<p>Javon, I don’t know if you are looking for this type of advice, but for my S, the only thing that worked was a chart. We made a chart of all the schools, their addresses, audition dates, and checked off the items: application, school letters, transcripts, audition scheduled, audition travel scheduled, additional info, and done. </p>
<p>Then as the time came closer, we made a folder for each school with flight/ hotel info, time, date, special requirements, and included a resume and head-shot, and a copy of each monologue (as a security blanket!) in each folder. </p>
<p>Afterwards, we made a list of the schools again, and checked off accepted, rejected, waitlist, and the response dates.</p>
<p>Pretty mechanical, I know, but it kept the panic factor down when all we had to do was look at a chart and see what was next. I hope this helps!</p>
<p>Best piece of advice–START THOSE APPLICATIONS IN THE SUMMER. Get them done by September 1st. Ask for letters of recommendation on the first day of school. Schedule auditions and make travel arrangements as soon as possible. Know your material; that, too, you can do over the summer.</p>
<p>If you’re going into your Junior year, you’re in a good place to be on top of things, and the process should go well for you! Since it is so early, start saving your money for the trips to visit colleges and the auditions. It’s expensive, but well worth it and a lot of fun.</p>
<p>I have a question that I’ve been unable to find the answer to by searching this site as well as the CollegeBoard.com site. The question concerns “safety”, “match”, and “reach” school definitions and how to determine, academically, where a school falls for my daughter’s statistics. If my daughter has SAT/ACT scores that fall within the mid 50% for a school, is that considered a match school? What if she falls at the lower end of the 50%? Would that then be considered a reach school, or would it be considered a reach school only if she fell outside of the mid 50%? Would it be considered a safety school if she falls in the high end of the 50%, or would she have to be higher than the mid 50%? I completely understand that for those schools that require auditions, there are no true “safety” schools. I’m simply trying to understand the academic side so that we are not looking at all “reach” academic schools. Thanks for any insights! </p>
<p>I am so grateful to have found this forum last year. It has been so very helpful to understand the admissions process. I’ve sat in college information sessions where parents were amazed at the low level of admission ratios to theatre programs. I’m so glad my family is going into this process with our eyes wide open, thanks to the wealth of information on this forum.</p>
<p>Hey guys,
I’ve been reading this for a bit, and wanted to ask a quick question about my school. I’ve been accepted to UC Santa Barbara, and I’m planning to audition for the BFA Acting program this September. Now, I’m a transfer student (junior), so my acting resume isn’t insubstantial; but I cannot find any statistics or other numbers about their acceptance rates. If anyone has these numbers I’d love the reassurance/added nervousness.</p>
<p>TheatreMom2009 – I do not believe that you can use ONLY SAT/ACT scores when assessing match, reach, safety. Schools also take GPA, course load, etc… into account.</p>
<p>You are on the right track, I think. The guidance counselor at your school should be able to assist you in determining academic match, safety, and reach schools. There are computer programs that plot these things for students from certain schools or certain types of schools. While in our case the guidance counselor was helpful for this, he was completely at a loss when it came to helping with the artistic part. Remember, too, most, but certainly not all, BFA programs look at these academic indices.</p>
<p>Thank you KatMT and LetsFigureItOut. I do understand the SAT/ACT & GPA situation don’t tell the entire story, and that extra-curricular activities, leadership roles, type of school, type of classes within school, application essays, admissions interview, audition, etc. are additional pieces of the admissions puzzle. My daughter is in the situation where her Freshman grades were not too hot (mostly B’s with a couple C’s), improved to solid B’s in Sophomore year, and then shot up Junior year to a 3.5 with just academic classes and a 3.82 with academics and arts classes combined. She is in the lower end of the mid 50% SAT/ACT for most of the schools she’s looking at, and her combined 3 year GPA (academics only) fall in the ranges listed (sometimes in the lower 25%) for the schools on collegeboard.com. She is a well-rounded student who has done a lot of theater, a lot of community service, some sports, Model UN, and other school clubs as well. </p>
<p>I don’t think I have access to the computer programs you mention, but I will e-mail the college counselor tomorrow to verify that. I’m just trying to figure out if most of these schools are academic “reaches” or if they are academic “matches” in a very general sense.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor might have access to such programs. Our school uses Naviance (spelling? I’ll have to look it up!), which provides a scatterplot showing the relationship of an individual student’s stats to those of other students FROM OUR SCHOOL who have gotten in to various colleges and universities. It gives you a place to start. Hopefully your school’s college counselor will know about what many schools look for and can guide you with regard to determining reach, match and safety schools. Good luck!</p>
