hello, i will be senior in high school i’ve started looking for colleges to apply to. i would like to major in musical theatre but the thing about that is, i have no real MT training. a lot of students who go for musical theatre programs have done a lot of acting and have a lot of experience and roles under their belt BEFORE college. i unfortunately did not get into musical theatre until my sophomore year in high school when i joined my vocal music department. long story short, my family just does not have the money to send me to “summer intensives” or workshops. my grandmother who is also my legal guardian, fell ill when i started middle school. so the only EC stuff i did was in school. turns out i absolutely love and adore this craft and can’t imagine doing anything else. the problem is, i want to go to school for the MT training, i want to learn to act and sing the right way and train HARD. i know the MT programs are among the hardest to get into, some of the greats ones like CCM and BW are in my state, which would be much more affordable if i could get into them. but they are very selective, and i only have 3 years of experience while other auditionees have been doing this their whole lives. so i’ve written this today to ask, is there any advice anyone can give me on this? to help with auditions or maybe even just writing my essays? I’m really interested in going to NYU, Columbia College Chicago, Marymount Manhattan College or Baldwin Wallace. Any of these schools i would be happy to be waitlisted on. could any of you guys give me a little insight on the audition process or any other schools i should look into? If it works out the way i want to, i’ll end up in either chicago or new york to start doing community and regional theatre. ALSO, i would not be able to audition for the OOS schools on my list because i cant afford to, so if you list any schools not in ohio, could you please find out if they have digital submission or not? Thank you!
The task you have a head of you will be very difficult. It’s difficult if you have financial means and or talent. NYU is a very expensive school and gives little scholarship. How are your grades? Most colleges for a BFA in musical theater require an audition on campus or at Unifieds. Some schools do prescreens which is the digital audition before you are granted an audition. You might want to check out AMDA in NYC and non audition BA programs too. You’re in OH so Chicago Unifieds would work too. I would get some evaluation from your high school vocal teacher and have you taken any dance classes?
Moving to MT forum
@populuku - As Ducky says, you will have a difficult time of it, but it’s not impossible. You are correct that CCM and BW are very difficult to get into, but Ohio has some other terrific programs that are not discussed on this board quite as much. As an Ohio resident there is a unified audition held every January by the Ohio Educational Theatre Association that you are eligible for. Here’s the link: http://ohedta.org/opportunities/auditions/ Some “not-as-popular” Ohio programs hold a unified audition. Schools like CCM and BW may be present, but they may be holding auditions for drama or portfolio reviews for tech and design majors, rather than MT. The website will be updated shortly, and you can check to see which schools will be auditioning for MT. Go to the websites for each of those schools and see what they may require for auditions. The cool thing - or not-so-cool thing, depending on how you look at it - about this set-up, is that you are considered for all the attending programs during a single audition. So even if you have not yet applied to the school, you can still be considered. That said, if scholarship money is important to you, you may want to apply ahead of time to meet scholarship deadlines that arise before January.
If you are serious about this and want to apply to BFA programs that require auditions, you will need to be doing some serious work starting NOW. Some schools require prescreen videos that must be submitted before you can be invited for an audition and for most schools all your application materials must be in by October/November. This puts you on an accelerated application timeline that will make your non-MT peers look like they are leisurely strolling through a park. This hardcore avenue is NOT the only way to a career in theater, but if you are interested in BFA schools of BW’s or CCM’s calibre, that’s what you’re looking at. And schools the next tier down can be almost as competitive and on a similar timeline
There are MANY successful folks in MT/Theatre/Film who did NOT go this route. Check out non-audition BA programs. If you don’t know the difference, you might want to do a little homework. BFAs tend to be a little like a vocational career track with most of your college time spent in Performance skill-related classes. A BA tends to be a bit more of a traditional Liberal Arts education with more academic classes and are called something like “Theater Studies” perhaps with a “performance” or “Musical Theatre” emphasis. The lines between these two types of programs are blurred, and both avenues can lead to excellent training and performance opportunities. Given your MT/Theater training background and family support situation, the BA route might be a better choice for you, but is not necessarily a “lesser” choice. There are MANY successful actors who have come from this route. And if “college” is not necessarily your thing, going the “professional skills school” route mentioned by @Ducky312 - such as AMDA - may be an option. If you decide to do the “experiential” path in NYC or Chicago, be sure you have a way to pay your rent and living expenses while you are exploring.
Do a little homework. Google “Ohio Musical Theater programs” and see what comes up - or whatever states/cities you are interested in. See how much they cost, what prerequisites are needed and especially look for application/prescreen/audition/scholarship requirements and deadlines. Then be sure to come back to this forum and ask more questions. There are lots of folks here willing to share their experiences/insights, but it would be helpful if you have a little better sense of what you’re looking for. Many people on CC can give detailed help/guidance after you’ve done some preliminary “legwork”. For instance if Wright State (Dayton, OH) comes up on your list, my S is a junior BFA MT there and I would be happy to share our insights/experiences. A few other Ohio schools to consider might be Otterbein, Ohio Northern, Kent State, Ohio Wesleyan, maybe Wooster, and I’m sure there are others. You might also want to consider Northern Kentucky University, just across the river from Cincinnati. Good Luck.
@populuku - be sure to check out the advice threads pinned at the top of the Musical Theater Major forum page. They may seem very long, but many of your questions may be answered in those postings.
