@dramamamaCC love that!
@MomofJ5 Yes - I also noticed that wasnât truly alphabetical order. That info came from HR in a couple of press releases sent by schools on the list. HR used âNorthâ and âSan Diegoâ to alphabetize (lolâŚI agree - looks odd and makes no sense to skip the âCâ----maybe that should indicate the validity of said list 
). The point they were making was that those 5 BFA programs listed are not ranked in a specific order of 1st, 2nd, 3rd - but the MFA list is. Think they were just trying to clarify. Maybe they should have just said a ârandom ordered list.â
Iâm actually sorry I posted the lists at all. I did so (as you noted, too) in hopes people may gain more info about a school they didnât know much about. Hopefully someone out there did.
Again - just hope everyone has a wonderful day and is feeling great about where their individual child is thriving. 
@bfahopeful - I think random order is a good thing (though they should have noted that in the article). I just wish HR would have provided a longer list than just 5 schools. If the point of the list is to be helpful to high school students, the list should be broader.
Also, my Sâs school (Syracuse) fell off the list from 2017- would have liked to know why (eg- did UCSD just blow them away with innovative programs, or was there a problem at Syracuse that I am unaware of!). Facts would be helpful.
@momofJ5 - I have found that HR often does very odd things and that many GREAT schools go on and off the lists for no reason at all.
Syracuse is among a handful this happens to. No rhyme or reason. One year (maybe 2 years ago???) someone on CC researched and found out that journalism students at Northwestern compiled the list that year and guess whatâŚNorthwestern was ranked really high (might have been #1 or 2). It is an awesome programâŚbut that particular list had a lot of facts wrong across the board such as locations and names of programs and accrediting alum to the wrong schools. The fact that students wrote it just added to the hilarity. After that I stopped taking it too seriously.
@artskids Correction to my post #36 above - I think the post about Guthrie was from @2lights (post #18) not @jbtcat. Maybe @2lights has specific info is what I meant.
I am in Los Angeles and no one at my kidâs school or the opposing high school thought of UCSD for drama. Pretty unheard of so this was a surprise. Hollywood Reporter must have asked a small amount of people: all from the 4 mentioned and one alum from USCD. Not knocking UCSD but come on! - USC, UCLA, Fullerton, LMU, Chapman, Calarts all have more well-known drama programs!
I donât put much weight in any of the âlistsâ. My kidsâ schools are sometimes on them, sometimes not. Doesnât really matter to me. I have become a student of the playbill - you will find actors from all over - even those who (GASP) didnât go to college ;)) Work hard. Make connections. Work harder. Be in the right place at the right time,
Most people who saw the list were very surprised that UCSD is on that list. I will leave it at that. My child attends Rutgers and three of my childâs classmates who attend Rutgers are staying with us for a few more days. We had an extensive conversation last night about the list and NYU. By the way Rutgers has a history of accepting edgy actors. Only 1 of the 4 kids even applied to NYU. The one that did said they only would have considered it if they got rejected from almost every other school. The combined 4 kids said they knew 5 different kids who attend NYU. All thought those kids although nice kids werenât at the level of most of the kids at Carnegie Mellon, Julliard, Rutgers, UNCSA, Purchase, Syracuse, UCLA, USC, Michigan or BU. They also made some comments about the teachers there. They heard some teachers were good, some OK and others not so great. That is hear say from the kids at NYU, kids in other programs and their acting coaches. They compared NYU also in a way to Boston Conservatory on the MT side. They said although some kids have NYU and Boston Conservatory as their dream school the tippy top kids usually want to attend Carnegie-Mellon, Michigan, CCM and Baldwin-Wallace. When your accepting 60-70 plus kids for MT and 100 plus kids in one class for acting you probably arenât getting the crème of the crop.
The opinion of these 4 kids who know a lot of kids in all of the programs I listed was NYU although fine isnât a tippy top program as of now. Hate to be so honest.They obviously have a lot of successful alums and some shows they put on might be quite good but they feature the best that they have from a huge talent pool. Just speaking from what I hear and the heart.
@Mach4 - that makes total sense to me. Actors who gravitate towards Rutgers and their classics-heavy curriculum would not enjoy or flourish at NYU - and I would posit the reverse is also true.
I was thinking last night that all of this âtop 5â fuss is analogous to the Top Schools in US News - they break out liberal arts colleges from Universities for good reason as they attract different students and offer different environments. UC Berkeley is almost always a top 10 national University but it doesnât offer the kind of focused, personal attention that a Williams or an Amherst does and it doesnât have the extreme selectivity of a Harvard or U Chicago. Some students, many in fact, get lost at UCB. Some excel. Some are top US students, others got randomly lucky. The only things that are not debatable or variable about a UCB education is the name is well known, the degrees are respected world-wide and the students keep wanting to attend. Someone who wants a Dartmouth education would hate going to UCB⌠and someone who shines at Berkeley would feel trapped at Dartmouth. Is one school âbetterâ than the other? Without question many people would argue one way - and others the reverse. Itâs actually a pointless question as what matters is whatâs best for a particular student and that canât be found in any online list.
