Help Me Decide! USC, UCLA, NYU, etc

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>Have been reading these boards for a long time and thought it was about time to make a post. I know there's a thread for decision discussion, but I was hoping I could get a nice helping of individual input over here. These acceptances are all for Acting, but I do love singing and plan to audition for a cappella groups if time allows. I have a background in voiceover acting and would love to pursue this, which leads me to lean toward UCLA and USC for their awesome location, but all of them have their own pros and cons, so it's hard!</p>

<p>Ithaca BFA
USC BFA
UMich BFA
NYU Tisch BFA
UCLA BA
Brandeis BA
Carnegie Mellon BFA priority waitlist</p>

<p>Any thoughts? I'd love to hear from other admits, grads, or current students...</p>

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<p>Hoping to get at least a few thoughts. Obviously I won’t be making my decision based on any one factor, but I’d love to see some more opinions to supplement my own. I think it adds some extra depth to my perception.</p>

3

<p>sec, we could really use a little more information about you to help you decide. I’m guessing you know something about these schools, or you wouldn’t have applied. We’re not just going to describe the schools to you - we need to know what kinds of priorities you have about your training or your college experience, or about finances, really more about what you’re considering, and then we can comment.</p>

4

<p>EmmyBet, I second your post here (and on the other site). </p>

<p>Not meaning any disrespect, sec339, but I almost find these posts to be not believable. How can you apply to all these schools, get in, and then ask for a general ‘help me figure this out’? What did you tell them during the audition when they asked you ‘why us’? Some helpful info you could supply:</p>

<ol>
<li>Finances. Do they enter into the picture for you?</li>
<li>Locale and what you want for your career. Do you see yourself more in LA or NYC?<br></li>
<li> Academics: What do you want for yourself academically? How strong a student are you? Do you like required courses or would you rather have more freedom? </li>
</ol>

<p>I’ll stop there, but you really need to ask more specific questions for anyone to help you. All best.</p>

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<p>Emmybet and connections, I find your posts to be condescending. Sec339 is asking a reasonable question. As I recall, in 2011 emmybet you had a multitude of posts re Adelphi and Brandeis.</p>

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<p>I don’t find Emmybet and connections to be condescending. They are both longtime forum posters who have been very generous with advice and information. They need more to go on before giving advice to the OP.</p>

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<p>I have no problem with lots of posts and lots of questions. I am very happy to help people, as they and you have all helped me. I’m not criticizing people for asking “What do you think about schools X, Y or Z?” but I do think we can help them a lot more if we know what their particular needs and concerns are. </p>

<p>Threads like this are great when someone from that particular school - an experienced student, parent or alum - gives first-hand experience. But in terms of helping with a decision among schools, the factors are so personal that even more school information isn’t enough to help decide. </p>

<p>We did have a big decision to make a couple of years ago. I tried to be specific about what issues my D was weighing, and I got a lot of really substantive advice. We’ll always be grateful.</p>

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<p>I did not find EmmyBet or connections to be anything less than trying to be helpful. The question was a very broad one. I was not even sure of the age of the original poster, did they get into all these programs? Is this for future purposes? More information is needed before it could be answered, I thought.</p>

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<p>Connections- I totally agree with what you said in your post and the other posters who said neither you nor EmmyBet were being disrespectful. At least EmmyBet answered the original post after a couple of days went by with no answer. I think it took a couple of days because of what connections said. Just about all of the schools on the OP’s list have plenty of threads about them (Brandeis not so much) and most of the answers can be found! I think people get so excited about their college acceptances and want to post them that they forget to take a deep breath and research the threads. I have two kids in college and they both fully researched their programs before they applied. As soon as they were accepted to their number one choice- that was their decision. Good luck sec339!</p>

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<p>Shoot! I accidentally lost everything I wrote. Well, here’s a less polished version.</p>

<p>Thanks, first of all, to those who’ve replied so far. Obviously, choosing a college is a very personal thing in the end and will be influenced by a number of factors. So I understand that it’s hard to provide much useful advice without a bit of background. I’ve tried to correct that here, and I’ll get to that in a minute, but I just want to stress that I didn’t post here before having done any research. I’ve spoken one-on-one with faculty and students from all these schools to varying extents and already have a pretty good basic sense of what each has to offer me. I’ve tried to include direct questions in my descriptions of my impressions of the schools so that this big hunk of text doesn’t convey a sense that I’m already certain about everything. After all, I’m posting here in the hopes of clarifying and learning!</p>

