<p>I am interested in suggestions for schools for BA (not BFA) in theater--acting, for my D. Excellent ACT/GPA and lots of experience in goods roles in plays and musicals. (athough not searching for MT schools). She plans on doing a double major so looking for schools not focused just on theater. She's looking at Northwestern. Any other suggestions to check out?</p>
<p>Perhaps Bard and Sarah Lawrence? Maybe Brown? What would her other major be?</p>
<p>Good question. She is undecided as to what her second major would be. She is a superb student in math, science, history, languages. A blessing and a curse as to having a focus beyond acting.</p>
<p>If she likes smaller settings, she might want to look at Kenyon–wonderful theater program, great school all around. My daughter had a similar configuration–extremely strong student who wanted to be able to explore a range of subjects and also pursue music and theater. Middlebury is another possibility–again, small school, even more rural setting than Kenyon. And the Muhlenberg theater BA is first-rate. Good luck!</p>
<p>Vassar is one of the best, if it appeals. You might want to investigate Brandeis also.</p>
<p>Happy to hear that Northwestern is on her radar, as it sounds like a perfect fit! Many of D’s theatre friends (and she herself) are double majoring and NU has a wider variety of top-ranked programs than any other school she considered, which mattered to D as she hadn’t decided on her second major at decision time.</p>
<p>Other schools that were high on D’s list were Yale and Brown, though D preferred NU for it’s more highly developed Theatre curriculum and reputation. She also knows academically-inclined theatre kids who landed at Stanford, Princeton and USC, though none of them are as thrilled with the theatre opportunities as they’d hoped to be.</p>
<p>Fordham Lincoln Center. They require an audition but it is a BA.</p>
<p>Possibly Barnard. And I noticed on another thread that the recent Yale MFA class had grads of Wesleyan and Amherst, among many other places. Sometimes we get so focused on schools with auditioned acting programs that we forget there are many other roads to a career, or even to an MFA.</p>
<p>BTW, Glen Fairfax mentions Fordham. My daughter is a freshman there-- I didn’t mention it because I think it would be hard to double-major in a very different discipline because of the many core requirements. My daughter is actually double-majoring in acting and playwriting, which will be tough, but there are over-lapping requirements, so it’s still possible. I believe one of the other double-majors is doubling in English, but I could be wrong. I think it might not be possible to double in something like math or science (if you plan to graduate in 4 years). Fordham might be a good fit if she were interested in a liberal arts education with math, science, language, etc., but not a whole double-major.</p>
<p>If top LACs are appealing to your D, I’d second Kenyon, Wesleyan, and Vassar. However, if a larger, more diverse university in a big city like NU appeals, I would recommend she look at USC, U Penn, and UCLA. These all offer strong theatre BAs and have a wide and excellent range of other majors. My younger S attends USC and is double majoring in Film and Theatre (Design) and has found abundant opportunities, starting freshman year, to get very involved with productions. Since your D has very good grades/scores, she may well qualify for a significant merit scholarship. All NMFs get 1/2 tuition/4 years, for example, if they are admitted. The hitch is, it has become even more highly selective over the past few years.</p>
<p>However, the truth is, most great universities have very strong theatre BA programs. They often are gems with terrific opportunities for strong all around students.</p>
<p>Best of luck as she makes her list.</p>
<p>^^Another bigger urban university to consider is BU–the new(ish?) “dual degree” program would let her enroll in the fine arts program and the liberal arts college and earn a degree in each. A rigorous and interesting possibility for the right kid, and a top conservatory-style acting program.</p>
<p>Tufts used to have an excellent theater program, but I haven’t heard much “buzz” about it recently. American University might be a solid “fall-back” choice. If she wants a smaller, liberal arts option, I’ve heard great things about Goucher’s theater offerings. Oberlin has always had strong performing arts. I think that Swarthmore might also be pretty strong. Williams has access to a top-notch regional theater.</p>
<p>My neighbor’s D is a freshman at Swarthmore dual-majoring in dance and pre-med! Loves it.</p>
<p>Brandeis has a great department and they look very favorably on double majors. D looked at it last year, met with the head of the Fine Arts dept and loved him-- though he discouraged her from applying because she wanted to focus exclusively on theater. But it’s a great school for lots of things, including theater.</p>
<p>ps–GH, I wondered why you didn’t suggest Fordham! Now I get it.</p>
<p>James Madison, American, Boston College, Gettysburg, Goucher, and UMD College Park are worth looking at as well </p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>
<p>Theater majors at Swarthmore also have an opportunities to participate in productions at the other colleges in the tri-co (Bryn Mawr/Haverford). Also tri-co students can take theater courses at any one of the three schools. Any of these three LAC are strong academically and offer opportunities for double major. My D was a double major at Bryn Mawr–theater and Russian.</p>
