Looking at Theatre BA Programs at UVA, Vanderbilt, U of Notre Dame, Dartmouth

My daughter is looking for a BA Theatre program in a traditional national university or college and was hoping some of you may have knowledge about some of these programs. She is not interested in pursing a BFA.

She has very good grades and lots of APs etc at a rigorous academic HS that sends 30%+ kids to Ivy league schools. She has excellent ECs (class president for 3 years, important service commitments, and many theatre credits, some professional, mostly MT). She hopes to increase her SAT score if it doesn’t get cancelled again and her list is ambitious:

In no particular order:

Northwestern (top choice- we know how great this program is and some specifics)
Middlebury
Brown
Dartmouth
Weselyan
Williams
UVA
U of Notre Dame
Washington and Lee
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Duke
Boston College

Any thoughts on the theatre programs at any of the above schools? She would also love to be able to take voice lessons and participate in musicals.

Many thanks!!!

@lano123 I don’t know about those schools but given the list I would consider Vassar. They have a strong theatre program and NY theatre makers are known to go there to test new material.

I can’t speak to most of these, but Dartmouth has a strong theatre program that has a relationship with a nearby regional theatre. Junior year, some majors may be apply to do an e-term (experiential term) there, where they intern and have the opportunity act in shows, work backstage, and work in the offices. They bring the NY Theatre Festival up every summer and nurture new work with VoxFest. Great faculty.

Regarding Williams, the theatre department is very strong and well integrated into the liberal arts academics of the college. Unlike some schools, the theatre/drama offerings are very popular courses, so you get a broad and interesting mix of students, many of whom have never performed previously. Theatre/performing arts center is amazing and there are crossover internship opportunities with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, etc.

My D is finishing up her Theater BA at LMU in Los Angeles. She has really loved it. She definitely wanted the flexibility of a BA and has used it…she’s a double major (the other major is Women and Gender Studies) and a screenwriting minor. LMU does not have a BFA, so the Theater majors are the ones in the musicals and shows.

USC also has a BA in addition to the BFA. My D chose LMU over USC. I think that attending a school with a BA only would be preferable to attending one with both BFA and BA programs…because as a BA in a school with BFAs, you might not be able to or get into any school shows and/or the BFAs might have priority for scheduling theater dept classes. It would be something to investigate before choosing a school that has both.

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