<p>Been reading a lot of negative stuff here recently, and as the mom of a daughter who's going to start in the fall, I would love to hear some of the good things about Montclair! In the middle of all the complaints, I hear people say they "love the program." Please share some positive, exciting things about it. I would think that a lot of the changes going on are coming from the program being so new and the faculty trying to shape it the way they want it, which will take some tweaking, won't it?</p>
<p>Not speaking for the program, but the university as a whole..
A few weeks ago the NY Times sent a reporter to MSU to interview professors, the administration and Susan Cole to talk about all the wonderful new changes at MSU. By the time he left he couldn't get anyone other than Ms. Cole to say anything nice about the new direction of MSU. That's right, not a single faculty member would go on record saying anything nice about the current state of the university. Imagine the effects that has on the professors and the education of the students. The article ended up being a hit piece on Susan Cole for not listening to the students, professors or her administration.</p>
<p>The article ended up being very critical of Susan Cole. Yet faculty members are quoted in the school paper as saying "I think Cole came off [in the article] a little better than I would have thought." The university, under her leadership, has failed to "put in place the resources to the extent necessary [for the growth]."</p>
<p>A 25 year faculty member of the university was quoted in the paper as saying he could not think of a single faculty member who was supportive of the direction Susan Cole has taken the university. </p>
<p>MSU contacted the author of the article to complain about his work and he simply replied he did the best he could with what he had. He apparently had A LOT more to put in the article but it got cut for length reasons. He said the faculty constantly complained that Susan Cole and the administration didn't listen to faculty members and were taking MSU in the wrong direction.</p>
<p>I think people need to realize that Susan Cole was fired from Rutgers. Professors say that she is now on a warpath to one-up Rutgers. It's not about making the students and programs at MSU better. It's about appearances. It's why she spends $2.5million on a cafe for the library, but for four years she refused to fix the heat in a dormitory that houses hundreds of students.</p>
<p>The program itself is a competitive program, but the university as a whole is not doing justice to their students right now.</p>
<p>Yes, I understand all that. Since reading all these posts, I have been following these articles and issues.<br>
But I want to know about the musical theater program itself. This is where my daughter will be spending the majority of her time. There's no question that the tack of the administration will have an effect on everyone--but on a day-to-day basis, my daughter will be dealing with the training and experience offered in the program itself, and that's what I'd like to hear about!<br>
Anybody?</p>
<p>Momsinger,</p>
<p>It seems like montclairmanMT might be helpful. His note above sheds some light, but maybe a PM to him would get you more detail. Perhaps he could also steer you to others. I do feel your best bet is to hear directly from the students themselves. By the way, we live right across the bridge from Philly near Cherry Hill! Best wishes to your daughter next year.</p>
<p>After reading the negative response from montclairman I decided to pick up the phone and contact Clay James and ask him a few direct questions regarding some of the comments that were made.
First regarding the housing issues. He said that he has been working non-stop with the Associate Dean Linda Davidson who is working hard with the support from Jeanine Stroh, Head of Residential Life to make sure that all the incomming freshman are located in the best housing possible, on campus, not the hotel and he said that Freeman is indeed getting a new heating system, The board has stated that the $60 thousand is to get the job rolling and that they will pay whatever the cost to make sure that it is completed and up to code. The administration is now aware of the conversations on this and other sites as well and are doing their best to increase a better residential experience for the students.
