<p>I just chanced upon this thread and thought I would see if our hometown school was mentioned. Millikin University in Decatur, IL has a BFA program in Theatre, offering 5 different degrees – Acting, Musical Theatre, Design/Technical, Stage Management, and Theatre Administration. They also offer a non-audition BA degree in Theatre. My daughter auditioned there a couple of years ago and we were amazed how many students came from all across the country. They have what they call the “New York Showcase” every year in which they take the best of their senior class to New York to perform for agents, producers, directors. They have a pretty good track record of getting their students picked up by agents at this. The most famous of their alumni are Jodi Benson (voice of Ariel in Disney’s Little Mermaid and voice of Barbie in Toy Story collection) and Sierra Boggess, who coincidentally starred as Ariel in the Broadway musical of Little Mermaid and is now Christine Daae in Love Never Ends (Phantom sequel).</p>
<p>D has a theater kid pal who just came back raving about Goucher, its feel, its theatre program, its immense number of productions/year. FWIW</p>
<p>I know of one kid who turned Goucher down on location alone. Someone who is drawn to NYC may have problems with Baltimore and secondary considerations like location can be a lot more important in a safety school. Sometimes, exactly the right feel can compensate to some extent for exactly the right program.</p>
<p>TM - Of course I don’t know what the kid who turned down Goucher didn’t like about the location, and I know that it wasn’t your kid. Living in Baltimore I just thought I’d pipe up and say that Goucher itself has a lovely, wooded campus in the suburbs which is two blocks from our best shopping mall. It’s not New York (so few things are), but it’s not “The Wire” territory either.</p>
<p>The kid who turned down Goucher wound up at the New School in NYC. She just wanted a big city school. I didn’t mean to imply Baltimore was sketchy. In fact, living in Oakland, I would have to assume that a city could be lovely and livable despite a bad reputation.</p>
<p>Luckily my D who wants city access is interested in cities other than NYC. Actually regarding NYC she found she only would want to be in the outskirts; Manhattan was too intense for her right now, as a 24/7 experience. I do hope we can get to Baltimore somehow (maybe after acceptances come out) so Goucher can be an option. She really really likes it on paper and had a wonderful talk with a rep at the CTCL Fair. Everything we hear about the arts and theater there sounds great.</p>
<p>I’ve been to Baltimore myself and know that it’s a plenty wonderful city! And very close to Philly, DC, and even NYC (certainly closer than here), which makes it even better. Thanks so much for the extra information.</p>
<p>TM - thanks! (I lived in Oakland for several years - loved it!)</p>
<p>Hey, folks, just getting this thread back on the first page.</p>
<p>Having a nice senior year so far? We’re doing OK over here, some work on apps, some work on monologues, narrowing down the list. Sent in her first priority app, to a safety she likes. Maybe we’ll have a quick answer!</p>
<p>She’s focusing on academics, but has a few theater things going on to keep her happy - fall musical goes up in 3 weeks, and she’s going to help direct a couple of children’s shows this year. We’ll see how much other performing she does; unlike last year, which was all about building experience, she knows she needs to focus on the audition stuff and school even more now. She’s also joining Forensics, which she never had time for before - that should be fun, and plenty “theatrical.”</p>
<p>We’re charting out our winter, as the audition info goes up on the college websites. I’m beginning to think it just might be doable … if there aren’t any blizzards … and if the school will let her have a few extra days off. Chicago Unifieds are Mon-Weds, but CMU says it will be in Chicago only Weds-Thurs. My D has a big concert here Monday night, so we can’t go down until Tuesday morning (2.5 hr drive). Hopefully it’s not a rough week academically. Plus I can’t convince her to get a flu shot - she’s sure she’ll 1) get really sick from the shot and 2) get the flu anyway, as she’s heard of people doing. Maybe her doctor can help with this decision.</p>
<p>So everything’s a juggle, just like for all of you, I’m sure. Best wishes, and let’s keep talking!</p>
<p>Senior year is pretty easy in terms of my classload (mostly electives, 1 AP class, three free periods). I’m already insanely busy with everything else, though, and it’s only the second week of school. I decided to do my senior show, even though my parents didn’t think I would have the time for it. It’s going to be hard balancing everything over the next few weeks, with school, rehearsals right after, and work 3 days a week, but I’m sure I’ll manage.</p>
