I feel like I’m always making threads like this, trying to find schools to apply to because I never think I’m applying to enough…
I feel like im stuck - all my friends are getting college acceptances already, and I’m still figuring out my complete list of schools, because what I want out of a school has changed so much. I’ve already applied to American, JMU, FSU, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Geneseo, and will be applying to SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Cortland, Temple, Rutgers, and U of New Hampshire. I’m worried that my poor academics won’t get me into some of these places, however, and that my good test scores might not entirely make up for it (3.1 or 2 GPA weighted, 27 ACT 1850 SAT SS). Especially with the way that Musical Theater is, I feel safer applying to more schools.
Size. No less than 6-7k undergrads. Bigger than that would be better. Also preferably public for affordability, but most bigger schools tend to be public schools anyway, so I’m not very worried about that.
Musical Theater BA, or a BFA that allows for a double major to be complete in 4 years. I’ve applied to a couple of Theater with MT concentration programs, but I much prefer MT.
Other things that I like, but aren’t essential at this point: No rural campuses, and the closer to NY the better
I’m also starting to feel pretty hopeless about this whole college thing, I feel so behind; if there’s any advice that anyone could give me, that would be much appreciated as well.
It’s late to be adding more schools and is past the deadline for many. So, you have to look into any that are either rolling admissions or their application deadline hasn’t passed.
Hofstra is rolling admissions. It is near NYC. It has 6,900 undergraduates. Hofstra offers a BA in Drama and BFA in Performance. Once in the BA major in Drama, a student can audition to get into the BFA sophomore year. You can’t audition for the BFA as a freshman. During the first year, the BA and BFA program are the same. To get into the BFA program, you audition in the fall of your second year. They offer a Minor in MT, and not many schools do. I don’t know enough about your profile, but with the very little you shared, you are in the ballpark most likely for this school. Then again, I hate to say that because you gave your weighted GPA and I don’t know your unweighted one, or many other things and so would need way more information.
Fairleigh Dickinson University is also near NYC and offers a: BA Theater Arts with either an Acting or MT Concentration. They have 8,382 undergrads. They also do rolling admissions. All theater students spend a semester at Wroxton College in England. There are internships in NYC. There are four MainStage shows including two musicals, plus student run and black box shows. I think academically you could be accepted. Although it does have an audition for the BA in Theater, I doubt it is as hard to get into as most BFA programs or even some other BA by audition schools.
I have no concrete advice when it comes to specific schools or programs - but it was this time last year that we started to re-adjust our outlook on auditioning/applying.
In fact, my daughter’s audition at the school she fell in love with wasn’t until March … so late applications/auditions do happen.
Here are some more. All of these are large, public schools with a BA in MT and your stats may be in range for most or all of them:
Bowling Green State BA Comm w/MT specialization
Indiana Pennsylvania BA w/MT Track
U Alabama (may be a reach for your stats)
U Northern Colorado (BA requires 70 hours in major and is more like a BFA)
Western Connecticut State CT (just under 6,000)
Regarding the rest of your criteria: depending on your point of view, many or all of these might be considered “rural” campus locations; only 1 is near NYC (Western Connecticut State).
I think all of these are still taking applications, not sure whether any have closed out their MT audition schedules yet.
Northern Colorado is “competitive-to-very-competitive” for artistic admission. I don’t know anything regarding the level of competitiveness for artistic admission for the other programs, but I would guess that Alabama is also pretty competitive for artistic admission.
Christopher Newport in Newport News, VA is slightly smaller than your 6000 - 7000 range, at 5000, however, they have a solid non-auditioned program (you may audition for scholarships). It is a BA program with a Concentration in Music-Theatre Dance. The application deadline is February 1.
Keene State College in NH is also slightly smaller, with 5500 students. They do not have a specific Musical Theatre degree, but do musicals, and I believe do have courses work in MT Performance.
University of Mary Washington in VA is only 4000 students, but has a non-auditioned program, they do musicals, and have a Musical Theatre Minor which can be an add on to the Theatre major. The Priority Deadline is February 1 for RD.
Plymouth State University in NH is about the same size as Mary Washington, and has an auditioned Musical Theatre Program. The academic admissions deadline is technically April , but to be considered for the program, you should apply and contact the department by March 15 at the latest to register for the final audition date.
I know that not all of these programs meet all of your criteria, but they are all programs that have later application deadlines for you to explore to see if any of them might work for you and pique your interest.
I second @EmsDad’s suggestion of Bowling Green. I live in Ohio and have friends who auditioned and they loved it. They both said it was their favorite audition thus far - The monologue portion was more like a “workshop”, it was very encouraging and clearly non-judgemental. They are currently in the process of trying to grow their MT program and I think you have a good chance of getting in academically. Worth checking out!
I’m going to say something here that I hope makes you feel a lot better. My daughter has literally almost the exact same academic statistics as you do (3.2 weighted GPA with a fairly challenging schedule including honors and AP classes, 1860 on her SAT and 28 on her ACT). So far she has been academically accepted to five colleges: Point Park, OCU, University of Hartford, Montclair State, Marymont Manhattan (she’s been accepted into the MT program there, too) and Hofstra. In fact, the only school that has, to date, not accepted her academically is Wagner, which has an academic screening before allowing you to audition. Some of these schools, especially Hofstra, would seem to meet your criteria. And my daughter has gotten academic merit scholarships at several schools as well, and has been invited into the honors programs at OCU and Marymount.
Bottom line: there are good schools for students at your academic level. You’re a B student with good test scores. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. You don’t have to be a straight A student with a 2000 plus SAT score to get into college. You’ve gotten good suggestions here; do your research, find some schools within your reach that you can add and go for it!
Another school with a BFA program that has rolling admissions/rolling auditions is Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan - it’s a mid-sized (20-30K students) public university. They have 2 audition dates in March this year. Apply to the university by 3/1 for consideration for scholarships (according to the website).
D has a friend who goes to Hofstra (for directing). The campus is one of the most gorgeous I have seen. The facilities are phenomenal. Just a train ride away from NYC. Definitely worth looking at.
I will say that we were much more impressed with Hofstra than we expected to be. We know two friends there, one for BFA acting and one for BFA production, and they are both getting great experiences, on and off campus. Also, they’re pretty generous with scholarship money. My DD got almost 18k per year.
