<p>Hi
Does anyone know about the academic program at Tisch. I know that the kids take about 50% of thier classes in the liberal arts, and require subjects including math and science, can double major or minor, etc. But have also heard that many of the liberal arts classes are taught at the Tisch school; not in the college of arts and sciences. The assumption is that the classes are geared more toward the drama students...and maybe a little less rigourous? Has anyone heard this or know anything about the academics in this program?
ANy ideas on the best way to contact the school to ask this question?</p>
<p>I can clarify a few misconceptions that you have. My D is a graduate of Tisch Drama. </p>
<p>One is that I do not think the academics represent 50% of the student’s program when in Tisch. It is less than that. </p>
<p>Also, math and science are not specifically required. There are academic distribution requirements in broad areas and the “sciences” are very broadly defined. For example, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology fall under that category at NYU and so my D’s coursework never truly was in math or science when at NYU. </p>
<p>Lastly, your confusion as to where in the school the liberal arts courses are is understandable, but in error. The liberal arts courses in the general education areas are NOT in the Tisch school. Rather, they are in the College of Arts and Sciences and the students from Tisch are mixed with students from all around the university. The courses in the academic subject areas are NOT geared toward Tisch students. </p>
<p>HOWEVER…there are other academic requirements that are JUST for Tisch students. These are the two required freshman writing courses (which have students only from Tisch, but are not just for drama students). Then, the Tisch Drama students must take courses in Theater Studies and these are just for Tischies. </p>
<p>So, if you are following me, your student will have their conservatory days three days per week. Then, two days per week, they take liberal arts courses in the College of Arts and Sciences with students from throughout NYU. In freshman year, however, those academic classes are the required Freshman Writing classes that are just for Tisch. On these same two days per week, the Tisch students choose academic style Theater Studies courses that are just for Tisch. On top of this, there are electives. </p>
<p>The curriculum and requirements are available online as well.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your clarifications. My daughter auditioned and is hoping to get accepted. I am wondering how rigorous the course load is. She is at a very competitive hs and spends about 20 hrs a week In the theatre acting, directing etc. it has been stressful and am concerned for her if she is fortunate enough to get in. I wonder if the academics on top of the studio classes will be too much. Can you share your daughter s experience? How has she found it? Thanks again for the info</p>
<p>The Writing the Essay class that is required for all Tisch freshman is a bear and no one enjoys that class. My son’s teacher was one of the hardest and assigned more work than his peers. However, he learned so much and is so grateful for that! Other than that, I believe my son was challenged and stimulated. He is in straight Acting. I think the dance and voice classes were something new for him. I believe the academics and arts were well balanced but it’s not easy. His first semester was 16 hours. 8 hours was just for studio and you only get one grade for that. They rarely give an A and an A- is worth 3.7, a B+ is worth 3.2 and a B is worth 3.0, a B- is worth 2.7. So, even though my son took 16 hours, there were only 3 grades on his grade report. Also, with the other classes, there are lectures classes that go with it. NYU is really great about getting new students acclimated to college in New York and the RA’s in the freshman dorm are great! Hope this helps!</p>
<p>divanne…my daughter loved her experiences at NYU/Tisch. She graduated in 2009. Yes, the schedule is rigorous, but she is good at time management. The academics are pretty rigorous but likely vary depending which courses you pick. She liked her courses. I know many kids do not like the freshmen essay writing courses but my D enjoyed them and is an avid writer. </p>
<p>My daughter came from a rural public high school and entered NYU when still sixteen. One of the attractions of NYU/Tisch for her (among many things) was that it was one of a handful of BFA degree programs located within a very academically selective university and she likes challenging academics and the types of students such a school tends to attract. </p>
<p>It sounds like your D is used to an academically rigorous school with lots of hours devoted to performing arts as well. If NYU accepts her, they will have determined that she can handle the work. Tisch is a marvelous place for those who find it to be the right fit, as my D did. Of course it is not for everyone.</p>
<p>Tisch accepts almost all the top theater kids at our HS. I think because kids from our HS can balance rigorous academics on top of tons of hours devoted to performing arts. My S’s HS is like a performing arts HS plunked down in one of the most rigorous HS’s in the country. In other words they know they can handle the load at Tisch and NYU. I think it might be a good fit for my academic thespian.</p>
