MT Major not such a hot idea...

<p>Hey, GIRL...;)</p>

<p>SO sorry - I probably just didn't read very carefully (I KNOW I didn't - I was multi-tasking) - also, I know a GUY named James Alexis (1st and middle names - sorta Russian background, although you'd think his middle name would be ALEXI...) and I think I had his name in my head...ANYWAY - my apologies!</p>

<p>And what I said of course still hold true, girl or guy - but as a girl, you MUST get some solid dance training to give yourself a fair shot at a selective program. (Before I get attacked ;) - yes, I know there are excpetions to this, but they are few, far between - and why risk raising questions in the minds of the admitting faculty?)</p>

<p>Can anyone define "marketability"?</p>

<p>The word tends to make me think of that somewhat crudely put question everyone seems to get as a response to announcing their college major:</p>

<p>"So, what are you gonna do with that?"</p>

<p>In the context of Musical Theater, or any other business or profession I would think, marketability translates to the likelihood that a product will be bought or in the case of sensient beings, the likelihood that a person will be hired. You should know that several top programs actually sit their students down at some point in their training, sometimes right at the beginning, and advise them as to the changes the faculty feels they need to make in order to increase the chances that they will work. This can be in the form of physical changes e.g., cut, grow or color your hair, lose weight, get to a gym and start lifting weights, focusing them in on what they believe their "type" is or sugggesting that they strengthen a weak discipline or work more on a strong one if that is what they perceive to be that student's "hook." As CoachC said, these people have been in the business of recognizing talent and potential for quite a while and helping students understand what they must do to increase their odds of working is a gift. That being said, different schools and different faculties have different approaches and methodologies to achieve this end - some harsher than others, some more collegial and kinder than others. But the goal is the same.</p>

<p>So how can you get this advice BEFORE you audition? :-)</p>

<p>As a parent, the big concern is when a kid is out of your pocket, no longer needs your autograph on the bottom right hand corner of a check. There is some hope and expectation that this happens at some point after college graduation, particularly after the family has gone on an austerity regiment and exhausted resources to pay for a college education for a kid. </p>

<p>There are some professions that are more marketable than others. It seems that the technical fields tend to have jobs that pay at at a level where someone can actually live without subsidies from home without putting himself in a dangerous situation. Nursing, engineers, some health areas seem to actually do this. However, for most kids, such a job does not surface. Most kids end up getting whatever work they can, usually on a temp basis which also means no benefits--no health insurance, no sick days, etc. This puts another burden on the parents as family health insurance no longer covers the kid and COBRA lasts for only so long. </p>

<p>As to marketability of MT majors, I don't think that they are any worse or better off than the majority of kids graduating from college. Most of them are not marketable. It takes time and experience. My H who is a patient person observed that the kids who want to be doctors, who end up in medical school, those kids who are the cream of the crop academically to get into that situation, are about 30 years old before they start making a dent on the deficit that created in order to get into the medical profession. And if they did not borrow money, that means mom and dad paid for that expensive med school education. My niece has borrowed $160K and I guarantee you her pay next year as an intern is not going to shave much off of that sum. She has 4 more years before she makes a decent wage and can start doing that. So if this is the situation for kids in that honored profession that is a pretty sure payoff, how can we expect kids in any other less lucrative fields with less certain money to be self sufficient any sooner?</p>

<p>A concern that H had about MT was that some of the programs were comprised of all MT classes. So a kid who changes his mind or wants to go into another field or to a grad school is kind oof stuck when he does not have even 30 credits (a standard freshman year catch at a standard college) of core courses. If you look at a variety of programs, you will see that some BFA programs require some math, science, social science, humanities credits wheras some do not. If you go into a program and take 4 years of pure performing arts courses, you do lose some flexibility in the job market. That is an issue to consider.</p>