Please help with my daughter's too-long list

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>Hi all! I endured the college process with my eldest daughter (music major) last year and found CC extraordinarily helpful. I didn’t know anything when I started, and I’m not sure that I know much now, but comparatively speaking, I know even less about the acting school route (which is to say next to nothing) than when I started the music school process -- and now my youngest daughter is a rising senior intent on pursuing a BFA in acting.</p>

<p>She put together an insanely long list of schools, then cut it down, but it’s still way too long. I’m wading through CC posts, and they’re proving enlightening (if overwhelming, and part of trimming the list will be addressed via college visits, but even so, there’s no way she can visit ALL the schools on her list. So – knowing that school choice is ultimately a personal and subjective decision – I’m throwing it out to the CC community for their opinions regarding this particular list. All views very welcome and much appreciated! </p>

<p>Given that the list is way too long, are there any schools that you would eliminate (and preferably why) or (ouch) add?</p>

<p>Brief thumbnail about my daughter: She’s interested in BFA acting programs, but has also included some BA programs. She is not planning to pursue double major/dual degree. Her primary consideration is the strength of the acting program itself (more than another factor, including the wider school and the other disciplines that surround it). She does have an interest in Meisner technique (her prep program is kind of the home base of Meisner, and the teens get a little Mesiner exposure, I guess) but is very open minded about approach. She has not been able to decide between a preference for theatre or film (no experience in film, actually, but she’s interested), which might have helped narrow choices. Rural/urban is not a factor, or not much of one, anyway (she has tended to shy away from very remote settings in her searching). Overall school size (beyond the acting program) isn’t a factor for her either. She does not like the idea of mandatory cuts. </p>

<p>The list (no order):
1. Juilliard (we live in NYC and she just wants to do it to do it)
2. Rutgers
3. Purchase College
4. SUNY New Paltz
5. CMU
6. USC
7. UNCSA
8. CalArts
9. BU
10. U. of Miami
11. U. Minnesota/Guthrie
12. Florida State
13. The Hartt School
14. Syracuse
15. Webster
16. Elon
17. Otterbein
18. Ithaca
BA ACTING PROGRAMS
1. Skidmore
2. Muhlenberg
3. Kenyon
4. Fordham
5. Northwestern</p>

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<p>her list actaully looks pretty good and I hate to say it, it’s not too long because of how hard it can be to get into BFA programs. if cost is an issue, i’d start looking at that and maybe whiddle down schools that will clearly be beyond budget. there is something called unifieds which I think allows you do several auditions in the same day and one of them is in NYC. other people on here know way more about unifieds than I do. Assuming she has good or at least decent grades, I think Muhlenburg can be her safety so she has that covered. since several of her choices are relatively near NYC, def do some visits between now and next fall. </p>

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<p>I was thinking it was a little top heavy. I’m not sure Muhlenberg is a very safe “safety,” and all of the BFA programs are tippy-top. Some decent BFA programs which are competitive but not top ten competitive might be: U Arts, Montclair State, Marymount Manhattan CCPA Roosevelt (though I do think this program is getting more competitive every year and maybe all of them are). You can look at the acceptance threads and see where a lot of people got in versus a very few. I am NOT saying these programs are safeties and lots of people audition and don’t get in, but it’s maybe a 10% chance rather than a 1 or 2% chance. </p>

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<p>You could add Chapman University in Orange</p>

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<p>NYU Tisch accepts about 20% for their BFA program… around 300 or so are accepted, because there are so many studios. Might be good to look into! :)</p>

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<p>Kenyon Skidmore and Northwestern</p>

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<p>Also…what about OCU, Royal Scottish (very good program), RADA, Guildhall, UCLA, and Pace ???</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t call Northwestern a safety either. </p>

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<p>It’s a pretty good list, and probably not too long depending on where you are in the game (assuming your D is a Junior in HS). I would encourage you and your D to look in depth at the programs and what they offer in terms of method, opportunities to perform, methods, abroad programs… things that might help your D realize what will make and break a program for her. There’s also other differentiating factors such as how much time each week is spent in studio vs. on academics, etc. </p>

