<p>I would love if anyone could give their recommendations for schools like Brown that also have very good to excellent theatre programs.</p>
<p>What is it about Brown that you like?</p>
<p>If you’re okay with LACs that have a similarly artsy feel, the ones that spring to mind are Vassar, Wesleyan and Skidmore. </p>
<p>Another that comes to mind is Northwestern, though it depends on what you like about Brown.</p>
<p>My D will be a junior. We are visiting Brown tomorrow and in evening going to a large college fair that they are hosting. The schools you mentioned above will all be there. I posted, March I think, looking for schools like Brown and I think you may have answered me, but I had forgotten to include the theatre component.</p>
<p>We’ll have a better idea tomorrow if she even likes the campus/vibe, but for now, she’s attracted to Brown because it’s known to be liberal, artsy, has an open curriculum, and a strong theatre dept. She’s been in the performing arts since she was 3. She is looking for all of the above, plus a mid-sized, coed school, with traditional college campus–in the architectual/aesthetic sense–think GU. She doesn’t want a school in the boonies. She wants a school with nice campus that is near a major city. Rigorous academic standards are also imp, but maybe not the way Swarthmore or UC are described. A liberal environment is a must, but not crazy birkenstock-like. IDK, does this help you get a feel of her needs???</p>
<p>Are you looking for a conservatory type program? Elon’s theater dept. is excellent, but requires an audition.</p>
<p>Bard (although not in a city like Brown)</p>
<p>When you say “theatre” are you referring to Drama or Musical. Many schools have one but not the other. Because you mentioned Brown, I assume that you mean Drama.</p>
<p>If you search the Art Major sub-forum you should find some Drama Theatre schools. Then its a question of matching the various desires of your daughter. Unfortunately, most LACs will be in the boonies, but they may be close enough to a major city to allow a periodic bus or train ride.</p>
<p>Also see if Amherst College, Brandeis U, or Oberlin fit.
Also maybe: Smith or Northwestern U.l</p>
<p>Sounds like you need a non-audition theater major with fine courses and performing opportunities during 4 years, integrated with academics in an LAC. </p>
<p>Amherst’s theater department is small and tight, in a Five College suburban/small town setting but it’s not the boonies. They have the open curriculum.</p>
<p>If she likes the Five-College Consortium, look also at Smith College to see if their Theater Department satisfies her. Smith College is all-women but the Five College region is coed, as she wishes. Northampton is a very creative city. </p>
<p>Brandeis has many ways to approach majoring in theater, and is near Boston. </p>
<p>I’d say Oberlin but there have been Bierkenstock sightings there 
Not sure why that’d bother a theater major, but okay. They do run a serious college theater program in a strong LAC. Ohio might not be her ideal, but Cleveland’s 30-40 min away. </p>
<p>For many more ideas, have you seen:<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/</a></p>
<p>PS: Is Northwestern U too big? Their theater department has a strong reputation, and is very close to Chicago.</p>
<p>PPS, Other ideas above are also excellent. Wesleyan, Vassar and Skidmore popped into my mind also for their theater offerings, despite small towns. Keep juggling the variables; After all Brown, in Providence, is in a medium sized artsy city with Boston 45 min away. Every other situation can be compared to that favorably; for example, Vassar might be perfect for her in every way except big-city access, yet many students manage NYC on the order of one weekend per month. Sarah Lawrence is great for literature, so check out its theater department too; they’re 45 min from NYC - empties out on weekends for NYC adventures including theater.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of these posts. It helps to have other viewpoints so you can get a firmer handle on your own–or on your kid’s, in this case. She has done both MT and drama. She is leaning toward drama. She doesn’t want to go to a conservatory. I think the LAC’s are appealing to her because she’s not sure that she will ultimately pursue theatre as a career, though it will always be part of her life. </p>
<p>I like that posters are mentioning schools that we’ve spoke of in passing–like Brandeis. I can see it will be difficult to get a manageable list of colleges in place for the “college year.” </p>
