<p>Mkay, and liberal arts are? Like theater studies???</p>
<p>Both the BA and BFA programs are completely different from what I have learned.</p>
<p>During my son’s Freshman orientation at Purchase, we met several upper class students who are majoring in Drama Studies. It’s a BA program with emphasis on Drama but also heavily weighted in Liberal Arts. Admission is academically weighted. These students seem to love the program and in fact the Performing Arts Center manager is a Purchase grad in Drama/Theatre Studies. The students we spoke with said they do “some” in class scene and play performance but for the most part, they study literature, writing structure, theatre history, liberal arts and NY State required GenEd (General Education) classes.</p>
<p>The Conservatory of Theatre and Film program at Purchase (BFA) on the other hand, is performanced based, admitted by audition only and limited to 16-18 students per class year. Acting students are required to take just one GenEd class per semester. All classes except for the GenEd class are conservatory/theatre based (Acting, Stage Combat, Voice, Movement, Structure…). Additionally, students are required to do run crew from 7PM-11PM during their First Year and following years replace that time with rehearsals. I think this is fairly typical with many BFA Acting programs. Prior to graduation the Acting BFA’s participate in a Senior Showcase.</p>
<p>The BFA program requires that students maintain a minimum 3.0 average and the Conservatory expects them to present themselves professionally and physically fit on a daily (and nightly) basis or they will end up on probation and potentially dismissed.</p>
<p>BA students are not able to take any Conservatory classes at Purchase.</p>
<p>A potential applicant to either the BA or BFA program would have to decide the type of study and commitment they are willing to make to prepare for a career.
In the professional world, there are BA grads in front of the camera and BFA grads behind the scenes (and vice-versa).</p>
<p>Liberal arts courses are the kinds of classes most people think about when they think about college: English, history, mathematics, sciences, psychology, literature, foreign language.</p>
<p>They are NOT classes in acting or singing or dancing or movement or speech/voice. In other words, they are regular classroom classes.</p>
<p>My S is a very good high school soccer player and wants to major in Theatre/Drama. Many of the good acting programs are at colleges and unversities also have men’s soccer teams. Is it unrealistic to think that he could do both in college. Also is it possible that if the soccer coach and theatre department both wanted to accept him that he may be more likely to get financial aid? What kind of outside interests do theatre majors have time for? It sounds as though many programs are a total time committment but are there others that might even encourage outside interests?</p>
<p>Speaking only for a theatre conservatory, most weekday and some weekend time is devoted to Acting or related activities. At Purchase, the department head was very specific about the Theatre kids basically having no time to devote to extracurricular activities. </p>
<p>Again, I’m only responding to what I am aware of at one school. Other schools and other programs may have different time constraints and even encourage participation in extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>Check out each program’s workload and policies for participating in sports, clubs, etc. Most returning students in that particular program would also be able to tell you how much, if any time is available for outside activities.</p>
<p>BA and BFA degrees generally differ with BA students often being required to take more classes outside of their major – english, history, math, science, etc… and BFA students being required to take more classes inside of their major. The general breakdown with a BFA will range from 90%/10% to 70%/30% in terms of required classes inside of the major and outside of the major. With a BA the general breakdown will range from 70%/30% to 50%/50% in terms of required classes inside of the major and outside of the major. </p>
<p>It is important to check each school’s curriculum of required courses (and additional elective courses in the major) because not all BAs (nor BFAs) are made alike.</p>
<p>As far as showcases – the idea is that it is an opportunity to show your work in front of casting directors, agents, and directors… each school will have a different policy in terms of who can participate in the showcase (at some schools seniors are required to audition for a place). Some schools only have a NY showcase.. others will have multiple showcase presentations in different cities.</p>
<p>Results (in terms of being contacted by agents, etc…) will vary from person to person.</p>
<p>i would agree with you! Purchase is an amazing school - their BA Dramatic Studies program is grate and the BFA Conservatory s we all know is phenomenal..</p>
<p>It’s all about what you want..</p>
<p>does anyone know much about stephen’s college? it’s an all girls schools which, according to their website, princeton review, and wikipedia, are quite well ranked in theatre. any info, especially on their BA program would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>My mom actually graduated with an associate’s degree in opera performance many, many moons ago, when Stephens was only a two year school. I have casually followed the school since then (we receive alumni information) and it certainly seems to have a very sound and reputable musical theater/acting program. </p>
<p>The best thing to do would be to peruse the school’s web site and maybe contact the school’s theater department directly and see if you can talk with the chair to get more preliminary information.</p>
<p>Okay, so I have looked at the Purchase website and it is impressive and the way you guys talk about it, it sounds right for me.</p>
