<p>I'm posting this here because there doesn't seem to be a really good, active forum for just Acting. Hope some of you have some opinions/experience to share:</p>
<p>My daughter got accepted to Syracuse and was pretty well set on going there. She liked Syracuse when we visited, and they gave her some scholarship money and offered her a place in their honors program, which is nice, since she wants to be well rounded. But then she got into Tisch (kind of a surprise - she didn't think it went well). Now she's thinking "How can I possibly turn down NYU?" Is that reasonable? Is NYU that much better than Syracuse for just Acting?</p>
<p>Also, while she definitely want to major in Acting, she kind of "grew up" in MT, and she'd like to keep in touch with that if possible. From what we saw at Syracuse, that seems like a possibility - more interaction between the two groups. My sense is that at NYU, the MT is more separate from straight theater.</p>
<p>Irolf...,
You're daughter has two fine choices. Nevertheless, these are very different schools in very different environments. My s is at NYU (Playwrights Horizon studio) and has remained involved in MT. He has had AMAZING opportunities there. I'm certain that others know students at Syracuse who had had different, but perhaps no less amazing experiences. I think it's a matter of picking an environment in which she can thrive and take advantage of the numerous learning options. It may come down to the school "feeling right" or some sense of the University environment that best speaks to her.</p>
<p>It all depends on what studio your daughter was accepted in an NYU. I would say that NYU can be a great school, but remember that hundreds of students get accepted into Tisch each year and thus it may be more difficult to get the personal attention the student requires.</p>
<p>I'm sure you didn't mean that the way it sounded but Tisch is a drama school and the MT studio is a part of the drama department, with the BFA awarded being a BFA in drama.I honestly don't know anything about the Syracuse acting program but I can assure you that the drama program at Tisch is a good one. What studio has she been accepted into? That may influence your decision, if she's researched the studio to see if it's a good fit for her needs.</p>
<p>There may indeed be differences between Syracuse and Tisch but the amount of personal attention students receive shouldn't be a concern. My D is a senior and has never felt that she is lacking personal attention. Her studio classes have been broken into groups of no more than 15, so it's not like there are 'hundreds of students' in each class. :)</p>
<p>"There may indeed be differences between Syracuse and Tisch but the amount of personal attention students receive shouldn't be a concern."</p>
<p>I disagree whole-heartedly. I do not mean to put down Tisch in any way here, but I think personal attention needs to seriously be taken into account. Some studios are very intimate (15 per grade) and it is easy to get the necessary attention, whereas others are larger (70 per grade) and it may be more of a challenge to make yourself known. That is not to say that these are the sizes of the classes, I'm sure those are very small. But in terms of getting office hours and personal meetings with teachers, it's often easier and more valuable in smaller studios. It really depends what studio your daughter was placed in.</p>
<p>Brendan, my D is currently a senior. She has not had any of the issues you have detailed in your post. She's in Atlantic. Were you at Tisch? I'm curious as to whether you had a problem with one of these issues and perhaps transferred?</p>
<p>Whereas I can't speak for all the studios at Tisch, in my son's, neither he nor his friends/classmates suffer from lack of attention. The entering class was broken down into clusters of students, each cluster (of 15 or less) having classes together. The faculty attention has been intense. Faculty from his studio and from the drama Dept. attend student productions, on and off campus, they meet students outside of class to consult on projects. My son is even doing an independent study in an area of interest, where the faculty member volunteers her time. The biggest challenge for my son has been limiting the number of projects to which he devotes his time. He has NEVER complained about faculty availability. Although there are a lot of students enrolled, the program has been thoughtfully designed with large numbers of teaching faculty who are tops in their fields and love to teach.
Once again, I say this , not to contrast it to any other college or program, just to counter the statements that don't at all match with my son's experience of Tisch. His experience there has exceeded my (and his) wildest expectations for personal attention, excellence in instruction, and personal care.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for your comments. It's just a difficult decision, made more so because she got some aid from Syracuse, so financially, it's a pretty big difference for us. I really think she needs todecide where she "fits" best, but that's really hard to tell at this point. She hasn't been told which studio yet (which seems a little odd), so that may add more to the mix. We'll see.</p>