We need some help from the brilliant minds here. So we have a list of around 30 schools that look “interesting” to my D (who is a junior). They are a combo of BFA/BA/BM programs. My personal preference is to keep her in CA but that is not what she wants. How do we start narrowing the list?
Get picky. I had a giant list at first too because I was easy to please and once I realized I had 26 schools I liked I was like ok well I can be picky and eliminated about 8-10.
Look at the cost of the schools and you can use net price calcs to see how much aid you might get.
Look at the schools environment like size, sports, Greek stuff etc
Look at General Ed requirements or options
Look at schedules to see if you can fit in a job while at school if you desire or care about that
Have you visited different types of colleges (regardless of whether or not they have an MT program)? Some people find it helpful just to visit different types of colleges to see where they most envision themselves. So visiting a small liberal arts school, a big public university, a medium size public or private school, a true conservatory, an urban campus a suburban campus, a rural campus…You can visit different schools within driving distance of where you live. We didn’t do any sort of official visit. Just drove through campuses, parked, walked around, sometimes talked to people if we ran into them. But it was solely to give her a feel for different types of schools and campuses as she was only familiar with what was in our hometown. When we did this, our D came to the realization that she wanted a college campus with sports, Greek life, etc… and ended up taking all city schools off her list after years of talking about NYC. She still dreams of living there … but after college.
Thanks for the tips @ParachuteBoy. Good ideas!
@vvnstar I hadn’t even thought of that! What a great idea. We can get to any number of those types of campuses here in California. Thanks. 
Another thing to think about in the small vs large aspect. Do you want a program which is a tiny portion of the school (there are some that take as few as 10- so you’d have a couple dozen BFA kids on a campus of thousands) or a place where theater/arts make up a larger segment of the campus
We took the same approach as @vvnstar and our D reached a similar conclusion. Some kids are very excited by urban campuses or very small BFA cohorts, which is what I’d always assumed our D would crave, but as it happened that was not what she wanted. We did NOT follow advice sometimes given to first decide if you want a BFA or BA. D and many of her friends had both types of programs on their lists, as the real distinction in curriculum does not always break down according to the letters on the degree.
@toowonderful how do you find out the details that you suggest? This makes a lot of sense to me. Is this an appropriate question to ask the dept at schools? Or is this something I should already know? I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot.
@MomCares we started down the path of “BFA or BA/BM” and then quickly realized that she was including or excluding schools based solely on the letters of the degree which ruled out some schools she was really interested in. Which is how we went from a list of 15 or so to 30…LOL.
I think once D has finished up a performance commitment through mid-March, we’ll take a weekend and drive around Cali looking at “types” of schools.
@MTheaterMom - here is list with info from some schools http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1733121-mt-admit-rates-number-of-applicants-2015-class-size-2014-or-2013-number-of-offers-if-known.html#latest - which can provide you some basic numbers. Sometimes you can also find info on school websites- through internet searches etc. And there were people who asked that on tours - I remember the stunned look on a dad’s face at CMU when he heard they were taking 12 out of approx 2000…
You should look at the different kinds of courses your daughter will have to take according to each school’s requirements. Some BFA/BA programs require different gen eds- some relying heavily on academic coursework, and others (like conservatories and some universities with conservatory based training) don’t rely on academics as much. You should also look at the alumni, and see where they have ended up. Best of luck!
Playbilledu.com is a great way to look at schools and do a side by side comparison. Esp if you are looking at costs and average amount of financial aid. We narrowed at lot based on that info.
My two pieces of advice… 1) Look at location… How much will it cost to travel back & forth? Will your parents be able to get there to see shows? 2) When the list is down a bit, look at when & where auditions are held. How many can you reasonably get to? Consider travel costs, travel time, dates, on campus vs Unified’s. How does your HS schedule line up… Are you doing HS shows during audition season? Logistics of the audition process may eliminate some for you.
Have you thought about a good coach? Not sure about California, but MTCA is based in NY and she can get coaching over the internet. They helped my son get accepted to five audition programs last year (plus two redirects and two wait lists). A good coach can help direct her towards schools that are good fit based on her talents. And no matter what you decide, always have a non-audition safety school on the list.
We were late to the process. It is the narrowing down that is hard. Some kids have very strong ideas right off, in terms of what size school and location they want to be in. If you ha sure then I agree a coach could be a great help. I hate to say it but many of the college counselors at Highs Schools or even private paid college counselors do to know the performing arts audition process for colleges. We are in a bigger very arts centered city and we still had trouble finding good advice.
