With so many great programs out there, how did everyone come up with their final list of schools to apply to? I’m looking for some good questions that will help current juniors narrow down the list. I’ll start out with some of the basic ones I’ve asked my D, but I really need more to help her understand the differences in these programs. I really started thinking about this question more when I read that some schools like to ask, why our program? What other programs have you applied to? It seems like these schools want to know if you really thought about the schools you’re applying to or if you’re simply just picking all the top ones people have heard of and that’s it.
So the basic easy questions:
rural vs. urban
conservatory vs. program in a bigger university
Does the school have a good film school or classes with a focus on acting for film
Study abroad options
My daughter’s college counselor sent us a survey to complete regarding what we wanted in a college for our child. My D was also given a survey to complete. The counselor generated a list based on our responses. I know it did discuss size of school, coed, diversity, distance from home etc. I will see if I can locate the survey.
Good suggestions so far. You may want to consider BA vs BFA, and also, as you make your list, add some non audition and/or rolling admissions schools in for more of a safety option.
Large / Medium / Small school size
Desired Region(s) of the US
Diversity
Conservatory / University
Extent of pre-professional training offered
Strength of Academics
Availability of second majors or academic minors
BFA / BA / BM (for MT)
Honestly just using those criteria with my D’s very definite preferences narrowed the field so much we had to bend on a few!
I could’ve written this post almost word for word lol…except that my D, at the time she started her apps, wasn’t 100% sure if she wanted acting, so she applied to both MT and Acting programs. She also didn’t target the east coast specifically, but since she wants to be in an urban environment, it worked out that most of her schools happened to be on the east coast.
The CollegeBoard.org website has an excellent college search tool. To begin, we used that to input a lot of the factors mentioned above (rural/urban, type of school, location, diversity, study abroad, etc). Then it allows you to select majors available to narrow choices. My daughter wants an intensive BFA acting program, but she also wants the availability of a film school and a playwriting/screenwriting department. With the College Board tool we were able to narrow and then look the schools that had those things. You can even select how important things are to you so they weight them differently when showing you schools.
Once we had around 20 schools we then did the blind curriculum test that has been mentioned here on CC in the past. I searched each school’s website to find the specific theatre/drama BFA curriculum, printed each one, eliminating all identifying information, and gave them to my daughter. She went through and made notes on all of them and we made our final list from that.
I don’t have a lot to add here - we did much of the same type of exploration. Geographic range, ability to double major, ability to study abroad, and ability to try out for musicals/straight plays regardless of program all mattered to my S. As we continued honing the list, other things became apparent:
We wanted a “balanced” list - schools that were super “reachy” felt like throwing spaghetti against a wall but were worth applying to if they fit the criteria (and he probably applied to too many of those, in retrospect).
S defined himself as “actor first, singer second, dancer distant third” and with that in mind we looked for programs that were going to give him solid MT training but really gave him a good grounding in acting all semesters (and with 20/20 hindsight would have adjusted our list slightly according to that criterion).
So those are my two additions - make sure you have a nice spread of schools including some non-audition schools with good theatre programs, and try to evaluate what kind of program she’d be happiest in.
Oh one more thing - someone on another forum suggested printing a bunch of curricula from different schools and having your child look at them blindly --i.e, you block off the names of the schools to avoid bias. That way they can get an idea of the type of school they want from that and develop a list from there.
@BFAMom2024 my daughter is also interested in BFA acting programs with strong film programs at the school. She’s got a list right now of about 18 schools. Would love to know what programs you guys found. I’ll dig up her list and post it as well, to get some feed back from the pros on here!
Thanks, @tsamwic This is definitely what she’s struggling with right now. Her list is really mainly top competitive schools. It’s so difficult to find those hidden gems that she could see herself at. I’m hoping using some of the suggestions on here will help us (I can’t just say her because I’m guilty of it as well) get beyond just the schools she’s heard of or her friends attend.
There is some really valuable information here! Some experienced parents are contributing some seasoned and great perspective and advice! My S is a Class of 22 student. Going through this process a couple years ago, we did work with a coach and it was strongly advised to “cast a broad net”. We literally did exactly that… and trusted the coach’s opinion on different programs. We did this and the results came back with a good number of schools all over the country. It almost felt random and certainly beyond our control. His schools would be classified as competitive or reach(although most programs are pretty darn competitive) and they were all audition…with no safeties(only BFA). He preferred conservatory/conservatory style and over the course of senior year found he was much more drawn to screen acting over Broadway(although he would take either:) Pretty nuts when I look back! However, as the audition season came to an end and the accepted schools rolled in, he became acutely aware of what he really wanted. He thought he knew what he wanted until the actual reality of acceptances were in his hand. These were his options in the end. Some dreams ended and new visions formed. We visited schools all over the country. In the end, we looked incredibly closely at the faculty (and potential connections over the long haul), curriculum blind test, and location. These 3 components are what it boiled down to in the end. The blind curriculum test was the biggest piece. April was a hard month for him/us in choosing which program he would attend. He was in a number of group chats with the accepted students at different programs and building friendships and connections. In a few short weeks, he had to decide which “tribe” felt right. He was having conversations and emails with faculty at certain programs. It was a lot of pressure. Exciting for sure, but challenging. We left behind scholarships and a couple of schools that courted him very nicely along the way. This was tough. In the end, we have no regrets. There are many ways to go about this process whether a well honed list or a spaghetti toss to the wall approach. In the end, you either get accepted or not and it is pretty much out of your hands. Parents, you are all doing a great job!! Have an open mind and open heart and love the heck out of your child over the next few months!
@SoMuchDrama, I see you’re looking for acting programs at schools that also have film programs, but a lot of the ones you’re finding are the top competitive ones ( I’m thinking CalArts and UNCSA off the top of my head).
I just wanted to suggest University of the Arts if you don’t have it on your list. It’s a stand-alone conservatory with acting, musical theater, dance, a film school, an animation program, and lots of other stuff like that. When we visited, we were impressed that there was so much cross-pollination between all the programs. The acting students obviously get lots of acting experience in their own program and perform at local professional theatres, but they also get to act in films by the film school students, do voice over for the animation students, Etc. Definitely one to check out!
@actorparent1 Thank you, we will take a look at University of the Arts. That was not on her list yet. Right now this list is a work in progress, but I’ll go ahead and share it so I can get more input. I’m sure some of these will get deleted, others added. This is just our starting point.
UNCSA
USC
CalArts
Chapman
LMU
DePaul
NYU
Pace
Juilliard (ha!)
Boston University
University of Arizona
CMU
SCAD
Wright State
Otterbein
Florida State