<p>Also take a look at how much $ you realistically can and want to spend on the audition process. It’s quite pricey to go through this process, so see what financially makes the most sense for you. </p>

<p>Otherwise, good look in helping her get to a manageable list that she’s proud of. </p>

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<p>Thanks, everyone! I will have her check out the schools you all mentioned, and the issue of “safety” school definitely needs to be explored further (in her mind, at this point, her “safety,” or Plan B, is to do a certificate program at a place like Neighborhood Playhouse – somewhat different from my idea, which would tend to include a college degree, but I’m trying to keep an open mind). We certainly weren’t thinking of Northwestern as a safety, by any means. My mind is pretty much blown by the acceptance rates for all of these schools. </p>

<p>Actually, my daughter (yes, she’s a junior) met with her college counselor today and, like some of you have said, he thinks her list is pretty good at this stage and doesn’t want her cutting it yet. Among other things, he suggested a few additional schools for her to explore, provided some guidance on which schools really need to be visited before applying, gave her a list of questions to research and answer, and showed her how to put a spreadsheet together with a ton of different information, including audition dates. </p>

<p>So it seems she’s in a better place than I thought. She already has someone lined up for coaching, and they’ll begin this summer.</p>

<p>Thanks again for your responses. If anyone has any additional ideas, particularly for schools that are more on the safety side of things, or at least are marginally less selective, I would love to hear them! </p>

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<p>I would add The New School for Drama, which has a new BFA program. It is on the top of my D’s list (she was admitted to the class of 2018) and seems very pro getting kids out there to audition professionally before you graduate if that is important to your daughter, and also has a faculty that is well connected in NY. Since you live in NYC you could easily check it out. Pace also has several different BFA programs, including a new one for Film and TV, a BA and a BFA in Acting. </p>

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<p>Great list–we were aiming for 20-25 by the end of junior year, and it was winnowed down to 11 by Thanksgiving of senior year, so this looks like a good # to me. It sounds like your daughter has an unusually astute college counselor in terms of the theater admissions process! Coastal Carolina has an interesting and well regarded program that’s relatively new and would be worth a look too.</p>

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<p>I think you have a great starting list! You might want to add Emerson College in Boston, too.</p>

<p>D started with about 25 schools at the end of junior year. Over the summer, she researched their programs in depth (looked at degree requirements, percentage of GenEd versus Theatre classes, and what percent of the theater classes were “prescribed” versus “flexible/electives” within the department, as well as the actual course descriptions. She became very adept at navigating the various school websites to find the detailed info she needed.</p>

<p>She also studied their websites to learn about: faculty (full-time versus adjunct) and their backgrounds; facilities (number and type of theaters/performance spaces); study-abroad opportunities (specifically-supported opportunities for theatre students, versus “general” university-wide opportunities); and internships (theatre-specific or general opportunities).</p>

<p>I researched costs and the potential for college-specific scholarships, and shared that info with her. (When you look at costs, don’t forget to include fees, and to factor in the difference in the cost of living for, say, NYC versus Oklahoma City! Also, airfare to somewhere like Ithaca tends to be much more expensive than airfare to a major airport like NYC or LAX.) D had excellent GPA/test scores and we identified which schools were known to be generous with academic merit aid, and which only give need-based (or need-informed) aid. It’s also helpful to find out how many years housing is guaranteed (important in a city like Boston or NYC), and what a realistic cost for off-campus housing might be for schools where the freshmen are required to live on campus, but after that most kids generally move off-campus.</p>

<p>We tried to fit in some college visits during the summer before senior year, and that helped her get a feel for what kind of “vibe” she liked best (in her case, she determined that she liked “urban” much more than “suburban” or “rural” campuses).</p>

<p>By September, she had narrowed the list to 14 schools - and ended up adding 2 more after she did some walk-in auditions at Unifieds. She did not apply EA or ED to any schools - we were not comfortable committing to any school without knowing what the final costs would be, and she didn’t want to rush her audition prep and audition early for any school.</p>

<p>I asked her recently in hindsight (since she was fortunate to receive a fair number of acceptances) if she would have been comfortable with a smaller list — and she told me emphatically “no!” It was a lot of work (all the applications, plus essays, plus many extra scholarship essays), but she said it was worth it to have choices at the end of the process.</p>

