<p>Yes, my father wants me to consider throwing out an app to an ivy league school. He likes Harvard, but I'm leaning more towards Yale. My question is: Are the performing arts (especially theater and music) at Yale inferior at the undergrad level due to the excellence of the grad program? Would Harvard be more accessible in this area? And yes, I know I have about .0001% chance of getting accepted to these schools--just checking out the options. :)</p>
<p>Of the Ivies, Brown has the best reputation for undergraduate theatre. I don't know about music. Yale's undergraduate theatre degree is new, I think, and involves more studying ABOUT theatre than actually doing it. I know nothing of Harvard's undergraduate program, if they even have one, though I'm sure they have their share of good performers on campus and there would probably be some good extracurricular theatre going on. The Arco Performing Arts Major's College Guide is around seven years old, but at the time of its publication, neither Harvard nor Yale were recommended for undergraduate theatre nor dance though both were "most highly recommended" for their graduate programs in theatre. Yale, however, was recommended in undergraduate music for a number of instruments.</p>
<p>Just a side note: I am referring to extracurricular theater/music rather than a major, if that clarifies things. :)</p>
<p>Have you taken a look at Julliard?</p>
<p>No, dooit, I have not looked into Julliard because I'd like to get a strong liberal arts education in college. Seriously, I'm interested in just about everything, including science. Still, I love theater/music/performing immensely and couldn't imagine four years on my own without some performing opportunities.</p>
<p>Juilliard*</p>
<p>Both schools have excellent extracurricular opportunites in both theater and music with many student productions, a cappella groups that tour, etc. BTW, don't even hope to get accepted if you're just going to "throw out" an application to these schools. They'll detect your lack of commitment in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>By "throw out", guiltguru, I mean that, although I will work hard on my apps, I don't want to get too focused on any one ivy as I know I will probably not get accepted.</p>
<p>Both are fantastic, among the very best. Singing and acting were at the center of my life at Harvard, and I couldn't have wished for better opportunities/facilities/castmates. I was involved in a cappella, straight and musical theater, classical choir, and gospel choir.</p>
<p>If you are not aiming to major in <em>music performance</em>, Harvard and Yale both offer great performing opportunities. From my NYC GRE classes, several Harvard and Yale students did things ranging from early music performance to straight theater. </p>
<p>However, if you are looking to make a career out of performance (as opposed to doing it as an extracurricular in college), I recommend a conservatory program.</p>
<p>if ur looking at theater as an extracurricular (acting and musical theater) i would suggest u take a look at princeton. it has the strongest theater in the ivy league with many opportunities. the shows produced at princeton are unrivaled by the others and princeton has more acting/musical theater companies than any other ivy league by far.</p>
<p>if ur looking at instrumental performing arts, harvard has arguably the strongest orchestra and it has its new program with NEC which offers some limited opportunities</p>
<p>Princeton also has a for-credit acting program (see the Program in Theater and Dance).</p>
<p>When my d visited H we were told that students did one big audition in September and were cast on that basis in the whole year's shows. She didn't like the sound of that. Is that still true? At P things are more fluid.</p>
<p>aparent5, Common Casting is held at the beginning of each semester, not just once a year. Also, it is a coordinated audition process, not one big audition. That is, you audition for each show independently, but all shows hold auditions every night for the same 5-night period and in the same building. That way, you can audition for as many shows as you want (or all of them). If you aren't in good voice one night, and you feel that you blew your first couple of auditions, you can just come back later in the week for the rest. After cast lists are posted at the end of the week, if you got into more shows than you want to do, you can decline roles, which will then go to alternates.</p>
<p>Having spent two years at another college where auditions might occur at any point during the semester, I thought Common Casting was a godsend. At my previous college, you might commit to one show in September, but in October you find out that a better show is casting, and you miss out on the better show because you're already booked and the two shows conflict. Conversely, you might deliberately skip some early auditions because you know that an amazing show will be casting in a few weeks, and then if you don't get into the amazing show, you don't get to do any theater at all. Out of the hundreds of actors and singers I knew at Harvard, there was something close to unanimity that Common Casting does a terrific job of helping actors and directors find the right match.</p>