<p>I know that the Pace BFA program is obviously very competitive, but I was wondering if any of you knew about the BA program. Do you have any idea how many they accept, how many attend, and/or how many audition for it?</p>
<p>Also, anyone who is familiar with that particular program--what do you have to say about it?</p>
<p>Hi! I auditioned for Pace BA at the end of January and had a fantastic experience. From what I am told, they intend to accept 15 actors and 4 directors to create one ensemble. If you have any questions about the audition process or what the program is like (based on what I was told in auditions), I can try to give you some insight on my experience. It seems like a fabulous program where the BA and BFA are considered of equal caliber.</p>
<p>Hello. Forgive my ignorance, but what is the functional difference between the BA and the BFA. I get that one is a bachelors of fine arts and the other a bachelor of arts, but now sure how they relate to each other in the same school.<br>
Also, My son is showing some interest in Pace and they seem to be showing interest in him so I would love to learn more about them. I keep finding conflicting information when I google. </p>
<p>Thanks!
~Oct</p>
<p>From my understanding, there is not a whole lot of interaction between the two programs but there also doesnt seem to be any animosity. I am not sure whether BAs and BFAs do shows together or not. I would say no, as the faculty are completely different. Our student guide, a first year BA student said the “BFAs actually look up to the BAs.” One of the major differences at Pace (so I’m told) is that the BFA is more focused on the individual and follows a fairly rigid course structure with not a lot of room to deviate, while the BA works to create an ensemble of actors and directors who work together to create a show (in the first year.) In the second year, they either continue work on the show they created, create a new show, or use an already published show and work to put it together and present it in a foreign country near the end of the second year. I’m not terribly sure on exactly how the third and fourth years work, but I know the program is very new & there is a lot more wiggle room to take more electives/pick classes. One thing I was told, often people think of a BA theater degree as less specialized or focused, but in the case of the Pace BA, there is as much time spent on theater work (if not more) than in the BFA program. I hope that helped a liiiiiittle bit. It seems like a super exciting program.</p>
<p>RomancePants, so does that mean there are about 30-40 people total? Because aren’t there multiple ensembles? I think one of the students I talked to said that her class was split into 3 groups. I’ve already auditioned, but thank you for offering, and thanks for the numbers!</p>
<p>Also, I think BAs and BFAs do work on the same shows, but BAs are only allowed to audition for shows during the years that they are not working on their ensemble pieces. I could be wrong about that though.</p>
<p>I believe the current classes are split into multiple ensembles, so there are more students - somewhere in the 20-30 (possibly even 40? I honestly cannot remember.) range I believe. But every year they have been attempting to make it smaller and and next year intend to create only one ensemble instead of multiple, hence the very low numbers for this upcoming year. </p>
<p>There are either 2 or 3 groups of 18 kid ensembles including actors and directing students. The entire ensemble gets to learn about the collaborative process of creating a theatre piece from inception to performance. The class schedule is rigorous and demanding with required rehearsal times at least 2 times a week usually until 10:30 PM. There are lots of performance opportunities within the ensembles but the students don’t have much time to audition for the other Pace productions because they are needed for their own rehearsals and projects. The BA has more opportunity for flexibilty in the upperclass years than the BFA which is more rigid in its structure. Many of the classes have between 13 -15 students in them and strict class limites where I believe its either a maximum of 25 to 28 students in classes across the university at least on the NYC campus. Good news your Profs will know you by name real quick, bad news is you can’t zone out or miss classes if you need to ;)</p>