<p>Just a note: From our experience, falling within the range of academic stats (and not necessarily being at the top!) seems to be important at BFA programs, in terms of getting in.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your advice and guidance. It is truly appreciated and taken to heart. I have more peace of mind knowing I am making a better decision by pursuing my MFA. My fiance’ is working on his PhD at the moment, so that he may teach at the collegiate level. I see myself joining him in the same pursuits, only different fields. He studies South Asian religions. Thank you so much again and thank you to the brilliant person who began this group and discussion board!!!</p>
<p>Many schools have very good BA theatre programs. you will most likely get clearer suggestions if you provide more information. Is there a particular part of the country you might like to be in? Are you looking for a big school, small school, etc…</p>
<p>As far as BA programs looking at GPA/ Test scores… In most BA programs the GPA/ Test scores of the students admitted in the major will be exactly the same as the stats or the school. Many BA programs do not require an audition to declare the major (although some do). Most BA programs will only accept students who meet their general stats, regardless of intended major.</p>
<p>Of course you get to be picky … BA school admissions is almost completely dependent upon meeting the academic admissions criteria (although some BA programs do also require an audition to declare the Theatre major). You need to look or schools where you meet the academic qualifications that also offer a good BA theatre program. </p>
<p>Northwestern University
Skidmore College
Vassar College
Williams College
Yale University
Brown University
Muhlenburg College
Wagner College
Sarah Lawrence College
Connecticut College
Wesleyan University
Hampshire College
Smith College
Kenyon College
Boston College
Hofstra University
Fordham University (I believe this is a BA)
I teach at James Madison University in the Musical Theatre Concentration – I find that our graduates (both Theatre and Musical Theatre) do very well after graduation and are successful in admissions to top graduate schools.</p>
<p>These are almost all HIGHLY selective, private academic institutions. There are MANY other wonderful BA theatre programs that are well regarded and not connected to an MFA or BFA program (the above list is my stream of consciousness list). There are more schools!! I do not know your academic stats, so, you may or may not be academically competitive for the above institutions – almost all of the schools listed above receive many more qualified applicant than they can accept. So could not be considered a safety school for anyone. </p>
<p>I would suggest looking at schools in your state or region as well to see if any of theme have a reputation for having a strong BA theatre program.</p>
<p>yes, that is a group of quite elite schools. unfortunately, i’m not worried so much academically as opposed to financially. can you think of any schools that won’t bust the bank?</p>
<p>-sorry to ask so many questions. i’m not sure how to find out whether a school has a good program. i’ve searched the internet quite a bit, but have yet to find any sort of guide to the best BA drama programs..</p>
<p>I am in the exact same boat as you, ingette. I have a list of all the ‘pricey’ schools I want to apply to but at the moment I only have ONE financial safety (St. Mary’s College of Maryland). I would love if anyone could reccomend a public school on the east coast with an awesome BFA or BA drama program.</p>
<p>Towson University is a public state university located in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland and has a well respected and well established acting program for which admission is by audition now.</p>
<p>Can someone explain to me more about these “senior showcases”? What have so far (don’t know if it’s correct) is that the graduating senior majors go to L.A or N.Y and do a scene of some sort for casting directors, agents, etc. Now when they do the “scene” what happens? Does an agent call them and say “we wanna sign you to our agency”? Or what?</p>
<p>Javon, no, not necessarily. Some schools, such as Fordham, for instance, offer a BA in acting/performance and I do not think students are required to minor in another subject. The way to think about BA degrees versus BFA degrees is that the BA degrees usually involve more liberal arts classes, whereas the BFAs often require many more studio classes/classes in the performance area.</p>
… BA school admissions is almost completely dependent upon meeting the academic admissions criteria (although some BA programs do also require an audition to declare the Theatre major). You need to look or schools where you meet the academic qualifications that also offer a good BA theatre program. </p>