@RVCVRN1 I would definitely drive-by Arizona if you’re on the west coast! Because their program is so small, I’m sure you could arrange skype meetings with faculty and current students. Based on reputation alone, UArizona is a phenomenal program with tons of individualized attention and performance opportunities because they keep class sizes so small.
I just made a new post in the University of the Arts thread, but since it isn’t very active, I’m posting my message here as well:
Well, thanks to Covid, my D will be making her college choice without visiting campus. Based on all the wonderful feedback we’ve been given about UArts, she seems pretty confident that it is the right choice for her. We still have questions for current students/parents:
- What are the performance opportunities like at the school for freshman (vs sophomores and up)?
- What should she consider when choosing the dorm of her choice?
- How are roommates assigned?
- Are classes in acting for the camera available?
- What other information should an incoming freshman who has never visited the campus consider when making a decision about committing four years to UArts??
Also, if you are or have a current UArts MT student who is willing to FaceTime with my daughter, please PM me. She would be so appreciative!
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Anyone know MT class sizes for Emerson or UCLA?
Thank you! Arizona was my first choice for him as it’s closer to home lol. I told him to try and set up phone calls with some of the staff and students at the 3 schools. Hope that will give him a better idea 
@SingerDancerMom Not sure where you are getting your info on the safety of certain cities, but please be mindful of not posting something as fact. My D attended Uarts for 4 years and walked home alone from her bartending job at 2am and NEVER had any safety issues. The area around Uarts is extremely safe. In addition, Temple is pretty safe, too and that would never stop me from recommending it as an option. Seriously, there are 10,000 kids at Temple, so if it were that unsafe, we’d be hearing about it. We ended up loving Philly so much that we moved here from NY almost 2 years ago. It is one of the friendliest, most helpful places we have ever lived. Maybe you are from a small town and don’t have perspective on what cities are like?
@NeensMom An instrument is required at Uarts. Freshman are required to take one year of Piano. Also, NY is an hour and a half away. Lots of kids take the Mega bus for $15 up for auditions.
@BeBop1 I certainly didn’t mean to offend anyone or disparage Philly. I am sorry that my comment left you with that impression.
My comment was an answer to a poster who asked if anyone would have any reservations about UArts. I replied…
“the only reservation I would have about UArts is the safety of the surrounding area. Philly can be nice on one block and super shady on the next. You might want to check out where the kids live and will be walking late at night.”
I didn’t make a factual statement that UArts was unsafe, I said I would check it out to be sure. Another poster chimed in immediately after and spoke to their personal experience with the area and said they thought it was safe. I thanked that person for providing a first hand account of their experience. The person that posed the original question was then provided with a lot of information about UArts from several posters who offered their insight from personal experience. Exactly as these forums are supposed to work.
I am not from a small town… far from it. I don’t know why you had to throw that in.
For perspective… My older daughter got an offer from Temple several years ago and she turned it down in part because of the crime just a couple blocks from campus. The campus itself was great but just a couple of blocks away, where she might have an off campus apartment after freshman year, wasn’t an area where she felt safe walking at night after late rehearsals. Everyone’s comfort levels are different. Perhaps others would think we are overly cautious. I know that UArts and Temple are not far apart, so that was the incentive for my comment.
In this awful situation we are all in right now, where we are all trying to make choices on campuses and programs without getting to visit them, we are using this forum to tap into others experiences. I would hope that if I asked about a campus and someone on here had reservations about the safety of the campus or surrounding area they would say something so that I would be motivated to research it further so that I could make the most informed decision.
I am glad you were able to offer first hand information as the parent of a UArts student! I’m sure everyone on this forum who is considering the program will be happy to read your comments.
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@Crazy2024BFAMom You asked:
“Could you elaborate on the CCPA freshman curriculum that helps build community for the class? I’d like to hear more about that aspect.”
- During orientation week before classes start, the Roosevelt Theatre Conservatory freshmen spend a lot of time together. There was a total of 69 BFA students last fall (26 MT, 23 MT-Dance, and 20 Acting majors). Besides the standard agenda items such as campus tours, upperclassmen "Bigs" assignments, and social activities, the freshmen go on a walking tour of the Chicago theatre district, learn how to use the city trains and buses, and perform their audition material for each other.
- Freshmen immediately start rehearsing for the Freshman Showcase, which has five performances in mid-September. All of them sing in four parts and do some basic movement in the group opener and closer. During the rest of the show, the MT's sing a solo or duet. The MT-D's are in one of several group dances, and they have brief vocal solos at some point in the program. The Acting majors do monologues or dialogues, and they also have some vocal solo lines. The bond created by doing this show was so evident! It also struck me as a great way for the entire faculty to see the kids onstage right away and further identify their strengths and weaknesses.
- First semester, the MT's and MT-D's take an Ensemble Singing class. (The MT's take a separate section of the class from the MT-D's. Each group learns different repertoire.) They have a combined daytime performance at the end of the semester for the other CCPA students, which parents are allowed to attend. The MT-D numbers incorporate some dance. Again, you could see how much fun they were all having, and how comfortable they were with each other.
