to see what alumni are doing” as this implies that it is an accurate representation of what alumni are doing post- graduation and in reality it is very incomplete in most cases.
I would just ask the school; or, follow its social media accounts. But the best way is to call or email and ask what their recent alumni are doing.
I can’t speak for other schools but my daughter’s school (Michigan MT) has an Instagram which posts daily what alumni are up to and who is opening in what. It’s amazing!! I am sure other schools MT programs (or Acting) have an Instagram account that you can follow and see what alumni are up to. I love it - because whenever I worry about the field she has gone into - I look at the Instagram feed!
@singoutlouise that’s wonderful. BW puts the information on social media and their website. It’s thougher to find information on Purhase grads.
I help run the social media accounts (specifically facebook) for CCU and we have an “alumni” album on facebook that is always updated! I know a lot of schools do this on FB as well (because I follow them/copy ideas… 
)
To reply to myself - Rider definitely does it, Ball State and Texas State post about big openings/bookings often (all three of these schools have grads that just made Bway debuts in “Mean Girls”!)… just some that I know of.
Hartt has a FB page too. Not everyone posts their updates, but it does give an idea about what people are up to.
I follow a number of FB pages OCU does a lot of shout outs to their grads. I think that and Instagram are updated regularly as compared to websites.