<p>Arwarw, if your daughter is interested in learning about drama departments, you should also try to schedule a visit where somebody associated with the department can show you around and talk to you.</p>
<p>Some schools even have “arts days” when prospective students can do things like take sample workshops, etc.</p>
<p>I believe that Emmybet said that her daughter was able to attend a play rehearsal during one of her campus visits to a school where she was researching the BFA program. </p>
<p>While you are on campus, you’ll want to make sure you get a chance to talk to theatre students if you possibly can.</p>
<p>Generalized campus visits are important, but theatre department visits are even more important, if you are lucky enough to be able to visit the school before applying.</p>
<p>Usually you can find out schedules for general campus tours online. For drama department visits, contact the department.</p>
<p>So, in addition to comparing course catalogs as kindly suggested by Emmybet, we’ve also been looking at each school’s volume of productions (including student-run). The numbers we have found thus far are:</p>
<p>Brown 70-90 per year
Northwestern 80 per year
Yale 4 to 5 per weekend</p>
<p>This seems to me extraordinary. Is it possible? If so, how? Are there any other LAC’s that perform at this pace? I had trouble finding numbers for the other schools, except Williams at 15-20/year - which, to me, is easier to comprehend.</p>
<p>Is this even a good metric to compare programs? My thought is it would be - indicating student interest and opportunity.</p>
<p>Yes, when you include student run there definitely can be that many. I have heard many schools refer to that many. (upwards of 100) They are surely not all going to be full stage musicals; some may be poetry readings, but a show is a show! Writers, directors, tech people and actors get practice doing the shows and they are valuable experience.</p>
<p>When I was a student at Columbia College Chicago, we would I think have been in the same range as these, again when you included student directed shows. Maybe we were a little less because there was no graduate program in theatre. Pretty much every night we would be rehearsing a show, then as soon as we finished that one (or even before!) we started rehearsing the next one. At any given time there would be five or six shows being rehearsed, each at a different point in its rehearsal process, from just starting to being in “tech week” and about to open.</p>
<p>People said (I know I have said this before here) “Why do I have an apartment? I am here at school late every night, and then first thing in the morning for classes. They should just put out cots for a few hours every night for us to sleep.”</p>
<p>Some of these shows were one acts, but a lot were not. I remember an actor who auditioned for me just assuming that my student directed show must be a one-act, and then was shocked when I cast him and gave him the script that he had a HUGE part in a full length play!!!</p>
<p>People talk about “guaranteed casting”. Columbia College Chicago does not have that, but a program like this that does so many shows needs so many actors that often the net result is that you pretty much ARE guaranteed parts in lots of shows. I remember one semester we had to cast EVERY man who auditioned, because we needed to fill so many male roles.</p>
<p>I think the number and type of shows would be something you would want to ask on a theater tour. For example, out of 100 productions, how many are general productions for the public? How many are a showcase for classmates? How many are devoted to master’s students? Do freshman get to be in performances? Which ones? Does it include film shorts? Although productions are nice and essential, the quality of the education and the right fit are the most important things (not to take anything away from Yale, Brown or NU!). Sorting out apples and oranges in comparing schools is important. Many very good schools don’t allow freshman (or even sophomores) to publicly perform but they are still rated very highly.</p>
<p>My daughter recently had her first meeting with her HS Guidance Counselor. Prior to the meeting, she had to submit a ten-plus page survey which included ten possible colleges. Listing those ten colleges entailed a lot of research, thought, discussion and some visits. My daughter’s hope is to ultimately get that list down to 5 to 7 schools in order to be able to thoughtfully complete the supplemental applications.</p>
<p>Her Guidance Counselor added 25 more schools to her list for her to research and be prepared to discuss. 25 more!!! I’m a little perplexed.</p>
<p>Twenty-five MORE! Wow… I can’t imagine researching those plus the ones she has already done! My daughter’s final list ended at 14. She has since pulled two of those applications and has been denied at two. Good luck to you and your daughter! It is a chaotic time but exciting, too!</p>
<p>arwarw, I mean no disrespect to the guidance counselor, but these counselors often don’t know much about the specific world of theater majors. If you have on your list a nonauditioned school that is also an academic and financial match, you can eliminate every school that would seem less desirable than her top schools. That should save a bit of time and expense!</p>
<p>I agree with GH… although my DS’s list will most likely be pretty long, as he will probably be undecided till the last minute whether he will go BFA or BA at an LAC… although that decision may be made for him :-)I think the idea we had was to apply to a couple of EA schools and that way you can adjust list after those decisions come in. I think Emerson has an EA audition, and there are some LAC’s on my DS’s list that have EA… Wooster, Elon, Bard. I think you have a list that is very similar to my DS’s. although my DS is a very strong student, he is not tippy top, so the Ivy’s and Northwestern are out,…he has Vassar on his list and I think that is a stretch for him. Since my S is a Junior too, we will be going through this together next year:-)… It’s great to have all these amazing and knowledgeable people here that we can learn from.</p>
