<p>Hey...I have been browsing the forum and have found it to be a great resource, so I just wanted to get a little feedback before I start heavily thinking about which school I am going to attend this fall. I have recently been accepted to the BFA programs at U of Evansville, SUNY Purchase, and UNCSA...and I just wanted to get different opinions on these schools. I have visited Evansville and fell in love with the campus, teachers, and students. I have yet to visit Purchase or N. Carolina but plan on doing so soon. Any sort of feedback or random info. that anyone could provide on these schools would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Allan, I think your decision will come down to a very personal decision, based on your own gut feelings/reactions when you visit each school physically, your logic (rational information about what each program offers you) and, if you are like most people, financial concerns.</p>
<p>Frankly, you really can't go wrong picking any of the three! Congratulations on your acceptances! </p>
<p>FWIW, during my D's summer precollege program (two years ago) at CMU, several teachers there raved about Evansville.</p>
<p>I got a call a little over a week ago telling me that I am accepted into the theatre conservatory and that my official letter of acceptance should arrive in the next few weeks</p>
<p>I think that when you are choosing between Evansville as opposed to other schools, the decision comes down to whether or not you are interested in attending grad school for theatre because I know that Evansville's placement for grad schools is AMAZING (with many of its students being accpeted into grad schools such as Juilliard, Yale, and ACT in San Francisco), but I'm not sure about their direct placement into the field solely because of its location, so I think your D should definitely take that into consideration.</p>
<p>Your first choice here is definitely between two very different philosophies of training. Do you think you're ready to go ahead with Masters level training? Do you have any ambitions towards screen acting and commercial? Do you want to study acting and very little else with the same intensity with which you'd swat at a fire atop your head for four years? If so, go with NCSA, Purchase or Rutgers. If you would rather study literature, history, philosophy, etc.; get a well-rounded theatre education; maybe double major or minor, spend a semester abroad; party like crazy; and save the finer points of training for grad school; go with Evansville knowing that you won't be starting in the biz until you're twenty-five at the youngest. </p>
<p>NCSA, Purchase and Rutgers have beucoup BFA graduates working in all levels of the business while I don't think I've ever seen a single actor from Evansville doing so without having gone to grad school first. There's more going on there than just location considerations. It's the difference between three to six hours per week in acting, voice and movement classes at Evansville versus thirty plus hours per week at the other three. That's not saying Evansville is bad. There are very good reasons they've earned their reputation and the training offered will definitely be excellent. It just won't be nearly as complete and that's by design as the very nice, wonderful man who is the chair of the department doesn't believe anyone is ready for that kind of training until they've already graduated college and wouldn't have the resources to offer it even if he did.</p>
<p>There's also a question of casting. At NCSA, Purchase, and to an extent at Rutgers, your roles during performance years will be assigned based on what the faculty thinks you need to work on. At Evansville, there's open casting by audition and a decent possibility of getting cast freshman year. Then there's also the possibility that you could go there for four years and not make the mainstage a single time. It's apparently happened. </p>
<p>Oh, and big congrats on those acceptances! VISIT!!!</p>
<p>Allan, once again I encourage you to visit all three schools. I have friends at those three schools and am at Purchase. Its such an individual system. Please let me know if you decide to visit Purchase. I got an email from Bill Poole today and am going to contact NC Arts tomorrow. Hopefully everything will work out.</p>
<p>If you dont have any friends at Evansville, I can hook you up with someone. Same goes with NCSA.</p>
Rami Malek went to Evansville and continued his studies at various LA studios instead of grad school. He’s good, too. Damn good. There’s another blonde chick who did the same and had a series regular on a short lived cop show though her name eludes me at the moment and there may be others. TV and film world, of course …</p>
<p>I have nothing but excellent things to say about Evansville. They apparently have an amazing program, and it is in my top 3 choices as well. I will give them this: If you want to go to college and still have time to experiment and see what you enjoy both academically and socially, Evansville is a GREAT choice, because you are receiving top notch training and attending a college with a high reputation for itself in theater. At the same time, you get the chance, if you choose, to study other things that interest you, go to the parties, and experience the full liberal arts environment. I don’t know AS MUCH about the other 2 schools, except they’re amazing lol. I can guess, at Purchase at least, you will have very little time to focus on anything except theater. I love the intensive programs, but at 17/18/19 years old, however old you are, being a freshman, I don’t know who would be mentally prepared to give their whole life up to theater just quite yet. I think Evansville is an amazing program for those who don’t just simply want to jump into their major and start their career, but want the full experience of college. That’s just my opinion.</p>