<p>Just wanted to share my excitement and enthusiasm for my daughter who was accepted into musical theater 2 today…one of only 3 freshman who got in. She is thrilled and I am relieved. We have been a little worried about her choice–she got into OCU BM musical theater program last year but we just felt we couldn’t afford it even with the scholarships she received, so she chose to attend UCI this fall. MT 1 was already full when she registered and she did not get into MT 2 in the fall quarter, so no voice training through the college first quarter. 
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<p>The program requires you to audition for each level of musical theater except level 1. A good friend of my D who is also in drama at UCI has never been accepted into MT2 and she graduates this winter–that girl has a beautiful voice, not sure what was holding her back–that was very unnerving. So today was a big happy celebration at our house 
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<p>My D was a production assistant for the Opera fall quarter to fulfill her units in technical theater and is now also considering double majoring in vocal performance, but she is really excited to be on the path toward the BFA MT program. Too soon to know what will happen there but we are celebrating the baby steps and successes along the way. </p>
<p>Last year, this forum was a tremendous help to us as she prepared for all her applications and auditions for college. I found it comforting when I saw other parents post about their child’s successes in their chosen program—so I am posting to say that UCI can be a good option for MT study. (She finally got her braces off a few weeks ago as well–so this may be her best month ever!!!) </p>
<p>Happy, happy day.</p>
<p>Yay for your D and her perseverance!!! And happy for mom’s relief. Whew.</p>
<p>CalMTMom - I am so happy for your talented D and wish her happiness and success in this program! What a great Christmas present.</p>
<p>Thanks classicalbk…you are in the audition process now right? Best of luck to you and your D</p>
<p>Showmom858, thanks for the words of support–it was a great Christmas present and a confidence boost for my D. So glad to hear about your D’s success at MM and hope she had a great time at the Thanksgiving day parade!</p>
<p>Keep me posted on her progress. So glad the college audition process is done!</p>
<p>Congrats to your D in moving one step closer to her goals. She’s on her way! Nice to read such happy news.</p>
<p>Thanks Soozievt.</p>
<p>One step closer is all we ask for. This is a very happy holiday for us here southern California. Thanks to all who post the progress of your kids and keep the hope alive.
Have a great Holiday season. :)</p>
<p>That’s wonderful news and certainly worth celebrating!</p>
<p>CalMTMom - we are starting to look pretty hard at UCI. We have a long ways to go (D is a freshman) but she’s strong academically & I think would like to keep one foot in the academic world, along with all of her arts training. Please keep us posted on the UCI program! It kind of seems like the best of all worlds to me - we are planning to go see some of their performances this year, I’d love to see one your D is in!</p>
<p>Thanks Gertrude. D is not yet in a production. It is VERY difficult for underclassmen to get cast in mainstage productions…especially freshman. But she is auditioning for things and hopefully, eventually she will get cast. The nice thing about UCI is that we are very close to many theaters in the area, and national tours also audition in LA so the opportunity is there for performers to get into shows outside of UCI as well.
