<p>After much deliberation, D has narrowed down application list to below. Would like to get advice from those who are more in the know - given these facts:</p>
<ol>
<li> Primary, and at the core of the MT training must be the acting. Is also ok with a Acting degree that offers some coursework in Voice and Dance</li>
<li> Wants to be realistic given academic record - she has good but not awesome grades - a 4.1 weighted GPA got a 26 overall on the ACT - in top 15% of class - but given this, we didn't bother with many great schools. Ok to have a couple of reach schools academically, but didn't want to fill list with them</li>
<li> She feels like a program that has a cut system in place is not for her psychologically - not that she doesn't want to be evaluated and held to a high standard</li>
<li> She hates intense heat and humidity, so we've eliminated Texas, Florida, Louisiana, etc.<br></li>
<li> In general, drawn more to smaller schools than big state universities</li>
</ol>
<p>Is the list below somewhat balanced in terms of size/competitiveness/degree of importance of academics, etc. We are aware that she doesn't have a BA complete safety school. She has one BA that is a bit of an academic stretch (Muhlenberg) but where she has already interviewed for with a positive feeling, and one BA that isn't an academic stretch but that does require an audition and is competitive (University of Northern Colorado). Our feeling is that she has worked enough professionally, and already has an equity agent, etc. - that if she actually doesn't get into any of these 12 she would just try to figure out what went wrong, continue to work on her skills, and continue to audition, so we didn't put anything on the list that she wouldn't be thrilled to go to.</p>
<p>Given above - is below list balanced - is she overlooking something. Also - and I know this might be hard - does anyone feel like any of below don't put primacy on acting training. We've investigated or visited most of these schools, but there a few that are on the list because we feel like they have a good reputation and admit a slightly larger class size and therefor are slightly less competitive - but we are not clear on the quality of the acting training.</p>
<p>-CMU
-Otterbein
-Ithaca
-Syracuse
-University of the Arts
-Muhlenberg
-CCM
-University of Northern Colorado
-Point Park
-Hartt
-NYU
-North Carolina School of the Arts</p>
<p>You have been very realistic about what your daughter wants out of a program, and the list reflects that. The only other question I might add is whether or not she would like to be primarily with other performing arts students all day (such as an arts school), or look for a program that is more diverse and has other majors that she would interact with. Also, have you looked at the program at Penn State- they do get a great acting foundation. Good luck!</p>
<p>takeitallin - that’s a really good point - and one we’ve thought about - but we had so many other factors that helped us narrow down that it didn’t seem like the right criteria to add at this point - but will definitely be when all the cards are on the table :)</p>
<p>All things being equal - she’d rather be in a school that is diverse. But, I have a feeling when we’re faced with the actual decision all things won’t be equal!</p>
<p>Regarding Penn State - the only reason we hesitated adding it to the list is that she’d like to stay away from super big schools - actually - rephrase - the most important part of that is that she wants to stay away from big schools where the liberal arts classes are of a very large size or taught by graduate students. I might be wrong, but my assumption with Penn State is that she would run into that. Please - anyone - educate me about Penn State - it’s not too late to change course!</p>
<p>Blueskies- I will ask my D that question. She transferred into Penn State’s program after many of her GE requirements were complete. She is taking a couple of liberal arts classes this semester, and several next also, and as far as I know has not had huge classes or grad students as instructors. She came from a conservatory, and really missed the diversity and academics of a university type setting. She loves the program at PSU, and feels that the acting element has laid the foundation for improvement in all areas. I will pass on any other info I can get from her.</p>
<p>Is your D going to audition at Muhlenberg? I would suggest doing it if you can. She could get a talent scholarship and it will probably help get her in to the school. My D did and she also interviewed with admissions. I highly suggest it if at all possible. My D wound up at Syracuse so if you have any questions please let me know. Good luck!</p>
<p>Blueskies - As I look closer - there are 4 schools on your list not on ours
So our list was :
-CMU
-Otterbein
-Ithaca
-University of the Arts
-CCM
-University of Northern Colorado
-Point Park
-Hartt</p>
<p>We also had OCU, Texas State, U Mich, Penn State - the large schools and humid conditions your daughter was less interested in!!
Did not do:
-Muhlenberg
-North Carolina School of the Arts
-Syracuse and NYU were very close to being on our final list.
We just looked at each program, the school, location and she did a lot of research and communicated with current students. Also a lot of perusing on College Confidential. We also tried to find a number of programs that were more affordable. We were also limited to some extent as we only looked at schools that went to the Unifieds (except OCU); we only made 1 mainland trip for the auditions.
She ended up at the University of Northern Colorado - a school that went from the bottom of her list (she really wanted to go to the east coast) to the top once we reviewed her acceptances and got more information about each program. She is very happy there and getting ready for a cold winter!!</p>
<p>Not sure what you consider a super big school, but UC/CCM is 43,000 this year. Not sure who is teaching the classes but I know there are some large ones.</p>
<p>Regarding the question about Penn State - I’m not in musical theater but I do go to PSU and it depends. If your gen ed course is smaller, there is a good chance it will be taught by an actual professor. But you do have the chance of landing in a huge lecture hall of 300 with a graduate student who makes a Power Point for the lecture and only reads off the Power Point the whole class. It is big but I (mostly) enjoy it.</p>
<p>When auditioning at Muhlenberg, make sure to also interview with admissions. The interview can have a significantly positive influence on the admissions process because of Muhlenberg’s holistic approach. When my daughter auditioned at Muhlenberg, she was strongly urged by Charles Richter (director of theatre) to also interview.</p>
<p>thanks MichaelNKat - yes, she already interviewed with admissions when she visited there in April, and she is going to do so again when we go for audition.</p>