<p>So, my background:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I’ve visited all these schools except UCLA and Ithaca. I’m visiting UCLA and revisiting USC on April 13-14 for Bruin Day/USC Dramatic Arts admitted students’ day. I’ll incorporate my thoughts on my past visits into a list at the end.</p></li>
<li><p>Finances aren’t a main issue. I’m as middle-class as they get, but my brother passed on higher education to pursue popular music so I have a lot of money for my college fund. I might be able to apply for residency in LA to pay instate tuition at UC, but that would only be for my third and fourth years.</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of location: intend to pursue voiceover, so LA has a big pull for me, hence why two of my three current top choices (UMich, USC, UCLA) are situated there. The presence of the film scoring industry is also a source of excitement to me. However, my other choices being top drama schools, almost all of them will have strong LA connections and alumni networks (I’ve heard of both the Michigan Mafia and the Trojan Mafia). Any insight into the specific strengths of such LA networking opportunities would be appreciated.</p></li>
<li><p>Academically, I was a bit of an outlier with my numbers. I had a 3.92 weighted GPA, well under UCLA’s average, but a 2320 SAT that likely kept me in the running. I’d love a strong academic education to complement acting, but a BFA is a professional degree for a reason. So I guess I’m a bit torn there. I love working with smart actors, but a less rigorously performance-based program may not offer the classes that I want. At USC, for example, the BA seems to be focused on learning ‘about theater’, where the BFA is actually learning to act in it.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Now, school by school.</p>

<p>Ithaca BFA
I’ve heard nothing but positive things about the acting program here, but the school outside of the theater program doesn’t really appeal to me. Most of the kids at my school who go there are very much the stereotypical jock-types. I know that as an acting major I’d be taking classes almost exclusively with other actors, but if anyone can clarify how much I’d be involved with the school as a whole and how important I should weigh the program vs. the college (especially someone who could answer with specific regard to Ithaca)… that would help me figure out where Ithaca should sit on my list.</p>

<p>USC BFA
USC was my number one through the whole process. Awesome programs in not only acting, but music and computer science, which are also interests of mine. I’m not much of a sports fan, so the famous football spirit is neither here nor there. I visited there early on and really liked it. Not nearly as recognized a name as UCLA where I come from, but I’d imagine that in the industry it carries just as much weight. I’ve also heard their alumni network is one of the best in the business. Since as a voice actor it’s just as often who you know as what you know that counts, that’s a big plus for me. I’ve looked at pictures of productions there and could see myself on their stage in a heartbeat. In my top three, and currently the very, VERY tentative number one.</p>

<p>UMich BFA
UMich is the program I know most about. I’ve talked to tons of students extensively and I’ve spent a number of days and nights on campus already. I really liked the people and most of the teachers seem very cool. The student productions I saw were pretty good, too, but honestly didn’t blow me away as much as I’d hoped they would. I know UMich is more known for musical theater, but as far as I know, Acting majors can only perform in student-run musicals via BasementArts (famous for A Very Potter Musical) and Musket. Overall I can very much see myself here, but I’m not sure if any amount of LA connections that the school claims to have can actually replace spending my four undergraduate years in the place I eventually intend to start my career. Many students insisted they made this choice deliberately to study in a separate place from their career destination but for me personally that might not be my ideal way to go. UMich is in my top three for sure.</p>

<p>NYU Tisch BFA
Still on my list because I loved my audition and because it’s got quite a name. However, I’ve gotten very mixed reviews about the program and I’m not really eager to risk anything when I have other options that I’m very confident I’ll love. I’d need some serious convincing to look into Tisch further, so if anyone can address why NYU’s been getting flak recently and provide a defense, that might be informative to more people than just me. Of course, I’ve seen discussions of this all over the theater boards, so if it’s redundant, no worries.</p>

