<p>Hi there. New to the board, and have a daughter that's a junior who is just starting her search for a music theater school. She's done a lot of performing (both musicals and drama), made the top performing show choir at her high school as a junior (very rare, and her choir was ranked # 1 in the U.S. last year by some polls). She's done some intensive workshops last summer with professionals, who inform us she should be very competitive. We live in Indiana, and she's interested in staying within driving distance (is off with her mom and little sister at Millikin today), and more in a smaller school since she goes to a huge high school. Excellent grades (over a 4.1 weighted GPA). I know she wants to also look at Otterbein and Ball State, but other than that not sure yet.</p>
<p>So since we're new to this any advice on how to guide her would be most welcome. I admit I get confused over audition vs. non-audition schools, BFA vs. BA, etc, so any guidance on this would be most welcome!</p>
<p>What would you consider “driving distance” this definition will vary depending on the person. For example, I went to college driving distance from home – 6 hours – someone else might feel like that was too long a distance and would rather be within a 3 - 4 hour drive… or a 2 hour drive.</p>
<p>In terms of BA/ BFA audition/ non-audition, etc… </p>
<p>There are many schools (both BFA and BA) programs that require an audition in order for a student to be admitted to the program. There are others (both BFA [although this is more rare] and BA) that do not require an audition to be admitted to the program. Some of these programs many have an audition at a later point to be admitted to upper level performance classes, some may not. Some of these schools may also have auditions for scholarships that are not required for admission.</p>
<p>In terms of the BA/ BFA question… In the majority of BA programs 30% - 60% of your required course work will be in courses in the major, and 40% - 70% of your required coursework will be in courses outside of the major. In the majority of BFA programs 60% - 90% of your required coursework will be in courses in the major, and 10% - 40% of your required course work will be in courses outside the major. However, the curriculum at each school (even with the same degree program … BA or BFA… will vary significantly), so it is important to check both the required curriculum at a school as well as the opportunity to take additional courses inside or outside of the major.</p>
<p>The links posted by EmsDad are great resources, Also – as you start visiting schools, looking at curriculum online, and asking questions of the programs you will get a better sense of the different possibilities out there.</p>
<p>Hi there! Im a freshman BFA MT at Ball State! And I would absolutely love to answer any of your questions. I went through the whole frightening audition process last year, and I know its nice to have somebody to bounce ideas off of. Are you talking about the Carmel Show choir by chance?</p>
<p>We were in much the same situation when my son was auditioning. He is a strong student and we were kind of adamant about him getting a strong outside-the-major education. </p>
<p>Why? With such an unpredictable career outlook, we felt it would be smart for him to have a core cirriculum under his belt, so that he could get another degree (such as education or business) with just one or two more years of school if he chose to do so later. We explored double-majoring, but found that most BFA schedules make it almost impossible to double-major.</p>
<p>So, with that criteria in hand, we went in search of BFA programs where the university requires at least 25-30%of the credits are taken in main-stream college core classes.
This meant searching through the actual online course catalogs CAREFULLY (as KatMT suggests). What we found was that most of the BFA programs had minimal, if any, classes outside the major - and even if it said that you had an English elective, you had to choose from things like “English for the Theatre” which are still within the major.</p>
<p>However, we did find a few, and luckily within driving distance…(we live in Indiana also)…and after a good audition season that offered him several choices, he chose Ball State. He is a sophomore this year, and couldn’t be happier. </p>
<p>As many others will tell you on this site, every kid’s fit is different. I know another MT major from his school who never wanted to see a Math book again, and chose a program where she didn’t have to. You are just starting on your journey to see what a good "fit might be…you are at the right place!</p>
<p>Hi! Glad to see you’ve joined the forum. I am also a freshman at Ball State, and I would agree that it is definitely a program to look into! I would love to answer any questions you have about your school search.</p>
I am also a freshman at Ball State, and I would agree that it is definitely a program to look into! I would love to answer any questions you have about your school search.</p>