<p>I can find very little information on CC about the BFA acting program at LIU/CWPost. Does anyone have any specific and/or detailed information? Of course I have researched the website thoroughly, but there is no substitute for someone's personal experience and knowledge. Thanks!</p>
<p>We researched it, too, but my D decided not to add it because she felt she had enough schools. The program website looks very nice. I know this doesn’t help very much, but one of her classmates at Adelphi also was accepted there. I learned this when chatting with her mom at a performance; I really don’t know why she preferred Adelphi, except I do recall something about Adelphi’s lovely new facilities.</p>
<p>One thing I would ask them is just how easy it is to get into the City. From a quick look, it seems you have to take a shuttle or bus to the train. We stayed at a hotel pretty near CW Post when visiting our D, and it’s a nice area, very typical suburban LI. My D found it a task to figure out how to deal with the pretty isolated suburban setting of her LI school; this year we’re going to let her take a car, so she isn’t as dependent on friends and the minimal shuttle service. But at Adelphi the train stain is just a few blocks from campus, which makes it a snap for students to get into NYC, and that made up for the other location issues completely.</p>
<p>On a general note, being people who had to do a lot of website surfing to find schools, and had to plan visits very economically, I would say this: while lots of schools tend to look the same “on paper,” and because most of them by definition make themselves look great in their public profiles (and even when you visit), it is hard really to “know” if the experience will be good for your student. It’s wonderful if you can get perspective from CC or in other ways, but of course often that information is skewed due to personal issues (good or bad) or just too anecdotal to settle serious questions. </p>
<p>I don’t have any solutions on how to evaluate schools, but I will say that in looking back over my own and both of my daughters’ college choices and then how they played out, focusing on program is a very legitimate way to go. If you can project a 4-year experience in coursework, performing opportunities, career preparation, and at least vaguely in a social/recreational sense (like for my kid, how much professional theatre would she be able to see, or if they have other hobbies/interests available), that can be enough. </p>
<p>Intangibles like how they might fit in, what the people are like, or even what their future prospects would be if they went there, are really hard to evaluate, even if you CAN visit. For us, at least, when it came down to choosing among acceptances, what again became most important was PROGRAM. If you believe that college is what you make of it, then a school with the program opportunities you want will be a good choice. My D, for example, turned down one BA partly because of location (very hard to see lots of professional theatre) but mostly because it was very weak in design classes, which she knew she wanted available to her.</p>
<p>I can see, other other hand, how a student who just felt enormously happy at a certain school - because of the people, the location, or one specific part of the program - might be willing to adjust his/her needs for other program aspects. I’m not saying this isn’t a valid way to choose a school; my D came close to choosing her 2nd choice very much for this reason (BAs with excellent, if possibly more limited programs, in great locations, with student bodies she was very excited about). </p>
<p>My short answer is that if you like a program’s website and it fits a student’s criteria, go ahead and apply, try to visit, and assume it would be a good option when making a decision in the spring.</p>
<p>EmmyBet: your replies are always thoughtful and helpful (as are your private messages). Of course it is always about fit. A school can seem wonderful on its website, even ideal when visiting (which we likely will in two weeks), but there is a leap of faith involved even after long hours of research.</p>
<p>The website seems to state that there are 2 bus stops on the edge of the campus which then take you to the NYC subway system as well as to several LI rail stations (as you indicated). I will confirm that.</p>
<p>We expect to visit both Adelphi and LIU in the same day. As the two of us have discussed, my D will prefer a curriculum with fewer required courses outside of her acting major. It “appears” as if LIU does require fewer such courses, but I’ll have to verify that when visiting.</p>
<p>Ideally it should be about the program, but I’m not the one making the final choice. My D would prefer to be in the city, which is why she loves BU, and will likely love UArts when we visit as part of that same trip. Being very close to a city, like Adelphi and LIU, might satisfy here. I hope she is pleased with the visit to Hartt (one of my favorites), but Hartford may not be her preferred location. We’ll know more in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Again, thanks for your comments!</p>
<p>Thanks, OddDad. I hope your visits go really well.</p>
<p>I always try to answer here both to the poster and to anyone who might be reading. Thanks for letting me philosophize based on your more specific question.</p>
<p>I can say it’s all about the program, but then we’re talking about young people who don’t always have the perspective or understanding (naturally!) to know what it is that they want. Ultimately my D had to make her decisions from her gut, as you say. In making her list, she decided on several important criteria. She then applied to lots of schools so that she would have many different options some months down the road when she definitely would know more about her needs and probably would have some different priorities.</p>
