<p>Hi, my son also attends TxState for Acting. He absolutely loves the school, his classes, the faculty and his classmates. As is the case at most schools, the number of BFA students admitted to TSU’s theatre department is quite limited. They certainly get lots of personal attention there! They are a very close-knit group and spend a great deal of time together, which makes a large school like TSU seem much smaller. </p>
<p>I can’t imagine the campus being deserted on the weekends. My son talks about participating in so many different activities and as Singer11 said, there are always tons of things going on! If you take a look at the Residential Life and Campus Recreation sections of the TSU website, you’ll get a better feel for campus living there. The school has 21 residence halls that are fully occupied – and it’s probably safe to say that the majority of the kids living in them don’t go home on the weekends. </p>
<p>Yes, most of the students attending TxState are in-state students. But I’d be willing to bet that the Theatre department will be enrolling many more OOS students from now on. They’ve received a tremendous amount of national attention because of Kaitlin Hopkins and the new MT program (the class of 2014 will be the first to graduate with a BFA MT). Plus, word is getting out that OOS theatre students admitted to the BFA programs are automatically given a talent scholarship that qualifies them for in-state tuition, making the cost to attend comparatively low. In fact, because of these factors, last year (after only two years in existence) the department had to institute a prescreen (which they now require) because of the huge number of applications they received. My son is an OOS student from the east coast and couldn’t be happier anywhere else. BTW he, as well as a number of his classmates, turned down admission to other top programs to attend TSU. </p>
<p>With regard to academics, high-achieving students are invited to enroll in the honors program, which offers many challenging courses and unique learning opportunities. Honors program kids can opt to live in Butler Hall, the honors dorm, where they are surrounded by other motivated students. And incidentally, Butler is located right next to the theatre complex! </p>
<p>Good luck to you/your children who are applying this year!</p>