<p>UCLA BA
Here’s one of which I’d love some discussion. I’ve looked around a lot, but haven’t found that much information on this program, so if anyone can point me to a student perspective somewhere on CC, I’d appreciate it. UCLA is probably the most exciting school academically that I’ve been admitted to, and the location is perfecto for what I’m interested in, but it’s a tough call between it and USC. The argument that UCLA is only a BA doesn’t hold much weight for me since my current impression is that it’s as rigorous as a BFA, just with much harder GE requirements. A UMich student told me that UCLA’s acting program has gone downhill in the last five years, though, and that in combination with UC’s general problematic situation recently makes me a bit less sure about it in comparison with the more up-and-coming USC. Still, overall, based, until I visit, purely on its location and reputation, I’d put it in my top three.</p>

<p>Brandeis BA
Not really under consideration. Had legacy, and would get almost a full ride, so I considered it a good non-audition backup.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon BFA priority waitlist
Well, it’s Carnegie Mellon. I’m pretty sure priority waitlist is just a glorified name for the waitlist, but assuming I was accepted, I’m not sure I’d pick it over USC despite the immediate recognition it seems to warrant among theater people. It’s a conservatory (and THE conservatory, after Juilliard), so I wouldn’t be able to take too many classes outside of the School of Drama, compared to my other top choices which are conservatory-style. I wasn’t crazy about the two acting classes that I observed, either, but I know most of the faculty there is absolutely unparalleled. Is it worth it for me to stay on the waitlist? Are other people more under the impression that CMU lives up to its name? I’m sure I’d be more willing to wowed by this program if I’d had a positive feeling about my audition, but right now, it’s not in my top three.</p>

<p>And in response to a specific query, yes, I was accepted into all of these programs (excluding CMU, as noted); this is indeed a discussion of the options for my future; and I’m 17 years old, a high school senior. Let me know if there’s anything I can clarify, and thanks to the community in advance for any insight!</p>

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<p>sec339, thank you for this very thoughtful post. You sound very intelligent, and maybe this is just my gut feeling, but I can see you happier in programs that also have an academic setting or that allow you to explore more interests than entirely theatre. </p>

<p>First, "priority waitlist’ is not a glorified name for a waitlist. IT’s entirely different. "Priority waitlist means that if anyone turns down their offer- which is inevitable - you are high on the list to call. If you were very interested in CMU, the next step would be to contact them and tell them so, plus supply them with any extra info you think they ought to know. That would increase your chances quite a bit. But it doesn’t sound like you liked it all that much.</p>

<p>Listen, most of the schools you list are fabulous, so as far as reputation, you’re great. But it’s critical to consider YOU and how YOU’D fit. If CMU (to use one example) isn’t your cup of tea, then it really doesn’t matter how well regarded it is. Each school has its own feel - why it’s good to visit - and whether you feel comfortable there or not is HIGHLY individual and personal. That feeling of ‘fit’ depends on your own goals, your personality, how you work and learn, and so on.</p>

<p>Honestly, from what you describe, USC sounds ideal for you. The problem is I know nothing about it personally–all I know is that everyone I’ve known who has gone there has been extremely happy with it. But that’s it. However, from your own description, USC sounds ideal.</p>

<p>U of Mich is strongest in MT, as you say. I’m not sure it’s the best match given your interests, but again, if you felt a strong bond with it, then that means a lot. I wouldn’t pay attention though to what one Mich student says about another program (that UCLA is ‘going downhill’ in the past 5 years). Not that I know anything about UCLA; I don’t. It’s just I wouldn’t really listen to one student’s opinion about a rival school. Personally, though, USC would be higher on my list for you than UCLA.</p>

<p>Glad you’re visiting USC again and UCLA soon. Let it percolate and trust yourself and your own judgment, and keep us posted.</p>

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<p>Reading your post, I am also hearing USC coming to the top. Its location, its academics, and your interest in remaining in LA for a career in VO make it sound perfect. I have no idea about LA connections, so I’ll defer commenting on that. Congrats on all your acceptances!</p>

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<p>Over in the Musical Theatre Major forum on “The Freshman Experience” thread there is a lot of information about USC from students currently in the program.</p>

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<p>Chrissyblu has a daughter at UCLA, who I think is a senior. Maybe you have seen her posts. If you started a separate thread asking about UCLA, chrissy might see it and respond.</p>

