<p>Thanks, Marbleheader! Your son’s going to love BU. :)</p>
<p>Edited to add: Yes, Times3, it’s a great program, thanks.</p>
<p>And American U has an auditioned BA.</p>
<p>And some very well-respected BA programs are non-auditioned–example: Northwestern. Somehow, despite no audition, they find extraordinarily talented students for their program–which suggests these very high achieving applicants with great scores/gpas, ECs, starring roles at known sending HSs, and other acting honors tell them quite a lot in order to put together their class. </p>
<p>I would not suggest their BAs are less able than auditioned programs. In addition, USC offers an auditioned BFA as well as a non-audition BA. Many working actors choose the BA, so they have time to go on auditions/take acting gigs, or simply double major. </p>
<p>Several top Theatre BA programs do offer excellent training, plus electives which allow even more specialization. But one must research each individual program.</p>
<p>Adding James Madison & Point Park… </p>
<p>These are the BAs that have audition/interview requirements, based on my research:</p>
<p>Emerson: BA-Theatre Studies (Audition)
Fordham: BA-Performance (Audition)
Ithaca: BA-Theatre Studies (Interview/Portfolio Review)
James Madison: BA - Theatre <a href=“Audition/%20Portfolio%20Review/%20Interview”>with tracks in Performance, Theatre Studies, Design/ Tech, and Theatre Education</a>
Point Park: BA-Acting (Audition)
Muhlenberg: BA-Theatre (Audition required for Talent Scholarship consideration)
UCLA: BA-Theatre (Audition)
Univ of IL @ C/U: BA-Theatre Studies (Interview/Portfolio Review)
USC: BA-Theatre (Interview/Portfolio Review)
Univ of Texas @ Austin: BA-Theatre (audition strongly recommended)</p>
<p>Thanks, KatMT!</p>
<p>If anyone else has knowledge of BA Theatre programs that require “more” than just an application to the college, please feel free to add them to the list, and please include details about specific requirements.</p>
<p>Adding Montclair.</p>
<p>These are the BAs that have audition/interview requirements, based on my research:</p>
<p>Emerson: BA-Theatre Studies (Audition)
Fordham: BA-Performance (Audition)
Ithaca: BA-Theatre Studies (Interview/Portfolio Review)
James Madison: BA - Theatre <a href=“Audition/%20Portfolio%20Review/%20Interview”>with tracks in Performance, Theatre Studies, Design/ Tech, and Theatre Education</a>
Montclair: BA -Theatre Studies (Interview/Group Audition, on campus)
Point Park: BA-Acting (Audition)
Muhlenberg: BA-Theatre (Audition required for Talent Scholarship consideration)
UCLA: BA-Theatre (Audition)
Univ of IL @ C/U: BA-Theatre Studies (Interview/Portfolio Review)
USC: BA-Theatre (Interview/Portfolio Review)
Univ of Texas @ Austin: BA-Theatre (audition strongly recommended)</p>
<p>Hello. I’ve been lurking for a while, benefiting from the great comments & insights. Perhaps the group can offer suggestions/comments. My D is very bright (very high GPA, likely NMF semifinalist, AP courses etc.), creative, and committed to “all aspects” of theater. (Loves performing but really shines in directing/creative vision/design/lighting.) We’re looking at BAs in liberal arts settings (large or small?) so she can explore wide range of interests. Other criteria - not Ohio, as we live here, may reluctantly consider New England/northeast, as we spend a lot of time there, warm climate would be nice but could be sacrificed if necessary, generous aid. Yes, she wants it all.</p>
<p>Our initial set of visits took us to USC, Pomona, Whitman, Willamette, Reed. She loved the atmosphere of Reed, felt she would fit in as an intellectual (as Glassharmonica said, different from academic strength) but thought the theater program might not meet that need, as it seems to be academically based and less rigorous than what she’s used to. Also, double majoring seems to be more difficult there. She is excited about the opportunities that USC offers, the vibrancy of the urban campus. She liked the others, thought they all offered opportunities to grow. We’re looking at a second round/other alternatives now. She’ll look at Chicago, Northwestern, U-Mn (stark contrasts from CA). I’d like to offer alternatives that satisfy the criteria for intellectual atmosphere, strong overall theater dept., interesting setting (preferably warmer than Ohio), flexibility, etc. Looks like Emory is a good bet. Any other suggestions? Are there some standout ones that are not in New England/NYC area? The UC schools seem great but prohibitively expensive for OOS. And how about that theater dept. at Reed?</p>
<p>Thanks, all.</p>
<p>I would describe my daughter as an intellectual theater artist. She is in the auditioned BA program at Fordham Lincoln Center (which, by the way, gives full scholarships to National Merit Scholars.) Unfortunately, my daughter did not even take the PSATs, as she had a fairly alternative pre-college education… oh well, hindsight is 20-20. My daughter decided against Tisch and Mason Gross because she realized that she wanted BA academic classes, not just gen-eds. (Also, as a playwright, she wanted to be in a program where her plays would be produced.)</p>
<p>My daughter loves Fordham and is double-majoring there (although hers are two majors within theater-- playwriting and acting.) Fordham has rigorous core requirement, so fitting in all the classes is tricky, but doable. She has also been able (as a freshman) to AD and assistant costume-design, giving her insight into other areas of theater. </p>