The Sophomores and Juniors in the BFA musical theatre program came in under the previously established curriculum and that the new curriculum that he started implementing this year is in no way similiar. He started this years class with a completely different program and the new curriculum is to be approved by the Provost by next year. Gone will be the concentrations which have not served the students at all but just the program. Students will also have to make a commitment to a four year course of study and will not be allowed to graduate early but take classes in the correct order and four year plan. He did say that there are students from this year, one in particular, who is trying to squeeze four years of schooling into three and that the only way to do that is to follow the old curriculum, and if that is what the student wants to do then maybe he shouldn't have been in the program to begin with.</p>
<p>As far as the senior showcase is concerned. First MSU has been doing it for eight years and since there are only three established years of MT classes, next year will be the first year that will include official MT students as seniors. The senior showcase has also been revamped and is now going to be offered as a class, required for graduation by choice and that he will be involved in the screening of material, structure, rehearsals and performances in association with a faculty member from the acting program. He did say it was very heavely attended by business professionals, the strongest attendence ever, and the majority of the students recieved connections that they pursue on their own time and terms. As with all senior showcases he stated that there are those who exhibit strong talent and those that don't. Some get more response than others but that is just the way the business operates. He hopes that his choice of students for inclusion will represent themselves at their best and in doing so will also represent a strong program as well. Students will not be allowed starting next year to do the senior showcase if they are graduating early and it will be held in the spring, according to Mr. James, not in the fall as it was done this year. There was also a student, Desire, who performed as Lucille in Parade and was also involved in A Grand Night for Singing, did recieve a contract from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and will be starting on May 6th and just informed him today that her contract has already been extended. She did audition on her own but was proded by Clay James to do so and the info he gave her regarding her audition material helped land her the job. Clay told me that he plans on establishing a contact and auditions for students, something he had previously established at the U of M for graduating seniors through his contact at the Ft. Lauderdale based company. He would only allow seniors to audition as he didn't want students leaving the program prematurely. His contacts were Ann Ditamo and Anthony Raphael and he spoke of several students by name who got jobs through his contacts. Sounds legit for me.
As far as the professional level of Grand Night, he stated that the production was the first to use moving lights in the Fox studio space as well as fiber optics and that the lighting was done by Jill Witte, who he said won an Emmy Award last year for her lighting of the Summer Olympics. Pretty impressive. They did use a full orchestration including a harpist and that many of the performers gave professional level performances but some were second year students and not up to the level of others. What was originally done as a five person show was expanded to thirteen students including two guest performers from Shanghai China where MSU has an exchange program with the Shanghai Theatre Academy. But he wanted as many students to have performance experience as well as exposure to the Rodgers and Hammerstein repertoire so he expanded the cast. He said for a studio production, and his first in the space it was leaps and bounds on all levels from what can normally be done. It was attended by an established NY agent and one of the leads, Michael Yates I think he said as well as Desire, both graduating seniors have recieved professional representation from their performances.
They only do one show in the Kasser every year due to the scope and cost of producing large mainstage musicals which are expensive, including royalties which are based on the number of seats and ticket price. Not for the reason that they are not allowed. The department does six shows of which two are musical according to him, and the plan has always been to do one in the Kasser that will be larger scale, including cast size and one in the studio theatre which is a more intimate space and usually smaller cast size as well. Musicals are more expensive to produce regardless of what size they are done.He said that next year they are doing The Full Monty with a cast of 28 including an orchestra of 12 in the Kasser and The Marvin Songs, the full Falsetto(????) triology which is three hours in length. He said it will prove to be challenging for the 12 students involved and will afford them a wonderful experience. He also mentioned that the Cali School of Music will be doing the world premier of Elmer Gantry as an opera/musical in the Kasser and the plan has always been to use a large percentage of the MT students in the ensemble and supporting roles. The budget is over $300 Thousand for a week of performances and that it was written by Professor Aldridge who is also the Chair and very supportive of the MT program and writes in a MT format. Three experiences for the MT students to be involved in.
Concerning students on Broadway, he only knew of one, which is in Chicago at the moment and did say that Rob McClure whom was in Avenue Q and did do the lead in Parade, took a leave of absence from school to do a show in Philly, got the Avenue Q tour in between and has said to him that he will be returning after the tour to finish his education. The one in the national tour of High School Musical has taken a leave of absence for a year but also says that he will be returning to finish his degree. Clay did say they will be firmly implementing a no auditioning without permission rule next year, which is already established and that the student who auditioned without permission would have been put on probationary status if he had stayed. He said that they do support student professional experience opportunities, as was the case with Rob McClure, but only after much faculty discussion and usually not within the first three years of study as is the case with some student who is in Washington DC as an intern and was one semester away from graduating.
Although very candid Mr. James started to get a bit suspecious and asked where I had gotten such pointed questions. I did tell him that I had visited a web site and had read a note from a current freshman student who seemed to be a bit disatisfied with his experience and eager to dispell information regarding the program. Mr. James felt that he had a close and honest relationship with his students and if someone was unhappy with his course of implementing the program that the student should have known to come to him and speak directly. But there are always students he said, regradless of the strength of educational experience who will find something to complain about, be it not being cast in performances, doing required class work or just insecure in their own abilities when in a program that has an abundence of talent. He said he would pursue trying to find the source of the student disatisfaction and felt the student should already know how hard he works at bettering the MT program whether for first year students or last. He said he would also like to have the student dispell the program face to face with the students that are happy to be there and doing well. Most of the complaints, he said come from students under the old curriculum and not the freshman.
