<p>This thread has been very interesting to me.</p>
<p>D started out looking to get into MT and now is going to pursue Costume design instead - she thought about doing MT with a costume minor for a while and so we did explore the technical programs at the schools she considered. (most don’t let you do that - we did find a couple who would, U of Tulsa is the only one I remember will for sure.)</p>
<p>What rather surprises me is how many schools I see mentioned in this thread that have no tech or design, and how very few schools are mentioned at all. A Martian looking to put his kid into college on earth here would think Carnegie Mellon was the only place that offered tech degrees…lol.</p>
<p>We didn’t look REAL hard at most of the design programs because at the time she was pretty sure she wanted to get her undergrad in MT and maybe get an MFA in costume. But now she’s changing and happily, her school offers concentrations in all areas - performance, tech, management, and design, and also offers a generalized degree. </p>
<p>Actually almost all the schools we looked at offered pretty much all these options, some offered even a few more, such as concentration in education and dramaturgy. And the schools we looked at all had good theater programs, of course, and their non performance departments were on a par with the performance departments, quality wise, from what we could tell.</p>
<p>I think it’s worth really taking a close look at the tech or design at any school which appeals to you for all the other reasons - good academic and personality fit, right distance from home (haha) good financial aid, overall highly regarded theater program, etc. - you might find even if it’s not CMU, that you can get a great education there. I say this because early this semester, D started having all kinds of doubts about stuff (personal issues having to do with finally dumping the home town boy friend played into it, and just all the freshman adjustment stuff) She started thinking she should transfer to the state school we looked at very closely (SFA) because it had a great costume department with a really supportive and mentorly department head. (also was cheaper) I told her the money was figured out already and we’d resigned ourselves to eating Alpo when we retired anyway and not to worry about it, just to graduate early (haha) and that for all she knew, the costume department there might be just as good. Maybe better. Ironically we had not even investigated it, or auditioned at her eventual choice - she got mono that weekend - we had visited the school twice already and loved it and so we picked it based on that and it’s very good theatre reputation. </p>
<p>So she talked to her costume professor to find out about the design program and what the offered. </p>
<p>I didn’t tell her, but I called her professor myself, just so that I could get the information for myself without having to drag it out of my daughter. We had a really nice long talk, she said very good things about her work in her introductory costume class, noting that her work remained consistently good to the end of the semester when often other students, though talented, get overwhelmed and their quality goes down. By the end of our discussion I was extremely confident she would be getting every bit as much mentoring and guidance as she would get at SFA, or anywhere. It is a very small department - so small, that one of their seniors (because he’s unusually, exceptionally able, and is probably going to be hugely successful - and he started out as one of their best performers too, but switched!) was given the opportunity to design their big fall show and he had complete artistic control of the whole thing, which I am told, is not usual for undergrads to be able to do. It was a real costume showpiece too - it was “The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler” and it encompasses a variety costumes ranging from period to fairy tale to fantasy, including character such as Mammy from GWTW, Hedda, Dorothy, and numerous cultural icons even a Star Wars character. </p>
<p>My daughter had not told any of them about her two time state champion UIL status throughout the entire first semester. 
It was very funny, their reaction when they found out about it. She told them she figured it didn’t count, since it was high school, but her professor said, that would be true for grad school, but as she was a freshman in college, it did matter, because that’s all she had so far. </p>
<p>Anyway to shorten an already belabored point, this department is maybe a couple dozen kids and the ratio of faculty to students is ridiculously small and if she shows the talent that her classmate did (and I think she will) she’ll probably have that same opportunity - plus this week seven of them and two professors are at USITT having the time of their lives and she’s investigating all the internship possibilities which her professors will help her with and basically, her professor told me if there is something she wants to do or a certain internship she wants or to explore something that isn’t officially part of the program, they’ll customize a way for her to do it under “special projects” or some such thing. This senior I spoke of has sort of energized the costume department (which had, very sadly, lost a professor last year to cancer) and they are currently expanding and improving it - it was good already but the whole theater department is expanding, adding their MT emphasis and a BFA degree and stuff. But they’ll make sure she gets what she needs now, whether or not it’s part of the program officially yet.</p>
<p>I’m sure they do this kind of thing for them at CMU and the other well known programs - lots of mentoring and wonderful opportunities - but my point is, don’t assume that smaller and lesser known programs won’t also absolutely nurture and groom and mentor and produce a graduate with a very nice portfolio, good contacts, and good internships and experience - if there’s a good school with a good program that you can afford, that you like, and that you can get into, it might also have a wonderful tech or design program with very dedicated faculty. I think there are a lot of these gems out there to be discovered.</p>
<p>There is stiff competition in the tech and design and management world, to be sure, but after seeing literally handfuls of students with design portfolios next to the enormous throngs of auditioning MT hopefuls at places like the North Texas Auditions, I think if you have talent and desire for tech or design that you should be able to find a place in good program that will welcome you. Which is the case for performance too, if you have a good list with a good safety, but I do think the odds are a bit easier for the “backstage badgers.”</p>