<p>Good Morning!
It breaks my heart to see these posts gone. However, I did write that I cut and paste comments for my D to see. I asked for advice in dealing with her friends'/acquaintance making negative comments about their own college experiences, with the effect being she takes the schools off her list. Here are the responses from Susan, CoachC and theatermom. At least I rescued a few!!!
MTHeaded....your question brings up an important thing and it isn't even so much about BFA in MT programs but colleges in general. It is crucial that kids who are looking into colleges glean perspectives from SEVERAL current students, NOT just one. If you just hear from one unhappy camper and base opinions on that, you'd be doing yourself such a great disservice because each person who attends a program comes to it from their own perspectives. THEIR experience may very well not be YOURS if you were to attend. Rather, a prospective student needs to really explore a college....talk to several current students....also faculty....visit, do the tour, info. session, observe classes, do an overnight, see a show, etc. etc. etc. She even could read here and ask current students or their parents about programs she is interested in. Picking a college is about which one matches what YOU want in a school which may not be what the next kid wants. Just cause some other kid doesn't like it, doesn't mean you won't because you have different wants, needs, perspectives, etc. Make sure she visits, talks to MANY kids, BEFORE she rules out the school. If she is ruling it out with some sound reasons other than one kid said this or that about it, then that's fine. But she needs to look at many aspects of the school....the curriculum, the location ,the philosophy, and so on and so forth and truly articulate why it is either a good fit or not for her. Also, no school is necessarily perfect in every which way. She should fully research each one and then list the factors that she knows about it, pros/cons, etc. and it will become clearer. If someone has negative feedback about the program, she should check into that....ask three more students and then see if there is a pattern or just one unhappy kid. </p>
<p>You can relate this personal account.....the program that my D is currently attending....she knew many older students attending before she got there. Two of them had some negative comments, though balanced it with some positives but they were not 100% thrilled there. She talked to several more older friends attending who loved it immensely. At another program she visited, some students put down the program she eventually came to enroll at. Had she listened to the first two kids only, or put much creed into the put downs by kids attending another program about this program, she might not be there. However, she IS there and she LOVES it. She remarked several times after getting there that she can't figure out why those couple kids didn't like it because she loved it like the other older kids she knew there did, and that she sensed the other freshmen were also loving it...at least the ones she is friends with do. She did talk to lots of kids at every school but in the end, she followed her own heart and what she wanted and she certainly has found a very good fit and couldn't be happier. She recently returned for second semester and was chomping at the bit to get back, saying she loves it so much. In fact, she refers to it as "Cap Twenty Fun". So, to thy own self be true......share this with your daughter if you would like. And if she is looking into this program, feel free to have her contact my daughter and numerous happy campers that she knows there as well.</p>
<p>MTHeaded -</p>
<p>I'm not a "mom" of one theatre kid - but instead, I am an adoptive "MT mom" of many students over the years, whose experiences encompass 3/4 of the schools on the list here (including all of the MT "Ivies") - and I can say that NOT ONE of them has gone through all 4 years being 100% positive about his or her school!!! As we all know, these programs are tough - but even more relevant here, in college the students begin to realize that theatre is now a JOB, and so they have to tough our rehearsals when they want to be other places, are sick, etc. - they may have professors with whom they don't jive - they may have casting disappointments that bring them down - all of these things can negatively affect a student's outlook on a program for a time, as they settle into the more mundane, "adult" realities of their chosen career. I feel the very same things myself in my current grad program - I ABSOLUTELY love it (and it's my 3rd time in grad school, so I definitely know!), but there are days when I am burnt out and just want to quit! One of my very wise students who is an upperclassman at a top MT program calls such days his "anti-MT" days - well, he says this in a much more indelicate way, but you get the idea. And he LOVES his program, but he has several of these days a year, often when he's overextended from being involved in many projects. I'm not saying that your D's friends with complaints don't have valid ones - but as has been repeated often on this site, each student needs to make his or her OWN judgement of a program AFTER VISITING the school (if at all possible). I'd say only about 25% of my students end up with their initial "first choice" school remaining so throughout their audition process - and I am referring to students who get in to their initially-identified "top choice" but find a place they like even MORE along the way!</p>
<p>I don't know if this will help at all - but I hope it does! </p>
<p>Mtheaded, Susan makes a very good point in that neither parents nor kids should be forming opinions about any of these programs based on the reports of a single student. I'm not saying disregard it entirely, but just allow it to enter the vault of information you're gathering and take its place with all of the other tidbits you'll read and hear.</p>
<p>The reality is that at every one of the programs discussed here, just like at every college program in any discipline across the country, you will find both happy and unhappy students. Not everyone loves where they end up. This is reality. One of my Ds has a friend whose favorite school had always been OCU. She was on cloud nine when accepted, thought it was the perfect fit for her, was thrilled and excited when she left for Oklahoma City, and unfortunately, found that it was not the place for her. I could tell you stories similarly about many of the programs discussed here, including Tisch, where my D is. It happens.</p>
<p>There sometimes is no way to predict exactly how kids will love their school. The key is to gather as much information as possible from as many different sources as possible, to visit and tour, to speak to faculty, administrators, and current (and past students), to study the available curriculum (probably the most important item!) and learn what academic stats are required, research what type of shows the program puts on (and how many, what kinds, opportunities for tech work, directing, playwrighting, etc.), study faculty bios, find out what recent alumni are doing, look at internship opportunities, ask about master classes, industry events, showcases; and after weighing all those things, develop a generous list of schools which fit the criteria which you and your child have set for their college years. </p>
<p>This part of the process is long, involved, and time-consuming but if it's not done in a manner which involves much thought, chances of the student being happy and being in the appropriate program for THEM, are diminished. Many of us here have been through it, and we've survived but admittedly, it isn't always easy, especially when your partnered in the process with a sometimes emotional and stressed teenager. I think the key in trying to convince kids not to listen to a particular friend, exclusively, in this process is to ask them if they have agreed 100% with this friend in EVERYthing they've ever said/done. This is too important a decision to base it on one other person's opinion.</p>