As has always been the case, Mr. James returned my phone call within hours and was very candid and direct with his answers. By the way, he did name the students who are transfering from Ryder, Westminister Choir, Rutgers and Shenandoah, had verbal commitments and checked today to make sure they had put down their deposits for admissions and housing which they had. He did say that in light of the fact that they have auditioned over 230 students this year, he dosen't use a heavy hand in forcing students to come there. He gives honest assesments of the program, the future curriculum that is being implemented and is always happy to address any if not all concerns as he has done regarding the housing issues and the work he does on the students behalf. He said that they do have students comming from DE, NY, PA and hopfully a wonderful girl from Barbados who is still deciding. Mr. James told me he had a class to go to, would return my call and answer any further questions I had. It seems to me that if you are still struggling with any doubts or concerns, just pick up the phone and go to the horses mouth. Bypass the students who think they know everything. As is the case there will always be more to come...I'm sure.</p>
<p>dncebltdad - Thank you so much for your time spent in your discussions with Clay James as well as the time it takes to post on this site. I have always found Clay James very responsive and very upfront and forthcoming with any questions. </p>
<p>It is terrific that the posts from past and present students have produced what should be positive results for future students. When I e-mailed Jeanine Stroh two weeks ago, I told her to check this website and she said she definitely would, and she copied her e-mail to me to someone else in the administration. Not taking all the credit for it, but I will say that for as large a school this is, I received a quick response from her - twice, and always as I said from Clay James. My feeling is that he is working VERY hard to make this a standout program, and the school has the facilities and the location close to NYC to make it happen. He has the experience and expertise, and the school is listening to him and giving him the ability to make the changes needed to accomplish his goals. He said to me when my D was deciding (she is the one from DE), "We very much hope she will come, but if she doesn't by the deadline, we will go to the next one on the list." I am very glad that she has a place in this program! Thanks again!</p>
<p>dancebltdad, i was not "eager" to dispell information, i was actually trying to help you get all correct information in the program. obviously you took it the wrong way. i never said anything bad about the program. i did like it but it was not for me and i will not be a sophomore in it next year.</p>
<p>I spoke with Clay James yesterday again, about the housing situation. He is definitely getting frustrated with the phone calls he is getting due to the internet buzz, but is confident that freshmen will get housing, despite the campus newspaper article, which he had before him.</p>
<p>Just wanted to throw in something my older daughter, who goes to Rollins College in Florida, which is a small, private liberal arts college, told me just today. She is going to be a senior there this fall, and lives in an apt. off campus. For the first time, that college is overbooked for housing for freshmen, so has told upperclass students that there is no housing available for them. The students are holding some kindof demonstrations - don't know what that means. When she was going in to her sophomore year, she was REQUIRED to live in the sorority house, because they had to fill the rooms. So in two years, this is how much things have changed. When my D and I toured Penn State, we were told that this past school year, the school PAID students $200. if they were within commuting distance and would live off campus because they were so overbooked. IT IS NOT JUST MONTCLAIR, and we are just preparing for the fact that in sophomore year she may have to live off campus.</p>
<p>Not everyone is going to be happy with ANY program. Everything about any school is not going to be pleasing to everybody. That's life!</p>
<p>I'm sure Clay James is a nice man, but he has never dealt with the Office of Reslife. </p>
<p>The numbers speak for themselves greater than Clay's empty promise. They have a finite number of beds an an over abundance of students. The issues of housing is not just my opinion, it is backed by numbers that you can see for yourself.</p>
<p>While similar situations are happening in other schools such as Penn State, they were upfront about the upcoming housing crisis years in advanced. Based on current correspondence with Clay James I would assume MSU is still deceiving incoming parents and not telling them up front the housing issues they will face.</p>
<p>There are many more universities available that do not have the housing issues as Montclair and Penn St. In fact, Penn State made the news for their issues not because all universities are going through a similar crisis, but because it was not common to have the issue get that far. If your child is going to need housing all four years in order to obtain a degree at MSU it may not be wise to send them to a school which is most likely not able to accommodate that need, especially if that school is not being up front about the housing issues they are facing. If they're not being up front about a major issue such as this, imagine what else they are not telling you.</p>
