<p>A friends daughter will be applying next cycle. Although she will apply broadly, for now, these are her top choice programs. Could anyone chime in and talk about pros and cons of each of these programs...also do their graduates get jobs??? how happy are the students at these schools??? any current students lend their opinions??? thanks!</p>
<p>All VERY different schools. Here are my “base” opinions about them and from what I’ve heard from my auditioning. Other people can definitely give you much more specific observations.</p>
<p>-Miami is a strong BFA that is known for their great MT program but, from what I hear, are starting to lose a bit of funding (as in the lack of a BM MT this year) and I’m not a huge fan of the campus. However, their training is extremely strong and they have great working alumni.</p>
<p>-Marymount is a much larger program and varies depending on which program you are in. There is no BFA MT, and you can only get a minor in MT but it’s still strong. Beware that there are a lot of students, but it is in Manhattan and I’ve heard good things about the training.</p>
<p>-I don’t know much about Wagner at all, sorry. But I know there’s a frequent poster who’s D is going there this year so hopefully she’ll chime in!</p>
<p>-Muhlenberg is a non-audition BA but the academics standards are very high there, causing it to be hard to get into academically. They have an awesome theatre program, but I don’t know much about their overall MT training.</p>
<p>We were very impressed with the professionalism of Marymount, but didn’t get an offer. The one knock on it is that it’s tough to get parts while in school, and they therefore rely heavily on classroom scenes.</p>
<p>I loved it though. Just something about NYC</p>
<p>Meant to add Muhelberg: great MT for a liberal arts college. Very smart kids with academics much, much stronger than your run-of-the-mill MT school. I liked the facilities and the kids were great.
The location is what it is.</p>
<p>In response to the post by AlexaMT regarding Miami: My understanding is that their decision to drop the BM MT degree had nothing to do with finances but was more a philosophical question about sustaining two different MT programs/curricula at the same university. Indeed, my D received a huge scholarship offer from Miami, so they seem to have plenty of money! Also, my D said that Miami and UCLA had by far the hardest dance auditions of any of the schools if dance is important to your friend’s D.</p>
<p>Perfect, thank you for the clarification. :)</p>
<p>I’m a current sophomore (almost a junior! yikes!) at Muhlenberg, and while I’m not doing MT (or even acting) anymore, I have taken voice and dance here.</p>
<p>All of the acting professors here are fantastic. The program is great. Note that if you’re an acting concentration, you will take 13 credits and only four will be acting courses, starting sophomore year (plus one directing course). The rest is scholarship and stagecraft. Also note that you really don’t have the time to take more than one acting class a semester, especially if you’re doing a show as well.</p>
<p>Even if you’re not a music major/minor, you can still take voice lessons, though only for five semesters (then you have to go on a waiting list, so that everyone has a chance for lessons). Same thing with dance, if you’re not a major/minor you can still take as many dance classes as you want (no waiting lists though!). I took Beginner Jazztap and I highly highly recommend it… apparently we have a great tap program!</p>
<p>If you have any specific questions about Mberg, feel free to ask me. :)</p>
<p>are students at miami disadvantaged in the MT program because of the location, especially in regards to theatre exposure? Are there significant advantages to studying MT in NYC vs. MT in Miami? any thoughts???</p>
<p>When we were looking at Miami, we were wondering the same thing. Of course, Miami is right at Disneyworld and they have a strong relationship with the Disney organization. A concern we heard expressed about studying in New York for MT is that you could be seen “too early” and inappropriately labeled. I suspect that’s not a common occurence and would work to one’s advantage if one is already a brilliant performer. In any event, I think the location of the MT program is not that relevant compared with the training. Two of the most successful female Broadway performers in recent years–Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O’Hara–both attended Oklahoma City University in the heartland!</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by the following, anne1244?</p>
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<p>I sent you a PM, NJTheaterMom.</p>
<p>Regarding the quote in post #10…when I read it, it really stood out to me because I don’t agree with it. For one thing, many students who go to college in NYC, including my own kid, opt NOT to audition for professional work while in college that would take them out of college. Thus, they are not seen by casting agents during the college years. This is not to even mention that even if they wanted to audition, a BFA program is chockfull of hours that makes it very difficult to attend professional auditions in the city, particularly open calls. </p>
<p>My own point of view is that the primary consideration is to find the best program that matches you and that the location is secondary. I don’t think a MT student NEEDS to go to college in NYC and can head to the city after graduation. Zillions do and many make it who never went to college in NYC. That said, I will admit, now that I have had a chid who went to college for MT in the city, there were some benefits to it (but again, I would not pick a college for this reason, and it is just an added plus)…but some side benefits were that she saw a lot of theater, has made numerous professional connections, let alone connections with faculty and students who all live and work in the industry in NYC, has networked a lot prior to graduation, knew the ropes and had a sense of NYC as home prior to graduation, and so on. It’s been a nice benefit. But it had nothing to do with auditioning while in college. She chose not to. But as soon as graduation came, it was pretty seamless…no moving, got cast right away, had jobs right away, had friends and contacts all in place, etc. None of this is a must, however. I’d call it a plus.</p>