^^Correction: Muhlenberg is a BA. It has auditions, but only for scholarships, not for admission.
Oops I stand corrected.
@“Yalie 2011” I haven’t read this entire thread, but wanted to suggest the student take a good look at Northwestern University School of Communication. They have an extremely strong, non-auditioned Theater BA. My daughter’s first choice, but she didnt’ have the stats. Worth adding to a list, for sure! NU claims to meet all accepted students’ financial need.
Here’s a link to their Aid FAQ’s - http://undergradaid.northwestern.edu/help/faq.html
@“Yalie 2011” The family should look at USC. It would meet their prestige requirements, I imagine. If admitted, he would get 1/2 off tuition as a NMF. He could, at least initially, pick a major acceptable to his parents while still taking some drama classes. There are a number of drama school plays that are open to non-majors, and a host of student run clubs which a non-major can join or audition for their shows. Alternatively, he can be a BA drama major at USC and have time to take other courses as well.
I already contacted Yale’s theater studies program. They have no part in undergraduate admissions. However, once he gets in then its not difficult to do be a theater studies major.
One funny thing, you don’t have to have an undergrad degree to get into school of drama for graduate degree, as long as you have established yourself in theater world. That explains admissions of some celebrities.
@“Yalie 2011” - Tisch evaluates academic and audition at the same time for BFA Acting. Many of the top schools focus solely on the audition while others focus much more heavily on grades.
Which ones value academics as much or more? I’m wondering how many dedicated theater students who are busy with theater activities in and out of the school can offer a 4.6 GPA or 1600 SATs? It should be at least a little bit appealing for theater directors to add that dimension to their programs.
Yalie, from your previous post I saw you had mentioned you are inquiring for your cousin. I would suggest inviting your cousin’s parents to come on to college confidential and do some research here and ask questions. The archives hold a lot of valuable information. Your cousin is lucky to have someone like you to advocate for them.
I already made this suggestion. He explored it this weekend and was quite excited.
@“Yalie 2011” - the BFAs won’t care- even the ones where grades matter, the audition is more important- there is no grade/score that will matter if the audition isn’t good enough. It’s just not the “dimension” they are looking for- sorry. Non audition BA programs are another story- and they will value his stats just as much as they would in any other major - as you probably know if you have been reading here about top academic programs- numbers are the door, not the key.
@“Yalie 2011” you would be surprised how many theatre kids have high stats. Not all of course but I know of a few who have or had what you described above. And many who were in the top of their class but perhaps not “the” top student. For at least one this meant getting a coveted full tuition scholarship at the program of choice. Stats can help with scholarships
@“Yalie 2011”
Yale drama for grad school requires an audition. And it is a mighty competitive program.
^^^Second what Thumper said. Yale’s acting MFA has a 5% acceptance rate.
Many BFA drama programs also have a 5% or lower acceptance rate.
@Yalie2011, my D was a NMF with a 2350 on her (old) SATs, top 5% in her class, and she had strong theatre credits including several semi-professional theatres. Most of her fellow Northwestern theatre class were like her. It’s unusual, but it’s not as unusual as you seem to think. It’s a big competitive world out there…
As others have said, your comments indicate you and the parents really would benefit from much more research, before you ask more questions. This is a good place to start.
For instance you write “One funny thing, you don’t have to have an undergrad degree to get into school of drama for graduate degree, as long as you have established yourself in theater world. That explains admissions of some celebrities.”. This is an example of your need to research more–It’s like saying that it’s a ‘funny thing’ that you don’t have to be pre-med in order to get into med school, or you don’t have to be a business major in order to get your MBA. This has nothing to do with being a ‘celebrity.’ Nearly all grad programs care about a lot of factors, especially including work and internship experience. But it’s way, way too early to talk about grad school when the student has very little experience or knowledge in what’s offered in undergrad and what his goals are. I would focus on that right now.
I wasn’t talking about grad program for him. It was a general comment as most reputable graduate/professional programs not only need an undergrad degree but in top of it, work experience, internships,GMAT, GRE, MCAT, LSAT etc.
I do agree with your suggestions.
“It was a general comment as most reputable graduate/professional programs not only need an undergrad degree but in top of it, work experience, internships,GMAT, GRE, MCAT, LSAT etc.”
Not to be nitpicky, but again, you are stating incorrect information. First, MFA programs - including extremely prestigious ones such as Juilliard, Yale, etc - as well as the British graduate programs, do not typically ask for GREs. MFA programs - which is what graduate acting programs are - care about the audition first and foremost, then your experience, letters of recommendation, personal essays etc. Your undergraduate major is not terribly important, unless you are applying directly upon graduation (which is not typical), and even there you dont’ necessarily have to major in acting.
On very, very rare occasions you can indeed be accepted into an MFA program without an undergraduate degree. This would be when your life experience is exceptional. This doesn’t necessarily apply to celebs; it can apply to a veteran, or someone who has been in prison, etc. People whose life paths are not ‘typical’ but who demonstrate great promise. But in the vast majority of cases you need an undergraduate degree in order to pursue your graduate degree.
Yale’s MFA for those without an undergrad is a certificate program. They do not get an MFA. Training is the same. Different piece of paper at the end. That paper can mean the difference between being able to teach at a university or not. (As one example)