<p>The numbers are simple. Based on previous acceptance rates and the number of students they accepted this year, there will be roughly 3,500 incoming freshmen this year. Of those 61.5% are expected to need housing. That's 2152 freshmen on-campus residents coming in this fall. MSU has 3,300 beds on campus and 192 in the hotels. They also have 3 other classes attending (5th year students are denied). Each incoming year the classes get larger and the number of students who request housing goes up. As the graduating classes are smaller than the incoming freshman class it is clear that there are going to be housing problems at MSU. This is simple math. They have not begun construction or even design plans for a new dorm. It will be years before a new one is completed. This is numbers, and not opinion.</p>
<p>Many schools do not have enough housing for all upperclassmen. At Penn State and other universities many independent companies have come in to provide dormitory style housing off-campus at a similar cost to dorm housing. I am surprised that (given the housing issues at Montclair) this has not yet happened there. It may be because Montclair is a very populated town, because of the proximity to NYC, and land is too expensive. Many of the schools that have this kind of off-campus, independent housing seem to be land-grant or more suburban universities.</p>
<p>All that being said. I went to a university that would not allow us to live off campus until we were Juniors, not because they had our best interests at heart, but because they needed to fill the dorms. I wanted to live off campus as a sophomore, and was not allowed to (even though in the years before they encouraged sophomores to live off campus becuase they were full up in the dorms)... living off campus as a freshman might be difficult (particularly if you are far from home), but once you get to sophomore year it is often less expensive and more convenient to live off campus. </p>
<p>Asking questions of the university housing office is very important. But if the school is the one that you really want to attend, you can work out the issue of where you will live, and often off campus housing is more economical, particularly for a theatre major who is often in calss or rehearsl during the hours when the dining hall is open. </p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Oh My Gosh, get over it! I'm an educator and I helped my daughter pick a school based on the education that she'll get. What fills HER needs. My choice is not the one she chose, because she wants a BFA. I'd rather have her in the small liberal art school with an active campus community and a population that is there on the weekends and that has a very good MT program.
She's going to Montclair because SHE wants an intense program in the field she loves. I'm content that Clay James is going to make this a terrific program. I've learned that a school's attitude starts with administration and filters down. I researched him; a friend's daughter graduated in MT from Miami gave him a glowing report as an educator.
My D figured out HER priorities; if the dorms aren't terribly comfortable, she'll have to manage. If there aren't the 6 a capella groups to choose from, she'll have to start one. She'll have to organize her fun rather than have it be all around her. I'd have chosen the comfortable campus life for her. She chose the program. She'll have to deal with a school whose administrative staff is overburdened and overwhelmed. Every administrative task has been a nightmare. I've dealt with them so far. She'll have to deal next year. But then she'll be on campus with what looks like very supportive faculty advisors. (PLEEEEZE let them take my place)
From my viewpoint, this is a tough field to choose. She'll have to really learn to cope and advocate for herself to make it in showbiz.</p>
<p>Does Montclair State University acceptance letter come in a big or small envelope? I am so anxious to know because my letter is coming this week</p>
<p>FYI there are no MT majors at Rutgers and no one has transferred from the BFA acting department from Rutgers to MontclairâŠmaybe from another department or BA theater program.</p>
<p>cmskm, you are replying to posts that are almost four years old.</p>
<p>Also, the post you are replying to only says that students had transferred in from Rutgers, and not necessarily from the BFA program there.</p>
<p>I just got my letter of acceptance. Musical theatre class 2015 :)</p>
<p>Cole88âDid you receive a still in consideration letter before acceptance?
They said I would be notified by april 15th</p>
1 Like
<p>If you look back at this thread I wrote #31 (divetrav).
After 4 years as an MT, she thinks the program was terrific and is glad she chose it. So the weekends were sometimes lonely when most of the NJ students go home. She could have gone to NYC easily if she chose. The easy train that stops on campus, doesnât run on the weekends! The shows were great. Clay James is great. The dorm wasnât so comfortable, there are new ones. The theater majors and music majors are a great bunch. The Honors program was terrific.
The state school administrative crap hasnât ended. Now weâre trying to get her graduated. The #'s of courses has changed and the registrar needs to process the permits!!!</p>
<p>divetrav, I saw your Melrose Park location. Do we have a common connection to 727 now succeeded by Flutterbye?</p>