<p>NJTheaterMom can correct me if I miss any of the details but, since she’s the one who completely filled me in on this, I should get most of this right. </p>
<p>BU takes about 40 kids. During their first year, all 40 kids have the exact same course of study. There is no separate audition going in because the tracks are not determined until after the first year. </p>
<p>At the end of the 1st year, students decide whether they prefer the acting track and I believe what they call theater studies. A concern I had was that this was a form of a cut system. NJTheaterMom and everyone else I have spoken to has assured me its not. The main different between the two tracks is that theater studies kids have more flexibility in their schedule to take broader classes. For example, a student interested in play writing or Dance would have some greater flexibility.</p>
<p>I just went to the School of Theater’s admission’s day two weeks ago at BU. You have it correct, ActingDad.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, all the students audition to get into the BFA performance program. Then they do the first year together. Then they pick which track - performance, or theatre studies. Just the way you wrote it, I didn’t want folks to think they didn’t have to do an audition for the theatre studies BFA.</p>
<p>At the talk by SOT faculty, kids asked if they would get less chances to act if they went the theatre studies route, and the answer was no. They would just take less acting courses so they can take more global theatre stuff (playwriting, costuming, directing, etc.).</p>
<p>A month from now we will know if S gets in to BU. The waiting is “AGONY” (okay - I just saw Into The Woods the other night).</p>
<p>ActingDad and Marbleheader have got it right. Each year, BU accepts a relatively large number of PERFORMANCE majors, compared to many other BFA programs. All of these acceptances are based on the same auditions. Their admissions yield results in a freshman class that can have as many as fifty members; it varies a little bit from year to year.</p>
<p>All of the students accepted into the School of Theatre’s BFA Performance program (as opposed to the SOT BFA Design & Production program) take exactly the same classes during freshman year.</p>
<p>At the end of freshman year, each student decides whether to pursue the Acting track or the Theatre Arts track. There are no set numbers for each track; the relative sizes of the two tracks vary from year to year.</p>
<p>Theatre Arts students have much more flexibility to take classes outside the major, or to take non-performance classes like design. My son is a Theatre Arts student who is minoring in dance. He is also interested in directing; TA students have more opportunities to study directing than Acting track students do.</p>
<p>Theatre Arts students have a basic core curriculum, but it is very flexible to allow for a wide variety of interests. For instance, my son is not particularly interested in costuming and will not be taking any costuming classes. Some TA students choose to take a large number of the same classes as the Acting students take; others adopt a different approach.</p>
<p>All of the students in both the Acting track and the Theatre Arts track have equal opportunities in casting. Another great thing about BU is that there is guaranteed casting for all performance students, starting in sophomore year.</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone!! You are all awesome… and I really like BU’s system. My son is still on the fence about which way he will go… BA vs BFA…and it almost like you get the best of both worlds at BU. He is a pretty academic kid… but acting is definitely his passion. It is a hard one… but I am confident after this year and a theater summer program… he will be able to make his decision. We visited Occidental and Pomona last weekend and he thought both were excellent for BA’s in theater. You can tell how much he loves theater because he had to go see all the theater’s inside and out and talk to everyone and anyone that was in the theater. His other love is singing and OXY had tons of singing groups…which he felt was awesome.</p>
<p>Marbleheader… I am SOO excited for you guys!! Can’t wait to hear the news… I have a good feeling:-)</p>
<p>What sort of stats did they say you need for Oxy? I think it could be a good school for my son. Pomona seems like an amazing school but may be out of reach. Does Claremont and Pitzer also offer a BA in theater?</p>
<p>Hi y’all! I have a lot of reading to catch up to everyone, but we just returned from UNCSA. That visit just cemented her love for CMU. Everyone has their place and needs to take time to visit and find their place. After our experience with UNCSA, she knows that it is probably not where she wants to be. I’ll be back after we unpack. :)</p>
<p>Well, ugadog99, we have chatted amongst ourselves while you were gone. So back to your original postings!!!</p>