<p>I didn’t read through to see if anyone already suggested this, but the University of Michigan has an excellent program. Darren Criss from Glee? A Very Potter Musical? All courtesy of UMich. :)</p>
<p>Just returned from a tour of four schools in New England.</p>
<p>Williams - Daughter loved the department chair, who she said literally risked his life for theater in another country. Loved the intensity and openness of the theater and dance students. Loved the fact that the five recent theater graduates moved to NYC to live together and audition. Loved the theater and dance building and general student vibe. She loved Williams in spite of its size and location. We almost cancelled after the trip to Amherst - so glad we didn’t! -----However, I think she may have been unduly influenced by a tall, blond, lacrosse player with a british accent, who she met in a dance class.</p>
<p>Amherst is a no - feel free to PM me for details.</p>
<p>Smith is a no- - she loved the campus and town. she really, really wanted to like this school, but could not get past the all women thing. Feels it is important to have males in acting classes, as she believes acting with a male partner is different from acting with a female. This was one of my most favorite campuses, and we have visited a lot of really nice campuses. I wish I could attend, but they don’t take middle-aged men (sigh).</p>
<p>Bard is a no - feel free to PM me for details.</p>
<p>1 for 4 on this trip - ugh. I’m exhausted. I think I have one more college road trip left in me. </p>
<p>Gee, arwarw - makes me wish you’d done a swing by Vassar when you were at Bard. Or maybe you’ve already been?</p>
<p>I can imagine why she would like Williams better than Amherst, at least theatre-wise.</p>
<p>With Williams (and where else?) as a front-runner, what is she looking at as more (excuse me) “likely” schools? Has she looked at Skidmore? Brandeis? Sarah Lawrence?</p>
<p>We could not squeeze in Vassar - I really wish we would have. But, based on her negative reaction to Bard, I’m now shying away from Vassar - should I be?</p>
<p>Front runners based on visits: Brown(ED), NU,Williams, UNC - I know its a disparate list. the common thread seems to be she “connects” with profs and students. Likes their enthusiasm, openness, level of engagement etc…</p>
<p>Had planned to visit Skidmore, but the department would not commit in advance to meet her -Said “maybe, depending on how the day is going” I couldn’t risk a long drive to Saratoga for a maybe. We opted to visit Bard instead.</p>
<p>We only have time for one more college trip in the fall - a long weekend. We’re thinking NYU and Barnard. She can stay with her best friend who will be attending NYU to get a feel for it; and attend some Barnard classes. On paper, Barnard seems like a good fit, but I’m learning you can’t tell until you visit.</p>
<p>BU is another BFA possibility. She really likes one of their profs and like NYU, they audition here in Atlanta. We would look at BU and NYU more closely if she got in.</p>
<p>If possible, would like to keep the applications to 7ish or so, so she can be informed and specific on the supplemental material.</p>
<p>Likely’s: For whatever reason, her HS sends a lot of kids UNC - Naviance shows a clear pattern there. Barnard I think - we’re meeting again with GC soon to discuss. Fordham and USC both have BA programs and generous merit money… so maybe apply there sight-unseen?</p>
<p>arwarw, if you are going to visit NYU and Barnard, why not visit Fordham as well-- it’s in between the two, right there in Lincoln Center. My daughter looked at Bard, Fordham, NYU, Barnard, and Sarah Lawrence. Of all of those, she vastly preferred Fordham (where she is now a freshman). She also applied to Vassar, but we did not manage to visit.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what your D didn’t like about Bard - but it definitely has a specific appeal. My D visited, applied, was accepted, but had moved on from the LAC route by the time decisions came around. She felt the school was too isolated and too small - including having limited theatre curriculum. I would say Bard is a “funky crunchy granola” school, which didn’t always suit her; while she liked the vibe at Bard enough to apply, she didn’t at Sarah Lawrence or Hampshire.</p>
<p>Vassar is a little bit “hip,” but in a straightforward classic college way. My D thought it was terrific (she was rejected). What she ended up liking best in the BA programs was a strong intellectual ambience, a little bit of the unconventional, but a strong feeling of plain old college overall. She felt Vassar managed that very well (Brandeis, too, to a certain extent). Perhaps she’s a little more unconventional than your D? Mine also applied to Northwestern, but probably wouldn’t have fit so well (she visited after applying and realized that - she was rejected anyway, not a super-stats kid but could take a stab at these schools).</p>
<p>arwarw - We hated (not too strong a word) Bard also. It went from the top of my daughter’s list to off the list after their admitted student day last year. But, Vassar is very different from Bard and, if you have time while in NYC, it is only a train ride away right up the Hudson River which is a beautiful train ride. Vassar also has a fabulous Equity theatre on campus (might be Powerhouse Theatre?). Definitely worth a look.</p>
<p>My daughter also looked into Bard seriously- applied, accepted, attended classes there after receiving a large merit scholarship. She was uneasy because as of last year the theater program was being re-designed. It is also a bit remote. Friends whose kids go there who are not in theater or the conservatory have told me about a serious drug culture (more than at other schools.) Most of the people we know there are in the music conservatory where I understand the kids are very focused, have to work hard (they get two degrees), and have many opportunities they might not have at another conservatory. In the end, my daughter wanted to be in the city.</p>
<p>arwarw, FYI, my daughter is at Fordham now. There are students there who were not admittted to the the auditioned program who do minor in theater. Some reaudition as internal transfers, and of those, some are accepted.</p>