Jan 19 auditions

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>My D was at the Jan 19th auditions and loved the school so much. Anyone who was there, please tell me the name of the gentleman who spoke during orientation? The only thing I didn’t like was that my D’s group was not in the room when he was speaking. He was so informative and very, very funny - I wish she had been able to hear him. </p>

<p>If I remember correctly they said that they “theatre dept” will send to admissions the names of approximately 100 kids, gender balanced, that they feel are competitive for the program. The admissions department will take it from there to determine the appx 50 kids (gender balanced) who will receive acceptance letters. They hope to yeild a class of 20-24 from those 50.</p>

<p>She loved the school and the faculty and the process. She did say the dance audition was tricky, in a waltz 3 count rythmn.
Any other experiences??</p>

2

<p>Crossing paths with you yet again, sue! My kid auditioned for SU's program in Washington, DC on 1/12 and had as much fun at an audition as it is possible to have. The SU team was extremely friendly and welcoming, but that is what she was expecting, as we had visited the Department of Drama in the fall of 2006 and she had the same experience then. And yes, the dance portion was quite rigorous, apparently. They all came out sweating and laughing.</p>

3

<p>His name is Jim Clark--he is the chair of the drama dept, and does some producing and directing for Syracuse Stage.. He also did our tour last year. Really great guy--very encouraging and upbeat.</p>

4

<p>"The admissions department will take it from there to determine the appx 50 kids (gender balanced) who will receive acceptance letters. They hope to yeild a class of 20-24 from those 50."</p>

<p>Does this mean that from the 100 kids, Admissions will look at academic stats to ensure they meet SU's criterion? How are the 50 chosen exactly from the admissions dept?</p>

5

<p>Jim Clark is great and led the session the year my D auditioned too. However, if you read the following thread here, you will see that this past summer, Timothy Bond was appointed the new Drama Chair and Jim Clark is still in the deparment but is not the chair. So, while he may have led the audition day in the past, I don't know who is doing so this year. Could still be Jim but I would not assume so automatically.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/syracuse-university-mt/254797-su-department-chair-leaving.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/syracuse-university-mt/254797-su-department-chair-leaving.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>Hi MamLu. I hope I haven't misstated what I think I heard at the orientation. I believe he was using the 100/50 students as an approximate number. Because he said they send their list of competitive students to the admissions office, I also made the assumption that grades, essays and other general criteria would be used to come up with the accepted students. It makes sense to me!</p>

7

<p>I was there too! I was down front and yes, the dance audition was very difficult and took a lot of kids by surprise.
Do you remember what they said about the B.S. program? I was so nervous I forgot to ask about it. Are we considered for it when we audition?</p>

8

<p>Mamalu -- The admissions department will eliminate any student on the list who does not meet SU's academic standards. From there the list goes back to the drama department and (I believe) they will make their final acceptance list according to the numerical scores students received at the audition. This is what we were told 2 years ago; I assume the process hasn't changed.</p>

9

<p>dammitjanet --Students are either accepted or rejected for the BFA program. This is a bit confusing, but I believe the BS program is only offered to those who have completed the first two years of the BFA program. At the end of sophomore year, there is a faculty evaluation of all students. Those who are not meeting standards will be given the opportunity to re-take some classes, or to switch from the BFA program to a BS degree. BS students will have more electives and less theater classes. I'm pretty sure that's the way it works -- my D is a sophomore at SU; she doesn't know any underclassmen who are currently BS students.</p>

10

<p>&^%*janet.....
I don't know about the B.S. program, but I do know that if you wanted to be considered for BFA Acting, in addition to BFA MT, there was a place to mark that on your profile sheet you completed when you signed in. If you did not mark it, they said you could call them and tell them you'd like to be considred for that. I would call or write the admissions office if you have questions about a different program.</p>

11

<p>I think that onstage is 100% correct: one cannot opt for the BS in theater/acting program at the outset. Instead, students who do not pass their juries/evals sophomore year are then routed, as it were, to the BS program, rather than continuing on/progressing to the BFA program, with its upper-level acting and performance classes. That is how it was explained to us at the SU info session back when my D and I visited in the fall of 2006, and again a few weeks ago at the audition.</p>

12

<p>Thanks onstage..</p>

<p>SU's academic standards are competitive. This is good to know that academics and artistic review are both important to the admissions process.</p>

<p>When my d and I visited in October for the info session, this was not mentioned as clearly as this.
We were told that SU is looking for students with strong dance backgrounds especially ballet. They were less stringent for boys.</p>

13

<p>Oh ok thanks for clearing that up. This whole process is crazy and my parents are supportive but not as involved, so you guys are a big help. :)</p>

14

<p>Unless it has changed since the early 1990s (and since that was 18 years ago, it may well have) -- students who WANT to take more electives, pursue a minor, etc.. may opt to move into the BS from the BFA after the sophomore year.</p>

<p>College is a time of discovery, some students change their minds in terms of career focus -- I remember some students with whom I entered Syracuse decided that they wanted to pursue a more broad based education after completing the first two years of training. One who switched to the BS track (by choice, I believe) went on to pursue a masters degree and an career in Drama Therapy... a few ultimately went on to law school. They still were highly involved in the department, in productions and classes. I can't remember anymore if they did the sophomore evaluation or not, and were permitted to take upper level acting classes. Again -- this may have changed over the past 15 - 18 years :)</p>

