<p>Should a person rethink their choice of acting as a career if they don't get into a BFA program? Does that reflect on how talented they are?</p>
<p>Not at all! A number of students who have not had acceptances have posted here about using the year after they were denied at auditioned programs to gain more experience and do more preparation, after which they’ve reapplied. Usually they have had very good success at getting into excellent programs.</p>
<p>Not at all. Most of these schools accept so few people, just because you didn’t get in doesn’t mean you aren’t extremely talented. The school could have been only looking for a certain type, or maybe it just wasn’t the right school for you. But if this is the only career path you can see yourself being happy in, do not give up!!! Being happy and poor is much better than being miserable and rich. If this is your true passion, go for it, and do not let a rejection from a BFA program stop you.</p>
<p>BFA programs very greatly in selectivity and then there is a huge random factor. For instance, I know a girl who was rejected by every BFA she applied to except NYU. Obviously, she must have some talent and it’s true they take a more so that increases chances but still. How can you be too untalented for new BFA somewhere in the Midwest but then get into NYU? If 1000 people audition and they take 20 I think it’s safe to say at least some of those other 980 people are talented.</p>
<p>Hence the constant talk of “casting a wide net” and applying to many different programs!</p>
<p>I’ll be the naysayer and suggest “yes”. It may not be a question of talent (although having talent helps!) but whether or not they are cut out for a BFA program. It’s not the only route that can be taken!</p>
<p>I just keep reminding myself that Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school basketball team… :)</p>
<p>I’m with SongSearcher. If you applied to CMU, Juilliard, Purchase, and LAMDA and didn’t get accepted that DEFINITELY doesn’t mean you’re not talented. However if you applied to lets say Coastal Carolina, UArts, Hartt, Viterbo, Utah and Northern Colorado and got rejected…I’d say go for a BA so you can have a back up plan plus work on your craft. If you still know Acting is something you feel strongly about audition for MFA programs!</p>
<p>For the record, Michael Jordan didn’t make the BB team because he was too short. However, he joined JV got better and the next year joined Varsity. </p>
<p>So what I get from MJ’s story is go to a great BA program, like Muhlenberg, and you never know you might end up getting into a fantastic MFA program!!</p>
<p>dreambelle13 I am very very new to this so please forgive me if this is a stupid question. I looked at the courses that Muhlenberg offers in their theatre department and they don’t seem very different from some of the other BA programs I have been investigating. Why is Muhlenberg considered a great BA program?</p>
<p>I personally think the faculty and facilities are great. They also have a very well rounded theater program which include classes in Tech, Dance, Voice, as well as Acting. A big upside to Muhlenberg is that students don’t have to compete with BFA students, like Ithaca or Emerson.</p>
<p>Would you then suggest finding a BA program at a college that does not have a BFA? That was my first thought…</p>
<p>Yes I would. Every student no matter how talented told they are should have a non-audition BA safety.</p>
<p>IMO I’d rather go to a great non-audition BA program than a brand new BFA program that has no graduates or is using the upcoming class as guinea pigs.</p>
<p>I absolutely reject the notion that a person’s talent or ability to succeed as an actor should be determined by auditions they do as a high school senior. I mean: REALLY?? Do you not think that people can grow and develop throughout their life? That a person is defined by what they bring to the world as an 18 year old?? </p>
<p>Actors need to learn how to handle being told No, so if an applicant stops their dream just because they didn’t make it in some school auditions, then yes, they may not succeed as an actor but it will be because they don’t have the persistence and determination to work hard and see where life will take them.</p>
<p>How about this for you? From Charles Durning’s obituary in The New York Times:
“deciding to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, he told Parade magazine in 1993. The school dismissed him within a year. “They basically said you have no talent and you couldn’t even buy a dime’s worth of it if it was for sale,” he told The Times in 1997.”</p>
<p>^CC doesn’t have a “like” button so I’ll just say it: GREAT post, SD!</p>
<p>“Can’t act. Can’t sing. Dances a little.” --notes on Fred Astaire’s audition for Paramount Pictures.</p>
<p>Dreambelle makes sense in theory that it’s much more worrisome if you don’t get into schools at the bottom of this list than the very top programs. But even those schools take so few people that it’s not necessarily an indication of talent in my opinion. Also, I know people who were rejected by some of those and accepted into schools higher on the list. Or rejected and then taken after a gap year. They were plenty talented.</p>
<p>^^Exactly, Actor12. :)</p>
<p>Take a look at the article in today’s Washington Post regarding Christopher John O’Neill, who is playing Elder Cunningham in a national tour of Book of Mormon. It is a very interesting article on how he got the part - and the article expressly notes “He auditioned for a few college theater programs . . . and got rejected from all of them.”</p>
<p>Nansan, that is a great story!</p>
<p>My D has decided that if she is not admitted to a BFA program she will attend a BA and take extra acting classes in LA and continue to work in local theater… I think that seems like a workable alternative :)</p>