<p>Supportive… I am really glad to hear that NYU does a good job of acclimating the kids to NY… that is one of my worries… we are So Cal natives and… you know… are kind of freaked out about sending my baby to NYC:((</p>
<p>Don’t worry- there are tons of kids from the West Coast at NYU and tons of kids from China and other countries. They are used to dealing with students who are so far away from home! :)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your sharing your experiences!</p>
<p>5boys…I understand how you feel about your kid going off to NYC. Imagine my case, if you will. My daughter grew up in a rural town of 1700 people. We live on a dirt road. Our town doesn’t even have a traffic light. There is no public transportation here and you can’t walk to anything either. She went to NYU while still 16 years old! It is like night and day to where we live. Her freshmen dorm had almost as many people as our entire town. My daughter was not the least bit worried and was dying to go to NYC. I’m sorta proud of myself for letting her go. She was totally fine there. </p>
<p>But yes, NYU really tries to do a lot to help the kids acclimate to life in NYC and a lot of the freshmen orientation week is geared toward that (and it is not like your kid is alone in figuring it all out as the kids are all in it together and come from ALL over). In fact, there is also a required show that all freshmen must see when they get to NYC…it is called NYU Reality Show, and in fact, my daughter was in it for a few years and also musically directed it, even past when she graduated. It is a very clever show (last I saw it was at Madison Square Garden), written and performed by selected students, and is made up of monologues, sketches, and original songs dealing with life as a new student at NYU and in NYC and all the issues they will encounter. The topics are very important, but they are handled in a very entertaining way. </p>
<p>Anyway, my rural Vermont kid is a true New Yorker by now (this is her 8th year there). It is a big deal to “let go” but the kids are ready and so we have to let them fly. Over time, I got used to it. My kid was fine from day one though!</p>
<p>I’ll pile on to this discussion a bit. SoozieVT did an excellent job describing how the academic courses work. Soozie probably has one of the few kids on the planet that liked “Writing the Essay”. My daughter and supportive’s son would be in agreement about that class though my daughter feels like she is getting nothing out of it really and that her writing instruction in her very academic high school was superior. In any case, it didn’t kill supportive’s son and it won’t kill my daughter and in a few months, it will be a distant memory for her so it isn’t a hill to die on.</p>
<p>NYU does do a good job at helping the kids ease into life in NYC but I’d like to make one point that I don’t see here: NYC is not for everyone at 17-18 (16) no matter how well NYU rolls out the red carpet. SoozieVT’s daughter could not have come from a more polar opposite of NYC upbringing. (I’m from rural New Hampshire originally so I know what rural VT looks like). Correct me if I’m wrong Soozie, but I think the reason your daughter fell in as well as she did at 16 was because she was internally wired for it probably from birth, not because of the wonderful welcome she received there. I’m sure you also had a hand in raising a confident young woman with good survival skills but I still think she just had it in her from the get go.</p>
<p>There are kids that get to NYC (notice I’m saying NYC and not NYU), and just can’t handle it and they leave. NYU does the best they can to ease their transition, but it is not for everyone. So this is my long way of saying, if your daughter is at an academically rigorous school and gets in, she will find the academics are still very challenging but she is as prepared as one can be for them. She’ll never sleep because theatre kids don’t but that is another story that probably isn’t unique to NYU. However, that doesn’t mean that she’ll like being in NYC. My daughter loves it, supportive’s son loves it, SoozieVT’s daughter loves it. They were all wired for it. I would have loved it and I grew up on a farm and couldn’t wait to move to a city. My brother who grew up with me would have HATED IT. </p>
<p>OK I’m now talking about old people like me but I hope you are getting my point. College is more than just the excellent training that you get there. Be sure the environment that your daughter chooses matches what she loves. Emphasis on the SHE part. If she loves the idea of being in NYC, let her go even if you yourself might worry about it. If she’s wired for it, she’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I totally agree with halflokum. NYC is NOT for everyone. Picking a college is more than just picking the college and the program but also the environment. Yes, there are some kids who cannot handle being in NYC or simply don’t like it. The fact that my daughter loves NYC doesn’t mean someone else’s kid will!! It is so different from where my kid grew up but she has always been infatuated with NYC from a young age and just loved the kids, the college, and the life there, not to mention everything going on in the arts there. She chose to never come home, even in summers, or after she graduated. She considers NYC her home now. So, be sure if you send your kid there, that they really want the city lifestyle. </p>