<p>It is so hard for the kids to be impartial when they look at different schools. We went to visit another school soon after S had his experience with his dream school. It was sad watching him look around, since I knew he was comparing the two schools. And this was not an apple-to-apple comparison! But as you said, you really need to see them and get a feel for them - and if the results is a big fat no, it was not a wasted trip at all. Unfortunately for my S, the second school was - and is! - his safety school. He didn’t hate it in its own right, he just knew it wasn’t as great as the dream school.</p>
<p>So fill us in! How did the portfolio review go??</p>
<p>@5boys - your S sounds like a possible fit for Northwestern University, so it may also be worth investigating if he hasn’t already looked at it.</p>
<p>Marbleheader, the interviews were “ok” my D said. She interviewed twice. The first was with lighting and the second stage management. My D just didn’t feel welcome, I guess is the best way to explain it. Honestly, the entire day just felt “off.” It is kind of sad because going into this visit, my D and I both thought UNCSA would be her #2 pick. We shall see what happens, I suppose.</p>
<p>UNCSA’s department: She was very impressed with the facilities available to the students. If you would like more details on the visit as a whole, I’d be glad to share. Just send me a private message.</p>
<p>We also did a sleeping bag weekend at CMU (Hi, Dawg!). My D liked the department, faculty and the students. She absolutely hated the other kids that were there visiting! They were full of themselves, threw themselves at the current MT students and acted like they were God’s gift to the stage. At one point, some current students had to leave to go to some sort of leadership seminar class. All the prospective students went with the kids that went to the seminar except my D. After they had all left, one of the current students leaned over to my D and said, “Good choice. That class blows!”. My D just wanted to spend more time with the actual faculty, not a bunch of prospective students who thought that just by knowing someone currently in the program ensured their admission. My D also did not get to stay with an MT major. She was with a music major (violin, cello) and as such, couldn’t really answer any questions about MT. </p>
<p>I’d also like to to comment that we found the info session run by the department to be less than helpful. The dean was an industrial design guy and knew about that, but not much in the way of specifics about MT, Acting, D&P or music. We personally didn’t have questions about the program (we’ve done our research), but many students and parents did. I felt sorry for the people that really wanted some specific info but couldn’t get it there.</p>
<p>Walker- you described a kid from my daughter’s class last year that is a freshman at CMU in MT. This is a kid who has always gotten whatever he wanted, got parts that he didn’t even audition for, had teachers change his grades so he could get into college, cheated on his multiple girlfriends, skipped school, did drugs… you name it. I’m hoping he discovers that guess what- he’s not the bomb diggity. He can dance and act but his singing voice is flat and he cannot harmonize- because that would mean he’s have to work with someone else. Okay, stepping off my soap box now!</p>
<p>Walker- because he has potential and he chose songs that were strong acting songs with not much range and he can charm. He does have some charisma- I’ll give him that. I do believe you can fake 32 bars- I have seen it happen plenty of times. However, he could never make it through an entire song without cracking or going flat. That’s what happens when you’re a smoker. Also, in an audition, you don’t have to harmonize with anyone. Also- he’s a boy and we all know that the competition isn’t nearly as tough for them as it is with the girls. On another note, the boy who won the national Jimmy Award is also a freshman at CMU in MT and he is AMAZING! He is well-respected and has a very strong work ethic. That boy CAN sing,act, and dance. I have seen him perform and watched jaws drop in the audience. Plus, he is humble- not cocky.</p>
<p>Yes, he was one of the boys that the prospective students were flinging themselves at… my D met him, said he was nice, and she was done with him :). He puts his pants on one leg at a time too!</p>
<p>Exactly Walker! Luckily he really is a nice and humble guy who really works hard for everything he has gotten. He’s nothing like the kid from my daughter’s school.</p>
<p>Mountainhiker - my husband went to CMU for mechanical engineering and my daughter will be applying next year for acting. I visited my husband at CMU alot when he was there. There is not much interaction between the schools. If you are in the performing arts school you will interact almost exclusively with performing arts kids. They are just so busy there isn’t much time for anything else.
Aside from acting, CMU is very hard to get into academically and attracts very serious students. As someone else said, it is not a party school. However, my husband loved it and we both loved Pittsburgh. Nice city.</p>