<p>I would not in any way be concerned about a sophomore cut. UArts is not a cut school and if this was an issue under consideration, I suspect it would have generated a load of heartfelt discussion among the faculty that would have permeated out to the School of Theater community. I am also very confident that it would have been announced up front.</p>
<p>I went right to the best source - Charlie Gilbert, Director of the School of Theater - to get the straight scoop. Here’s what he advised: 38 freshman MT students due to unexpectedly high yield. Next year’s acceptances will be fewer as a result. Additional sections have been added to keep studio class sizes at the normal 12 - 16 students and plans are being made to accommodate this year’s freshman class and provide expected opportunities as it moves through the program. There are currently no plans to implement a cut policy. Hope this answers everyone’s questions.</p>
<p>Mike, many thanks for doing the legwork to determine the facts. It’s good to know that there are plans to accomodate this larger than anticipated class size, now, and in the future. I trust those who have followed my question on this thread understand the reason for my keen interest in this issue. For the record, we are thrilled that our D selected UARTS and is (already) having the time of her life.</p>
<p>This is great information. It sounds like this is the same situation as that which occurred at BOCO a couple of years ago, where more kids accepted offers than anticipated. In my daughter’s case, she was accepted to 5 top ranked programs and chose U Arts for all of the reasons that MichaelNKat articulated. It appears that other kids made a similar choice for U Arts. Our daughter is also thrilled with U Arts and has been extremely impressed by the school.</p>
<p>At the family orientation they commented that nearly all of the programs enrolled more students this year. My daughter is in the Acting program and said there are 30 students in the program this year. Anyway, my D is having a great experience so far–though she is anxious to move on from orientation activities and get started into her classes. Move in was incredibly smooth. I’m looking forward to Family weekend in Oct.</p>
<p>For those who are interested, here’s all the MT class sizes this year, by year:</p>
<p>seniors - 22<br>
Juniors - 16 -
Sophomores - 21
Freshmen - 38 - Numbers due to a yield that was much higher than expected.</p>
<p>When looking at the upper class numbers, keep in mind that freshman class sizes are typically in the area of 24 students plus or minus a couple. Some attrition always occurs, as with any school, major or program, for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>My D is one of the 16 juniors and she said that in her year several of her classmates had to drop out for either financial reasons, or for personal ones. One of her classmates found out her dad has brain cancer so she has decided to resume classes close by; so that’s the reason for the low number of juniors; it is not to do with any cut program.</p>
<p>There are also a couple of students I know of who would have been juniors who just became disinterested in continuing in a BFA MT program and left. This is not uncommon at all and is something that occurs at a broad spectrum of programs. To reiterate bktheater’s comment about cuts: there is no cut policy/program nor, according to Charlie Gilbert, director of the School of Theatre, is one being planned.</p>