<p>And yes, my kid may be the only one who liked the Freshmen Writing classes at Tisch. She would say that others complained but she loves to write and liked the assignments. She happens to be a gifted writer. But even so, these are some of the only required courses at NYU and after that, the kids pick their academic classes and so everyone survives.</p>
<p>THanks again for all this wonderful discussion. I’m not so worried about my daughter liking NYC…she does and I think will be fine in the city. It is more the rigour of the program and if she can handle it. Don’t get me wrong she is a bright kid, but does have some concentration/anxiety issues and so I worry she will become overwhelmed…but that is a worry wherever she goes, heh? </p>
<p>Soozievt. I too grew up in rural vt, only 500 in my town…but my daughter grew up outside of Boston. So I know she will be fine…that said…has your daughter gotten work since graduating from TIsch? is she a working actress? Did she feel it was a good college match/decision?</p>
<p>@divaanne, I’d recommend the “freakonomics” thread in the musical theatre major which is at the moment hot on the trail of the discussion of the work that kids do post college. SoozieVT is commenting in that thread and has a lot of detail about what her daughter has done post college. I think you’d find the thread interesting and it will also point out to you that finding work post graduation from Tisch or anywhere is not guaranteed. Check it out. It’s relevant whether you are talking about straight theatre or MT. All the best.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for this guidance.</p>
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<p>Nope, my kid was also a weird one in that she loved the writing classes. Unsurprising, I suppose. :)</p>
<p>I agree that NYC isn’t for everyone. And it may not even be for some kids who think that they love the city and can’t wait to live there. Visiting and living there are two different experiences, and some kids don’t understand that until they arrive. It doesn’t work out for everyone, even those who are familiar with the city. The thing is, there really is no way to know definitively beforehand. One thing I would say, though, is that no kid should go to NYU without having visited first. I think that that is the case for any school, but particularly for schools in the city.</p>
<p>I too am from NH halflokum (although as a military baby I lived in NY state, CT, MA, NH, and MD before the age of 13) and back in the last decade of the 20th century I remember deciding between NYU-Tisch, Syracuse, Ithaca, and Emerson. I narrowed it down to NYU and Syracuse simply based on personal preference (Ithaca and Emerson are great schools!),and ended up at Syracuse because I decided I liked the “normal” college experience a bit more. I decided I did not like the studio system./ city experience at NYU at that time, and thought I personally would benefit more from the college experience in a conservatory setting that Syracuse had to offer. </p>
<p>Living in NYC at 17 or 18 (or 16 or 19) is not for everyone. It is a TERRIFIC environment for some, and not the best for others. For me 4 years in smaller “city,” collegiate environment was perfect. For others it would not be the best fit. </p>
<p>In the end I truly believe that there are many paths to a career in the arts. Look for the kinds of programs that will offer the educational environment you/your child wants/ needs in the short term. The long term will work itself out if there is focus and work from the student… if the program also is professionally focused it is a win/ win! There are many “hidden gem” programs available to students. There are top program alums who do not work as much as others, and there are less well known program alums who work consistently. You cannot know the outcomes going into the programs. Too many variables in the career of an artist.</p>
<p>divaanne,</p>
<p>From my own experience, I have found that a lot of my concentration/anxiety issues completely disappear when I have the opportunity to work on something I am actually interested in. I wonder if your daughter is similar, and that this is the reason why she is going into theatre. Also having a goal in mind that I actually want to accomplish (instead of a goal someone else has picked FOR me!) helps with my concentration/anxiety issues.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Hi, I’m currently a freshman in the Tisch Drama Program, so hopefully I may be able to offer a helpful perspective.
I will not lie and say that the program is not rigorous- it certainly is. You are in studio three days a week for nine hours and then you have academic courses the other two days. However, I find that I’m usually far less stressed than the majority of my roommates who are in other NYU Schools (CAS, Steinhardt, etc.) because I’m doing what I know I want to do, and what I love. I’m not having to take fluff courses to fill major requirements.