<p>Are the college fairs helpful–or just a crazy, mad grab for any information you can get? We’re visiting Brown tomorrow, and since they are hosting a college fair with 100+ colleges represented (many of which have been mentioned in these posts), we will have our first experience at one of these.</p>
<p>Sorry for repeating myself! I did end up finding the theater/drama thread and posted asking for recommendations for college summer theatre programs–like the Brown’s TheatreBridge program, Northwestern’s Cherub’s program and others like that. When I replied I thought I was on the other forum.</p>
<p>Wesleyan has a very strong theatre program – you can even major in theatre
[Wesleyan</a> University - Theater](<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/theater/]Wesleyan”>Welcome, Theater - Wesleyan University)</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has an outstanding performing arts program, and fits all the rest of your criteria, except the open curriculum (not sure if/what requirements are there)</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon is a BFA conservatory program. While it is tops, it is not at all what this student wants. She appears to want a BA school that has strong theater. </p>
<p>It is hard to recommend schools without knowing your qualifications. I assume you are a student within the ballpark academically for Brown if you are considering applying there. </p>
<p>Some suggested BA schools (with no audition):
Brown
Yale
Northwestern
Boston College
Brandeis
Skidmore
Sarah Lawrence
Wesleyan
Tufts
Vassar
Penn
UNC-Chapel Hill
Barnard
Emory
Trinity
Cornell (not near a city though)
Muhlenberg
Indiana
Conn College</p>
<p>PS…as a point of reference…I am a parent os a daughter who went to Brown as well as a parent of another daughter who went to college for theater. I also advise students seeking colleges for theater (both BA and BFA programs).</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke has a core curriculum…so…from that point of view it is not like Brown, but they have historically had an excellent theatre dept. It’s where Wendy Wasserstein and Suzan Lori-Parks — two of the few female Pulitzer prize winning playwrites - went to undergrad.</p>
<p>I’m going to swim against the current here and give very different advice. </p>
<p>Unless your D is sure she wants to MAJOR in drama, take theatre out of the equation. </p>
<p>Following the advice posted above will lead her to make the classic mistake–she’ll pick the same match and safety schools as every other young drama wannabe in the US. </p>
<p>This isn’t peculiar to the OP’s D. She may well get into Brown or another top school with a good drama program. However, if she doesn’t, using a school like Skidmore for a match or safety, is, IMO, INSANE. Now things may have changed, but last I knew, Skidmore had both ED and ED II. If she doesn’t apply to it until the regular round, she’ll be applying when Skidmore has already filled a very high percentage of its incoming class. The “already admitted” contingent will in all likelihood include a very high # of females, particularly white females (if your D is white), who are interested in drama. Your D may not get in during the regular round, even if her stats are very high for Skidmore. </p>
<p>This will also be the case–even more so–at schools like Vassar and Wesleyan. I THINK–I may be out of date–that both schools offer ED and a lot of those ED places are going to be filled by females who are interested in drama. In the regular round, the schools are going to be looking for diversity–not only in the racial and socioeconomic sense, but also in terms of interests. </p>
<p>Now, all of my advice is nonsensical if your D is a <em>star</em> in drama, but believe me, there are a lot of kids with SUPERB theatre credentials applying to top colleges. MANY of them will be applying ED to schools like Vassar, Wesleyan and Skidmore. Your D should, IMO, do one of three things–preferably all: pick LARGER schools with good theatre departments and include them on her list. If you are a white female interested in drama filling your match and safety schools with LACs which have already filled half the places in the class is, IMO, very unwise. </p>
<p>Second, include such REACH schools that have theatre but aren’t that great in it. Stanford is one school that comes to mind. No, it isn’t well known for drama. However, if your D doesn’t want to do drama professionally, she may be better offf going to a Stanford than a Skidmore --and I’m not knocking Skidmore when I say that. An actor or musician is a lot less common in Stanford’s applicant pool than in Brown’s or Yale’s. </p>
