Hi! So I made a post a couple days ago about needing safeties for the musical theater bra and I think I was too picky. I’d love people’s ideas for what schools I should add to my list.
Requirements: Musical theater BFA (rigorous program), non-Catholic school
Prefer:Urban/city school (just not in the middle of nowhere), bigger school, in a blue state or liberal area
Ideal circumstances: East coast, a train ride from NYC
If there’s any people that work in musical theater college auditions, I’d love to talk to someone/maybe send a performance video to ask what levels of schools I should be targeting.
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Ithaca College has very talented students in their BFA program. Although you might start out in upstate NY, you can study in London your third year and will take classes in NYC your fourth year. B.F.A. Musical Theatre | Ithaca College
Of course, NYU’s program is very well-known and competitive. One of my D’s friends who is starting her sophomore year has done voice work for Disney and TV commercials. Good luck.
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Can you say what your list looking like currently? That would be helpful for suggesting comparable or safer choices.
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My top schools are currently pace, Syracuse, and Boston Conservatory
Are you applying this fall?
I’m not sure if you’re female presenting, but most female presenting students who my daughter met through the audition process seemed to apply to 15-30 schools with a good mix of really competitive and not as competitive. It’s good to have a few dream schools, but since most of these programs accept just a tiny fraction of those who apply, it’s good to cast a wide net. If you get your prescreens in early(ish), you’ll get some idea of how competitive you are based on prescreen results and then could broaden your search if needed. Schools that come to top of mind in NE (other than the ones you listed) are Emerson, HARTT, Ithaca, Rider, Marymount Manhattan, NYU, Molloy/CAP21, LIU, U of Arts, Point Park. There are many, many more especially if you’re willing to look a little further south or other cities (like Chicago) but those are the first that come to mind.
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In addition to aspiringMT’s list, look at Montclair State (easy access to NYC), University at Buffalo & Temple University. All three are large to gigantic schools, and either in or just outside of Northeast cities. I think Montclair is most competitive of the three for MT. Temple is the most centrally located of them, within an exciting big city.
A bit more under the radar - Manhattanville & Western Connecticut State University, like Montclair, are in suburbs of NYC but both are small schools (around 5k students each) and more of a pain to get to the big apple from. They’re still just a train ride in but it’s a longer train ride or more of a schlep to the station. They do have their own small cities close by fwiw (White Plains and Danbury respectively)
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The other thing my daughter found helpful when making her list was to look back at some of the prior year final decision posts. Most people list the schools they applied to, where they passed prescreens and where they were ultimately accepted. May give you some schools you hadn’t considered. Plus, it’s amazing to realize how random this process can be - you could not pass a prescreen at a “less” competitive school and get into a “more” competitive school. It’s a long (and sometimes painful) process, but it seems like many/most kids end up finding the right spot for them.
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LIU Post, LIU Brooklyn - they are audition, but have fairly large class sizes.
There are many other great “safety” schools like Muhlenberg, but not sure that would be close enough to NY. Are you from NY? If not, consider other programs in other regions. There are some incredible programs that are not in NY that you will get some great training at.
How wide a net to cast really varies by the individual. My daughter is looking at ten or less and this works for her and doing a bunch more absolutely wouldn’t. It all depends what your priorities are, how fallback plans fit in, etc
I’m not from NY, but I prefer cities. What other safeties do you know of?
University of Buffalo, Binghamton University, For BFA’s in cities and non BFA’s North Central College and Sage college.
Wrong coast, but in a city - I hear anecdotally that Cornish (Seattle) has gotten a little less competitive for admission these days, although it’s still an audition-based BFA.
On the east coast in blue states…
American? It’s a BA, not a BFA, but DC is a great theatre city. Again, still audition-based, so not a safety.
Virginia Commonwealth? All the artists I know who have come out of that program have been stellar, and being that they also house a MFA in Performance Pedagogy, I think you can really trust the teaching at that institution.
I agree with the suggestion of Hartt and Western Connecticut for you, although I know the latter is becoming more of a competitive admit these past few years.
Not on the east coast, but you may like Roosevelt in Chicago, which tends to have slightly larger class sizes.
I also agree with the suggestion of Temple.
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