Hi! My son is looking for strong East Coast Musical Theater programs. Ideally, we would like a school that has a traditional environment with a football team and offers a great deal of merit aid. Ideas???
Montclair might be a great choice: it’s a large state university with a football team, it has a well-regarded BFA Musical Theater program, and the BFA students get in-state tuition (even if they’re not from in-state), which makes it very affordable. And they also give merit aid in addition to that.
I would say some you might wish to consider include Penn State, Coastal Carolina, Florida State, James Madison University, Syracuse and University of Miami, They are all traditional environments with football teams, East Coast both north and south… Don’t know whether or not you can anticipate great merit aid but these would be some to research.
Boston University, Syracuse, Penn State and Rutgers come to mind in the Northeast. Not sure if they all have a BFA in Musical Theater or a BA program or Theater with a minor in MT.
Boston U and Rutgers are more straight acting - BU has a MT certificate program and Rutgers doesn’t (yet) offer a Musical Theater degree but that program should be starting up soon. I might add Temple - traditional environment, MT degree(s) and they are pretty generous with aid. Does your son want to major in MT or just participate? That makes a big difference in what kind of “Strong MT” he is looking for. Oh and if you include some schools on EST in the “east coast” bucket that opens the field - Michigan, Michigan State…
There is a “Big List of MT Colleges: By State” post pinned to the top of this forum. Good place to start.
D-I Programs
Florida State - great merit aid
U Central Florida
U Florida
U Miami
East Carolina
Penn State
Temple
Coastal Carolina
West Virginia
D-I FCS Programs
Elon
Jacksonville U
James Madison
U New Hampshire
Western Carolina
William and Mary
D-II Programs
Florida Southern
West Florida
D-III Programs
Montclair
Plymouth State
Western Connecticut
My D goes to Syracuse, and the whole city is “Orange” fan. Whether Football or Basketball, they breath “Orange”.
And they have a great and strong MT program
Updated the list (how could I have missed Syracuse?):
D-I Programs
Central Florida (UCF)
Coastal Carolina
East Carolina
Florida
Florida State - great merit aid
Miami
Penn State
Syracuse
Temple
West Virginia
D-I FCS Programs
Elon
Jacksonville U
James Madison
New Hampshire
Western Carolina
William and Mary
Wagner
D-II Programs
Florida Southern
Indiana U of Pennsylvania
Seton Hill
Shorter
Valdosta State
West Florida
D-III Programs
Emory & Henry
Montclair
Plymouth State
Rowan
Western Connecticut
@EmsDad, amazing research as usual! Also, Ithaca is a D-III school.
JMU is a great option - and they definitely offer merit $! And they ar a big football school!