<p>This is my second round of college applications, but this time it's totally different, and I need help! My first daughter was the academic one, so we concentrated on the schools that fit her academic needs. This second daughter is my arts kid. She "found" theatre late, but has been heavily involved in all of the school productions since freshman year. She is NOT an academically gifted student. She has a disability in math. Her GPA is hitting the 3.3-ish range. She is a terrible standardized test taker and will take the ACT for the first time in June. She is a technical theatre kid with a strong interest in stage management. With my older daughter, she only applied to a few schools and was accepted to all. With this daughter, conservatory type schools may be a better fit, but we are open to everything. She is definitely leaning the BFA route. So, how many schools should she apply to? Any other advice? Thanks!</p>
<p>Top Tier BFA Programs that are only based on audition:
The Juilliard School
University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Carnegie Mellon University
SUNY Purchase
Rutgers
California Institute of the Arts </p>
<p>Other great options:
NYU (half is audition half is transcript, scores etc)
University of the Arts
The Hartt School
University of Evansville
Boston University
Emerson College
U of M Guthrie
University of Miami </p>
<p>I just went through this entire process (though I am Acting instead of Stage Management) and based on what you described of your daughter, we are VERY similar. I have an older sister at the UPenn and I don’t even know how to do long division! Before you start this long and tedious process, just be aware that these programs are ENTIRELY different than the “normal” application process. Most of these programs (with the exception of NYU) take only 20-30 people. You will need to have loads of options, including safeties, and not get your heart set on anything! It’s a crazy competitive year you have ahead of you and I wish you all the best!</p>
<p>If you are willing and able to do it, visit and apply to as many schools as possible, but only as many as she thinks she’d be willing to attend. They are very competitive, but will make allowances for the students they think will “fit.” If she wants financial aid, she should also cast as wide a net as possible. My son had a terrible GPA, but with decent scores and the advantage of attending a respected private school. He got into one solid, auditioned BFA program with a nice scholarship. You should start researching portfolio requirements at the schools you’re interested in, and make your summer travel plans to include as many campus visits as you can manage - they’ll give you a sense of the school’s climate (even if classes aren’t in session) and resources. Your daughter should figure out whether she wants to be in a large city (or at least a culturally-rich area) or would prefer a traditional campus atmosphere. If finances are an issue, you should keep a very open mind. If you have some financial flexibility, also consider whether her tastes and talents lead more to the artistic end, the pure theatrical part, or the technical. Most good theater schools have decent stage management and production programs, but not all have other assets that she might want (e.g. strong visual arts complement, opportunity to take film or video production classes or work with other performing artists in music or dance). If your daughter is “an arts kid,” she might prefer schools like Cornish, UArts, Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Santa Fe (they’ve changed the name, and I’ve forgotten what it is now) over pure performance conservatories or large universities - they are more collaborative, with both visual and performance divisions.</p>
<p>There are quite a few BFA Design and/or Technology programs out there. There are fewer that will concentrate strictly on Stage Management. I refrain from suggesting looking at one school or the other, but I can give you a little advice from experience. </p>
<p>At 17 it is rather rare that a student understands the job of a stage manager enough to make a decision that this is what they will study, and what they will ultimately pursue as a career. The high school stage manager is a different beast altogether than the professional stage manager. Seek a program that offers other technical theatre opportunities while still teaching management. </p>
<p>Secondly, there are more schools with open slots for design and technical theatre students than there are quality students to fill those slots. Each year we struggle to get a full class of technically strong and intellectually curious students who fit our particular brand of technical theatre. We are not alone in that endeavor. I don’t have an ultimate answer to your question, but there are greater differences in technical theatre education than there are in either Actor or Musical Theatre education. There are significant differences in the curriculum and missions of the programs. Look to those to begin to determine where your daughter seems to fit. Then contact the program and ask questions about the training. Most of us will be more than happy to answer direct questions.</p>
<p>I wish you luck on your journey. But it will be far easier than placing an actor or actor/singer.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. We are in Georgia and have looked at SCAD, but their theatre program is just getting started. For some reason that I can’t remember right now, after speaking with them, SCAD was taken off the list. Finances are a huge concern. I’m a widow with limited income and will have 2 in college for at least a year. We are working on her portfolio now. While she thinks stage management is the route she wants to go, it could be other technical areas. She will not be interested in any performance, though. Thanks again!</p>
<p>For any auditioned/portfolio program I think it’s very, very important to apply early if at all possible. Combine it with a tour. Many of these programs have non-binding early applications. Since early acceptance rates are up and these programs take so few, it’s worth it if your D has a few top choices. I’ve said this elsewhere in discussions, but the audition director at the school my D applied to early said they pretty much “build their class” from early apps.
