<p>There is great info here about transfer students but, like everyone I think, I wanted to get more specific info on my own personal situation.
I'm going to CSU Sac currently, and will go through sophomore year. I am planning on auditioning/applying to colleges with BFA programs specifically in Musical Theater and wanted to ask anyone here for any helpful tips or advice you can offer.<br>
Some of the colleges explicitly say they don't accept transfers into specific programs, but word of mouth from real people who have actually experienced these things I think will be much more helpful than trying to navigate EVERYTHING just on the college sites (which can be a little to general).
My basic questions/concerns revolve around trying to find out about schools that will allow a student to audition and transfer into a BFA in Musical Theater.
Thanks to everyone who reads and replies.
Linds</p>
<p>To make my question a little clearer.....
1) Do most schools allow transfers to be musical theater majors if they are willing to accept first year status as far as the program goes?</p>
<p>If you're willing to be a freshmen, then they're willing to take you.</p>
<p>I wish there was an easy answer to your question... but, it differs from school to school.</p>
<p>Many schools admissions offices have a later application date for transfer students, and will not work with transfer acceptances until after they have gone through the freshman application process. I do not think that most college admissions offices will not allow a transfer student to apply to the university as a freshman. </p>
<p>When this is the case it makes it difficult for the BFA program to accept transfer students, even if the student is willing to go through four years of the program, thus entering as a "freshman" in the program. </p>
<p>You have probably noticed that many of the transfer aplicants find out about acceptances later tha the freshman applicants. This is probably a result of the transfer admissions policy at the college or university.</p>
<p>So, I would suggest looking at schools in which you are interested, contacting both the admissions office and the department itself to ask about transfer applicants, and also post the list of schools in which you are interested here. People who have gone through the process will be able to give you feedback on the "transfer friendliness" of a particular school.</p>
<p>It seems as if Montclair State, in NJ and Hartt in CT both accepted transfer students into the BFA musical theatre program this year. I am sure there are others! Good luck!</p>
<p>Okay, so a transfer applicant's best bet in a lot of ways is just to get more in contact with the admissions offices and transfer services at the universities (via phone or email). I had noticed that as well, that the transfer app dates are many times later than other deadlines.</p>
<p>So, as was suggested earlier, I'm posting some of the schools I'm thinking about so people can let me know any specific experiences they've had about transfers.</p>
<p>University of Arizona
CCM (Univ of Cincinnati)
University of Northern Colorado
CSU Fullerton
Ithaca College
Boston Conservatory
The University of the Arts
Penn State
Point Park
Roosevelt University
NYU
Carnegie Mellon
American University</p>
<p>The main thing to worry about with most of these schools (I'm guessing) would be the audition/interview aspect of admission. But on top of that, I'll be a transfer student so.... :)........any stories/advice anyone has will be helpful. Thanks again to those who responded. :)</p>
<p>make sure to apply to Penn State University Park (main campus)...the rest are branch campuses</p>
<p>Judystar- If you are only looking for schools with BFA programs, American University offers a BA, not BFA. That does mean it is not a good rpogram, but may not be exactly what you are seeking.
If you have not already read the info regarding the differences between BFA and BA programs, you can find it on the FAQ thread. Look for a link on the main MT page, near the top of the threads. It really helps you define what you are looking for.</p>
<p>Ithaca very very VERY rarely takes transfers into the BFA. </p>
<p>As was said before, Hartt does take transfers. I auditioned and was accepted there this year, and they were so helpful with my application/audition/etc. process because it is a little different as a transfer. They seemed to be very receptive to transfer auditions, and I think 4 or 5 were accepted (including myself and VTBroadwayBaby who also posts here).</p>
<p>I'm kind of surprised to hear about Ithaca...they seemed nice on emails but maybe they are hard on transfer students for some reason.</p>
<p>I've heard people say negative things about Univ of Arizona, positive things about University of Hartford 'Hartt School' and the only other one specifically mentioned on this thread was Montclair State (saying they were 'transfer friendly').</p>
<p>What does everyone think of these schools?
