Theater Programs

Hello all. My D is a junior at a competitive college prep school and she is in love with theater. She has excellent grades while taking primarily AP and Honors classes, just received her PSAT score and scored in the 99th percentile, and she is also very involved in the theater program as a performer and Thespian society leader. She would like to major in Theater in college, but she would like to do so and still be able to attend a selective university where all of the work she has done to excel in academics will also be valued. Her short list right now is Northwestern, Brown and NYU. My desire as a parent is that she attend a school that will have prestige in the theater community upon her graduation. Can you help out with a list of schools that would work for us?

You could look at Vassar, Harvard, and USC.

Since you have mentioned 2 non-auditioned BA programs and 1 auditioned BFA program, here is a mix of both types of schools. Everyone’s list is going to have subjective biases, but I have tried to limit the list to schools that I feel are truly fits for all or most of what your D seeks. This list therefore excludes Juilliard and UNCSA, arguably 2 of the top 3 undergrad drama schools, since they are true conservatories, but I’m certain there are some very smart kids attending those 2 schools.

Northwestern
Brown
NYU
Yale
Harvard
Carnegie Mellon
Boston University
Wesleyan
Barnard
Fordham
University of Michigan
Emerson
Vassar
UCLA
USC
Sarah Lawrence
Syracuse
University of Minnesota-Guthrie
Skidmore
Connecticut College

Another way to address the desire for strong, higher level academics is to do an honors program alongside the theatre degree at a less selective academic school.

Carnegie Mellon is an excellent school and theater program - but they operate separately. BFA students only take 1 class a semester outside the major. It is really a conservatory education that just happens to be “happening” at the school. And you can see that in admit requirements- the stats for other majors at CMU do not apply to drama. I know a student attending CMU who graduated HS with well under a 3.0 and a 22 on his ACT. Ergo- it might not meet the criteria of the OP

Also - question for OP - are you primarily interested in audition based (generally BFA, though there are exceptions) or non audition?

That looks like a very good list to me. We also had Washington St. Louis and Davidson on our list of decent academics plus theater BA programs.

A Rep for Boston University told us the Theatre program is separate from the school itself. If she decides to change majors, she’s not considered a BU student and would have to apply. Doesn’t sound like a problem for your D though. But a big hassle.

I have never heard this about BU…you have to be admitted to the school to be a theatre major. At least that was the case two years ago.

I think Brown, NU and NYU is an excellent shortlist for what she seems to be looking for, but I’m not so sure about prestige in the theater community.

@Vms2017 said

Not too long ago Jon Jory (a theater director, writer and professor) published an article saying - “The only undergraduate programs the profession gives a damn about are…Juilliard, Carnegie Mellon and North Carolina School of the Arts…All the rest are either okay or not okay” source: http://editiondigital.net/publication/?i=234963#{%22issue_id%22:234963,%22page%22:20}

I linked that article here on CC and a working actress @fishbowlfreshman‌ followed up:

@Vms2017 said

With regard to academics plus theater - It’s hard for me to improve upon @elsacc list; except I might add Williams College - we visited three years ago, and my D attended classes, met with the dept head and saw a play and she was blown away. They have a great facility and a world class summer festival:

http://62center.williams.edu/about/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWBvBFyxk18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXiq8WQ6iGw

There are some BA schools with vibrant theater (My D is at one) but they have limitations. Here’s a good article about the limitations of a BA - http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/04/23/up-close-for-thespians-yale-degree-not-enough/

I remember the Jon Jory article- and he made some pretty bold declarative statements. While he is welcome to his opinion, I am not sure it is shared by the full theater community.

Great list to explore…

CMU and Syracuse students do not have a lot of interaction with the university at large. Emerson is mainly a communications and arts focused school, so may or may not offer the kind of experience the OP is looking for. All are definitely worth checking though.

Second adding Williams for a look… also Kenyon, American, James Madison, Trinity (CT), Dartmouth, University of Evansville, and Columbia (undergrad program with Barnard) to look at. All very different, but with some unique opportunities.

Protocol question. What is the consensus on sending thank you notes after unifieds auditions. Are they generally done and if so, by email. What if there were more than one person observing audition. Thanks.

My son did handwritten notes, but this was three years ago, so possibly email is the way to go now. I don’t think it makes any difference really, but it’s a nice thing to do.

Thank you all for excellent responses. As for the audition vs. non-audition question there is no preference.

Do not overlook Hamilton. I don’t know much about their theatre department per se, but in terms of theatre facilities (function, aesthetics, proportion), theirs may be the nicest even in comparison to the excellent suggestions thus far.