Looking for some school suggestions...

DD was deferred from her ED choice today so we’re working on Plan B. She has an SAT of 1360 (RW700, Math 660) and a UW GPA of 3.79. She’ll have 3 AP classses and an Honors English. Her EC are very strong including volunteering for our local first aid squad (got her EMT at our CC this past summer.) She very active in Theater both in and out of school. Made it to the National level in Speech last year. She is a Drama Club Officer.
So she is sure about majoring in Theater, but would like her school to have a strong program. She’s interested in Education (possibly Theater Education.)
She likes LAC with some kind of attached fun town/small city. She’s not into Greek or Religion. She’s pretty liberal and wanted something in the Northeast or mid atlantic area. Although for the right school she might venture further.
Muhlenberg is on her list, but she’s not sold on it (I’m not sure why. She didn’t get that “feeling” that she got at ED school (Skidmore.)
Ithaca–her concern there is that if you’re not in the theater program, it’s hard to be active in the theater. However, it’s still on her list.

Any other suggestions for us to pursue. Thank you

Financial constraints? Safeties?

We’ll have three in college next year and will probably qualify for aid for that year, but other than that we will pay the rest. We’ll make do for the right school.

I think Ithaca would be a safety for her. I’m looking for other suggestions.

Will she be auditioning as a theater performer…or is she interested in some other aspect of theater?

Has she considered Emerson? What about SUNY Purchase?

She had NO plan B when she sent in her ED application? Why?

Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire, Bennington?

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/

You might want to post on the above linked forum here. It’s for theater and drama majors.

But really…it’s December…and for an auditioned program, she should have had some other ducks lined up.

If she would like a conservatory environment, University of NC School of the Arts is very good. They also have an excellent Design and Production Department.

It sounds like your kiddo wants a small college with a good theater program. Is that right?

Could you please clarify whether she intends to audition? Or does she want a BA in theater?

She really doesn’t want to audition or be in a conservatory environment. She loves MT and sees it as some part of her life, but doesn’t think it’s practical for making a living long term. Thus, she is thinking education is a better way to go. I guess I worded things wrong. Her Plan B is Ithaca and Muhlenberg. However, today she feels that those don’t give her the same “feeling” as Skidmore and so I was looking for other ideas. Personally, I think Muhlenberg is a good fit for her, but I’m not going to school. She is taking the night to mourn. I told her I would try to suggest some other alternatives. I added Clark and Dickinson to Naviance tonight.

Free advice…my husband was a freelance theater technician in NYC fo seven years. He tells every prospective theater major he hears about…take a LOT of technical theater courses. The techies have jobs! And the pay is decent.

What about smaller schools? Denison or Heidelberg?

Thanks @thumper1, I’ll look at those. And I’ll pass on your husband’s wisdom. A family friend who recently graduated from college with a different major learned a lot of theater tech in HS–sound and video. She would pull in $500 in a weekend videoing ballet recitals and that type thing. It was a great way to make extra money in college.

How about Webster in St. Louis or Jacksonville University (FL)?

Connecticut college has a good theater BA. I think students can do internships with Eugene O’Neill theater. Maybe Sarah Lawrence if you think the finances would work.

I second @Thumper1’s suggestions of Emerson and Purchase. A friend’s D is finishing up at Purchase, loves the program and has landed great summer internships. Don’t know how she feels about being in the city, but Fordham has a great theatre major and with easy access to NYC there are internship opportunities.

Take a look at Smith.

Emerson is quite specialized http://www.emerson.edu/academics/undergraduate-degrees, offering a BFA in what is essentially a conservatory environment, and Purchase IS a conservatory. As is North Carolina School of the Arts.

This comes up a lot in music too: kids who want a “practical” major and degree but still want to participate in training and performance. You are absolutely right to think there are problems when a BA kid attends a school that also has a conservatory or other separate BFA program: the kids specializing in the performing art will get the best teachers, classes and performance opportunities, generally speaking (there may be exceptions- disclaimer!)

So she wants a liberal arts college, most likely. Colleges that Change Lives (website) will have some possibilities, including Clark, Marlboro (tiny, in VT). Bennington has an acclaimed theater program and a winter field work term. Sarah Lawrence is a great artsy school that would fit well with a kid who wants Skidmore. Vassar. Drew. Hollins. Brandeis. Many more. The problem is that many of these are selective. Check out Columbia College Chicago for a safety.

State universities would be a good possibility. Ours has a theater major that is a BA, not BFA http://www.umass.edu/theater/undergraduate-theater

I know several kids who went to Hartt School at U. of Hartford, who pursue acting either as a sideline or, in one case, as a career. I have to be honest: I feel sad when 18 year olds need to be so “practical” (loans are a burden, and return on investment is important I get it). It is sometimes misguided because theater training prepares students for lots of career paths outside of theater, and a bachelor’s of any kind gives access to grad and professional schools. An Acting BFA could certainly prepare for law school, speech therapy careers, sales, all kinds of things. And so many go to grad school now, a grad degree in education would probably be needed anyway.

It is too late for some BFA programs. I know Purchase has a later application deadline. Not sure about Hartt.

For BA programs, I have personal experience with Bennington and it is a great school, which has a beautiful rural campus balanced by that winter term in NYC or abroad or wherever the student wants to go, money allowing. It makes the top of many theater program listsbut allows for a lot of interdisciplinary and independent work.

Good luck! Hope Skidmore still works out but she is smart to be looking elsewhere. Hope is a hard emotion. But there is still some hope for Skidmore, just not a lot of reliable hope.

ps here is another list https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=best-college-theater Apples and oranges because it mixes conservatory type programs with liberal arts colleges.

I hope she is able to think more positively about Muhlenberg. A young man I know majored in theater there and has supported himself solidly in theater and performing pursuits ever since. He was, as far as I understand, blissfully happy there. Extremely bright, took a shot at an Ivy and didn’t get in, saw M as his backup, and it worked out as well as could be for him.

If you are looking at SUNY Purchase, look at SUNY Fredonia as well. It does have BFA Acting, MT and Theater Tech but it also has a non-audition Theater BA program as well.

techmom, do the BA kids have the same resources, teachers, classes and performing opportunities as the BFA students?

@garland, I actually have a junior at Muhlenberg and I think that’s her hang up about it. She’s three years behind G/G twins and she wants her “own school.” I get that, but her sister will only be there one year and she’ll be a senior–so busy. Older DD is not involved in the theater program at all and DD18 has friends that are. It’s a great school, but she has to think so too.

@compmom -

This is the degree map for the BA in general theater, the non audition program.

http://home.fredonia.edu/degreemaps/theatre-arts

Basically, the BA kids take the same intro seminars as BFA students. They are permitted to audition for all 4 mainstage productions and the dance ensemble production, if they choose. From what I understand, they do have the same teachers. BA students are permitted to audition for the BFA program at a certain point but acceptance is contingent on space availability in the cohort. The BA kids have more gen ed and distribution requirements than the BFA kids.