<p>paying3, you've hit the nail on the head with your question about Dramatic Lit and Cinema Studies kids getting performance time at NYU. Only Tisch drama majors are cast in Tisch shows. Dramatic Lit and Cinema Studies are two separate programs, and neither one will provide the same type of practical acting classes that Drama majors will take. They will not share classes with Tisch Drama majors. There are a few, and I mean few, acting related classes in the CAS Dramatic Lit program but they are very basic and the bulk of the curriculum is, as it should be, focussed on theoretical studies as well as literature. Onstage performance opportunities would be at an extra-curricular level only, though, in all likelihood, through clubs.</p>
<p>I think the OP's D has to spend some time truly thinking about what her top priority will be, and if it's not theatre, then NYU is probably not the best choice for her. If, however, it is theatre, then she could certainly audition for Tisch and, like many other Tischies, do a double major, or minor, in CAS.</p>
<p>JHS is correct that there is no tried and true path to a career in theatre. There are no guarantees that come with a BFA, nor any other route that so many kids take. When you have a profession where it's likely that 95% of 'workers' are unemployed at any given time, it's pretty obvious that there's no guarantee. Each student needs to research the difference between the various schools they're interested in and find the one that suits their needs best. There is such a variety in the different options between two year conservatory, four year conservatory, BFA conservatory with a good amount of liberal arts or the opportunity to double major(like NYU), BFA with limited electives, BA. For a professional life onstage, though, excellent training and connections (and a little luck) are probably the most important factors.</p>
<p>When students are interested in a specialized major in which fewer students choose to major, larger universities are the environments most likely to offer the kinds of academic resources that best support student interest ... meaning, a variety of course offerings and the ability to attract the best faculty to a department which has other strong colleagues. The best academicians rarely want to be the sole faculty member (or one of a very few) with their academic expertise at a college, regardless of how strong its academic repuation is. Many of the postings in this thread are far off the mark in their recommendations. For majors like linguistics, it is not a question of which top-notch schools offer linguistics courses ... but a matter of which schools offer top-notch linguistics departments. Many of the best schools mentioned in this thread are therefore not appropriate choices. The best linguistics choices often include unexpected names ... the top-ranked programs usually include MIT and UPenn, but also UCLA and UMass Amherst. If a small LAC is important, then choosing one of the schools in the Five College consortium (Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire) would allow access to one of the best linguistics programs in the country. The "usual suspects" work for most majors, but for specialized majors, one needs to have a different perspective in selecting appropriate schools.</p>
<p>My personal perspective is that linguistics is the more practical of this student's academic interests, the one more likely to offer a viable professional life. (After all, how many students involved in theater end up becoming famous and making a career of their interest?) Given that, the academic offerings in linguistics become even more important.</p>
<p>SUNY Stony Brook does offer a linguistics major for those with money as an issue. I'm sure it does not compare with the stellar programs mentioned in the above post. </p>
<p>I do know two professors from the department well, and it seems to be an active program. I also know a young woman from Stony Brook honors program who majored in linguistics. She has pursued a masters to teach ESL.</p>
<p>1) (Others have mentioned this.) You need not major in linguistics to go to grad school in linguistics.</p>
<p>2) My understanding is that for many (most?) undergraduate linguistics programs, many (most?) students do not intend to go on to grad school in linguistics. They go to law school or any of a number of other good choices.</p>
<p>Seashore, you are right. One doesn't even have to major in linguistics to go to grad school for linguistics. If one wants to study linguistics as an undergrad, it need not be the BEST linguistics department because they can strive for that for grad school. As I mentioned, my sister in law has been a linguistics professor with tenure, and she got her PhD in linguistics at Berkeley, a TOP program, but did not major in it as an undergrad (went to Williams). </p>
<p>Considering the OP's D wants both linguistics and theater, the key would be to find a school where she can do both. She also wants an East Coast city. That is why the list I wrote in post #8 includes the schools that it does. Penn was on that list. MIT was not because it would not give her adequate theater opportunities. </p>
<p>I disagree with a post suggesting to choose the more "practical" of the two majors. I think the student should choose a school where she could potentially study both theater and linguistics and then see what develops. While lots of people discourage majors in the arts, I do not feel that way at all. I have a child majoring in theater and am totally comfortable with her choice, knowing full well the difficulties of that field. But she will have a college degree and I believe will work in SOME capacity in her field or related to it. The OP's D is looking for a liberal arts education. She could do a BA in theater and linguistics and eventually decide whether to get an MFA in theater or a doctorate in linguistics or something else entirely. I see no reason this girl should give up theater to go to a school that is only good for linguisitcs.</p>