<p>You might also want to add Bard to your list of schools to look into.</p>
<p>mcpmcp</p>
<p>That is very restrictive criteria. There are a lot of nice schools in NY and New England that might otherwise meet your D’s criteria. Have you researched Brown University TAPS and/or Williams College?</p>
<p>Do you qualify for need-based scholarship or are you just looking for merit aid? That could narrow your list.</p>
<p>mcpmcp: I guess I am the resident Sarah Lawrence guy (my child is first year “theater third” there now). It may be worth a look, if your D is interested in a fairly open ended but rigorous intellectual environment. Very different than the also excellent Fordham program. There are opportunities to do a lot of theater in a lot of ways, and combine it with writing, film, literature, etc. Their description doesn’t really do a very good job at explaining things, but here it is:</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Theatre](<a href=“Theatre | Sarah Lawrence College”>Theatre | Sarah Lawrence College)</p>
<p>You can see by the number of courses a lot goes on (they also have an MFA program so that supports a rather large theater presence):</p>
<p>[Theatre</a> Courses](<a href=“http://www.slc.edu/undergraduate/arts/theatre/courses.html]Theatre”>Theatre | Sarah Lawrence College)</p>
<p>PM if you want more details…</p>
<p>^ So glad there is a Sarah Lawrence voice here! They were on my D’s final list and it’s a fantastic school.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions - Fordham, Sarah Lawrence, Brown, Williams. It helps hearing from those who can flesh out the website descriptions. Some of these I probably wouldn’t have considered without your comments. This will help us expand our list of possibilities to check out.It does sound like SL favors students who are intellectually curious. What is the atmosphere at Williams?</p>
<p>Shifting gears a bit (a lot?) there are several universities that seem to show up on one list or another, not as frequently as the usual list of suspects. So if anyone knows about ones like UNC Chapel Hill, Temple, University of Arizona (it was one of the Arizonas - ASU?), or U-Md College Park programs I would be very curious to hear about them and very grateful for the help.</p>
<p>In answer to a question - we would be eligible for some need-based aid but also need to consider merit based aid.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>mcpmcp</p>
<p>We’re finding as you move up the selectivity scale merit aid decreases and need aid increases. The best NMF theather choices I’ve found are Fordham at full tuition and USC at 1/2 tuition. Also Northeastern pays full tuition, but i’m unsure of strength of theatre there.</p>
<p>Here are my notes from Williams visit:</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>Theatre building is stunning, see link:
['62</a> Center](<a href=“http://62center.williams.edu/62center/venue_explore.cfm]'62”>http://62center.williams.edu/62center/venue_explore.cfm)</p>
<p>We visited UNC - very nice facility. The prof we met seem very nurturing - Juilliard trained - she encourages students to study abroad or in NYC a semester. No dance, which is a drawback for my daughter. My D’s HS sends many kids there. Type that goes seems very friendly, outgoing, bright but not over the top intellectual. </p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Just to add here is a good thread on Brown TAPs <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/899192-brown-theater.html?highlight=theatre[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/899192-brown-theater.html?highlight=theatre</a></p>
<p>We have thus far visited 12 BA theatre programs including NU, which is of course amazing, and Brown remains my daughter’s benchmark program. Ugh, it’s just so damn hard to get in to - like many of these schools.</p>
<p>mcpmcp …</p>
<p>Perhaps supplementing what my friend arwarw said (say, are the two of you from the same village? very similar names you have there 
), I think that in general it might be true to start with “as you move up the selectivity scale merit aid decreases and need aid increases,” (NU and Brown might be good examples of this), but there’s a bit more involved than just that.</p>
<p>For example, there are MANY very selective and academically prestigious colleges, some with enormous endowments (read: war-chests), with formal-published or informal merit scholarship programs beyond NMF awards. These colleges essentially use these merit scholarships (sometimes $15-20K awards; sometimes half to full tuition; sometimes full-rides) to “recruit” students who they want to entice to attend, much in the same way that athletic powerhouse programs offer athletic scholarships. A tippy-top academic student with a theater passion and career interest might very well be just what a particular program might want. Some colleges with long and established histories of “recruiting” in just this way include Washington University, Emory, Rice, Vanderbilt, GW, Case Western, and Tulane (that list is not meant to be in any sense inclusive). And some of these might turn out to be exactly what your daughter wants in a college (whether from an overall standpoint, as a theater department, and hopefully both).</p>