@mom4bwayboy gave you some terrific advice. I would just emphasize - if your goal is to work and live in Chicago and NY one day, it does not mean you need to go to college there. In fact some of the best MT programs in the country are nowhere near either of those cities (Michigan, CCM, Carnegie Mellon to name a few). As has been pointed out, Ohio and KY have some great options you should consider. I’d also add to the list Western KY University in Bowling Green KY. And Bowling Green State University has a BA with an MT specialization. So check those programs out too. We also have recently heard of a couple of people here going to Ohio University in music and theater. I don’t know much about it but you might look into it. My main point is, as you decide where to apply to school, keep in mind, you can get great training just about anywhere in the country. It’s going to be expensive once you do move to NY or Chicago. So keep your costs down while you can and strongly consider going to college somewhere affordable and save your dollars to live in the city for after you graduate and start your career. I know there are some threads here on CC that discuss which programs are most cost effective. Keep researching on CC and you will come up with a great list of schools to consider.
@Ducky312 , I have little dance experience. I am apart of my school’s showchoir and have been for the past three years. But that’s all the exposure I have to dance.
Ohio residents qualify for in-state tuition if you major in Musical Theatre at West Virginia U (they have a brand-new MT program):
http://admissions.wvu.edu/cost-and-aid/ohio-tuition-reciprocity-agreement
If you do some research, you may find similar agreements at programs in other states that adjoin Ohio and would be within driving distance to do an on-campus audition.
Here is a list of all MT programs in Ohio from the “Big List” posted at the top of this forum:
Ashland U BA w/MT conc
Baldwin-Wallace College BM
Bowling Green State U BA Comm w/MT specialization
Capital U BM VP w/MT emp
Heidelberg U BA/BS Theatre w/MT emp
Kent State U BFA
~Marietta College BFA (non-audition)
Ohio Northern U BFA
Otterbein U BFA*
Shawnee State BFA
U Cincinnati - College Conservatory of Music BFA
~U Findlay BA (non-audition)
Wright State U BFA
Youngstown State U BFA
All audition-based programs are competitive for admission, but Baldwin-Wallace, Otterbein, CCM, and Wright State are very competitive for admission.
To get an overview of the process, read Mary Anna Dennard’s book, “I Got In” (it is easy to order from Amazon).
Columbia college Chicago doesn’t require an audition to be admitted initially. You enter as a BA MT student and can audition once there for the BFA MT program
That said, you can audition for the BFA initially too. Double check their website but I think digital auditions are accepted.
Also look at the Ohio state thespian festival for college auditions. They will have out of state schools there as well as in state schools and it is a great chance to audition.
SEMO - Southeast Missouri state seems to give good scholarship money and I hear the program is quite good. Don’t know if they go to Ohio thescon but they do go to some others around the Midwest, so maybe. Northern Kentucky has an MT program too I think. And being close to Ohio I would guess they go to thescon
You can find a list of schools with reciprocity for in-state tuition for Ohio residents here: https://www.ohiohighered.org/tuition-reciprocity#mi
Ball State, which has an outstanding MT program, offers reciprocity for some western Ohio counties (note that Ball State, like Wright State in Ohio, is very competitive for admission)
http://cms.bsu.edu/academics/collegesanddepartments/online/costs/finaid/ohio
Northern Kentucky, which has a solid MT program, offers reciprocity for some southwest Ohio counties http://transfer.nku.edu/tuition_scholarships.html
One other Ohio note… BW has officially launched their BFA Acting program. Something to keep in mind. I have no idea how auditions will work… But definitely something to explore if BW is of interest to you.
If you have no training, definitely look at the lists of non-audition BAs and non-audition BFAs here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1335445-big-list-of-mt-colleges-by-program-type-p1.html
Another school to look into is Muskingum University in New Concord, OH which offers a Theatre major and a Musical Theatre minor. Every year in January, this school hosts a unified professional audition - OTAs (Ohio Theatre Alliance) - for summer stock and year-round theater employment.
I think the list that @actorparent provided is wonderful, but make sure you go to the most recent post in the thread for the most current info available on CC. For example, when the thread was started in 2012 it listed both Northern KY University and Nebraska Wesleyan as non audition programs. But I believe both are auditioned BFA programs now and that is reflected in later posts. Several fabulous CC posters have tried to update the list as much as they can. So go to the last page of the thread to get the most up to date information.
As with all things MT, check with each school to see what, if anything has changed about the degrees they offer and what the admission requirements are compared to what is listed here. These things can change year to year so it is hard to keep the lists on CC absolutely current. Definitely take it upon yourself to make sure you know the current programs available and the admissions requirements for each school you are interested in.
@populuku perhaps you can share your region you are located in Ohio. There are several Ohioans on this board who may be able to direct you towards some community theater resources or connect with someone in their area to learn about some of the lesser known Ohio schools. Is your showchoir competitive with lots of training hours? Ohio has some nationally ranked competitive showchoirs that provide basic dance training as part of preparation for competition season and vocal training for solo comp. If your choir fits this description, you may be able to use the resources of your directors to assist with college prep.
Hi!!! Ok so reading your little post I just want to give a tidbit of advice. I too will be a senior and have done musical theatre since my freshman year and have gone back and forth whether or not its something I want to pursue for the rest of my life. However, reading your post and seeing that “you cant see yourself doing anything else,” I say go for it. People are going to tell you youre crazy, youre stupid, its not worth it, but better to give it a shot than wondering “what if” the rest of your life if you dont even try. THAT BEING SAID!! Of course I have no idea what kind of talent you have, so yes it is a very competetive field, but if you have any sort of natural knack for it then its not too hard to work your way up the ranks to a cetain point. Remember too that theres a ton of actors/actresses who have made it without and prior experience! Dont compare yourself to others or feel that you missed imaginary “guidelines” of participating in master classes or being a lead in a show blah blah blah its all bs if you ask me. If its meant to be its meant to be. I would definitely have a back up, because even the best of the best dont make it sometimes, but that doesnt mean theres any harm in throwing together an audition tape, sending it to a couple schools, and seeing what happens! Ya know? Anyways best of luck!!!