<p>It's hard to figure out what colleges to consider when your child is totally unsure of what she wants to do. Mine thinks she wants to major in theater because she loves being in musicals. In the three productions she's been in so far which feature some amazing talent, she's mainly been in the chorus with a few extra bits. What smaller (under 3000) liberal arts schools would you recommend where a student with less than leading-role (yet) talent might have a good chance of getting on stage while also getting a solid education? She's bright but not top tier academically and doesn't want far north cold but otherwise is willing to go anywhere in the States. Thanks for your suggestions.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. It's a non-audition school, so anyone who gets accepted can take theater classes and/or major or minor in theater. They have a well-respected theater, dance and voice program and mount many shows each semester. (Of course, students have to audition for the shows!) </p>
<p>Muhlenberg also mounts a summer theater in which students can work.</p>
<p>It's also a very good general liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Yale has lots of student-mounted theater.</p>
<p>^^ Yes, it does, but you have to be able to get into Yale. For a "bright but not top tier academically", that may be more difficult.</p>
<p>Oops, I missed that characterization. I would suggest looking at the websites for colleges to see what kind of drama-related extracurricular clubs they have. For example, is there a Gilbert & Sullivan group?</p>
<p>Also look at Marietta in Ohio and Goucher in Maryland.</p>
<p>Two schools we've already visited would seem to fit: Gustavus Adolphus in St Peter, MN and Beloit in WI. Both had active theatre departments with auditions open to all majors, and could tell us that non-majors were actually cast. DD2 enjoyed the biology and theatre classes that she attended (and actually participated in) at Beloit. At Gustavus she had a good meeting with a theatre professor and an extensive back-stage tour. Both schools are approximately 45 minutes from the cities of Minn/St Paul and Madison, respectively, and are solid academically but with relatively high admission rates. Gustavus is one of the Lutheran schools, but seemed to us less conservative than St Olaf; Beloit is nondenominational and more liberal, creative.</p>
<p>Take a look at the College of Wooster. They have a fantastic theater dept and staff. Sounds perfect for what you describe.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions. Coincidentally, we visited both Muhlenberg and Goucher after they cropped up on the list of colleges we initially developed. My D loves Muhlenberg but only about 1/3 of applicants are accepted (and there appeared to be very little diversity, even among Caucasians) so we're looking for backups. We parents loved Goucher but they only do musicals about every three years. I'll take another look at Wooster. It's actually my alma mater. As an athlete and biology major, I wasn't very aware of the quality of the theater department. I read about the "northern" schools during our initial search and they sounded great on paper but my D is averse to long, dark, very cold winters.</p>
<p>Wooster's Theater Dept didn't graduate its first class until 1986, so depending on when you were there, it makes sense that it might not have registered with you. However, since then, they have really come a long way. </p>
<p>Last year they were selected from among a field of 400 competitive entries, including schools with MFA programs, to put on a production at the Kennedy Center in D.C. as part of their arts festival. They beat out a lot of big name schools much better known for theater. </p>
<p>They have also been hosting the very popular Ohio Light Opera Festival every summer for about the last 30 years or so.</p>
<p>What about Elon? I think they have a good musical theater program.</p>