<p>I am looking to be an actress, non-musical or musical or film, no matter what. Although who wouldn’t want it, I’m not in it for fame or money. I’m in it because it is my passion and what I want to do with my life. Keeping that in mind Purchase sounds like a good pick for me. BFA very concentrated (someone said only one generel ed class).</p>
<p>My question is, what other schools could you guys suggest for me to look into. I do want BFA but taking say french or psychology would be nice. So a school that will not allow me to take anything outside of theatre would not be my first choice. Just one that focuses primarily on theatre and acting.</p>
<p>I’m going to be a senior this year and am new to everything college. I don’t have older siblings so there isn’t much for me to go off of. And I’m kind of worried because school is starting very soon and I don’t even have choices of colleges to apply to.</p>
<p>One more question that is very important for someone to respond asap. Purchase’s admissions criteria says 3 year of science lab. I only have 2 years. Does this mean they will not accept my application or that I will not get in?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about the academic requirements, because admission to the acting program is based mainly if not primarily on audition. As for other schools to look at, these are BFA’s that are strong and concentrated (like Purchase). They also have you taking at least 1 liberal arts/science classes a semester:
-Carnegie Mellon
-Juilliard
-North Carolina School of the Arts
-Boston University
-Rutgers/Mason Gross
-NYU</p>
<p>Thank you very much Blueroses1, I will for sure look into those schools.</p>
<p>I went to a site called **************.com and I was very disturbed. Purchase seems like an amazing college with everything I would want in a school. But on this site the school had bad ratings, most students said they would not come back and there were 11 negative reviews and 7 good ones. The negative reviews all basically said the school was snobby the teachers don’t know anything and think they do and that the housing and campus is horrible, there is nothing to do and that this school should only be a last resort bcause it is so horrible.</p>
<p>I’m just wondering if anyone knows if this is true? Or has anyone gone to this school? Is it really like this? Because I wouldn’t want to go to a school that tricked me into thinking it was good with its fancy site but in actuality it is horrible.</p>
<p>I’m really sorry I didn’t know I couldn’t post site names.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I didn’t know I couldn’t post site names.</p>
<p>TG, it’s great you are doing your homework on schools. I’ve read many of those post your opinion sites too.</p>
<p>Opinion sites are just that; opinions, not necessarily fact. I would recommend visiting Purchase (if possible) to speak with current students and faculty. You might want to draw your own conclusions of the pluses and minuses after you visit the campus. Despite the fact that the Freshman acceptence rate at Purchase for BFA Acting is less than 2%, (15 students this year) not all those accepted decide to enroll for various reasons. My son did not love the campus at first visit. When he found out he was accepted into the conservatory, he knew hands down that quality training was close to 100% of the reason he auditioned for schools in the first place. Everything else (housing, food, campus) was secondary stuff.</p>
<p>Purchase is located in a beautiful and scenic part of Westchester County, an affluent suburb about 30 miles north of NYC. There are major shopping malls, restaurants , movie theatres within a 10 minute drive of the woodsy campus. The housing on campus is far from ideal, with many triples this year. Dorms are all within close walking proximity to classes. The Theatre Conservatory is located within the Dance Conservatory building. Most classes are in this building. The overall feel at Purchase certainly leans towards artsy. My son attended a Peforming Arts HS so he feels very comfortable in an artsy atmosphere like Purchase. </p>
<p>We tried not to rely on the prestige or reputation of a program alone. As you mentioned, there are many factors to consider and priorities vary from student to student. What may be important to one student may not be nearly as important to another. It may help if you consider what you need from a school as opposed to what you want. If affordability is important, a state school may fit the bill. Graduating with $200,000 in student loans can be overwhelming for most 23 year old theatre majors. In the case of Purchase, my son has the chance to receive a high level of training with reasonable tuition and fees.</p>
<p>Online research and relying on college opinion and information sites can help to some extent. Setting your priorities (program of study, school size, quality of student life, etc) should help drive your research process.
.</p>
<p>Purchase doesn’t cost 200,000 does it? Because it says it costs about 26,500per year which means about 100,000…or is tuition based on semester? I’m very confused and certainly can’t pay 200,000 dollars. I just want a school that will give me the best acting eduacation in order to get me good jobs.</p>
<p>ThtrGeek, the current out-of state cost at Purchase is approximately $22,000 per year with room and board. This is roughly $11,000 per semester (two semesters per year). A NY state resident living on campus would pay approxmately $6,000 less tuition. </p>
<p>Again, there are many schools that offer great acting training. Purchase offers excellent training and reasonable cost. A big consideration for us was being able to afford 4 years of school without getting into too much debt. For example, Carnegie Mellon or NYU would be over twice that cost per year and would probably have been out of reach for us without scholarships. </p>
<p>Financial planning for college is a whole different topic among many to consider. You are starting the process early so that’s good.</p>
<p>Well seeing as I am a senior right now, I think I am very behind. I just want good training that isn’t going to kill me financially and I suppose the only way for that to happen is for me to keep looking and add to colleges like Purchase.</p>