We have narrowed it down to the top three acceptances. All wonderful programs but it’s so hard to decide. Any advice would be appreciated!
Have you visited all three?
No, we have only been to Elon. We are unable to get to Rider and Ithaca, unfortunately.
Rider had a huge (unexpected) class last year and as an incoming I would be a little worried about that. Anyone know how they have dealt/plan to accommodate people and parts?
Yes, someone mentioned they want a class of 30 this fall but more may accept. I think that is why the class was so big last year. This is definitely on the con list for Rider. Ithaca and Elon will be 20 students or under.
Just some questions to think about (which might be available on their website) How many shows does each school do per year? Can Freshmen audition? What else besides doing shows is important? How do they make connections with agents and contacts in New York? What Master classes do they have with professionals? What opportunities are there to perform? What is the community like around them?
Could your D work with any teacher? How do they learn best? Are they a loner? Do they need a team? Meeting the current students (upperclassmen) was a big help to my D. It was important to feel at home at the place she will spend the next four years at. Maybe your D could get in a snapchat with other current students at each school to see if they could answer some questions for her.
Good luck to your D! I know she will be at the best school possible for her!
Thank you @Fergie978 This is really good advice. I appreciate the list of questions also.
@mandidnam, congrats on having some great choices!
Is your D in the Green Room (Facebook group)? There are tons of students in there and they have created separate groups for Accepted Students at various schools. If not, it might be worth checking out.
Thank you @MTMOM17 I will ask her if she has joined. It would be great to get some current student perspectives. She likes Rider’s proximity to NYC but Ithaca and Elon would have less students. She really loved her visit to Elon and she loves her Ithaca audition. She is really torn. Thanks for your advice
Congrats on the acceptances. I have no idea if your daughter is 100% MT all the way, but I think if she does decide she does not want to do MT in the future, a degree from Elon is probably a bit more highly regarded than Rider or Ithaca. And, that’s speaking as somebody who has lived his entire life in the Northeast US.
The weather in upstate NY is also more severe than it is in the NYC area/NJ like Rider. I grew up in Connecticut and thought I could handle an update NY winter and it was a big change for even me (double the snow and wind, fewer sunny days) - don’t get me wrong, Ithaca is a terrific school for MT by all accounts, but the weather can be just as big a challenge as classes.
@NewJeffCT was wondering where you get your perspective about Ithaca vs. Elon. I had thought it was the other way around with Ithaca being the more highly regarded program. Not that lists matter, but we see Ithaca in the top ten if not the top 5. We go to a lot of first run national tours in our town and there is often an Ithaca grad as a lead in so many of them. Did you go to Ithaca? While it is a snowy winter it is a very cool college town. Cornell is there too.
Both Ithaca and Elon are highly respected programs.
I think @NewJeffCT was saying Elon was the more academically prestigious of the 3 schools under consideration. It is considered more difficult to gain academic acceptance than the other 2. And therefore might be a good place to be if there is a possibility your child may change majors somewhere along the way.
I would concur with @MTmama17 that Ithaca has the best known acting training and probably the most number of successful alums. Elon is a newer program than Ithaca but I think has had good success. Rider is also a newer program. I would rank Rider third of the 3 in terms of training and working alums. Still a great program. But I think a little less selective than the other 2 in terms of acceptances, and a little newer so harder to gauge success of alums. But so many other factors to consider.
Location is big. Ithaca and Elon are fairly remote campuses. Rider is a little closer to NYC, but I didn’t get the ideaRider students were going into the city all that frequently as they get busy with classes and activitieses on campus. And the city is still an hour and a half or more away from Rider. Not necessarily a quick trip. So I would not use proximity to the city as my main criteria for choosing among programs. Really when you think about it, many of the top MT programs in the country are nowhere near NYC (Michigan, CMU, CCM, etc…) Being near NYC is not necessary for being in a successful college program.
I loved the idea where someone put the curriculums for the schools her child was choosing between in front of them blindly - no indication which was from which school. And had the student choose which curriculum was most like what they wanted. You might try that.
Have you been able to meet or talk to students from each? I think each school has its own distinctive aesthetic an they are very different from one another.
You also may want to consider other factors. For example, Ithaca has a NY showcase. Elon does not. But Elon brings a lot of agents to campus. Is that important to you? I am not one who thinks showcases are the end all be all. But for some people they are important.