She is enjoying the general ed classes as much as the major classes right now…finding them very challenging and very interesting. It is a great school.<br>
If D does get into a production at UCI, I will be sure to post :)</p>
<p>Thanks - that’s good to know too. We’ll continue to follow this board with interest!</p>
<p>How difficult is it to get the classes you want at UCI? I’ve heard conflicting information. Is every drama major admitted to MT1? What about dance classes? And voice? How busy are you with arts related activities? Is is necessary or advisable or even possible to take classes off campus? I love what I have seen of the program but am worried about what is realistically available. Oh, and can you survive here without a car? Any information would be very much appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Ok…you can survive without a car although my daughter has one to get to her vocal lessons which are off campus. If you live in dorms it is fairly easy without a car—if you live in apartments off-campus there is a strong bus system that serves the university. </p>
<p>All drama majors CAN take MT1 but it is very impacted and you have to register early. MY D did not get into MT1 fall quarter because it was already closed when she registered. She registered for MT1 second quarter but successfully auditioned into MT2 so that opened a space for someone else as she moved up without taking MT1. Chose a very early SPOP session for summer and you will have better luck getting in to your classes before things start filling up. You have to audition for each new level and it is competitive but you can retake MT1 4 times I think (they just changed it from 6 to 4 to give more students a chance to take the courses)
Dance classes are available for level 1 and 2 for non-dance majors through the dance department …you must audition at start of year to get into level 2. They have no auditions for higher level dance courses during the year so don’t miss it! If you want more advanced classes than level 2 non-major then you must declare a dance major…my D is considering doing this to get into higher level classes—many theater majors double major in drama and dance. The dance program is very highly regarded and a bit impacted. There is also a MT dance class (My D has been a little disappointed in this course as it is a beginning level and she has been dancing since age 5, but for inexperienced dancers it is very helpful–and in fairness the normal teacher is not teaching it this quarter)<br>
It is possible to take classes off campus -especially with a car-- OCC is very close and has a good dance and theater department as well. But drama majors must do production units at UCI before your junior year or they will not let you audition for parts in productions—these do take up a lot of clock hours, so be aware and schedule accordingly. Most students get these out of the way freshman year. It is kind of unfair that transfer students get to waive that requirement, so you end up paying lots of fees to help out backstage for shows–although there is definitely value in working on all aspects of production–it is basically a way for UCI to get manpower without paying for it:(
You can access almost all of the MT courses even if you don’t get into the BFA…MT4 and one other course (I think) are for BFA’s only. So, if you are successful in your audition, you can get as high as MT3 even without the BFA. A note here: Allison Case who was just in Hair on Broadway never matriculated past MT2. The drama program is very strong even without the BFA!
You can take private voice from Myrona Delaney (prof of MT2) but you have to pay extra for those. Also, there are some great voice teachers locally in Orange County but are not included in tuition. MT2 is basically group lessons. You have a large class of 30 for one session and then lab of 10 students in which you get more individual attention. I don’t know if it is MT3 or 4 which starts private instruction…sorry.</p>
<p>There are many student produced shows you can audition into in addition to the mainstage and university run shows. You can also apply for a grant to produce your own work.<br>
Many students audition for shows outside of UCI or for Disney because there are lots of local professional and regional theaters as well as employers for performers locally. In fact, a lot of faculty direct or choreograph for local professional theaters and do cast UCI students in those productions. UCI encourages students to audition outside of school.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that UCI’s program is a BA really first—even the BFA students are required to take quite a lot of GE classes because of the philosophy of the UC system. You will be busy taking other courses in addition to your drama courses. Also remember that there is both the spring term Satellite program in NYC and study abroad options in Italy and England year round for drama …these are also amazing opportunities. UCI has much to offer—you must be proactive because it is a large university. There are about 400 students in the drama department including graduate students. Claire Trevor school of the arts in entirety has less than 1000 students…most are drama and dance majors. Those who are assertive and have a basic plan of what they want to pursue do well…they don’t really lead you by the hand and the program is extremely flexible to allow you to pursue multiple interests even outside of theater. Hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>Here’s another question about UCI. How exactly does the does the BFA work? I mean is there a cap on how many students are accepted per class. For example, if they already have 4 accepted sophomore girls is that the end of all hope of another sophomore girl being selected. I have heard that you can reaudition, but also that they only take 4 boys and 4 girls per class. Can anyone clarify?</p>
<p>You cannot audition into the BFA program until you have completed at least one quarter of MT 3. You must audition into MT 2 and then MT 3…they hold auditions fall and winter quarter. They do take a very limited number of students into the BFA…you can continue to audition each quarter. They just finished the fall round of auditions…no sophomore girls were moved into MT 3, 1 sophomore boy was, 9 other students (juniors and seniors) were moved into MT 3—NO sophomores were moved into the BFA at this audition. That will probably not happen until winter or spring at the earliest but more likely fall of junior year. Not sure if any juniors or seniors students were moved into the BFA program in this round of auditions. It is extremely competitive and they try to keep it to 8 students total…it is not always even split between men and women. They appear to keep auditioning people and moving them into BFA at different times. Sometimes they move in as sophomores (usually just the men) most often middle of junior year. The process appears to be continually evolving.</p>