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<p>sec339. My daughter was also accepted into U of Michigan BFA acting, so I was glad to hear you say you were familiar with it because we’re not, and it is difficult to really get a handle on the program or why it has the reputation it does other than being connected to the U of Michigan. The thing that really caught my D’s attention/appealed to her is the Basement Arts. We are also as middle class as it gets, but the price tag for Michigan is $50,000. We’ve not heard about any scholarship offers yet. Perhaps you have? Or are you a Michigan resident? I didn’t catch where you’re from. </p>

<p>Just reading your post, I’d agree that U of Michigan should be 3rd choice. As for the top two, I don’t know anything about them, but it sounds like you want to be talked into UCLA. :slight_smile: After visiting, I have the feeling you’re going to be able to choose pretty quickly!</p>

<p>Actually, your assessment of U of Michigan helps us not to feel so bad about not getting over there to visit. It’s so expensive without a scholarship that she isn’t really considering it. The one good thing–I’m hoping her acceptance from U of Michigan will help with her scholarship appeal to the U of Minnesota/Guthrie! :)</p>

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<p>Sec339, first off congrats on these acceptances, they are all great schools. After reading your more complete post, it is clear that if you are seriously interested in voice over work then you should go to the school that also has one of the top film schools. Film students constantly use acting students from their own school. That would leave USC, UCLA and obviously NYU. All three would also be a good fit academically for you. </p>

<p>I am not going to try to defend NYU. UŚC and UCLA sound perfect for you. All I will say is be careful judging a school just from comments on cc. NYU is constantly picked on here. I feel like it is the “popular, pretty girl” that everyone loves to hate on. It’s big, it’s expensive and as you said " it’s got quite a name".</p>

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<p>At Ithaca (and mostly every BFA program) you are with the Theater kids 24/7 some (very few) people who want friends outside of the program, it can happen but it usually doesn’t. Also the Theater program is HUGE they have Tech, Theater Mgmt, MT, Theater Studies, Directing so you’ll have many friends with the same interest. I wouldn’t worry about the Jocks, which isn’t the average Ithaca student, you’ll be in Dillingham (theater building) for most of your day. You should really come and visit, it’s a great program within a wonderful theater community. P.S. the Ithaca Mafia does exist and is very present in LA. </p>

<p>We have a ‘Ithaca Acting/MT Accepts 2017’ Facebook Page which is private, PM (or you can ask to join in ‘The Allied’ or ‘Ithaca Class of 2017’ on FB )if you want to join, joining the group doesn’t mean you’re committing to the program it’s just a great way to have all your questions answered by current students and some faculty!</p>

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<p>Sec-My son attends USC as a theater minor and is friendly with many of the theater students there and with several who are working actors already. He has enjoyed his time at USC. My daughter just went through the BFA application process this year. She had USC on her list, but she applied to NYU Tisch early decision, after much research and will be attending next year. We have direct knowledge of both schools. I would not bypass Tisch for consideration based on anything you read on cc. There is a history of the same vocal posters popping up each year to say negative things. Don’t ever make an important decision based on something you read on a message board. Always do your own research by talking to actual students, visiting campus, reviewing curriculum, etc. NYU has awesome programs in not only acting, but music and computer science, which are also interests of yours. You say you’re not much for football culture, but what about fraternity culture because that is big at USC whereas sports and fraternities are not a big part of the NYU culture. USC is much more conservative than NYU. And as for VO work I know many working actors doing VO work in NYC. There is film work going on at Steiner Studios and it is growing. From your requirements, I would say the choice should probably be between USC, NYU and UCLA. I would give each one of them full consideration.</p>

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<p>Very well said researchmaven!</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info! You are doing some great thinking. I don’t have much input personally about the specific schools. I would pm “madbean” about USC. She is greatly knowledgeable. I think she’d be able to settle most of your curiosity.</p>

<p>Those are all really terrific programs, and you have lots of great factors you are considering. I agree with the people that you should follow YOUR most important needs and not worry about others’ opinions, prestige, etc. Also, with some of your concerns, you can’t really know what will happen until you get there. Also don’t forget there are summers, internships, studying abroad (which can include at another US university sometimes), and other ways you can get all of the pieces you want in the next four years. </p>

<p>One important factor is to consider your use of time - I usually recommend making 4-year projected charts for each of your top choices of how you would take courses, be involved in productions, etc. In the long run, most of your time will be spent on your coursework and projects, so that’s usually a good place to start a detailed comparison. A lot of other things are more subjective and unpredictable.</p>