<p>I’ve done the majority of my apps, still have to finish my essay, and I’ve scheduled two of my auditions for January.</p>
<p>Good for you! Have fun, and good luck!</p>
<p>tainted, it sounds like you are on top of things! Sometimes when we are super busy is when we can be most disciplined and productive. Enjoy!</p>
<p>D is really happy with her courses this semester. She’s taking a directing class at school right now and participating in a scene workshop at a local small theater company and she is jazzed about all that. She is not in the fall musical production which theoretically frees up time to work on apps. </p>
<p>Her major theater obligations will come later in the year, yes, in part overlapping with auditions. I just can’t schedule any audtions the week before or of the show. But she will be happy to end her high school career immersed in theater.</p>
<p>I found out today our HS is incredibly lenient about days off for college visits, interviews, auditions, etc. Hurray! Taking 3-4 days for Unifieds and other visits was considered no problem whatsoever - they consider them academic absences, and I guess they’re basically unlimited.</p>
<p>What a relief!</p>
<p>Now that more schools are posted their on-campus dates and when they will be parallel with Unifieds, I can finally start making travel plans. I’m beginning to think we actually can manage this.</p>
<p>D’s job is getting the app’s done. She’s aware of the schools on her list that require an academic acceptance before she can schedule an audition, so those come first. Others she’ll just get done ASAP.</p>
<p>Just want to add a lighter note: It’s spirit week at our HS. My D couldn’t care less about the Homecoming Dance or Game, but like any theater kid she is SO into the dress-up days. Tuesday she was awesome in her blindingly spangled '80s outfit, and today for Superhero Day she is Luigi (she had a million choices for this, but she wanted to be the geek of all geeks). Play rehearsal will be interesting, since she is a Queen…with a mustache and round black eyebrows…</p>
<p>Relating to Emmybet’s mention of her D’s enthusiasm for Superhero Day, etc, at her high school…I don’t know if this happens a lot, in college, among kids who are not in theatre programs, but the kids in my son’s BFA program seem to have fairly frequent costume parties (private, not school-connected, and generally organized by upperclassmen) with all kinds of interesting themes.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah … I can just imagine it … A whole treasure trove in the costume department, too, I bet!</p>
<p>This link prompted a funny memory. My D wanted to dress up one Halloween as Wendla Bergmann and no one but the theatre director knew who she was supposed to be (we had even copied one of Lea Michele’s dresses so it was a very accurate adaptation). Kids in the high school kept asking her if was supposed to be an Amish person!</p>
<p>Its Spirit week here so I am sure my D will be enjoying the chance to dress up.</p>
<p>Yes, these kids take it to a whole other level. My D’s costume the other day included a hat, but she was so entertaining that the assistant principal forgot hats are against the rules … he even complimented her, twice!</p>
<p>Good news - my D feels good about her monologues! Yay! She feels she’s found a good group that are really “her” and provide the contrast and range that she wants to show. Phew! Now she can work on getting them nailed down. She has no plans to audition in the fall, so she has plenty of time to get very solid on them. </p>
<p>I am much relieved. The search was difficult - harder even than finding schools, because there aren’t websites where you punch in monologue criteria and they spit out! And many plays were very hard to track down through the library (we couldn’t buy everything just to look at it). Many CC people were extremely helpful!! Thank you to all!!</p>
<p>For now - app work! We just might have a livable system set up … crossing our fingers … and hoping for that rolling safety priority app result any day now.</p>
<p>I’ve only found one monologue that I’m definitely using so far. It’s so frustrating to me because I have a whole list of ones I found (my mom & I spent a lot of time at Barnes & Noble over the summer) but I have no time to research any of them and the plays aren’t at any of our libraries. My first audition isn’t until January so I have a lot of time but it’s still stressing me out a lot.</p>