<p>Warning: it can be an EXPENSIVE process. Application fees, audition fees, costs to send test scores – and of course the trips for visits and auditions. Schools that seemed “excellent fits” we tried to visit beforehand, or visit for on-campus auditions if that made sense. Other schools we chose not to visit, with the idea that if she was accepted, we would visit then. She attended Chicago Unifieds, and that was an excellent decision (I think she did 7 or 8 auditions there, including a few walk-ins, which was extremely cost-effective.)</p>

<p>Good luck as you start this process - we’re all here to cheer you on!</p>

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<p>My son auditioned for 14. According to his coach, six of his acceptances were “reaches” Initially, we were unsure he would get into more than a handful. It is so unpredictable. When it is time for his younger sister to audition, she will have a list as large as yours. It is so much harder for females…I think. I would encourage anyone to have a couple of financial safeties. We did help him schedule the auditions. We had him registered for 8 at unifieds and he did two walk ins. He traveled to the others. It is an overwhelming process for the kids and can be made simpler with a spread sheet. Best of luck! </p>

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<p>My D auditioned for BU, CMU, Elon, Rutgers, NYU-Tisch and chose Tisch for its diverse programs, synergy w/ Steinhardt & Stern, and flexibility w/ studios. Tisch offers all major acting techniques, incl. Meisner.</p>

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<p>Thank you all so much for your response. I meant to respond sooner but work and deadlnes got in the way yesterday. Msdchick, I’ll definitely have my daughter take a look at those schools. Times3, your experience makes me feel better about where we’re at, and yes, my daughter seems to have lucked out with her college counselor – not only does he have a lot of professional experience working with kids applying to acting programs, but also personal experience in the theatre world. And thanks also for the tip about Coastal Carolina.
Mountainhiker, thank you for your advice! It’s really helpful to read about your journey with your daughter. Similar thanks to ThankingGod (I had no idea how many auditions were possible at Unifieds) and Tischdad – we’ll definitely take a close look at NYU. </p>

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<p>Hi StringPop. I’m glad Times3 mentioned Coastal Carolina! My D is about to graduate from CCU and it’s been an absolutely fabulous 4 years for her at CCU. She is an MT major, but one of the reasons she chose CCU was for the strong acting training.</p>

<p>CCU offers a BFA in Acting and a BFA in Physical Theatre.<br>
<a href=“Theatre - Coastal Carolina University”>http://www.coastal.edu/theatre/&lt;/a&gt;
The BFA in Physical Theatre is the only BFA in PT in the US. PT majors spend a year training at the Accademia dell’Arte in Tuscany. Acting majors may choose to spend a semester there as well.
<a href=“http://www.dell-arte.org/”>http://www.dell-arte.org/&lt;/a&gt;
This features several CCU students:
<a href=“http://www.adalife.it/2014/03/19/accidental-discoveries-physical-story-telling-and-collaboration-current-full-year-students-discuss-how-their-travels-have-informed-their-art/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=accidental-discoveries-physical-story-telling-and-collaboration-current-full-year-students-discuss-how-their-travels-have-informed-their-art”>http://www.adalife.it/2014/03/19/accidental-discoveries-physical-story-telling-and-collaboration-current-full-year-students-discuss-how-their-travels-have-informed-their-art/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=accidental-discoveries-physical-story-telling-and-collaboration-current-full-year-students-discuss-how-their-travels-have-informed-their-art&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Always happy to answer questions about CCU. Best of luck as you begin the journey with your D!</p>

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<p>If she doesn’t want a program with cuts, I’d take Purchase off the list. Bard is also another interesting BA school near you, as is Sarah Lawrence. During auditions we met a BU graduate who had been offered a full scholarship at Sarah Lawrence for theater (she chose BFA instead), so there is good talent aid at SLC. Same is true at Whitman if your D is open to rural Eastern Washington state.</p>

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<p>Someone mentioned Emerson, and I’d just like to add that it also has a cut policy. Also, I second Pace! It’s in NYC and has a great BFA program!</p>

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<p>I know Emerson discontinued the cut policy for MT, not sure about Acting.</p>