What about things outside MT - are you interested in Greek life? sports teams? travel abroad? Does the school offer those things that you want?
You may just have to make a chart of what elements are most important to your student and rank the 3 schools in each category until one clearly emerges as the winner.
Best wishes in your decision making. How wonderful to have such great choices!
FYI, I didn’t find Rider to be all that close to NYC. Yes, it’s in New Jersey. But it’s not like Montclair, which is a short bus or train ride to the city.
Thank you so much. This is all wonderful advice. I appreciate everyone’s messages and thoughts on the different schools
@mandidnam First Congratulations ! I was right there with you on a decision for my Daughter Last year and we chose the school with the best reputation and most rigorous program it was Ithaca out of 9 top offers!!! We did not look at the weather or the academics (even thought it killed me) my daughter wanted the best training for a triple threat and she got it. She is now winding down her freshman year and is still so happy she choose Ithaca. First of all she is among 15 freshman she is 1/5 girls so the attention she is getting is crazy amazing! Rider had a class size of 45 MT’s. and Elon was around 22. My daughter is a dancer first ,singer second and then actor Ithaca is known for training all three especially acting!!! which she wanted and needed. We also loved the fact that Junior year the MT kids go abroad to Ithaca London (she can’t wait). If you are looking for a true conservatory environment, unbelievable talented passionate kids, highly regarded caring professors and industry alumni that come back for master class weekends look no more! I thought location was everything(Elon is beautiful) but the kids love the fun college town they share with Cornell. These MT kids have zero time to do much else but create their work and frankly that’s all they want to do. If you need further information please feel free to inbox me! Best Wishes look forward to hearing your final!
Yes @NewJeffCT was referring to Elon being much more selective as a whole academically. Therefore being more in play if you were to change majors into something not MT. We know a soph MT at Elon who is very happy there . I would say wow weather would be night & day! Plus Elon has that southern school thing going on with what I gather is an entirely different college campus vibe then Ithaca or Rider.
That is indeed a tough choice for your child! But a good problem to have nonetheless! Best of luck in making a decision. They are all excellent choices. I would not rank Rider on the same level for MT as the other two but not dissing Rider we also know a junior MT there as well who has been very happy. hey have a large class this year of freshman but I don’t know if that’s a deal breaker really. I know a girl from last year who chose Rider over another well known mt program because of their dance? Not sure if they have a lot or it’s very good or what but she chose it for that reason.
Perhaps a Rider parent could comment on that aspect .
@mandidnam If there is any chance at all for you to go to Ithaca, it might be worth the difficulty/expense, as Elon and Ithaca, both wonderful programs, are radically different as campuses, atmosphere, etc. My D and I visited Elon and thought the facilities were incredible and the theater students, whom we got to meet quite a few of, were really personable and talented, but the overall atmosphere of the (beautiful) campus and (very) tiny town just felt too “Southern” and traditional sorority college town for her. Not for anyone else, maybe, but for her. Because you had to audition on campus, she elected not to apply.
With Ithaca, I didn’t do that visit with her, though I’ve visited the school with my older, non-MT, son, yes, awful winters, I didn’t love the look of the campus as compared to Elon, but she came back effusive, and it was all about the “atmosphere” she felt during the tour of the department and theater facilities - it seemed focused, for her, on theater students talking animatedly in the stairwells and halls. There was “just something about it” for her that she loved. Alas Ithaca did not love her back, so neither school factored in her decision-making. I don’t know enough about Rider to include it here, but I do think the professional connections potentially made through Elon and Ithaca are stronger.
One thing I would recommend is researching what the respective schools do senior year (and after) to help their students secure work. NYC Showcase? Relationships with regional theaters? Do they workshop original works? Bring in Broadway producers and writers to provide networking opportunities?
I just read an article recently that indicated 100% of Elon’s senior class got either NYC agency representation or call backs for Broadway or National tours as a result of their on-campus showcases. I have no skin in that game, but I found that to be a pretty impressive statistic.
Yes, I had meant that overall, Sorry for the confusion.
Elon is the most respected school in terms of overall academics. If your child decides MT is not for her, Elon is still a fantastic school. Ithaca and Rider are fine, but not on the same level in terms of academics. According to US News rankings, Elon is rated the top regional university in the South. Ithaca is #8 Regional in the North and Rider is #34 in the North. So, Elon > Ithaca > Rider for academics.