<p>Any news on SUNY Purchase (Acting) acceptances?</p>
<p>ellbud, good for you & your daughter! Put your feet up and relax now, congratulations!</p>
<p>Quakercat -- Two years ago, a friend of my D's was faced with the same decision. All I know is that he ultimately picked Northwestern and never regretted it. While Penn is arguably more prestigious academically, I'm not sure they have a very good theater department. If you really want theater, you should really study each school's theater web page -- compare the classes and theater opportunities on campus, look at their professors and see where their alums are. Also, look at the other opportunities for a theater kid on campus -- are there student-run shows? Other performing opportunities?</p>
<p>No news in this house either regarding SUNY PURCHASE. Really don't know what to think anymore.</p>
<p>Anyone heard from Hartt for BFA acting audition results? </p>
<p>Alwaysmom- Indeed I would be glad to talk with anyone about UAZ. Anyone giving that school consideration would be wise to talk to as many people as possible before making a final decision.</p>
<p>My son was notified of his accetance to SUNY Purchase BFA acting program via telephone in early March.</p>
<p>Regarding decisions for BFA majors-</p>
<p>I've been wanting to post for a whle but have had trouble on this site, I'm finally up and running. I have a few thoughts for those I've read are deciding between schools-Tisch, SUNY, etc. My D was accepted to several, first tier for SUNY but went with Tisch much to her lasting regret. She's out of school now and though the academics were quite good the acting training can be quite a waste of time. I know one student mentioned Tisch as her dream school, though she was accepted to many[I think her post was on p.34?]-and wanted advice. To anyone who feels the same way, please analyze why it's your dream school. If it's because it's in Greenwich Village I suggest giving it more thought.
All the studios one studies at at Tisch teach their own method and what my D, and many others, found is that their was little respect for one's own process. How most 17 yr olds can know what approach is best for them I don't know, it's a bit of a crapshoot. As a pro actor for 35 years now I was a bit appalled at the whole program. However I also know that it's all very personal, and of course for some young actors it could be the right choice. But be aware there is no central department. You will feel a part of your studio, not a part of NYU's theatre dept.
I believe it was MamaRose with an insightful post about tough love training. She's right-it is NOT something that prepares you for the "real world" of show biz and I don't understand or condone it. Not that my own training was warm and fuzzy, we were expected to behave very professionally, but an artist needs nurturing and encouragement to take risks and grow.<br>
I would also encourage the decision process to include such things as do you audiiton for shows? At the Guthrie program they do not, and I don't know why one would have to in a small program. These teachers see you every day, part of the training should be casting you in roles that will help you stretch, and good directors and teachers will know how to assign them so everyone has that opportunity over the course of 4 years.</p>
<p>I also meant to ask-has anyone heard from Fordham? I've been coaching a wonderful young thespian who is waiting to hear.</p>
<p>jbinca, I'm struck by the pain in your posting. For your D to have been so disheartened and dissatisfied after all her hopes, efforts, energies (and I'm sure $) feels so wasteful. Your point about the studio focus and identification is a good one. But in my S's experience , this focus has been positive.
Certainly, most of the mentors in my S's experience have arisen from his studio. His collaborations with other students, though, have spanned most, if not all, of the studios.<br>
My S's studio in the Tisch program was large enough and diverse enough that he always felt that he had amazing teachers from whom he could learn. His experience was tremendously nurturing and encouraging. I recently asked if he felt he had had enough acting training (given his studio's emphasis on the whole theater professional). He noted two things, first, that he's not sure that one can ever have "enough" acting training, and second, that his decision to expand into some other areas of theater (including choreography and set design) limited some of the time he would have devoted directly to studying acting. But, he always felt he had choices, choices of faculty, personal styles, areas to learn, and even a choice to switch studios. And, I don't think he ever expressed being limited by anything other than the number of hours in a day.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons you are posting. With the decentralized training of Tisch, perhaps not every studio is going to be a fit for every student.
I hope your daughter has found or soon will find a path that feels more productive and satisfying for her.</p>
<p>jasmom</p>
<p>It's good to hear some studios keep their student's happy-I can tell your S was at a different studio than my Ds. They are quite different from each other and the one she was at has-I found out too late-quite a reputation for being curiously harsh. In fact somone I worked with had had a close association with that studio as a faculty member and insisted I try to get her out when he heard where she was.<br>
But she does know kids who went though other studios who were somewhat satisfied, depending of course on which studio. She was one of many unhappy students at hers however. It is hard to switch-you lose credits, all studios want you to go through their entire curriculum.<br>
And I will say that her studio at one time had a good reputation, but what she had read about their method that intrigued her was no longer their way when she attended, there had been major shifts in philosophy as well as faculty. This of course can happen in any theater dept. when the top people change.
