Hi everyone! My daughter was recently accepted to LIU Post for MT. They awarded a very nice scholarship, so she is seriously considering the school. Any recent input from students or parents of students who attend LIU Post for MT would be greatly appreciated. I see they have had some financial challenges, which is very concerning. Any input into this would also be helpful
@bestdays I’d suggest having your daughter join the Facebook page specifically for students (no parents!) that are auditioning called Courtney’s Break Room. Lots of feedback from kids who are now freshmen and sophomores - including some enthusiastic members of the LIU MT program. My D was also accepted and offered a generous scholarship and is seriously considering heading there.
@afterp89 Thank you for the tip. I will ask her to join. Good luck to your D in her search and decision.
@bestdays You might also want to connect with some parents of current students. I don’t have any first hand knowledge of the program but some of last years’ parents were complaining about the condition of the dorm rooms, facility and food service. LIU-Post has a lot of local/commuter students so resident students may have more complaints than average. I have heard only good things about the MT training but the school itself may have some problems you’d want to consider before deciding.
I would recommend that you visit the school if at all possible. Have your daughter attend a couple of classes and see the place first hand. You will know pretty quickly if it feels right or not.
@CaMom13 Thank you. These are some of the things I’ve read that also have me concerned. Any idea how to connect with parents of current students there?
@bestdays - You might want to post a bit more here and get your post count above 15 so other people can send you private messages. There are a couple of LIU parents on our class of 22 board and hopefully one or more will reach out to you.
@CaMom13 Thank you for your help!
I think @NewEngMTMom has a daughter at LIU Post - hoping she sees this thread!
Our daughter just finished her first semester at LIU. Full disclosure - we didn’t know what we were doing and stumbled fairly blindly through the whole application and audition process. End result, this is the only school she got into. However, things probably have a reason for working out the way they do. This is the right place for her.
Here is what I like: - the program is heavily focused on acting which the director believes is the most important skill to have in the business. I heard an interview with Emily Blunt where she talks about going to an audition and feeling very nervous because she considers herself and actress, not a singer, and the director told her he preferred to work with actors who can sing rather than singers who can act. Dave Hugo (director) is wonderful, dedicated, very caring and supportive and struck me as being personally invested in every one of his students. The campus is smallish, pretty, lots of green spaces. The city is not far away, and from our perspective easy to get to. But many of her friends feel that the campus is isolated and that it’s difficult to get to anything. We live in a rural area with almost no public transportation so… The joke is that after we visited the school she exclaimed excitedly “I can go anywhere! I just need to get an Uber or get on the shuttle to the shops or the train station for anything!’ while her city dwelling classmates were whining “I can’t go anywhere! I have to get an Uber or take a shuttle to get to the shops or the train station for everything!” After just one semester, I have already seen so much growth in my daughter’s acting and dancing skills. Singing was her strongest area, so I have seen less there, but still seen growth. She has made good friends and feels she has landed in the right school and the right program and is very happy. I have heard the LIU MT program described as a “hidden gem”, one of the industry’s “best kept secrets” and so on. Certainly the department is amazing.
Here is what I don’t like: - the buildings are getting a bit run down and the food is terrible. There has been a new food service company hired in the last month or so, and we’re hoping for some improvements. There have been a lot of rumblings about mold in some buildings, poor employee habits in the dining hall, etc etc. There was a per semester credit limit imposed a couple of years ago which has made it difficult for students to take all the extra dance classes they used to take. It’s a BFA program and they have to meet some of the school credit requirements for math, English, humanities, etc. The MT department has fought like crazy to get some of their subjects to count - so a class in Shakespeare meets an English requirement, for example. I heard they were trying to get kinesiology to meet the science requirement. Our daughter took one dance class last semester and will be hard pressed to work out a schedule that allows for more than that in future semesters with the requirements and the credit limit. I was also disappointed that the voice lessons are only one half hour a week. However, our daughter feels that she gets plenty out of those lessons, but as I said, singing is her strength. The other thing that has been frustrating is that the school seems very disorganized and they don’t communicate well. We had to submit medical records five times and every time we were assured that they had them and they cleared her for whatever they needed them for, we would get to the next step and be told she couldn’t do this or that because they didn’t have her medical records. Part way through the semester, she got a phone message saying she would be locked out of her room because she didn’t have her medical records in. I was furious, and I called the dean of students at 9:00 pm on a Saturday night and made it very clear that I had absolutely had it with the situation. Fifteen minutes later the dean of students called me back, heard my story, and told me to have my daughter meet her at the office on Monday morning which she did, and the matter was cleared up and settled in 5 minutes. As frustrated as I have been, I will say that every single person I have every spoken to at LIU has been very pleasant and has done their best to help out. But if you go to this school, keep detailed logs and copies of everything you send by mail or email and every phone call including date, time and with whom you spoke. I don’t think there’s necessarily anything unique about the problems we’ve had. I’ve heard of similar things at other colleges. All in all, if you’ve got a good financial deal, it’s a program to look at seriously. If you’re daughter would like to talke to mine, message me privately and I will give you her contact information. She is happy to talk to any prosectitve students.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
@NewEngMTMom I can’t thank you enough for your honest, detailed response. This is so helpful. My daughter did receive a very nice scholarship, so there is no way we cannot seriously consider LIU Post. However, I am very concerned about some things I am reading…esp. the food and mold situations. I need to know that she is healthy and safe wherever she chooses to go to school. My other concern is about their financial situation. I need to know that their program is stable and they have the money to invest in upgrades that are needed. She has several other auditions, so we are in a bit of a holding pattern right now. However, we do plan to visit the school sometime in February. I don’t know how to private message (new to this site). But at some point in the decision making process it would be wonderful for her to be able to speak with your daughter. Thank you again!!
