<p>I've identified some BA programs (using CC, in part )that appear to have good academics and good theater departments. I'm wondering if people here can flag some of these that might be of more than passing interest for somebody interested in Musical Theater particularly, as opposed to just regular non-musical theater. If they know.</p>
<p>The schools are:
Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Dartmouth ,Columbia,Brown,Wesleyan ,Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Northwestern, Tufts, Vassar, Carlton, Barnard, Oberlin, Brandeis, UCLA, Whitman, Kenyon, Mount Holyoke
Connecticut College, Trinity College, Bard, MacAlester, U Rochester,Grinnell
Sarah Lawrence, Boston University, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>Which of these places are particularly attractive places to attend, from an MT perspective?</p>
<p>I've read elsewhere here already about UCLA (yes) Northwestern (yes) and Cornell (no). And I gather Yale & Brown would be yes's due to the extracurricular performance opportunites available, or something like that.</p>
<p>Hello! I attended Sarah Lawrence for the first semester of this year, so I can give you a little insight as to how the program works.</p>
<p>SLC doesn't exactly have a musical theater program, but you can sort of create your own. Students are supposed to take three classes a semester, but theater students are a bit different--they have a theater "third". The third counts for as many credits as a regular academic course, but it actually is made of up many different component courses that the student chooses. Students studying theater can also take dance components and music components in addition to their drama classes, thus creating a kind of musical theater concentration. </p>
<p>As far as productions go, there is usually only one mainstage musical a year (this year it was Bat Boy, the year before it was A Man of No Importance). There are many, many other performance opportunities though. Usually there are 4-5 mainstage plays a semester, and 3 staged readings. There are also student-run production groups that put on anywhere from 3-10 shows a semester.</p>
<p>SLC has a great theater community, and the academics outside of the department are fantastic, but I have to admit that if one wants to study musical theater intensely, it's probably not the right place. That's why I'm trying to transfer--I'd rather be in a BFA Musical Theater program rather than a BA Drama concentration. If your child is interested in literature or history as much as they are theater or aren't sure that they want to make a career out of it, then SLC might be the right place. My voice teacher was INCREDIBLE and the dance classes are good (although a little experimental), and even as a freshman there are so many opportunities to be on stage. </p>
<p>I think that about covers it...please let me know if you have any more questions!</p>
<p>I wish they would just admit the truth... They are located in YONKERS, not Bronxville!!! They are served by the Bronxville Post Office, and hence their mailing address says Bronxville, but that's it.</p>
<p>LOL Well, some of the school is definitely in Yonkers...my dorm (Hill House), for example, was DEFINITELY in Yonkers...but I'm pretty sure that the main part of campus is in Bronxville. At least Mead Way is.</p>
<p>Wow - you have a great list of good theatre schools to consider, and we started with this type of list from theatre program research before we found info. specific to MT (mostly this forum!). We did visit Sarah Lawrence, ranked high in drama, music, and dance, but we felt that they didn't really concentrate on MT like we were looking for - more straight drama. I'm glad lindaylou33 gave more info (where are you planning to go next year?).</p>
<p>I believe you'll find that John's Hopkins (is it Peabody conservatory?) and Oberlin are more music based and not really MT. I believe you'll find great drama at some of the others, such as Vassar, Boston U, Brandeis, and Bard. Some of your schools have been discussed on the forum. I would caution you to explore the ones with excellent MFA drama programs before deciding on the undergraduate theatre program because I'm not sure the undergrad's get the same amount of attention (examples - Columbia and UNC Chapel Hill). I previously thought Yale was the same, but more recently some of our posters have chosen to go there and could give you more info. Also, Soozievt can tell you about Brown. Someone besides me needs to answer on Cornell because we visited there and loved the campus, but the theatre meeting we had scheduled fell through. We were mostly in town for Ithaca, anyway. </p>
<p>Northwestern has been discussed at length other places. We loved the school but do not plan to pursue it because the MT is very hard to get into. You must be in the music or theatre / drama program for 1 year and then audition. Then a very tiny percentage of students are taken into MT from each program. Someone just wrote about Northwestern (I think theatermom) over the past few days on one of these threads. I'm in the process of catching up from being out of town on business!</p>
<p>Kenyon College - We wanted to visit this as a safety and the trip didn't work out. People we know have loved it there for liberal arts in general. They don't offer MT but appear to be flexible enough to combine theatre, dance, and music. Their theatre program has a decent reputation. I think Paul Newman is a graduate and gave money to build the theatre.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Thanks Ericsmom. The list of good theater schools was relatively easy to obtain. It seems to be harder to find information specifically about musical theater programs at these schools though. That's why this board is potentially such a valuable resource for someone with an interest in this particular area of theater.</p>
<p>We did not find many schools with a lot of emphasis of MT unless they had specific programs. USC has a MT minor and you can go for it regardless of major. Northwestern has a MT certificate program that can be approached from the theatre (non audition) or music (audition for music performance required to get into NW this way). However, I don't know what the accept rate is for kids auditioning for this program. The music dept told my son, that the vocal performance kids generally get in, but I have read on this forum that it is the numbers are not so good for the theatre majors. American U also has a MT program that you can audition for after you get into the school. Many colleges have ECs in MT which offer a lot of informal training but no formal program. Brown and Wesleyan are that way. Other artsy schools like Wheaton, Vassar, Skidmore, Connecticut College may have MT opportunities without a formal program.</p>