D has been accepted to BA Theater Arts performance and practices. Due to her scholarship package it is now a real consideration for her. Thought I would create a 2017 thread for anyone considering PPU and for those attending who can offer insight on the BFA acting and BA Theater Arts degree.
My D was also accepted to the BFA Acting. I would love to go visit but it’s going to be tough to swing it, and they gave her a nice scholarship too. Would love to hear more about the school.
My D was accepted in the BA Theater Arts Performance and Practices. She is super excited, it seems like it will be a great fit. It was also a very nice scholarship. We are going to visit for COPA day. We are still waiting to hear from Western Michigan, depending on that, she is most likely going to PPU. She really wants to be in a city, and it looks like Pittsburg is a great place to be. I would love to hear more about it also. 
Same here with very nice scholarship, enough to consider checking them out and seeing how it fits her. Going to try to attend COPA day as well but also have to fit in another school visit.
My son is on the WL for MT. We visited last spring break and really liked the city campus. It’s not far from Pitt’s campus or CMU so there are a lot of students in the area. We attended their production of The Drowsy Chaperone and my son was very impressed. It sold him on applying to the school
What hotel would be good to stay at while visiting for COPA day? I will have my 10-year-old with me as well, so I am hoping for a pool or something to keep her happy.
We stayed at a Homewood Suites Downtown. I believe they had an indoor pool
My daughter is a freshman BFA MT at PPU. There’s a few good downtown hotels, including Homewood Suites and a couple of Mariotts, I believe. Some are listed on the school’s website. COPA experience day is great if you can make it. If not, visiting other days is fine too. The school will work with you to set up a meeting with you child’s prospective program head and sit in on classes. Pittsburgh is a great city to study in, and my daughter loves it and the school.
I just booked our flights to Pittsburg for COPA day. Can’t wait to visit the school!
We too are considering Point Park and S will visit (alone) on Friday April 14th which is only an option due to it being Easter Weekend. I am concerned there won’t be enough people to make the visit productive though and extra concerned that anxiety from doing this alone (flying, cab ride, tour ,etc) will make it too uncomfortable of an experience for him to give it an fair shake. With scholarship and grant money, it would be cheaper than his in-state option. Any suggestions for how to make this visit less stressful (for him not me We have e-mailed Nicolas Joseph to see if anyone from the Acting dept can meet with him. Thanks!
I’m fairly new to this forum so I’m not really educated on how regarded some programs are over others. Is Point Park known more for their dance, MT or acting or all of them? We visited this weekend and walked away with more questions than not that didn’t seem to get fully answered. D was a walk in at Chicago Unifieds. She is accepted into their BA program. I can review what we saw but I’m a bit torn.
@WorkOfHeart17 the same with us, D was a walk in at Chicago Unifieds and was also accpeted into the BA Theater arts degree. What others are you comparing it to?
We went to admitted students day so it was for a variety of majors not as much emphasis on COPA, so @chirodoc18 anxious to get your input when you come back from visiting. We had a great trip, just missed out on meeting more faculty and shadowing students. The new theater is going to be amazing. D is considering the BA but went in the audition for the BFA acting. D is use to a very challenging curriculum in her high school and would look for the same academic challenge from Point Park. I guess it depends on what she may decide to double major or minor in. Everyone was very nice on our tour. We had a question and answer session with Aaron Bollinger (head of production), John McManus (acting, voice and speech), and Samuel Munoz (stage movement and stage combat). I would definitely look into the honors dorms if D or S qualifies as that floor is newly renovated. Make sure to sign up for the honors dorm tour if they qualify. The residence halls are older and the downside is they aren’t allowed to have microwaves or hot plates in the room. One residence hall has air conditioning but you have a communal bathroom shared by the floor. The other residence hall doesn’t have air conditioning but they have their own private bathroom. Happy to give more input if you want to private message me. Wish we could have went to COPA day, I’m sure we would have a better feel for the program but D’s prom is that weekend. D is still considering the program. We’ll just need to call and speak with a few people to get some specific questions answered.
Thanks, @WorkOfHeart17 my daughter was accepted to the honors program and will be on the honors floor. She actually was worried about not being academically challenged as well, even in the honor’s program, since it is pretty easy to qualify for it. In one of her many breakdowns over these past few months she was hyserical that she worked so hard in school, has such a great GPA and took a bunch of honors classes, as well as AP classes, and now it was all a waste. She keeps saying now “well, I don’t have to study anymore, what does it matter now?”. I keep telling her she isn’t going to the school for their academics but for the COPA. I hope we will get a chance to see the honors dorm! Is it just a floor in the regular dorm, or is it its own building?
@chirodoc18 its on the fourth floors of one of the dorms, which has air conditioning I think. Also, go on a tour of the other floors. Best to fully educate yourself on their buildings. Daughter was accepted into honors too, we just didn’t sign up for the honors tour. I’m going to private message you.
@WorkofHeart17 @chirodoc18 @ANJALU and @marg928
We are going to the “Experience Day” this Friday, April 21. I think it’s for all majors, but when you get there, you sign up for the tours or whatever that applies to your major. If any of you will be there, please PM me.
D is accepted for BFA Acting and they have been very generous with scholarship money. (My D was in anther BFA program last fall and PPU has been the only college that seems to treat transfers and first-time freshman equally in regards to scholarships.) Troy Centofanto has been so helpful and kind – he has personally called both me and my daughter in response to emails we sent him and has done his best to answer every question.
If D goes there, she’ll will also be in Honors Program and hopes to stay in Honors floor in the dorms.
@daughtersdreams My S visited PPU on Friday since he can’t make it to Experience Day. He met with the head of the dept who remembered him from auditions and took a self guided tour of the school and theater spaces (he did find a student to show him the theater spaces). We then visited UMN on Saturday together for the BA acting scholarship auditions but really to learn more about the program.This is going to be a truly tough couple of weeks! . We have printed out the curriculum for each program being considered (5 in all) and their proclamations about their programs but without any pictures or hype or opinions.On paper each has different positives and negatives to consider (he isn’t too thrilled about another 2 years of a foreign language that UMN requires but this is tempered by the fact that it can be sign language which I think actors are usually great at and that he can delve into playwrighting). Good Luck at Experience Day and let us all know how it goes!
@daughtersdreams, the PPU transfer counselors were fabulous! Everyone is–student accounts, financial aid. They’re always so responsive. Enjoy experience day!
@GSOMTMom Yes. We have had nothing but the best and friendliest treatment from everyone at PPU!
Only glitch was in the transfer credit evaluation. They gave her credit for less than half of her previous course work which I thought was strange. As I read the report more closely I discovered that they had the wrong college listed. (There’s another college with the same name in a different state.) So I guess when the evaluator looked up course numbers he couldn’t find them (in the wrong college’s catalog) and didn’t give her credit for them.
They are working on fixing that. I’m bringing her transcripts and previous course descriptions (& class syllabi) with us on Friday so hoping we can get a better idea how many credits with count.