<p>My daughter is a senior planning to major in Costume Design. There is not a lot of information and discussion on CC about Theatre Design. I thought I'd start the discussion here in case anyone else is in the same boat. </p>
<p>She found out last night that she is accepted into Carnegie Mellon BFA Drama Design! We've looked closely at about a dozen programs and I'd be happy to share our experiences with others if you're interested.</p>
<p>Congrats! What a wonderful acceptance!</p>
<p>My D('15) has been looking into this major. We visited CM in August. Congratulations to your D for getting in. What types of projects were in your D’s portfolio? What other schools were on your list? We have a few more schools on her list to scout out in the spring. I’m open to hearing anything you want to share about your experiences.</p>
<p>Thanks! She just loved everything about CMU and after looking at other programs it was clear that this is the right place for her. </p>
<p>Her portfolio was pretty strong, I think. In all, she maybe had about 20 boards to show, many with 2 or more images on them. She designed costumes for 2 youth theatre musicals last summer and included photos and sketches from those. She also designed and constructed collections for a local fashion show and included photos and sketches. She had a lot of other 2D and 3D art in there as well. </p>
<p>Syracuse was very generous and offered to review her portfolio in person and provide feedback to her early (we did this in October) which was a great way to get feedback on the portfolio and make changes before starting the real portfolio reviews. </p>
<p>Schools she considered: She wanted a University (not just an art school) and wanted to stay East or mid-west (not south or west coast) so our list of schools was limited by those parameters. We visited Carnegie Mellon, Ithaca, Emerson, Boston Univ, Syracuse, Purchase, DePaul and CalArts. We did not go to UMich, although that was probably going to be her 2nd choice if CMU didn’t work out. For her, she liked the schools that were clearly investing in the program (CMU, Michigan, Ithaca, Emerson and DePaul) and found that the schools that were not investing (Syracuse and Boston) didn’t appeal to her. She was very impressed with Purchase as well (in spite of their limited resources), but Purchase is a real lifestyle decision that wasn’t the right fit for her. </p>
<p>Good luck with your search!</p>
<p>Can I ask what you mean by “lifestyle decision”? :)</p>
<p>Sure - Purchase is a very artsy and edgy school. The conservatory training and reputation is great, and the value is incredible, even for out of state students. I think that the arts students and professors are incredibly passionate and the graduates do well. We have several family members that went there for the arts and loved it. </p>
<p>The drawbacks for my daughter was the edginess of the scene there. We were told to take a look around campus “after dark” and I’m glad we did. It has a very distinct vibe. To me, if felt like kind of beatnik meets punk. I think is a great school for some kids, but just not my daughter. </p>
<p>Does that help?</p>
<p>Yes that does! Thank you. That is the complete opposite of my D. We will certainly take a visit to make sure this is the right school for her. I appreciate your candor.</p>
<p>Lizzy, if Purchase does not appeal to your daughter, then perhaps SUNY Fredonia will? They offer a BFA with an emphasis in Costume Design and I certainly don’t get a beatnik meets punk vibe after dark while walking around the campus!</p>
<p>I would recommend that midwest students look at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. BFAs in Design/Tech, Acting and Musical Theatre. BAs in Drama and Dance. Admission to all tracks is based on an audition and/or interview. Affordable tuition.</p>
<p>If my daughter is looking into costume design and really wants an artsy school any thoughts of places to apply?</p>
<p>@kcdunlap - Out of the schools we considered, the “artsiest” schools with the strongest Costume Design programs were probably CalArts and Purchase. We didn’t visit UNSCA or Univ of the Arts in Philly, but I think that the artsy vibe is strong at those schools too (with solid Costume Design programs). </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has a great mix of very artistic and very bright students - a very creative program, but I wouldn’t call it “edgy” in the way that CalArts (Valencia, CA) or Purchase presented. </p>
<p>One great way to find the strong programs is to research the past few years of costume design award nominees from stage, film, and TV (Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe and Design Guild awards) and where they studied. We did that and then used it as a starting point to find the programs that are graduating top talent and strong networks of designers.</p>
<p>Another tip: try to visit schools when they have a show in production. Attending a performance is a great way to get a sense of the training, product and reputation of the program. We saw a show at almost every school when we visited, and it was VERY telling and had a HUGE influence on my daughter’s decision in the end. </p>
<p>I hope that helps. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>I’ll tune in here just to say that UNCSA has a way less “artsy” vibe than University of the Arts in Philadelphia, which is funny to say, since it is North Carolina School of the ARTS 
University of the Arts, Purchase, VCU, CalArts: edgy-artsy; the kids at UNCSA struck me as more of like two of the places we visited – Mason Gross and CMU, mainly.</p>
<p>Congratulations on the acceptance, btw! What a great program!</p>
<p>UVaHoo87: Thanks for the input on UNCSA. We never visited, because my daughter was committed to staying in the northeast and attending a university - not an art school. (although we looked at Cal Arts to appease grandparents who live in Valencia!)</p>