Also, we’ve had students from my D’s art HS go to Muhlenberg - not sure it it has technical - but they love it. Cornish, Southern Methodist U and North Carolina School for the Arts as well. All solid programs. Good Luck!
ps: ohaybfa posted that NYU is half audition and half transcript. This is misleading about the other programs. I think you will find that many of these programs, at the very least, strongly consider transcripts in the process. Many will be half and half for all practical purposes - especailly since there are so many more applicants to chose from. For Emerson we were told students had to be accepted both artistically and academically but that there are sometimes “fights” to get students in that the theatre dept wants. Bottom line though, if the academic dept said no that was it.</p>
<p>Do start organizing that portfolio!</p>
<p>Find things you can actually show to theatre departments that will help them see the sort of work your daughter has done. If she has actually done stage management, can she for example show them prompt books she created? Or something similar from other tech jobs? If she has actually done theatre design work, can she show plans and photographs of her designs? And letters of recommendation from people who know the quality of her theatre work.</p>
<p>(Actually, 3.3 is quite a good GPA. You can get into a lot of places with a high school GPA that high)</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Yes, look in the Parents’ Forum for the various 3.3/B student threads and you’ll see how wonderfully those students do with acceptances and merit aid. I had a very similar situation to yours with my 2 girls, so I understand!</p>
<p>Adelphi University on Long Island has a Design/Tech BFA where the students do really wonderful work. They get lots of opportunities to SM, AD and everything else. Merit scholarships abound for the B+ student.</p>
<p>Definitely look into programs that do not rely on portfolio review/audition for acceptance. Those will be back-ups, and she should have at least two that she really likes. Then it’s up to her how many others to apply to. Probably 5-6, depending on her personal criteria, cost concerns, etc.</p>
<p>Check out the threads here on non-auditioned BFAs and also on Technical Theatre. Good luck!</p>
<p>Don’t know how far you want to go from home–you may want to check out Ithaca–they have a tract for stage management in their theater program. Also University of Central Florida has a large tech program with connections to Disney and the Florida system may have some reciprocity with Georgia in terms of oos tuition. (Depends on whether she wants sun burn or snowburn!)</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. UCF is on the list as she would like to work for Disney at some point. (Suffice it to say that we are Disney family.) Ole Miss does a lot of recruiting here, and we will have two of our drama kids there next year. Western Carolina is of high interest, too. </p>
<p>She does have a portfolio and a prompt books. We will be refining those over the summer. She did her first interviews and her first IE at the Georgia Thespian Conference in February. From that, she received some callbacks. We were pleased as: 1) this was our first time doing this, 2) she’s a junior, and 3) she hasn’t received much guidance in what to actually DO as stage manager. She has a wide range of experience from props, set building/painting, lighting, sound, and stage management. For this year’s musical, she is “Director’s Assistant,” which has basically been stage manager but shared duties. </p>
<p>I very much appreciate all your help and suggestions. I feel very much like a fish out of water here. (I was actually a theatre major many moons ago, but that was a different world and I changed majors after 2 years.) I have a lot of reading and planning to do!</p>
<p>ugadog99 </p>
<p>Fellow Georgian here. My daughter is on the performance side so this didn’t help her but check out the Scholastic Regional Education Board (SREB)</p>
<p>[Southern</a> Regional Education Board](<a href=“http://home.sreb.org/acm/Search.aspx?state=GA]Southern”>http://home.sreb.org/acm/Search.aspx?state=GA)</p>
<p>The participating southern states enable college students from one SREB state to pursue uncommon degrees in another SREB state at in-state tuition rates. Georgia has an agreement with Auburn for Theater Production Management. </p>
<p>It wouldn’t suck to get in-state tuition at Auburn</p>
<p>SouthernDramaMom, thanks so much for the information. Auburn, huh? Oooo…I’m not sure my RED and BLACK bulldog brother is going to like that too much! :)</p>