<p>Third, if she wants to act, but not go professional and really wants a LAC experience, look at top LACs where she can act but which are NOT known for acting. Carleton comes to mind. I think the Lenny Dee players still exist–she can still act–but half the applicant pool isn’t going to list drama as their major EC as you’ll find at a school like Vassar. Another school of that ilk is Bowdoin–it’s an excellent LAC, it offers acting opportunties, but it is not “known” for drama. </p>
<p>Again, I wish your D much success in admissions–I mean that sincerely. But if she doesn’t get into --or can’t apply–ED to LACs known for drama which offer ED as an option, please consider my advice. </p>
<p>Just my two cents.</p>
<p>
jonri - i can only speak for what I understand to be the case at Wesleyan. Yes, it has excellent theater, dance and studio art depts. And, yes it has one of the country’s top film studies depts. However, I don’t think it uses EDI or even EDII to fill half of every class with arts students. </p>
<p>First of all, Wesleyan uses ED to give top applicants who’ve already made Wesleyan their first-choice a bit of a leg-up in the process. At that stage of the game, I don’t think anyone is going to care what a candidate with straight 750s across the board intends his or her major to be. </p>
<p>The ED pools may include some recruited athletes; it may include a good many legacies. But, by and large, I don’t think Wesleyan uses it as a diversity tool so much as a way of getting some of the “easy” decisions out the way. If the OP has the grades and the scores – and, Wesleyan is her first-choice – there’s no reason to believe that her choice of major will be an impediment.</p>
<p>Add Drew and Fordham to the East Coast mix. If West Coast is in contention, add Chapman, LMU and USC.</p>
<p>Fordham, Chapman and USC are audition based programs.</p>
<p>JohnWesley–</p>
<p>Wes is NOT her first choice–at least as of now. BROWN is her first choice. </p>
<p>I don’t know whether the stats I just found on-line are the current ones, but Wes offers ED I and II. The overall admit rate is 28%. The admit rate for ED is 48%. I don’t know what percentage of each class Wes takes ED, but I suspect it’s substantial. In any event, I think it’s probable that the admit rate in the REGULAR round is less than 20%. </p>
<p>If the OP’s D applies in the REGULAR round, she’s going to be in for some tough going. Usually, the admissions rate for “unhooked” white or Asian applicants from families with college-educated parents without geographic diversity, legacy status, or something else special, is less than half of the “overall” admit rate. So, it’s probable that of this group of candidates–assuming the OP’s D falls into it–only ONE out of every 10 regular round applicants will be admitted. That’s pretty darn competitive. </p>
<p>Among those applicants, the ones with the best odds are those who bring something “different” to the class which the admitted ED group doesn’t have. I am casting no aspersions on the OP’s D when I say that I don’t think a white girl (if she is) whose principal “contribution” to Wes is probably her strength as an actress is going to stand out in that pool absent EXTRAORDINARY accomplishments in the field. </p>
<p>Her MAJOR is not an issue here. It’s the fact that she has focused her life thus far on drama and will be competing with many other applicants who have done the same trying to get in during the REGULAR round after at least some other fine actors have already been admitted ED I and ED II that’s the issue. Add the fact that some of the colleges suggested, e.g., Skidmore, attract more female than male applicants and therefore tend to favor males in admissions makes her odds even worse. </p>
<p>She’s certainly free to apply to Wes–in fact I think she should. I just don’t think her match and safety list should be composed primarily of LACs with ED options which are well known for their drama programs. It’s TOUGH to get in during the regular round with that approach because LACs only have a limited # of places to fill.</p>
<p>I know nothing about the OP’s daughter. I am assuming she is a strong candidate if she is applying to the likes of Brown. I just want to say that I have had female white clients who are strong in theater get in the RD round to Skidmore, Brandeis, Northwestern, and the like.</p>
<p>Williams has a good drama program but it is not near a city at all. It has an excellent summer workshop for its own students associated with the Williamstown Theater Festival.</p>
<p>My D was interested in Brown, Vassar and Barnard. She felt they each had the same level of sophistication. She attended and graduated from Barnard and was not disappointed.</p>
<p>And then there’s Emerson which is not as selective, but have a wonderful location in the theater district of Boston and has a beautiful theater, too.</p>
<p>soozievt is the expert, though.</p>