<p>Hello, I’m a high school junior and definitely want to major in Costume Design. My criteria for schools sound similar to your daughter’s. I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me. How did she develop her portfolio other than designing for youth theatre? Any art classes? I’m considering a few summer theatre design precollege programs (CMU, Emerson, Northwestern) but I’m not sure they would be worth it. Any advice is much appreciated.</p>
<p>Is CMU precollege worth it? A qualified yes: if you can afford it, if you want to know if you fit in a BFA design program, if you want expert help with your portfolio, or if CMU is your dream school. The program prepares you to apply to their program and all similar programs. They take all of the guesswork out of the process, which is huge. They also accept a lot of precollege students after the program is over. It’s not the most fun program (If you go to Northwestern, from all reports, you’ll have one of the best summers of your life.) because all of the precollege DPM students are hoping to get those coveted acceptances to the college program, so there is a lot of competition. (In this respect, it’s not like the college program. Once you are accepted, your classmates are your allies.) But do I recommend it? Yes–and so would my D, I think. </p>
<p>Thanks for the input @theater mom. Any thoughts @Lizzy5851?</p>
<p>@Costumedesign1 - It’s really great that you are thinking about this now. My daughter’s portfolio was mostly work that she produced from spring Junior year through the summer before senior (and some early Sr year work from AP Studio Art). About 1/3 of the work in her portfolio was costume design (3 shows, lots of photos of her best pieces, a few sketches) all from youth theatre productions. 1/3 was fashion design (photos and sketches). The rest was mostly 2D and some 3D art (painting, drawing, sculpture). </p>
<p>She has been really fortunate to live in a great arts community - she is very involved in youth theatre and has taken a lot of art and fashion design classes both in and out of school. She also has top grades, SAT, strong writer, etc. She has performed in a lot of shows too. So the whole application was pretty strong. </p>
<p>About pre-college. We made a decision for her not to attend. It was really about spending time at home and with family, and she found an opportunity to spend 6 weeks last summer working on 2 shows, with a great mentor and a lot of responsibility - so she got great experience and portfolio material from her summer anyway. </p>
<p>When we visited CMU we met a graduating senior that did attend their pre-college. She loved it and felt like the faculty admissions decision for her had been made by the end of her summer program. She was probably one of their top graduating costume designers last year. </p>
<p>So my advice is this: </p>
<p>Pre-college is great, and I’m sure it’s a wonderful way to spend a summer. But I clearly think that you can develop a top portfolio without it (if the time or the money is a problem for you) I never felt like it was a strike against my daughter that she did not do pre-college. </p>
<p>Particularly if you are worried about all the other parts of your application (grades, sat, resume) then pre-college would probably be a great way to boost your application if you can afford it. </p>
<p>Either way, do take lots of art classes - everything offered at your school and at a local art school if you can. Find opportunities to get involved in local theatre. Design if you can, and if you can’t, then just volunteer to sew and fit, etc. Sketch costumes and construct them, even just for spec (not for a real show). </p>
<p>I hope that this helps. All the best of luck to you! I will look forward to hearing how it all turns out. Let me know if you have any other questions!</p>
<p>@Lizzy5851 - Thank you so much. This was extraordinarily helpful and very reassuring! Just one more question for now: How did you and your daughter feel about Emerson’s program? It’s still on my list as of now but I get the feeling that it’s not quite at the same level as, say, CMU or DePaul. Thanks again for the advice!</p>
<p>@costumedesign1 - We liked Emerson. The facilities are very nice (performance space and costume shop / design studio) and the program looks strong. The 2 things working against Emerson for us were 1) the size of the school. My daughter really wanted a university and Emerson is a bit cozy. and 2) reputation and networking. We didn’t feel that Emerson would provide the same level of career support through alumni networks and reputation/name recognition that CMU and some others would. However, the Emerson program was impressive and I’m sure that the costume students get great training and lots of experience. Definitely worth a visit so you can rank the program for yourself. </p>
<p>Our approach was to keep a list of all the programs, do our research and rank the schools against my daughter’s own criteria. Knowing how competitive it can be, the goal was to have a ranked list of schools that she could be happy with, and take schools off the list only after finding something objectionable. CMU was number one for her, so she applied early and got in - process complete. #2 was Univ. of Michigan and #3 was Ithaca. Your list will probably be different, but the process helped to keep us all sane because it was about prioritizing. I honestly think my Daughter would have been very happy at U. of Michigan or Ithaca, if Carnegie had not worked out! </p>
<p>One other thing to think about - - we tried to see a performance at most schools we visited. It got a little crazy to schedule the visits when shows were in production, but it really helped to understand the overall quality of the programs. We were very glad that we did see shows and it played a huge role in helping her figure out what she wanted.</p>
<p>:-) </p>
<p>@Lizzy5851, thanks so much again. I will definitely keep all of that in mind!</p>