- Second semester, the freshmen MT's, MT-D's, and Acting majors each put on their own show in February, again with five performances. The MT's do about a half dozen group numbers with choreography, along with everyone's solos and duets. (The MT's are auditioned for their solo assignments and have a dance call for featured dancers in various numbers.) The MT-D show combines challenging choreography with vocal solos, group songs, and some dialogue; they even accompanied each other on various instruments! I didn't see the Acting show, but it consists of monologues, dialogues, and group scenes. The freshmen attend each other's shows and really whoop it up for their classmates!
@frisbee3 @Abutilon @2dogs2kids @secondtimemt @minnmtmom @AbigCurveBall
@upstaged Thanks for the details!
@SingerDancerMom I wasn’t trying to be insulting by suggesting a small town is a bad thing, just that you may not have the experience of living in a city. Temple and Uarts are miles apart and in a city, that’s a huge distance. Neighborhoods are everything here. Uarts is in the Gayborhood (the actual name of the area, not my spin) and is one of the safest parts of the city, especially for women. Temple is closer to North Philly and Fishtown and is swimming with students, day and night. In every city there are pockets of increased crime but I doubt you would question someone’s offer to attend CMU or Point Park, both of which are in Pittsburgh and carry almost the same crime rate as Philadelphia. Some of the neighborhoods near those schools have higher than normal crime rates. The area around BOCO is nice, but not many students can afford to live there. If they are using the old Berklee Buildings, it’s not as nice an area. So as you can see, all cities have issues. In addition, if you look at on-campus crime rates across the country, some are more crime-ridden than others, even if they are in the middle of nowhere.
I think the better option is to decide if your child will be comfortable in a city and wise enough to make decisions about where to go and when to go there. One of My D’s freshman roommates grew up in extreme wealth and had NO friends that were POC. She was petrified every time she went out and saw a black person. She would literally cross the street. So it is more about the fit to a particular child, than a worry about crime.
@upstaged truly appreciate you tagging us all!
@upstaged, yes, thank you so much!
@upstaged This information is very helpful. Thank you so much. My D. is in a chat group or FB group with some of the prospective CCPA students. That is also helpful. We are tallying the costs (including flights back and forth to JFK or one of the Chicago airports). So that is a question… Southwest files direct to Midway from our area for reasonable fares and I see the subway goes from there to downtown. When we were there for Unifieds and flew into Midway, some folks told us it could be unsafe to take the subway if you don’t know where you are going. So we took Uber, (4 people for $40) Any sense of that (MDW vs. ORD, and access to the dorms with big suitcases?)
Does anyone have any firsthand knowledge about Hofstra? Would love to know about how many students are in the BFA performance track (I know that MT minor is 16), quality of training, overall impressions and how it may compare to some of the audition programs. We have other choices but I want to consider each pretty fully.
I’ve never taken the subway from Midway (I think I’ve only ever flown into MDW once, my first time to Chicago in 1999). However, I have taken the train from ORD several times, with luggage, and have never had an issue. To be fair, it was usually at around rush hour, so take that for what it is. The trains do definitely get VERY crowded at those times, though.
@Crazy2024BFAMom I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Chicago and used the public transit extensively without issue. I’ve ridden the train from both Midway and O’Hare many times ($5 one way, can’t beat that if you’re just one person). The train from O’Hare into downtown goes through some lower-income neighborhoods, but I never felt unsafe or threatened by folks who boarded or left the trains as we passed through. I’ve also lived in downtown DC and surrounding suburbs in MD, so I’m definitely more comfortable in urban environments than some but truly, even as a petite female traveling solo or with a child and encumbered by luggage – I’ve never felt unsafe on Chicago transit.
@Dance3Looks3 @TexasMTDad Thank you! I actually didn’t know the train went from ORD to DT. I thought is was just from Midway. good to know. I’ll look at the cost of those flights to ORD too.
@Crazy2024BFAMom It’s a hike (indoors, but a long walk) from the terminal to the train, but it’s the blue line that goes from O’Hare to downtown. It’s about a 40-minute ride. I’ve done it countless times over the years.
If you’re looking at O’Hare from the NYC metro area, you’ll want to originate in Newark – Newark and O’Hare are United hubs and there are a gazillion flights between the two each day.
@Dance3Looks3 That’s helpful about the blue line. Can I assume the cost is $5 as stated by another poster? The reason I mentioned NYC is because our other top choice is Molloy (near JFK). We are from the LA area (BUR or LAX for flights). I was just putting together a cost comparison for Molloy vs. CCPA. Thank you!
Oh! Yes, I was in Chicago for Unifieds and we took the train in and it was $5 from O’Hare to downtown. It’s been $5 for as long as I can remember, honestly!
I think I read someplace that CCPA includes a CCTA pass in their fees? I don’t know if I read it here or somewhere else but that would be a HUGE savings over the NYC transit system/LIRR, etc. into NYC if you’re comparing costs of living in each locality.