There comes a time where you just have to quote Charlie Brown and say âoh good griefâ. In the end, here is the best description of NYU I can offer. NYU is WAY more like Northwestern than it is like the BFA conservatories. Maybe they should call themselves an auditioned BA (not that anyone there would be listening to me) It attracts and holds a different kind of kid than places like CMU. Itâs not for everyone. But itâs a Nationally recognized university with a 19% academic acceptance rate. To devalue it would be (in my opinion) akin to devaluing Northwesten or UCLA. Again YMMV, but thatâs me.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I have felt for some time that my time on CC is coming to a close. Perhaps it would be fitting to make this thread a type of swan song.
- I donât think there is any such thing as a âtippy too schoolâ - whatâs in the kid will come out. Which is why there are Julliard grads waiting tables (I know one, great kid, no real âdriveâ), and people from no name programs and no programs starring in plays/movies/tv.
- Not everyone and everything on CC is as it appears. Take all info with a grain of salt and do your own research
- Tell your kids to be collaborative, professional, and KIND. The door is closing on divas of all description.
Love to you all
Well said @artskids and @toowonderful
@toowonderful perfect!
Well said and weâll miss you @toowonderful!
Unsurprising. I bet some of us who have been here for a while could even guess who those five members are, probably all affiliated with a certain coach often mentioned here who loved to bash Tisch. @2lights Iâd caution you to be careful with the comments you make here, and Iâd caution anyone in the same way. The theatre community is a small one and it often isnât difficult to figure out who someone is if they happen to stick around here for a while. You are entitled to your own opinion, but you arenât entitled to your own facts. As someone who has been involved in the theatre business for a very long time, I can tell you that you are misinformed.
Iâm not sure how a parent could even determine the âcalibreâ of students at several different schools in a particular cohort.
I gotta stick around for child #4 so I guess there will be more lists in my future LOL!
Iâve been thinking about this, and hereâs what bothers me: there is ALREADY way too much obsession over getting into the âtippy topâ schools instead of focusing on fit, and this attitude that talented kids ONLY apply to schools X, Y, and Z feeds into that obsession.
Personal story: My D goes to a prestigious performing arts high school, and she and the other drama kids all applied to CMU etc. Some of the kids did get âeliteâ acceptances. Others didnât. My daughter was devastated that she didnât.
She did, however, get into Hartt, which seems like it will be a very good fit for her. The curriculum is solid, the faculty are experienced and well-connected, there are numerous performing opportunities and professional opportunities, etc. We went to see a play there in April, and D was impressed by the talent of the students and the quality of the production, which reassured her.
She is looking forward to attending HarttâŚand yet, I know that deep down, she still feels bad that she didnât get into the âelites,â and worse, fears that not attending one of the âelitesâ means that a) the training she gets wonât be as good, and b) agents and casting directors will assume sheâs not as talented as the kids who went to the âelites,â and her career will suffer.
None of that is true, of course! Look at any Playbill and youâll find plenty of actors from ânon-eliteâ schools.
But this ranking and nitpicking of âwhich elite school is MORE elite than the others?â and insistence that talented kids ONLY go to the âgoldenâ schools perpetuates the myth that you MUST go to those schools if you want to âmake it.â Since those schools only take a tiny number of kids, it causes panic and self-doubt in the many talented kids who donât get in because there simply arenât enough slots, or they were the wrong type or whatever.
I would much rather see posts focusing on real, solid, helpful information about the schools. For example, the acting techniques they teach, the curriculum as a whole, the experience of the faculty, the professional connections, the performance opportunities, the amount of academics, the location, the successful alumni, etc etc. IMO, that kind of information is far more helpful than these âpopularity contests.â
Hey guys⌠still here (people who know me know it takes me FOREVER to be really done with anything). I just wanted to shout a great big YES to everything @actorparent1 said above!! There is so much wonderful info and help to be gained here- tearing down serves NO ONE. Itâs not honesty, or âcoming from the heartâ - itâs mean. EVERY school has good stuff to offer, EVERY school has flaws - even CM freakinâ U.
Haha, so true. Iâm still waiting for my audition fee refund that they promised me, multiple times, in 2003! 
https://www.backstage.com/backstage-guides/25-acting-colleges-you-need-know/
Oh look. Another listâŚ
Injecting my own bit of levity into this â I read this: " Itâs going to be especially hard for her friend who got cast in Hamilton last week (not to mention the one currently rehearing Shakespeare in the park) " and thought, âHmm, actually, that would be a better ad for a school that does NOT get the tippy-top students!â After all, everyone expects the tippy-toppers to go do great things, but if the tippies are passing your school by because it isnât top-tier, and your students are going on to great things, KABAAM, itâs a function of the amazing school, right?
So, yâall, Iâm going to be over here waiting for colleges to call me and beg me to be in charge of their new student recruitment campaigns. âWe donât want tippy-top students! We want regular students we can turn into tippy-top top-tier tippy-toppers!â