<p>When it came down to picking a school among her acceptances, she finally had to base her choice on what she wanted to do THAT fall, not for the rest of her life. Really everyone who goes to college (or takes a job, or moves to a new place - dare I also say gets married, has a child?) just has to take their best shot and give it a try. Presumably they understand at least a few things about who they are and what they want. </p>
<p>Knowing lots of kids who are past the application stage, and now even done with college, I believe the process is as much or more of a mystery than ever! I do think that the best short-term, and long-term, question these kids need to ask is “Will I be able to do what I feel is most important and enjoyable to me?” Everyone has a different way of answering that, and everyone sees the balance (and definition) of “value” in a personal way.</p>
<p>@OddDad: I actually went to LIU CW Post for a year. I can give you some aspect on my experience but it has change a lot since I was there.</p>
<p>What made me like the program was that in the first two years everyone would take the same theater classes together (BFAs, BAs) and your schedule was mostly in theater M-F. As I recall my freshmen year from other students (Long story short I was in a PASS program where I was limited to taking certain courses) You had intro to drama, technical theater, basic acting, english 1 and a choice to chose one or two other core classes. For the BFA Acting program, she will only need to take 30 credits worth outside her major. That is a 1/4 of her degree. 3/4 of her degree will be related to theater.</p>
<p>The program has change where you can get a degree in Musical Theater and only the first years have the same classes together. Second years the only difference between BFA actors and BFA musical theater is voice classes which as BFA Acting major can take as an elective than a requirement. </p>
<p>After you complete your first year, you are consider a Post Theatre Company member. There are about 50 people from freshman year to senior year.</p>
<p>There are one musical production (but they trying to do one in the fall semester and another in the spring), five productions and three stage readings of new plays by up and coming playwrights or this year they had a play written by an alumni!</p>
<p>The training is based on practical aesthetics. In the first year of acting classes, we use training from A Practical Handbook for the Actor and Respect for Acting. Also, Maria Porter, Post Theatre Company, who has train with Tadashi Suzuki and Anne Bogart, heavily teachers the Suzuki Technique. I would suggest to your daughter to go to a info class on SITI website. It is a training that I can not describe on here or tell you in person. You have to experience it yourself to fully understand the specific of the training.</p>
<p>About transportation, there is a bus from campus that drops you off at the Hicksville Train Station. It takes about an hour to get to Penn Station and a half hour to get to Jamaica Ave (Queens) and transfer to Atlantic Avenue (Brooklyn) which is cheaper and faster because you can exit and get on the subway. Every train in that station takes you to Manhattan. There is also a MTA bus that goes into the campus but it does not run on the weekends. I would have to take a cab to get to campus.</p>
<p>Also, if your D doesn’t have a car, there is a bus that takes you to Wegman’s, a mall with target in it, and train station (same one I was referring to). Also, since I left there is a shuttle bus that takes you to path mark and wendys.</p>
<p>Also, I like that everything on campus was walkable so it was not a far away walk from rehearsals to my dorm. If you are debating whether or not you should get a car, it would probably be better to get to know someone and get transportation that way. </p>
<p>Any other questions that you have, I will be happy to answer.</p>
<p>Thank you Star! I seem to recall reading a similar post of yours on a different thread. You were careful to be non-critical about the program, but there must have been a reason you chose to leave after a year. Care to share? If not, feel free to PM me. How long ago was it that you left? Again, thanks for your input!</p>
<p>stargurl93–D is also considering LIU. I would also love to know why you didn’t stay more than a year. Any information you can share would be appreciated. I don’t want to waste a trip across the country for a school that might not be right for D.</p>
<p>Napa, let me know if you connect with Stargurl. She hasn’t replied to my private message yet. She’s probably busy. I have to decide whether LIU will be on my college tour list which is less than 2 weeks away.</p>
<p>Hello Odd Dad, I’m interested to know if you did go visit LIU and what you thought of the program. I tried to PM you but I dont have enough posts, so if you can pm me that would be great. I have a DD interested in BFA for Acting. I like the idea that BFA Acting majors are alllowed to take voice where most schools don’t allow that or charge extra.</p>
<p>Can anyone post and update about LIU’s BFA program. Have any of your kids gone to visit the school and applied? Agree that the classes look great on paper.</p>
<p>Sorry if this might be a long awaited response but I thought I reply to this thread but I guess it did not happen.</p>
<p>The reason why I left was financial aid. At the time I was at Post, the tuition was $35,000. Now I was told that it is $40,000. I was at Post in the 2008-2009 year. I can not remember the specifics of each award but I remember my mother would had to take out $25,000 from a PLUS loan to cover the cost which is more than half the tuition to continue my second year. </p>
<p>There is a scholarship for acting majors which I did not get which could have help a little. And honestly, this is the big complaint for Post. There were so many people that transfer out of my freshmen year due to the same problem.