<p>I am not suggesting that brooklynmom's child give up theater for linguistics, but rather that she be able to pursue two VIABLE options. The responses to this thread seem geared towards getting the most high-powered opportunities in theater, so why not do the same for linguistics? If she has a genuine interest in linguistics, why defer that interest and say it can wait until grad school? Why compromise on one interest but not the other?</p>
<p>For example, paying3tuitions indicated that her child had attended Amherst College and had lots of good theater experiences there, which may be due in part to Amherst's participation in the Five College Consortium, where students can participate in theater activities at all five colleges. At Amherst (or the other colleges in the consortium), a student could do both theater and linguistics, taking courses at UMass Amherst's nationally ranked linguistics program. Why settle for one when you could do both?</p>
<p>Going to one of the schools in the five college consortium IS a good idea for the OP's daughter. She had originally said she wanted an East Coast CITY and thus the suggested schools, at least in my post, took that criteria into consideration. The mom even said she wants to be in a MAJOR city. There are certainly good opportunities in both theater and linguistics in the five college system. I recommend these schools to various students depending on their college criteria. My own child was admitted to Smith and liked it very much but ended up choosing another college.</p>
<p>I'm not quite a parent, but I'll add my two cents anyway:</p>
<p>calmom has hit the nail on the head (many times!). As a linguistics person myself, I know one thing: you have to really love the material, because beyond the introductory classes, linguistics is no fluff major. The coursework can get pretty intense, as you start to get heavy into syntactic theories and sociolinguistic hypotheses and such. So you really do have to be fascinated by language to get through it. I'd highly recommend getting an introductory linguistics book just to get a taste of what the field is. I remember being really into psychology, but when I took AP psych, I ended up deciding that psych wasn't the path I wanted to take (too much damn theory). Here's what Amazon offers, if you'd like to do this:</p>
<p>You can also look into the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (the online pdf, available through a torrent if you search it -- way too expensive otherwise); it helped me to reaffirm my desire to major in linguistics.</p>
<p>Berkeley does have one of the best linguistics programs. (That's truth + I'm biased.) Here's the (pretty good) NRC ranking:</p>
<p>I personally think I'm going to go into computational linguistics. Your daughter might even be able to apply linguistics to theater (example: someone adept in regional dialects helps actors make their characters more real, by training him/her in an accent of some sort).</p>
<p>I would look very carefully at the requirements for a BFA from Tisch and what electives are available to craft a double major. My son was interested in a double major with music (Steinhart) and physics or linguistics. The BFA took up virtually all classes making a double major impossible (at least in 4-5 years). We were also disappointed that our tour guide (a double major in Tisch and history, I believe) made it a point of saying how easy it was to double major at NYU. But, what he meant was that with some AP history credits and using Tisch classes to fulfill parts of his history major he could get enough credits to claim a history major (without having to actually study too many history classes). My son decided that that was not his idea of a double major and crossed NYU off his list.</p>
<p>It is difficult to double major with a BFA at Tisch and another major in CAS. Some have done it. I even think I know the boy who was your tour guide. AlwaysAMom's D has done it, too. But I DO think it is more plausible to do a BFA with a minor in CAS and many have done that. The OP's daughter was talking of possibly majoring in one area and minoring in another. At NYU, if she studies theater, then theater would have to be the major and linguistics the minor as she can't do vice versa. She may be best off in a BA school, however. Perhaps she could look into Penn or some other schools I posted early in this thread? Haven't heard back from the OP here. The OP's D really needs to think through, however, whether she wants a BA or a BFA in theater (BU and NYU are the latter). Those theater degrees are NOT like a BA in theater.</p>
<p>Thanks for the list KyleDavid 80. My D wanted to study Linguistics without going to the east or west coast. She's heading to Ohio State in the fall. :)</p>
<p>OSU has 27 different undergraduate and graduate courses in Linguistics this fall with 3 Honors versions in addition. There are a total of 48 sections and I didn't include Research or Honors Research. OSU is on a quarter system so this is one-third of the academic year's offerings.</p>
<p>OSU has 60 different undergraduate and graduate courses in the Theater department this fall! Not including the independent research, there are 130 sections. wow. I had no idea it was such a big department.</p>
<p>I know the OP wants the East Coast but I include this info for future CC'ers who are searching for Linguistics or Theater information. The Honors and Scholars Program at OSU has a total of about 1200 freshmen in their various schools (Arts & Sciences, Business, Engineering, Fine Arts, Nursing, etc).</p>
<p>MaryTN, when my daughter was looking for colleges with good Slavic languages programs, I made a list of the "best" colleges based on my looking at course offerings and size of faculty. Ohio State was near the top of the list. I was amazed at the offerings....but my d. was not interested, so I have merely chalked it up for reference. But yes -- Ohio looks like it has wonderful offerings and your daughter is wise to go there.</p>
<p>Kyle, what is your overall idea here? Do you want to become a theater manager or producer? Do you feel as though theater will always be your hobby outside of work, meanwhile you'd like to earn a steady living? For the first idea, I'd be searching for an integrated program where there are courses in things like "Theater Management" or "NonProfits Organizations" that let you learn about producing or managing a company.