<p>Regardless -- (I am relatively sure from looking at the online curriculum catalog) that all students in performance tracks at SU Drama take pretty much the same performance classes in the first two years (with the BFA MT students taking additional classes in music, mt performance and dance) -- so the BS program doesn't really come into the picture until the end of the sophomore year. This is the point (as far as I remember) where the BS and BFA tracks diverge.</p>

<p>I think that the most confusing thing about looking at college programs is that each university or college handles things differently from a degree/ administrative standpoint.</p>

<p>As consumers, parents and students are trying to find common ground between the programs often looking to degree type (BA, BFA, BS, BM) as a way to understanding the program requirements.</p>

<p>It would make things clearer if a BFA was a BFA was a BFA; and a BA was a BA was a BA; and a BM was BM was a BM; and a BS was BS was a BS... if institutions used the same degree to "describe" an identical or similar program -- but because each institution has its own criteria for a degree (accredited schools follow guidelines, but I believe that even in the process of accreditation there is variation.)</p>

<p>Ex. -- Because I went to Syracuse and was familiar with Syracuse's use of the BS degree in drama-- I looked into that as an option at JMU (where I now teach) when I was working on a curriculum revision of the BA Musical Theatre Concentration. What I discovered was that at JMU the BS didn't require the foreign language that the BA required, but replaced those credits with a quantitative requirements (ie. math) -- that did not seem like a natural fit for the average musical theatre student. </p>

<p>Basically (in my long winded post), I am trying to illuminate the fact that the degree itself may not be an indication of the specifics of the program -- and that it may be important to ask the questions of the department and look at the on-line course catalog to get a sense of the differences in programs with the same degree title at different colleges or universities. </p>

<p>Best of luck!! :) :) :)</p>

15

<p>According to SU's website of the Department of Drama iunder "Acting" it says: </p>

<p>"The department offers both a bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) degree and a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree in drama (acting). The B.F.A. requires 124 credits; the B.S. requires 120 credits. The B.F.A. requires 21 to 24 more credits in acting and related support courses."</p>

<p>Both require an audition. The Acting audition requires 2 contrasting monologues. The MT audition has 1 monologue, 2 songs and dance. </p>

<p>Since the audition registration information for Acting and MT are both on the same page what sualabama said seems conceivable - that while you audition for MT the same people might consider you alternately for Acting. </p>

<p>Since most MT programs have around 15-20 students it would make sense that the 50 number could be offers to BFA MT, BFA Acting and BS Acting with a few extra offers to allow for students that didn't accept SU. </p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

16

<p>My daughter attended Syracuse's summer MT program in 2006 and also applied/auditioned for the 2007-2008 school year. What we were told throughout the process, both by Murphy in the Drama Department office and by professors was that there is no "direct" admission to the BS drama/acting program. As has been stated above, the BS program is there for those admitted to the BFA MT or acting program but who for one reason or another need or want to transition out of it but desire to remain a drama/acting major within the department. I don't know if anything has changed this year but that's the way it has been in the past.</p>

17

<p>Michael - </p>

<p>I'm not saying any of you are wrong or that isn't the way it is. But if that is the case their website is misleading as it indicates the two choices at SU in acting directly as a freshman - BS and BFA.</p>

18

<p>MomOfAPrincess, in the end, it all amounts to the same thing: kids who want to study acting or MT at Syracuse have to audition into the acting or musical theater program. They take the same core courses (as explained by the people in the department at two information sessions I attended with my kid) and at the end of sophomore year, there are some choices to be made. One choice is that the student <em>herself</em> decides to pursue the BS track, which means taking more liberal arts courses. (In this case, the student cannot enroll in upper level acting/performance classes.) OR the professors decide that the student has not mastered the material enough to go on to the upper level, BFA classes, and the student moves on to the BS track. OR (yet again!) the student wants to continue to upper level performance classes, and passes her juries/evals, so she <em>does</em> continue to the BFA track. It really is a semantic difference. From what the folks at SU have said, students in both "tracks" do the same things freshman and sophomore years, and it goes from there, according to both the student's wishes/desires/interests and the teachers evaluations of whether those who do wish to move on in the BFA track can do so. Does that make sense?</p>

19

<p>Thanks NMR. I think a bigger question I have right now after reading this board is this emphasis on dance. I read somewhere that if you got 1's and 2's in voice and acting there was a possibility that you could get in despite a not as successful dance audition. Let's assume this happened and you got in the BFA MT. 2 years go by and you still can't catch up to the other students that studied ballet since they were 3 yrs old. Will this come back to haunt you? Will you likely than be thrown into the BS Acting? </p>

<p>Anyone knowing someone with less dance experience that has first hand knowledge of this I'd love to hear from you.</p>

20

<p>MomofaPrincess, that's an interesting question and I will be interested in hearing what kinds of responses you get. But let's look at the flip side:
What about kids who have been dancing since they were four and who came into SU's program as really accomplished dancers, but are not as accomplished in, say, voice and/or acting? I think it is reasonable to assume that most kids who are admitted to Syracuse have some kind of weakness: very few kids are true triple-threats at the age of 17 or 18! That means that each and every student who enters Syracuse will likely have an area of weakness, which they have the chance to remedy/build up during the first two years of intense training. In essence, that means everyone begins on relatively equal footing and has the chance to make the most of the program before the evals. I would surmise that the adjudicators at Syracuse believe that every kid they admit out of the hundreds who audition have the ability to improve their area of weakness and move on to the BFA track in time. Of course, that's not always the reality. But it IS Syracuse's system, and anyone who enrolls in that program needs to understand the possibility that he or she may not be allowed to continue on the BFA track.</p>