Wow my typos are bad, distracted by my kids. Sorry. Can I please repeat. We were late to the process. It is the narrowing down that is hard. Some kids have a very strong idea of what is best right off, in terms of size school and location. If your child is not sure then a couch could be a great help. I hate to say it but many of the college counselors at high schools or private college counselors do not know the performing arts audition process. We are in a bigger very art centered city and we still had trouble finding good advice.
Anther thing that helped D narrow her list was doing some very early auditions (in her case the Thespian auditions in Nebraska and a small regional unified-type audition). She was able to secure some very early admissions, which enabled her to remove all of the Safety schools from her list.
@TapperDad, if I may ask, what do you mean when you say “A good coach can help direct her towards schools that are good fit based on her talents?” Thanks so much!
@MTmom019, coaches like MTCA assess kids, and then help come up with a list of schools that contain some reach schools, fit schools, and safety schools. Well worth the money, IMHO.
Lots of great advice posted here. Especially agree with scoping out different kinds/sizes/locations - even if not MT schools. Perhaps getting a knowledgeable coach might be on our “wish we’d done that” list. Another big piece to look at is the academic side - it IS college after all. Is you student a stellar academic who thrives on "book larnin’ " and has all the accouterments necessary to get into an academic reach school (GPA, class rank, test scores, AP classes)? Does your student want to continue that academic challenge in college?
Or are academics not a strength? Some schools like UMich, Northwestern, etc. may not be great fits and can be taken off the list because you don’t fit their academic admission parameters. That said, do NOT immediately write them off if your academic stats are not “Ivy league”. The academic bar IS lower for kids going into artistic programs. But if your kid hates studying, never wants to open another book, or knows that the academics would be a stressful, anxiety-producing struggle, take “academic reach” programs off the list.
Or maybe academics ARE a strength, but your student wants to put them on the back burner while getting over-the-top training in MT skills. Very high academic stats (and especially PSAT) can get some VERY nice merit scholarships to some “non-reach” schools - up to/including full ride. Having space in the schedule (space? Ha! Not in my kid’s class/rehearsal schedule - even at a VERY non-reach school.) for breathing rather than studying and writing papers may be the ticket to your child’s good mental health and happiness.
At this point, it may be hard to eliminate ANY school for ANY reason. Your kid’s “must haves” list will evolve over time - up to and beyond the actual auditions and visits. Try to know your child and how you THINK they might develop and mature. My S was adamant that he wanted BFA programs only and refused to consider anything else. We had to draw a line somewhere, so we went with that. (We also put geographic limitations on the search - being in Ohio still left LOTS of possibilities.) We were pretty sure he had the focus to maintain that intensity, but my H and I were a bit apprehensive that S would not be intellectually challenged adequately at his “academic non-reach” school with a “high-reach” MT program. To some degree that has been very true - one of the assignments of his required English Comp class (taught by a prof who is months away from retirement) consisted of copying a list of things out of a textbook. But another thing we suspected about our S has also come to pass. When he is not rehearsing, dancing, practicing, sleeping or eating (he eats A LOT), he is finding time to create. He is writing music, creating a one-person show, advancing his piano skills, reading books the HE assigns himself, and even has an idea for an original musical. He has a little “space in his brain” to allow ideas to rattle around and coalesce. We KNOW he could be a better academic student, but right now, he is happy about training in all the MT skill areas - and is over the moon about the original stuff he is working on. It’s hard to have a crystal ball to see into your teenager’s future, but you’ve been watching them grow since birth. You have an inkling of what will make them happy, what they can’t seem to stop themselves from working on (or what they can’t stand to start working on). Look for schools that will allow for that - even if your kid thinks it’s not important at this moment in time. And no matter what goes on the list now, you can always change your mind - at ANY time.
@mom4bwayboy - lots of excellent advice- but I wanted to add a note- I do NOT think that arts lower the academic bar for Northwestern - after all, they are not an audition school- so admissions wouldn’t be taking talent into consideration. That “may” be different now that you can submit an arts supplement - but I wouldn’t count on it. And you are right that schools like Michigan and NYU may make relax standards for a student they want- I would say it is more of a dip than a true lowering of the bar. JMHO
I want to add that while @mom4bwayboy makes a great point that consideration of academics can help shorten your list, for our D it was the opposite from what she described.
Our D really wanted schools that would provide world-class academics as well as world-class MT training, which bumped conservatories and many other programs off of her list. She loves a broad array of studies and finds focusing on subjects other than theatre to provide some welcome balance. During college many of her favorite courses were non-MT, and even now as a full-time working actor she also focuses mental energy on following other subjects (recently politics as it dovetails with her lifelong interest in history).
She also felt that she has the rest of her life to continue her MT training, but only 4 years to learn from leading thinkers in other fields.
Each of our kids has individual goals for their college years, and their lists should reflect that.