<p>OP: I’d suggest you develop a list of college programs that allow students to graduate in less than four years. Tisch can be done in three years – which requires a minimum of six semesters in professional training (aka “studio”) plus the theater studies and general eds and electives to total XXX (128?) credits. AP credits can be used and / or a heavier semester courseload or extra courses in the summer or January.</p>
<p>I know someone who is graduating early from Point Park; I am not sure if she is doing BA or BFA, but is definitely studying acting / MT there. </p>
<p>OP, I’d also suggest you think about how you view education itself. There are many of us here (and I put myself in this camp) who do not view BFA programs as strictly vocational training or a means to getting a job, but as a method for artistic, social and intellectual growth. We want our kids to envelop themselves in a peer group and recognize that this may be one of the last times in life this will be possible. We see that a college diploma is a useful tool to have along the path of life-- not just for theater – for employability in future endeavors. </p>
<p>There is another camp – and an equally valid one – and I have to say I subscribe to this one as well to some extent, because I do not think that everyone belongs in college, and there is alot of pressure on students coming right out of high school to conform at the wrong time in their lives. And that is: if you are not interested in book learning, being with primarily your peers or a degree at this point in your life, then focus on vocational training, which in essence, is what these non-college studios are (I am NOT using the term vocational training in a derogatory sense, so I hope no one is reading into it that way). On this path, you still have an option to get a college degree at some point in your life, but you will have to recognize that you will enter the college world as a “non-traditional” student and will not have credits to apply. Your options will be more limited if you do not want to be at a college where the students are all in their late teens, early 20s, but as long as you are aware of that now, this is a possibility down the road.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I see now that the OP is a parent whose son is deciding what to do with acceptances etc… Well, I hope my advice is helpful to others out there who are in the information-gathering stage and debating between a college or a studio program…</p>
<p>Sdon, I think that is great advice that perhaps the OP can call the schools or look on the websites to see how they could possibly finish the requirements in 3 years. It was someone at PPU who told me that they were taking inexpensive community college gen eds and then using her PPU time for only acting courses and has been able to bunch things together so that she can save money and graduate in 3 years I believe she will be PartTime student taking an independent study in screenwriting or directing for her one semester so she can focus indepth on directing her screenplay and auditioning in the industry putting herself out there networking and trying to earn money for another semester. Again, I’m fuzzy on these details, excuse me if I got them inaccurate but money is an issue and she is doing what she can. The kids were saying that if you can take language and math and other gen eds in the summers you can save money and get more out of your acting program even if you are not thinking of trying to cut out a year of tuition.</p>
<p>Of course bachelors’ programs in England only take three years to earn the degree instead of four. That’s because they are more selective, and they expect to only admit students who basically “already know” the things that U.S. students learn in the first year of college. But the bachelors’ programs at RADA, LAMDA, Guildhall and so on are all three year programs.</p>