Are there any other specific recommendations anyone would like to throw out there?</p>
<p>Thanks again as always :)
Everyone is so helpful!</p>
<p>I believe that BoCo is transfer "friendly"</p>
<p>Last year someone transferred from CCM to BOCO so they are transfer friendly, as is Penn State-University Park</p>
<p>FYI, both CCM and Univeristy of Michigan will have transfer students in their freshmen classes next fall as well</p>
<p>My D, who just finished her freshman year at PPU, went through the auditions as a transfer student at UofM, CCM, Ithica and Baldwin - Wallace. All seemed very open to transfers as long as you are willing to come in as a freshman. She did make the final cut at one of the schools but ultimately decided to stay at PPU.</p>
<p>Elon also has a transfer student in the incoming freshman class that I know of. A friend also transferred in after first semester of her freshman year and will be a junior this year. So Elon seems to be transfer friendly.</p>
<p>Okay GREAT!!
All of this is very comforting because I was beginning to panic a bit about everything.
One of the first responses I had about transfer questions I had submitted to collges via email was from Emerson College in Boston, which looked like a great program, but then said that they didn't accpet any transfers into their musical theater program.<br>
My main concern is being elligible to audition/ transfer into a progrm. Even take longer getting the degree is fine, coming into a new collge as a transfer and fully expecting to finish in 2 yrs isn't realistic. So, I'm happy to start fresh in the programs, as long as the opportunity is available.</p>
<p>So my next question is.....when everyone says 'transfer in as a freshman' does it mean a freshman in the prgram or the actual school? Because I wouldn't really be crazy about loosing college credit I've worked on for 2 yrs.</p>
<p>Thanks again all, trying to clear up confusing details.........</p>
<p>When it says "transfer in as a freshman", you most likely will be committing to 4 years in the program -- you may be able at some places to do it in 3, but not as likely. Most programs want you to do their own classes in the major, so due to sequences of coursework, even though you have 2 years elsewhere, you need to plan on more than 2 years to finish. If you are not ready to commit to 4 more years of school, this is something you need to check specifically with each college.</p>
<p>because most BFA programs originally start with such a small freshman class...transfering in is very hard. most programs i assume only take one or two, if any.</p>
<p>You would not loose all of the credits that you took in your two years of school, however each school is different in terms of what credits they will accept from another institution. As is stated above most programs will want you to take all (or almost all) of your music, theatre, and dance credits in their program. Your general education classes may transfer more easily, but if you transfer to a program that does not require many general education credits, those credits will appear on your transcript, but will not count towrds your degree requirements. This is why it is important to research schools carefully, and decide how many more years of school to which you are willing to commit. </p>
<p>Depending on how far along you are in your current program, you may also want to think about completing your current degree program and attending graduate school.</p>
<p>I'm not far at all in my current degree....only recently declaring theater as my major (I had been undeclared my whole first year of college).</p>
<p>This makes more sense now, that phrase 'transfer in as a freshman' generally applies to the theater program. This I wouldn't have a problem with, I may actually prefer it because of the training I would miss otherwise.</p>
<p>Has everyone else heard the same comment about transfer students? That they accept much less transfer students and the competition is then more fierce?</p>
<p>Is it common knowledge that students transferring into BFA Musical Theater programs have it much harder? </p>
<p>I hope this isn't the case but I'm pretty sure it is........
Thanks everyone for all your help.</p>
<p>My daughter is transferring into a BFA program this fall. She completed one year in a BA program. She auditioned for two programs, the one BFA and another BA, and was accepted to both. She cancelled a third audition because she had received the first acceptance already.
By credits she will be a sophomore, but in the BFA curriculum she will be with the freshman group. They want the group to travel through the program together. The most complicated part of it was the registration process and figuring out which credits would transfer to count for which stuff. The GenEd credits were no problem; the issue was the classes she had taken as requirements for her BA program, and do they equate to anything in the new BFA program. Some did and some didn't.
The other complication for her is that she is in the Honors program, so some credits, even though they would transfer, won't help her because of the requirements of the Honors program. She doesn't mind that, actually, because of the subject matter of the Honors classes and the size (12 students!). All in all, the registration process took about five hours, most of it one-on-one with the advisor, looking at each class and requirement. Whew.
It will be worth it, however. The program will meet her needs much better than where she was before. She was told she would probably be able to finish in 3 1/2 years, with the only thing left over for that last semester to be one final acting class. That's not bad. She can either take a bunch of electives that semester, or just take the acting class and go audition.
Bottom line is, it depends on the school and the program. Some of the transfer-friendly programs are listed above; I would add University of the Arts and Montclair to the list. Don't even try at Emerson. But it also depends on openings in a given year. People do drop out of programs sometimes, so ya never know!</p>