And of course things may have changed since then, it's been a while.</p>
<p>My D is also at Tisch and I am sorry that your D didn't have a more positive experience. Mine loves it. She has done CAP21 for 2 1/2 years and is now in her first semester at ETW and plans to do it for three full semesters to end her time at Tisch. Like Jasmom's S, my D has truly mixed with Tischies in other studios....they are in her theater studies classes, her productions, her social circle and her a cappella group. Perhaps your D's experiences were centered in her particular studio and I don't know which one it was. Each studio differs and may not be right for all. My daughter is very pleased with both of her studios. NYU was her dream school but not due to its location. Location is a plus but not the main reason to attend and surely not the main reason she has loved the school and feels she has learned a great deal so far. To date, her experiences at NYU and Tisch have exceeded all that she had hoped for, and she has had great opportunities there and we are happy because she is happy. I'm sorry that your daughter was not happy there as we all want our kids to be happy at college and to feel that they got what they were looking for. </p>
<p>I think if a studio doesn't feel like a good fit, the student should do a different studio for the later years. They don't lose credits. They simply need to study at a certain track/level of their new studio and they benefit from more than one approach to training. My D didn't change studios due to any displeasure with her studio but she wanted to make full use of the opportunities to study all that Tisch offers and to focus on some things in her new studio that were not available in her other according to her own needs and goals. She has never mentioned tough love in either of her studios and to my knowledge, has felt quite supported and nurtured. As with any college, each student's experience will vary as to whether it meets their needs, interests, or desires and I am sorry that it wasn't a more fruitful and positive experience for your daughter when she was in college.</p>
<p>jbinca, my D and several of her classmates were accepted to Fordham's performance major last week. Is your student still waiting to hear? Perhaps they did not send all of their decisions out at once. My D got an email one morning early last week and her official "You're in!" packet arrived by US mail the same day.
Also, just wanted to make clear that the "tough love" approach to acting that I was talking about is apparently practiced at SUNY Purchase and not, to my knowledge, at either Tisch or Guthrie. As I said, I know one person in the program who told me there is not any love at all: it's just plain tough at Purhcase. I have never heard anyone describe the approach at either Tisch or Guthrie as being tough love.</p>
<p>NotMamaRose
When we were looking into Purchase I believe it was a different department head, so my D had a different impression than what Im now reading on this site. Hence her regret at choosing Tisch.
Im willing to bet the ones happy at Tisch were in different studios, and my daughter chose transferring over switching studios junior year. Guess the damage had been done.
And I didn't mean to just trash Tisch[ok Im a little bitter], clearly it works for a lot of students. My actual point was that when someone is making a decision and is so talented as to have gotten into multiple top programs, it isn't quite so simple to decide Tisch is your dream school. Smaller exclusive programs like Guthrie and Purchase are a particular kind of experience, more right for some kids than others, naturally. But Tisch can be any number of experiences, due to the studio system they use, so Tisch could be both very wrong and very right for a student, with so many variables.
And Imust say I'm impressed with such insightful parents here, your kids are lucky to have you. Glad I stumbled on to this site while helping out a young actor. I love coaching these kids and can be of more help to them with all this info.</p>
<p>Does anyone know where USC generally ranks in the realm of BFA Acting schools? Is it as respected/well known as a CMU or NYU? I know their film school is great, but I'm not sure about the theatre school.</p>
<p>has anyone heard from SUNY Purchase yet?????</p>
<p>epo9, all of the kids from my D's arts high school who auditioned for Purchase have gotten their decisions.</p>
<p>I still have not heard from Purchase! I know that a few have already been notified via phone call of acceptance, and I know a few people who have been rejected...my mom actually called them last week to see why we hadn't gotten anything, and they said that they hadn't made their decision on me yet! Maybe it's the same case for others who haven't heard...I guess for now no news is still good news</p>
<p>Several of the kids I know who got personal phone calls in mid February to say that they were on the "A list" were waitlisted. I thought it was a little odd that a program would personally call kids to say that they are on the A list and then waitlist them.</p>
<p>notmamarose: if you wouldn't mind me asking what did the kids from your d's arts high school find out? were any accepted and it what form email, phone call, snail mail? my d still hasn't heard anything.......</p>
<p>garyspaul: congrats for your son! it must be nice to know and have the waiting over. is your son going to accept?</p>