<p>These are strong colleges with strong faculties (and oft-times, absolutely killer and state of the art facilities). For a variety of reasons my daughter wanted the BA theater, went in preferring Brown, Pomona, and Williams, but actively pursued merit opportunities at Emory, Wash U, and Michigan (and considered others).</p>
<p>Are these merit programs very competitive? Sure, very much so. But, people do get these awards – my daughter got a few – and the one thing you know for sure is that a student won’t get it unless they try.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips re: financial aid. Just one aspect (a big one) of so many, which makes the process “interesting.” I did find it heartening to read old posts from some of the recent contributors, who had been talking about where they were in the process, and who are now recounting their s/d’s experiences. Eventually there is a resolution. Many of the college suggestions look interesting.</p>
<p>Another question. On another of the threads someone referred to Northwestern as a “pre-professional” atmosphere and Brown as a “bohemian” atmosphere. Understanding that both seem to be pretty good drama programs and that there are limitations to applying descriptions with a broad brush, what are some other solid BA Theater programs that would be described as “bohemian” versus “pre-professional?” Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t know what that person meant by “pre-professional” or “bohemian” (which in my mind aren’t definably two ends of a spectrum anyway), but I would say this, which might be in the same mindset:</p>
<p>If your kid is looking at BA programs in theatre, you will see two kinds of degrees. One will be more academic - looking at the idea of theatre, its history, its literature, its theory. You can see this in the classes offered. This is for people who are not looking to perform, or maybe not even to make theatre at all, but to study and/or write about it. </p>
<p>The other kind would be more for training - with courses in Acting, Movement, Voice, Directing, various technical and design topics, and with productions as a significant focus. Most of the kids on this Forum are interested in the latter - they generally want to make theatre in some way, and even with a BA want some amount of training.</p>
<p>Within the training-focused programs, you probably will see two (or more) types of atmospheres. I think this is where “pre-professional” and “bohemian” - which I’d rather call “grass roots” or maybe “experimental” (but those terms also are tricky) - come in. Some BA programs stress more formal training; you can have curriculum that strongly resembles a BFA that includes a sequence of Acting, Speech and Movement classes, a focus on certain Acting methods, and a variety of other electives focused on building skills. There are often structured systems of casting and technical assignments in a 4-year sequence.</p>
<p>Other BAs include more “theatre-making” opportunities - where the students work with their peers, professors and other mentors to create theatre, and learn through that creation. Skills are incorporated into this experience, but not as formally. Some people might call this “project” related learning. I think some people might see this as “bohemian” because it can resemble setting a bunch of creative types loose with materials and a space and seeing what they can come up with. I believe these kinds of programs often are extremely intensive and place enormous responsibility on the students to make meaning of what they are doing, so I’d rather not characterize them as “unstructured,” which is what the word “bohemian” might imply in this day and age.</p>
<p>I think Northwestern (along with many auditioned BAs like American and Fordham, plus programs at large public universities like UNH) as compared with Brown (along with Bard, Sarah Lawrence and the like) are reasonable examples of these two kinds of BAs - both of which develop skills and provide experiential opportunities. Usually students find that they prefer one type or the other as they research and visit schools. The best way to get a feel for how a school fits in this spectrum is to look at the course catalogs and how the degree requirements line up.</p>
<p>@EmmyBet – Based on my understanding I would characterize Northwestern as offering both types of opportunities that you mention in almost whatever combination students choose. One can opt for a BFA-like formal performance training path, involving virtually no “bohemian” devised or student-created works OR one can focus almost exclusively on the latter. Some students opt to participate in little or no student-created work while others do little else. Some acting cohorts are apparently very focused on devised theatre, while others receive more traditional training (and students are able to play a role in choosing which cohort they will be a part of). Some “official” staff productions are very collaborative and experimental while others are extremely traditional. I am constantly amazed by the breadth of curriculum/experiences different students are able to create within the NU department.</p>
<p>I may be misremembering, but I think the comments elsewhere on CC about NU feeling more “pre-professional” while Brown felt more “bohemian” had more to do with the campuses as a whole rather than the theatre departments, as NU has more strength in engineering, IB and pre-med (for example) than a school like Brown.</p>
<p>Pre-professional and bohemian was probably a reference to the overall campus vibe, not so much the drama program.</p>