If it's the second idea, you could just pick those two as your major and minor, and think your own thoughts...no integration necessary between the two departments at all.</p>
<p>Also be on the lookout for a college where you might be close to some theater management internship opportunities during the college terms, or in summers in-between. </p>
<p>You can look on some college websites for the course catalogue; check that it lists those two departments. Check if you can minor in Theater, since some college theater departments only allow majors; otherwise, you're welcome to take individual courses as long as they aren't filled up by majors...each college differs that way, so check. </p>
<p>What part of the country is possible for you to consider, and do you think your SAT's might let you compete for a spot in a top-50 college or unis...or will you be looking for a lower tier school with the majors you've just mentioned?</p>
<p>I think it's very smart to minor in theater, and bring in some real business skills to help a brand new company get started. There are exciting new theater groups all over NYC. In addition to figuring out what to produce and whom to cast, they have to figure out how to make a profit on their modest off-off-Broadway show. So they have to determine where to rent a theater, how much to set the ticket fee, how to fundraise, where and how much to advertise. Those are all business decisions.
They key word in your post above is "love", "I would love to be in the entertainment business someday." It seems to me that if you enjoy the business you choose, you'll do it with enthusiasm and always be motivated to give your best. If that's more interesting to you than selling widgets, I agree with you.</p>
<p>As a quick start, why not look on the website at Ithaca College. Look at their new "Interdisciplinary Major" as well as their Business School and Roy Parks School of Communication for theater program. Write to their dean of Interdisciplinary studies and see if you'd be able to take from both of those departments.</p>
<p>I also thought of Rutgers, since there's a theater school there but it's a BFA in production/stage management so you'd have to ask there if they'd let you minor in theater somehow.</p>
<p>Here's a different approach: MAJOR in theater production/management, and minor in business. Then get a masters degree in business (MBA) with the focus on managing nonprofit organizations.</p>
<p>Next post, I'm going to look up for some nonprofit organization managemetn programs...</p>
<p>How's about Emerson College in Boston. Look at their "Marketing and Communication" program. They have other programs in the same college in Theater. </p>
<p>What you want to research very carefully, even by emailing the adcoms or departments if necessary, is whether you can take both departments; and whether you can minor there or have to major only.</p>
<p>Other than that, you're really just taking enough courses to satisfy one department as a major. After that, the minor is a choice, not a requirement. Some people just take plenty of courses rather than minor in something.</p>
<p>I looked quickly at Rutgers for you, but bumped into a B.F.A> in stage management. That's a huge time commitment. If there were just a BA where you could take some theater without such a major commitment now, it might suit you better. BFA is kind of like a music conservatory and gobbles nearly all your time and attention. That'd only be right if you wanted to sneak in a few business courses on the side...doesn't sound like you. </p>
<p>Also, I'm sure you'll enjoy being in stage productions while you're in college. My kids act but I know they were always needful of stage managers for every college production.</p>
<p>Consider contacting SoozieVT by PM, since she knows everything imaginable about college theater departments. Also scour these sites: Musical Theater Major and Arts Major, just to get the feeling of them. </p>
<p>I'll stop making suggestions now, since I really only know a bit about Theater departments. I'd be very eager for someone who can advise on Business majors to chime in.</p>
<p>Try this link.. it tells more about Ithaca when you click onto New York. They have a more integrated program than what I suggested, called Theater Arts Management.</p>
<p>Also look at the other states.</p>
<p>Just avoid the "distance learning" listings since you want to go to college, not stay at home to learn, right... </p>
<p>I'll print the link, then break it up into chunks because I'm not sure it's reporducing fully here:</p>