<p>I am excited to read what you wrote. In this day and age it will be nice to have one of my children not worried about finding a job. It sounds like it might be a little easier for him to get into college as well.
Thanks for you encouraging words.</p>
<p>This is a great thread here. My son is a junior, and very good at science and math, but discovered Theater Tech in the middle of 9th grade. I have been researching this as a college program and it is difficult to find programs.</p>
<p>Thank you for the tip about Technical Direction. My son also is attracted to the “responsible for everything” aspect.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon’s site lists a BSA, Bachelor of Science and Arts, which might be a good compromise between his thinking and mine. But is CMU the ONLY school that offers such a blended curriculum?</p>
<p>I am put off by the portfolio, and dropping, aspects of this track. Do MacAlester, Otterbein, Syracuse, or Ithaca have something similar but with a different name – or any other schools?</p>
<p>The CMU BSA degree is a combination of two demanding degree programs. I’ve been told a lot of students don’t finish it. However, somebody must or they wouldn’t offer it. It may be best to think of it as a 4+ year program. </p>
<p>Your son should have an easy time getting into the CMU PTM program with a math and science background and this is a great program for a technical craft person. I don’t know why you are put off by the portfolio but it can be very technical and focus mostly on drafting, CAD materials, etc. </p>
<p>I also don’t know what you mean by “dropping.” Do you mean students dropping the program or the program cutting students? </p>
<p>There are a bewildering variety of technical theater degrees available. Check the following: [Mike</a> Lawler: Careers in Technical Theater](<a href=“Mike Lawler for Congress”>Mike Lawler for Congress)</p>
<p>How was your D’s summer program at CMU? We are leaving today for Son to start his journey in PTM at Carnegie Mellon, orientation next week. Nervous, but excited to see their program in action.</p>
<p>The summer program had its ups and downs, much like college, but she said it was a great program and teachers included some core faculty so your S should be happy there. Email for specifics. The big surprise of the summer was that she loved Script Analysis and wound up applying to Dramaturgy as well as PTM. Pittsburgh is lovely, by the way. Enjoy your trip.</p>
<p>My son is about to start his sophomore year at Syracuse University for Stage Management. They do have a program in design tech. My son’s 3 other suite mates are design students. Syracuse’s program is a BFA and my son did have to present a portfolio. He also had to present his portfolio to the 7 other schools he applied to ( and was accepted). They were all BFA programs (with the exception of Muhlenberg). The other schools he applied to were DePaul, Webster, Emerson, Penn State, Otterbein and Virginia Commonwealth. Ii believe all have a design tech program. You could look at each web site.<br>
My son is very happy with his program.</p>
<p>Yes, I did mean “cutting” from the program - sorry. I just found that bit of info a few days ago, and am amazed that after working so hard to get into a competitiv program, they can still be cut.</p>
<p>My son has no other arts that are current, so I was not sure if he could compete with the arts background students. But he just wants to do technical theater. </p>
<p>I am impressed with the wwrite-up on CMU’s website about the BSA. I would hope that he would have time to pursue it. I have heard that some theater programs discourage double majors, or any other focus, which does not seem well-rounded to me.</p>
<p>Yes, cut policies are awful. They don’t affect tech students, though, and I don’t think CMU uses them anymore. Read the posts from KatMT on pages 1 and 2 of this thread.</p>
<p>I think CMU looks for math and science students for its TD program which includes physics and drafting. There are lots of students with arts backgrounds in tech theater but those with technical minds are in shorter supply.</p>
<p>There are plenty of other colleges out there, though, and I’m only pushing CMU because, well, my D just got back from their Precollege program so I know a little something about it. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>mldsandiego:</p>
<p>Otterbein’s BFA in Design/Technology is intensive, but does allow some room for electives, in addition to the liberal arts curriculum required of all students. It might be a good fit for your son.</p>
<p>But if he finds it too focussed, another possibility is our BA degree, which requires many fewer courses and deliberately leaves room for students to major in other areas. Our design/technology classes are open to BA majors. </p>
<p>A story: some years ago, we admitted a Design/Tech major who had a strong background in math and science. He came to me about halfway through his freshman year and said, hesitantly, that he was leaving the department because he’d decided he wanted to be a high school math teacher. (Hallelujah!) I told him that he didn’t need to leave, and we figured out a way for him to major in Mathematics, get his teaching certificate, and still take some of our design/tech courses and work on productions. He was, of course, the most employable teaching candidate in his class–as someone who could teach math and build sets (!)–and was hired immediately by the school where he did his student teaching. He’s now a high school principal. I couldn’t be prouder if he’d won a Tony.</p>
