Hi! Anyone out there in a musical theatre program or applying for one? What are some good schools under $30K a year that may not be in the top 10 or even top 20 but are reputable? Anyone at Montclair State, Shenandoah Conservatory or Southeast Missouri State? Any other schools offer in-state tuition for BFA students? Montclair is one I found, would love to know if there are others. We are in NC.
Hi @BrewmomNC - there’s a very active CC board for MT majors:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/
I would use the search function first using the term 'hidden gem" because this question has been asked many times before! 
But you can also ask for help from the current crop of auditioners and MT parents, I am sure you’ll get some help there.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Post was moved here.
I have very limited info as we briefly looked into this but my daughter didn’t end up in MT. However, I did learn Southeast Missouri is fairly well regarded here on CC. And their scholarships are excellent- close to automatic full tuition with a 27 ACT.
Also looked a little at University of South Dakota- they recently had an alumni get into Hamilton.
North Central College in Naperville, IL.
So few people know about this school and its musical theatre department. Let’s put it this way. Students there complain that the theatre kids hold too much sway. This means that the musical theatre department kids are also very competitive… This is in part because the school is in suburban Chicago, and the department offers internships at the American Theatre Company and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
Or maybe people do know? Is North Central in the top 10 or 20 for musical theatre? It never really gets mentioned on these boards much.
My son just finished his first semester in Temple University’s BFA MT program. One thing that he likes is the intensity of the program. While freshmen in some schools are front-loaded with their general education/core requirements, at Temple all of his first semester classes were in his major. He was immersed in singing, acting, voice/movement, and dancing all day every day. Even the one general education class that he took was a theatre class on diversity. Freshmen had a cabaret evening during parents weekend and it was performed right on their main stage, and attended by many professors and non-freshman students, which was such a warm way to show how welcome the new kids are into the Temple family. Freshmen can be cast in department shows, and there are non-departmental shows, workshops, song cycles, etc. available to audition for as well. Students can also audition for/perform in shows in the amazing theatre-rich city of Philadelphia (and beyond), which is a great way to network and establish themselves in the working world before they’ve even graduated (faculty encourage students to discuss these plans with them before committing, which is also great because the professors have the experience with the college coursework and professional theatre to give advice about juggling it all).
Out of state tuition is just about $30,000. I don’t believe that all BFAs automatically get the in-state rate ($17-$18,000) but there are definitely academic scholarships that award in-state tuition, in addition to talent scholarships that can also defray the costs.
Illinois Wesleyan https://www.iwu.edu/theatre/courses/bfa-music-theatre.html
@Knowsstuff Are you familiar with Illinois Wesleyan? My son passed their pre-screen but we really don’t know a lot about the program.
My son just finished his first semester at Montclair State in New Jersey. They give in-state tuition to all MT majors… probably will be just at $30K living on campus with full meal plan.
He love it there. He says that there are many people working on Broadway coming over to give workshops and that many of the faculty are also working-or previous Broadway. He is not a dancer but is excited about how well the non-dancers have learned to dance by the time they’re seniors.
He is also having a blast. The MT kids dorm together and hang together. He also seems to be learning to like the taste of beer… which is weird because I definitely liked beer BEFORE I went to college: :lol:
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Also, I think if you asked 100 people on this board what the top 10 MT schools are, you will get 100 different answers. Most will have Michigan State, CCM, and Carnegie Mellon in some 1,2,3 order… but after that, who knows? Montclair State is a good fit for my son and he is getting the education he wants/needs.
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@TexasMTDad My D is auditioning there in a few weeks. She is really excited about this program. How competitive is it to get in? I feel like everyone is so good and everything is so competitive. She has gotten two early BFA offers so she is feeling good but this is one of her hopeful ones !
Florida State University offers an out-of -state waiver of between 50% and 100% for BFA and BM students.
Michele
@MTMom2024. Yes I do. Please PM me with questions. My daughter was a theater designer there till she switched fields and schools. She also went to a high school performing arts High school in Chicago and was in the Musical Theater tract. She actually has a friend in Hamilton that just ended in Chicago and Mean Girls that is just starting in Chicago.
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@BrewmomNC - have you added UNC Greensboro to your list yet?
Hard to say. My son got into other schools (Point Park, TCU) but didn’t get into the big ones (CCM, UM, CMU, Syracuse, etc.) I think his class is 28 students… which is more than they expected to accept… probably due to how competitive all of the schools have gotten.
Point Park is an excellent program
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@Knowsstuff IWU was in my daughter’s top 4 choices last year. We loved the program- the school is small but very prestigious. The education is top notch. They only accepted around 14 kids last year. In the end, the location was not as convenient as we would have liked, but it’s a fabulous program!
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@TexasMTDad, very happy to hear that your son is enjoying Montclair State, they are on our radar for next year. I am also happy to hear that just because my son has not danced much more than what he’s learned for school productions, that he is not limited. Best of luck for continued success for you son and thank you so much for sharing. We are just starting out journey.
Hello Everyone, newbie to all of this and we have found a few schools based on searching on line. I am wondering if anyone call give us some insight. My son’s first choices so far are none of the main ones we are hearing about. He is looking into: Arcadia in PA; Wells in NY; Wesleyan in CT; Elon in NC; Wagner in NY, Western Conn in CT, Rider in NJ, and Ramapo, NJ. We have also added Montclair in NJ recently and see that it may be a great choice based on comments. Does anyone have any experience with these schools? Thank you.
Just a note of warning… he says that most of his friends ARE dance people so he might have just danced enough but with solid voice and acting.
He feels VERY fortunate to have gotten into a strong dance program as that is what he wanted to focus on most. He LOVES his dance classes.