<p>Hi Bromfield,-- there’s also the Quaker Consortium-- Swat, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Penn. I teach at Penn; one of my daughters (who was was an English/Philosophy major at Swat, but is pursuing a career in aerial theater) went to Swarthmore and took numerous courses through the consortium. I’ve had many Swat, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford students in my classes at Penn.</p>
<p>Seems like you’re getting great advice and many really good suggestions. Here’s my $0.02:</p>
<p>My daughter was also a tippy-top academic kid across all subject matters and a “theater kid” through and through. She decided she didn’t want to go the BFA route (or, subjectively, even the “near-BFA” route) as an undergraduate, instead preferring a more traditional liberal arts undergraduate education, supplementing BA style theater/acting training as made sense for her circumstances, and, possibly, getting an MFA acting degree down the line.</p>
<p>She was extremely fortunate in the college app process, getting in everywhere she applied, and particularly liking the theater programs at Brown, Pomona, Wash U, Williams, and Emory. She didn’t consider applying to Northwestern for a variety of reasons, including that it’s about 7 miles as the crow flies from home. In the end, her final choices were Brown, Pomona, and Emory, with Emory emerging victorious, in part because of a substantial merit award (which went a LONG way towards purchasing some very rewarding supplemental theater training).</p>
<p>I think it was MadBean who mentioned that most very strong universities have strong undergraduate BA programs. Agreed. She definitely found this to be the case at Emory – great professors, highly committed students, incredible facilities, major financial resources, but all within an overall well-rounded, liberal arts context that matched what she wanted college to be for HER. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there are so many possible undergraduate theater paths for the theater kids of the world that there truly is something for everyone. And, just as fortunately, a theater/acting career doesn’t require any one particular path. Hope your daughter finds HER best path.</p>
<p>GH… I would really like to hear more about Fordham. I know you have a freshman daughter there. My S is a junior this year who is interested in acting. He has not decided yet whether he is going to go the BFA route. We are going to NY/Philly in March to look at some schools. So far he has NYU, Muhlenberg, Bard, and maybe Vassar, Skidmore. He is also a competitive varsity sailor and has recently expressed a desire to continue with that in college… so this may make the decision regarding the BFA route for him, as I don’t think he would have time to sail if he was in a BFA program… but not sure?? He will also be visiting BU. </p>
<p>Anyway… how does your daughter like the academics at Fordham outside of the theater classes? How is the community at LC? I know my S will LOVE the urban setting, but just not sure about the core at Fordham. How is she adjusting and is she happy so far with her experience? I just don’t have a feeling either way about Fordham.</p>
<p>Hi 5Boys. The BA program at Fordham is pretty intense because they do a lot of theater classes in addition to academics. My daughter is finding the academics challenging but not unmanageable. She’s taking Italian for the first time (for the language core requirement) and the class is quite fast-moving. She’s also taking a class called Black Popular Culture, which is sociology, which requires a lot of dense reading. The professor is terrific and she loves it. She is less enthused by her required Comp II class, taught by a Columbia MFA grad. But, I rarely meet students who are enthused by required composition classes. (I’ve peeked at her syllabus for that class and don’t think it’s bad, and I teach writing at an Ivy.) I’d say the academics at Fordham are fairly rigorous, not the typical “gen eds” you get in a BFA program. </p>
<p>She is very much enjoying the community there.The kids seem to be friendly, open, diverse, and talented. She told me that for whatever reason Fordham seems to have picked a class of kids who work well together. She’s very pleased with where she landed. </p>
<p>Of the list you mention, we looked at Bard very seriously. We loved it when we visited the first time, and she got a good scholarship there, so it remained high on her list throughout the process. She did sit in on an acting class and a playwriting class (those are her main interests) there and did not find the level of the students to be as high as those at Fordham, but that was really a “thin slice” judgement. Bard did seem like a terrific program overall for a kid who is intellectually curious. My daughter prefers a big city environment, so Bard’s relatively isolated (but very beautiful) campus was not ideal for her.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the reply GH! I am happy to hear your D is adjusting well and finding Fordham to be what she was hoping it would be. I will definitely have my S add it to his list. I think the one thing that is a question is that it is a Jesuit school and we are not catholic… although we don’t really practice any religion. My S is all over the place. He is a pretty good student at a top private prep. He loves acting and has done a ton of stuff in school and out. He has yet to commit 100% to acting full time because he likes other subjects… i.e. physics and english/creative writing. I definitely can see him in an urban/big city. He LOVES tons of stuff going on and would love to get out into the city often. Do BA acting kids take all their classes at LC? Do the theater kids all live together? I know he will audition well. How much does the audition count? Do you get accepted into Fordham first and then the theater program? I think he is an academic match for Fordham based on his HS naviance.</p>