<p>great book. It came in the mail today. What a wealth of information it is. Thank you so much for recommending it.</p>
<p>Sorry, didn’t put the book. theater mom recommended Careers in Technical Theatre by Mike Lawler</p>
<p>Also recommended by TechnicalMom, who recommended it to me. </p>
<p>Another I found useful was The Directory of Theatre Training Programs, P.J. Tumielewicz and Peg Lyons, eds. I have the 11th ed: 2007-09 but maybe there is another this year. It includes a lot of detailed info such as number of classes in lighting design, number of UG degrees offered in costume technology, etc., but each school answers the questions in its own way so entries are not always equivalent.</p>
<p>Is there a reference book of that kind for acting programs? It would be wonderful to have. (probably listed on another thread but I’m not sure how to search it)</p>
<p>This one includes acting, MT, and smaller concentrations like play writing, arts management, and so on, as well as graduate programs. I found it on an acting thread. We’ve used our copy so much, some of the pages are falling out. The book supplements, but does not replace, the school web pages which are more comprehensive and up-to-date but lack detail.</p>
<p>thanks so much, I’ll order one right now!</p>
<p>I am thrilled to see this much chatter here- when we were looking things were fairly quiet. THere are a lot of good tech programs out there. I strongly suggest comparing class work and curriculum. We started with a list of about 20 schools (DS wanted only a BFA), narrowed it by curriculum and then prioritized our list for applications (after having an MT kid 2 years before we tried to ration out the app $$ more wisely). We got to the last 3 by really looking at the faculty and curricula to decide where a good fit would be. </p>
<p>I can’t stress enough how important those portfolios are …encourage your child to get pictures, SAVE NOTES and document what their role was in the work. Although we were told it did not have to be polished, it really helps to have the data to choose from. </p>
<p>I hope to be able to report on the TD program at CCM and the fall semester soon!</p>
<p>What were you looking for when you compared classwork, curriculum, and faculty? What was your ideal program? </p>
<p>I’m a little in awe of the shortness of your short list—especially since your choices were all competitive. It seems you didn’t have to worry about safety schools.</p>
<p>mikksmom - Thanks for the good advice. My son is going to be a high school junior. He will start taking pictures.
I would also love to know how you decided on your list.</p>
<p>I didnt decide - he did. He felt like he had a good deal to offer and he is a fairly persuasive kid(he is also an actor!). I was VERY concerned as my DD auditioned at 8 schools…now granted that was MT and she is a girl. But he selected those 3 as top choices and as he HATES to do applications, he decided that was it.We did actually have 2 more less competitive programs on the list as a Just in Case that had very late application dates. He was also considering going somewhere for a year if he did not get into a program and then reapplying…but that was really just mom trying to consider contingencies. Again, he felt pretty confident in his abilities.</p>
<p>We did visit a UConn open house and he also did a w/e with a guy her met at a college summer program at Rutgers. We had never been to CCM until he interviewed. I was all for visiting driving distance schools if possible.</p>
<p>Comparing schools was not overly easy either. We compared online info on curricula, some internet research ( strongly recommend bookmarking [Mike</a> Lawler: Careers in Technical Theater](<a href=“http://www.mikelawler.com%5DMike”>http://www.mikelawler.com) - he wrote a great book, has a good blog and has a wonderful LIST of tech schools and programs) and also did some googling of faculty members as well. HE was very interested in what types of careers folks had - he is pretty big on real world experiences. He felt that all 3 programs he applied to would have been good matches for him. They each had things he felt he could learn and grow from. </p>
<p>The toughest part was making that decision to where to go…THAT took forever. As someone mentioned earlier as well - this is NOT as competitive as drama or MT. IT is still a low rate of admission as compared to some majors but with a good portfolio and a kid who can answer interview questions and essays well and who has the grades to get in, there are a lot of great choices!</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone…it is a long journey!</p>
<p>I’d just like to report in from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. I’m a freshman in the Theatre Design & Production department, SM concentration, and I am LOVING it. The DP department has great people, peers, and mentors, and there is also that fine balance between intense theatre classes and challenge liberal arts classes that I believe are necessary to become a well rounded artist.</p>
<p>I’m also having a good time exploring the town, meeting new people, and just having fun. So if you are considering majoring in technical theatre, look into Michigan! :)</p>