Sure, there’s the aforementioned Writing the Essay, which is certainly very difficult and work heavy at times, but if you are lucky enough to get a great professor, the class can be very enlightening. </p>
<p>I think the work load is a lot, but it’s certainly manageable, even to the point where I don’t usually have to worry about doing my homework until Sunday on weekends. It’s a nice exchange for having far more class time than everyone else.</p>
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<p>What’s a “fluff” course?</p>
<p>alwaysamom, maybe both your daughter and mine liked the Writing the Essay courses at Tisch because both are passionate about writing and have a talent for it (I know your D is a published playwright!). I just know that many other kids complain about it but my daughter remarked to me at the time that she liked it a lot even though her friends did not. I even recall that the professor acknowledged to the class that my D’s essays were exemplary, and I felt positive at the time because she was younger than them, but also because she had attended a no name rural public school, and many of her peers had attended what many consider as much better high schools, both private and public. </p>
<p>I totally agree that NYC or even NYU is not for everyone. The fit is very critical, particularly for an urban school such as NYU. You can’t know for sure ahead of time, but yes, a visit and in-depth exploration of the school and setting is important. </p>
<p>divaanne, you asked:
</p>
<p>As halflokum wrote, I have posted about this elsewhere on CC and yes, addressed the 'what is my D doing now" stuff in the thread she pointed out recently. </p>
<p>My D loved NYU/Tisch and definitely felt like it was the right match for her. For that, I am grateful as that is what it is about. I feel the same about my other D’s college choice now that she has graduated as well. My D liked the academic mix at NYU and all the intense conservatory training. She made a lot of friends and extensive networking contacts between the current students, alumni, professors, and others in the industry that have continued well past graduation. She really got to do all she had hoped to do in college. She spent five semesters in the CAP21 (musical theater studio at that time) and 3 semesters in ETW (Experimental Theater Wing, an acting studio). That was not planned before she went (well, the CAP21 part was planned) but evolved once she was there. She really got to take advantage of all that Tisch offers. She was in main stage shows, studio productions, student run shows, and showcases. She also musically directed shows there. She also got to write her own musical while at Tisch and have it staged and it went onto being produced professionally in NYC past graduation. In fact, it was just a mainstage production at Tisch this past fall too. She was very active in an a capella group all four years too. She also saw a lot of theater and still does. </p>
<p>As far as what she is doing…a synopsis is…
She has worked in both theater and music since graduation day and has supported herself in NYC entirely that way. I won’t list all the things she has done but she works in four general areas all at one time:</p>
<p>1) She’s an Equity actor and was just cast in a new Off Broadway musical. She’s also in various workshops and readings and cabarets and such in the city. She has done a national tour and has also performed in other countries since graduation. She has a talent agent.</p>
<p>2) She’s a singer/songwriter and has albums out of her original songs and plays her own concerts in bookings in NYC on a regular basis and also in other cities now. She has been chosen for various songwriting residencies of some significance, along with other recognitions which I won’t list.</p>
<p>3) She is a musical theater composer/lyricist/writer and her first musical (written first while at Tisch) has been produced a few times (she was also in it). She has a theater literary agent. She has commissions to write a musical for a major West Coast theater (that musical is written and will be workshopped in NYC this spring and is likely to be produced at that theater on the West Coast…actually it was chosen for production but a schedule conflict arose and so it will be done there in the future), a commission to write a musical for a NYC theater (in progress, and she was the composer in residence there last year), and had a commission to write music for Disney as well. She also had a MacDowell Colony Fellowship and is about to head to her Yaddow Colony Fellowship. </p>
<p>4) Survival jobs…have included being musical director of shows for high school age students, youth theater companies, college BFA productions; teaching high school musical theater programs and children’s music programs; being an accompanist privately and at college classes, private coaching, and is now on the faculty of a BFA in MT program. </p>
<p>As you can see, her life is full in the arts but all of her work is in her field and she has a diverse skill set and makes her living in her areas of passion. She’s not rich, but gets by all right!</p>