Hi! @bestdays
I am a current freshman @ liu post as well (although I am an acting major not an MT) (I actually know the above poster’s daughter!)
I LOVE the program, but the school itself is a bit of a mess. I think the food is getting better and honestly, after touring my three acceptances last year, I don’t think it is any worse than the other two schools.
Some really wonderful things about the program
- The training!!! As I mentioned, I am an acting major and would probably consider myself an actor, dancer, singer. I feel like I have grown immensely in all of the areas. The acting training is very rooted in character development and achieving an objective, and letting the emotion come naturally from these things (it maybe sounds weird but it works and what we did in class last semester pushed me so far). We also train in an acting technique called Suzuki, which is a physical acting training. The head of the department, Maria Porter, trained under Suzuki himself. All of the upperclassmen love it, but I cannot attest to that because we don’t take it until second semester freshman year!
There are several different voice teachers and acting majors can also take voice (like I do!). If the above poster’s daughter is who I think it is, we have the same voice teacher who is absolutely WONDERFUL. Singing is not my strongest but this semester I improved so much and my friends started noticing just when I sang offhandedly.
I loved the dance class I took last semester (hip hop) and felt like I learned a lot. There is a BFA in dance program st post so there are more options for dance classes than there are at other programs. - How INVESTED everyone is. Everyone in the program wants to create art and truly make it as a performer. Everyone is giving their all always and it SHOWS. The talent level is incredible and if you can, I’d encourage you to tour the school and see a show (the wild party is this year’s musical and I believe it is up in mid-late February. There have been several student-hosted master classes, especially for dance as there are a lot of incredible dancers in our year, and someone is always willing to let you show them what you’re working on and offer help. In the department as a whole, everyone has a “big” who you can go to for any questions you may have.
- The opportunities! There is a student run theatre company that freshman can perform in, the proximity to the city allows students to take classes and see shows (and attend auditions!), a new initiative called thank god its original where students can workshop pieces with peers and faculty,
Some cons
- As one of the city dwellers who has complained about being in the middle of nowhere, I personally don’t like being in the middle of the suburbs. That being said, I am somewhat of an anomaly as I am used to being able to get around independently and take the train/bus anywhere and I can’t drive (there are lots of people with cars on campus and if you need a ride somewhere you can usually get one. There is also uber and the free shuttle.)
- The food is not very good but as above said we are getting a new caterer and there were already several improvements in the few weeks before break when that happened.
- There were a few issues with mold but that was mostly one incident (which was AWFUL, but it isn’t very common). The facilities are not great.
- The academic standard outside the program is mediocre at best, but this does let you focus on your training as an actor.
Also, most AP credits are accepted and because of that, I only have to take one more gen ed in my entire four years at post.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
@mtmaybe Thank you so much for taking the time to post the pros and cons. This really helps a lot. We are planning to visit the school sometime in February, so we will definitely try to see the show! I may reach out again with more questions in the future. Thanks again!!
@bestdays Of course!
@mtmaybe I do have another question, if you don’t mind. Do you know if it is possible to minor in another subject if you are in the BFA MT program? Do you know of anyone who is doing this? My daughter is interested in possibly minoring in business or marketing. Thank you so much!
@bestdays It is! We actually do currently have a freshman minoring in marketing.
Great to know! Thank you!!
I also have a Freshman daughter at LIU. It is a very Acting focused program. Freshman don’t audition for the musical the first year so that they can focus on the training. There is one musical a year. There is room in the curriculum for one dance class a semester, however they are allowed to audit a class they have already taken.
She loves her Voice teacher (we pay for an extra half hour each week and she’s very accommodating)
She also loves her Acting teachers and her current dance teacher (who is also the head of the department)
One drawback is that there is no Music Theory or keyboarding offered unless you minor in music (which my daughter is going to try to do)
She is in the Honors College and has been happy with the classes she’s taken.
What was said about the condition of the school is correct, but it’s still better than another school which we visited on Stanton Island. And I have hopes that things will improve. Starting this year they are an All D1 sports school. Maybe that’s good for them financially???
It’s also true that the school is not that organized, which is frustrating at times. But she loves the department and that is what matters.
It takes a while to figure out how to get around but it’s not really that bad. The shuttle takes them to the train station and the mall. The kids are very busy so there’s not a lot of time to go into the city but this fall she went 3 times.
Overall I think it’s been a very positive experience so far.
@mommaofdrama, Staten Island? (Wagner College, I’m assuming). Yes, their dorms are very run down.
@NYKaren I was so turned off I didn’t even bother going inside the dorm on the tour. The bathroom adjacent to the parent meeting was filthy and I couldn’t believe they wouldn’t have it nice for the visiting parents. Everything behind the counter in the cafeteria was dirty too especially the floors. As nice as the people seemed there in my mind it was a no from me.