Does taking out a third party loan with higher interest than the federal loans or taking a second mortgage is that much a risk to continue a higher education even for theater?
Maybe or Maybe not. But that is your decision.
Maybe I am a little skeptical where I feel that most people that get into the theater field have enough income from a parent to support their child and live comfortably. That is great for that particular family but not so much for everyone.</p>
<p>With the same amount of money you are paying for school, you could live in New York and take acting classes at different acting studios.</p>
<p>Thank you for responding Stargurl, we really appreciate it and wish you well in your endeavors. You are right of course, the financial piece is very difficult in this equation.</p>
<p>Mom2gals have you been out to LIU to get a first hand feel for the program? Are you still considering it?</p>
<p>schacherry, we don’t go to LIU until the March 1 round of auditions.
I have a friend whose daughter goes there.
They say the campus is gorgeous and she is smitten with the program.
Loves the suzuki orientation, the acting classes, the vocal classes, she is MT.
She was cast as a freshman in a special production on campus by an outside director.
She is challenged by the honors courses that she takes.
She has spent many weekends going to shows all over NYC.
Feels its her perfect fit.</p>
<p>Thanks Mom2gals. Keep us posted on your trip out there!</p>
<p>Does anyone know if this is more of a commuter school or a school with an active weekend life?</p>
<p>I hope the student who was there will answer your question, photomom. I can only guess, but based on my understanding of many of the schools in the area, I would say it’s got a fair share of commuters (my D’s friend who considered going there would have commuted). </p>
<p>Usually I don’t give these kinds of “guess” answers on CC (they make me crazy!) but the reason why I wanted to was because we had the same question when my D was looking at Adelphi, Hofstra, etc. What we learned - and what was true - is that at these heavier commuter/suitcase schools 1) the BFA theatre kids DO have a very active weekend life on campus and don’t really experience the “suitcase” issue, and 2) being near NYC - or any other active city - means that campus activities on the weekends aren’t as important as at other schools. The commuter/suitcase issue bothered my D initially, in that Adelphi didn’t fit her image of a campus on a weekend, since activities were limited, but it didn’t really make that much difference after the first couple of weeks. Once she got her feet wet in theatre, and found her way to NYC, she has had no problems with the “limited” weekend campus life. </p>
<p>We did decide to let her have a car her second year. The suburban location with pretty inconvenient bus and shuttle service to local amenities was very frustrating, even though the train to NYC is only blocks away from campus.</p>
<p>Thanks…my son asked the theatre student at Unifieds EVERY question but that one! I did not want to interrupt and be, as my son calls them, “that mom.” I meant to go back but never was able. Your description is what I imagined…</p>
<p>I totally get you! If you search my posts on CC a couple of years ago, I asked a million questions about suitcase schools. My D was worried about this, and she asked a lot of questions wherever we visited.</p>
<p>EVERY theatre student she asked this of, at every school, said that they are too busy with their theatre stuff to care if there are other social things going on. Many of her theatre peers also are in Greek life and other activities, too. Many have friends at the colleges nearby. And they go into the city whenever they can. They figure it out. </p>
<p>For the record, I asked the same question of my kid who went to what would be considered a very active school on the weekends. She said that most weekend activities are generated by students, not by the University, anyway. So yes, when students don’t see the need for much campus life on weekends, it doesn’t happen … at least not formally. Once you have friends, are involved in things, and you know your way around, it’s all there.</p>
<p>My only last piece of advice would be to try to have your kids be prepared for this phenomenon, and also just to let things take care of themselves (from afar, as a parent) if they don’t find their comfort zone right away. The chances of their not finding things to do and people to be with, as a theatre student, are very low - and if that does happen, it’s probably not just because it’s a commuter/suitcase-type school but a deeper issue of fit, personal adjustment, etc.</p>
<p>I’d assume that Hofstra is a suitcase school as well. </p>
<p>I’ve always thought that Montclair in NJ was a suitcase school. They just built new dorms. I hear more kids are staying on weekend. I think 99% of the students come from NJ so that has to speak to the reason many students go home. </p>
<p>I did noticed however that it seems to be theater students who are in the 1% of the population that are from out of state. Leads me to believe that the kids in MT and acting stay are on campus for weekends. I think it would be the same at Rutgers. And in fact this might be the way that it is with theater programs at all schools since they pull from out of state. </p>
<p>Montclair has a train station to NY on campus but not on weekends. So I assume they take the bus into the city, drive, or take a cab to a train station nearby.</p>