Syracuse Pre-College MT

<p>In a nutshell, my daughter got a tremendous amount out of the program, both interms of training, exposure to the intensity of a college BFA program and the experience of independent college living. See my earlier posts on this thread (#6,8 and 14) for more details. And yes, there was a performance at the end, but not a full show.</p>

<p>I know some people who have been accepted to this program for this year and some who have applied. I have recently heard the program is cancelled. Does anyone know why?</p>

<p>Apparently, the entire Summer College for High School Students has been temporarily discontinued. From the website:</p>

<p>Summer College for High School Students
at Syracuse University
Dear Friends and Colleagues,</p>

<p>Thank you for your interest in the Summer College for High School Students program at Syracuse University. We deeply regret that Syracuse University will not offer a Summer College program for high school students in the summer of 2007. We have determined that the resources needed to offer the high-quality program planned for 2007 will not be available. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue Summer College operations this summer only.</p>

<p>We are fully committed to offering a Summer College program for high school students in 2008 of unparalleled quality. This enhanced program will take full advantage of the academic and community-oriented rejuvenation that has brought Syracuse University to the forefront of innovation among colleges and universities nationwide.</p>

<p>If you are interested in pursuing summer learning opportunities for this year, we suggest that you consider consulting the following web resources.</p>

<p>summeroncampus.com | allensguide.com | vincentcurtis.com</p>

<p>The rebirth of Syracuse University’s Summer College in 2008 will be a landmark event. We will alert all of our constituents and partners regarding developments in the coming months.</p>

<p>We wish you success in your ventures for the coming summer and look forward to what promises to be an exciting summer 2008.</p>

<p>Sincerely,
The Summer College Staff</p>

<p>It just seems so late to be informing people since they have already applied and been accepted and in some cases, may have stopped putting in more applications and it is late for SOME summer program applications at this point. It seems odd that they didn't cancel it much sooner or even simply not offered it in the first place. I guess something came up to cause this decision. Money likely.</p>

<p>Glad we went with OCU as I can't imagine why it took Syracuse so very long to determine that they were going to cancel their program. I find it hard to believe that it was really a facilities based problem (they would have know that earlier)- perhaps just not enough enrollment?</p>

<p>Whatever the problem was, it's not just the summer MT program, it appears to be the entire Summer College program. Last year there were 150 kids in a variety of academic as well as performing arts programs.</p>

<p>So ALL of the summer classes were cancelled? Academic too? Now I REALLY wonder what's up!</p>

<p>See post 23. That is a verbatim copy of what appears on the website. Sounds like a major funding and/or restructuring issue. It's really a shame; the programs for all of the students, not just MT, appeared to be very good and very well received. 150 students the summer of 2006.</p>

<p>Was lurking around on the site see how things are for those waiting patiently for acceptances to the MT program for 2007 and felt the need to vocalize on this subject.....Having multiple years of University teaching ( not MT ) under my belt, I know it comes down to who can stick around and teach for the summer and where the funds come from and what space is being renovated during the summer.<br>
SU's MT summer program was taught by many of the faculty, unlike CMU's program which rarely has the faculty teach, they mainly hire adjuncts for the summer. While unfortunate, I don't think SU's cancellation has any thing to do with a "problem" at SU but rather just a sound business decision and regrouping decision. There is a lot of growth going on at SU and they have to make sure they continue to offer the quality rather than something "half-****".<br>
Do realize that many of these summer programs at colleges are not what you expect..... Many mislead you to think that if you go there they get you an extra nod for acceptance later....this is not the case. Especially since many have no audition and it is luck of the draw to be admitted and therefor you are "studying" with many who have never "studied" voice, dance and acting...it is a summer college experience not a pre-admission program....great experience, not a requirement for admission.</p>

<p>I totally understand that there may be very valid reasons for having to cancel the summer program this year. I don't think it is a reflection of SU's MT program at all. I don't think it indicates any problem with SU. </p>

<p>However, I think their decision came way too late putting many people in a difficult situation. I know students who planned to attend and thus didn't put in applications elsewhere. Some other fine MT summer program deadlines had already passed (this is March after all) and others have rolling admissions and March is on the later side to apply though not necessarily too late. I don't know the exact issues that caused this decision, but I think it should have been made earlier and if that wasn't possible, found any way to hold it this year. I don't have the answers but it has caused families to now have to scramble, and where the options have begun to dwindle.</p>

<p>Also, even if there were spots open at some programs, all of the the financial aid may have been allocated and again, that puts programs out of reach for many. I just find it so hard to believe that they had no idea that they were in jeopardy earlier than this and I feel awful for the kids impacted by this.</p>

<p>So it seems their summer programs are back online here?</p>

<p>Acting</a> & Musical Theatre</p>

<p>We were plannng to go to Syracuse's acting summer program last summer. They announced the cancellation at about the time that we were going to submit our application. I can say that one of the pros/cons (depending how you look at it) was that they treated it as a college course - regular homework and grades. My S had homework ( a couple of short papers) at BU, but our impression was that Syracuse required more, as they granted college credit transferrable to other colleges. I do not want to say anything negative about Syracuse, as it's one of out prefernces programs (acting) and my CC ID is my name (hence my S's), but the University seems to be undergoing some restructuring. For example, they shut down their nursing program (they closed the medical school decades ago, and I think SUNY, over the past decades has taken over about three of their schools (i.e. Forestry - an excellent program). Why they closed nursing is a hard one for me to understand. It's one of the highest demand/need programs out there. On the other hand, it is an expenxive program. When I investigated the move a couple years ago, I read that they wanted to invest more in Information Sytems/Technology education - perhaps they are benchmarking Carnegie-Mellon.
Perhaps a Syracuse person in the know can give a sense of what is going on at the University level. Again, we loved the theatre people that we met. I attended the place decades ago. My S really likes SU. It has great programs, besides theatre. It's communication and Business programs, as well as others, are outstanding.
The cancalation last summer had nothing to do with the theatre program. I think that they wanted to revise the entire university-summer system. Perhaps they will change it so that a person does not have to pay for college credit, which, I think, made it was one of the more expensive programs. I did not care about the credit; perhaps others felt the same way.</p>

<p>At the MT summer program in 2006, students were assigned a paper requiring 15 pages of text with 10 pages of required graphics and illusrations the first week with 10 days lead time. It was assigned by one of the regular faculty members who usually teaches upperclass acting studio. It was on the human voice. The papers were never graded or returned to students. Intersting and important topic, poor learning experience and the general concensus among the students was that this particular professor assigned it to shock them out of any "H.S. Star" complacency more than for any other reason.</p>

<p>In my earlier posts, I commented that the program included voice. I was imprecise. The program included MT performance but there were no voice lessons. Voice lessons are through the Music Department and the faculty for the summer program was from the Drama and Dance Departments. Don't know if this has changed for 2008.</p>