<p>My d is finding her first semester at UARTS to be an incredible one. It is exceeding her expectations in every area. Her voice teacher is great and already she has said that she has improved her voice and learned to breathe better. Her acting teacher just came off a current movie and she is excited to be in his class. She is taking 3 dance classes Ballet, Modern and Jazz and the opportunities for dance seem limitless. Last year in our quest for schools we found many great programs but there were often significant limitations within the Acting/Dance/Voice possibilities for MT majors and dance was often the one with the most limitations as many classes were for Dance Majors Only. We had also found that the acting classes for MT students were varied some were mixed with majors and MT and some were even open to non majors. At UARTS the MT students take classes with the Acting Majors, in fact my d is only one of 2 MT students in the class. The classes are as professional as you would hope. She is also enjoying her musical theater class, writing classes, and literature classes. Contrary to what some think there are plenty of academics, this is not a conservatory, she is constantly studying. The days are long, filled to the brim, and they fly by because she’s busy and enjoying and learning tons.She has a studio/dorm apartment which she shares with one other girl. They have a bathroom, kitchen, and walk-in closets. She enjoys everything Philly has to offer from the theater to the night-life and shopping.There are 5 students who posted here last year and are now freshman. All are finding UARTS to be an incredible experience. Great school, great city, terrific people. Please feel free to contact me for any help or advice. We applied to 12 schools last year so I learned alot and would be happy to share.</p>
<p>With the acting program in UArts do you learn acting for film and/or theatre? It would be so helpful if you could answer that question for me because I am thinking of applying to UArts!</p>
<p>For musical theater majors, most of the acting program is theater oriented. There are electives in film and television acting. Check out the website; the entire curriculum, with hyperlinks to course descriptions, is listed for both acting and musical theater majors.</p>
<p>The acting majors take an acting for film course that is taught by a teacher who KNOWS film and has worked a ton on various television shows and movies. Some musical theater majors can wiggle their way into this class (i'm hoping my senior year to be one of the lucky ones haha)</p>
<p>but generally speaking, it's geared for acting on the stage</p>
<p>WOW Shellipearl! UARTS sounds wonderful. I saw your d applied to many schools. Which ones were they and any feedback would be great. We are looking now.</p>
<p>Hello- I was just wondering. I'm really looking into UArts-but it seems to be kind of costly. Do they offer good amounts of financial aid/scholarships???</p>
<p>UArts is very generous with scholarships and other assistance. Merit scholarships of up to $10,000/yr for 4 years plus need based scholarships and loans are available. Merit scholarships are based on high school academics and audition scores. Don't allow the "sticker price" dissuade you from investigating the school further.</p>
<p>Okay- I had heard that before. Thanks so much. My parents are trying to get me to look at cheaper schools. I told them about UArts-and all they saw was the price tag. They just don't want me to be burdened with loans after I graduate- but it isn't that uncommon for people to take out loans, right? I'm really hoping I get into UArts-and able to pay for it. haha.</p>
<p>How does the housing situation work? Can you pick your own roomates?</p>
<p>If you and your desired roommate both specifically request each other when submitting the housing forms, the housing office makes every effort to honor the request and usually there isn't a problem. In addition, there are designated periods during the semester when you can arrange to change roommates. The deal there, though, is that the existing roommates must also sign off on any changes that effect them.</p>
<p>There are several apartment-dorm complexes. You are asked to give your first 3 choices. We have found that this year many of the freshman MT's are in the same building. The buildings often have studio apartments. My daughter is in a very nice studio with one other girl, she has high windows that face out over the city, a small kitchen area for cooking, a table and chairs, their own bathroom a hugh walkin closet and then a hall closet. It is a very nice setup and she has made many friends within the building. Not all the apartments have this setup and you will need to look into all the housing options. We were worried at first about her having to take care of her own meals, but it's worked out great, she's learned to shop and cook healthier and she loves the reasonable nearby restaurants, delis and food courts. Whole Foods has been good too.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend which dorm is the best at university of the arts in Philadelphia? My daughter will be an incoming freshman.</p>
<p>I would recommend Spruce for a variety of reasons. Most students seem to like it. It is in a particularly good location for MT students who spend most of their time in the Terra Building. My office is one block north of the Terra Building and I am very familiar with the locations of all of the dorms. PM me if you would like more detailed information.</p>
<p>I would also recommend Spruce, the freshman seem to really like it there and it appears to have most of the MT students. You can also PM me and I can give you a little advice on how you might improve your odds but there are no guarantees.</p>
<p>Congrats Lepperd426! You can enter your name on the acceptance list. It's great to know what school you are going to at this time of the year. We didn't know till April.</p>
<p>all the dorms are really nice....i just personally suggest asking for more than one roommate because if you have 2 or more roommates, you are guaranteed to have a living room, which is really good if you're up later than your roommate studying or watching tv or whatever. if you have one roommate, you may or may not have that additional room. i know i found that room really beneficial last year. just gives more privacy.</p>
<p>it really is arbitrary which dorm most of the MTs are in. last year, it was pretty split between Pine and Spruce. i personally liked being in Furness where i was a little isolated from my musical theater classmates because it gave me a chance to make other friends in addition to my MT buddies. i am a big advocate of living in the dorms and living with someone who is NOT the same major as you because once sophomore year comes and you're probably not in the dorms anymore, you don't really have much of a chance to make new friends in other majors in the way you do freshman year. i know that now ALL my close friends are musical theater or acting because i'm not in the dorms and i'm so busy with my program and don't have the time to make new friends haha. </p>
<p>hope this helps!</p>
<p>That's a good point. How nice to have so many good choices.</p>
<p>I have a question about the dorm situation. Toured last week and the Spruce (I believe) dorm had no interior staircase. We had to walk through a fire door & go up poorly lit outdoor wooden steps with a nice view of the barbed wire fencing that seperated the dorm from the building next door. Plenty of Law & Order SVU jokes were flying. I asked the tour guide if there was construction going on and she insisted that this is the stairway used, and that no interior option existed. Could that be true?</p>
<p>Another tour guide, when quizzed, said that there is one massive audition per semester & all shows are cast from this one event. Again, sounded odd. Not a great deal of opportunity to learn auditioning skills or tailor one's material to a particular role. Can anyone confirm or clarify?</p>
<p>Stickershock - Here's the scoop. The Spruce dorm has an interior staircase. I've seen it, I've used it. It's just to the right of the elevators. Goes from the lobby to the top floor. The description you posted is not Spruce.</p>
<p>As to auditions, there is a mass audition for all department produced shows during the semester before the shows will run. All of the shows' casting directors attend the mass audition. Students then have role call backs for each show separately. In addition, at the beginning of the fall semester there is an audition to fill roles for the fall shows that have for one reason or another become available after the summer break. So there really is the opportunity to experience many auditions each semester. This doesn't include student scenes and performances for which there are additional audition opportunities.</p>
<p>Not sure which dorm you visited but it was not Spruce. I personally have walked the Spruce stairs many times and it is a spacious well lit interior staircase with room for many to move in an out at the same time.<br>
As far as the massive audition goes, I believe that to be true but it takes place midyear and months are spent by the teachers of all the disciplines in preparation for this audition.There is also quite a lot of opportunity for callbacks. In addition for the last few months the teachers have been working with the students to prepare them for summer stock etc. auditions. I know that my daughter wishes she had had the training she now has for her college auditions l last year, they would have been very different experiences, she is now so much better trained and makes very different choices. Michael I see you beat me to the post :)</p>