Theatre/Drama Colleges Part 7

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
41

<p>Thesbo,
Yep, it's true that there are no perfect schools. But, there aren't any perfect students either. At this stage in your search I think it's good to learn as much as possible from websites and other people's impressions. However, as you've said, websites put on their rosiest faces and other people's impressions may not be the same as your own. </p>

<p>My own darling D got a report from a theatre class buddy regarding her visit to U. Michigan. The friend was planning to major in drama and my D in MT. D's friend came back home with a very negative report. She did not seem to like anything about the campus. She seemed to get the impression that U.M spent lots of money on other programs, but the drama program was treated like Cinderella. She had a lengthy chat with a girl from a city near us who'd gone to U.M. only because it was the school farthest from her parents! She told my D's friend that she'd made a huge mistake because she hated the drama program and she hated the weather. I'm sure her comments added to the friend's negative impression. My D was surprised and rather dismayed by her friend's comments. U.M. had been at the top of her list. I could tell that her friend's comments were having an effect. When we visited the campus a few weeks later, my D fell in love with the place. She said it was hard to believe that she and her friend had seen the same school. I think my D learned from that experience that she needed to see for herself and not trust other people's opinions too much. We visited another school the same week. That particular school is highly touted for both drama and MT and it was my D's number one choice. After visiting and seeing two productions, she knew it was not for her. We felt that the school's reputation was inflated based on what we observed. (Another family from our hometown visited three days later and had the same impression.)</p>

<p>I think that you can learn a lot from a visit. You will soon find out what size campus or what size program is appealing. You can tell something about the caliber of a school's program from seeing a production. You can pick up on that mysterious thing I call atmosphere by talking to students and sitting in on classes. I know you've had many theatre classes during H.S. You'll know when you observe a drama class whether or not you would work well with a particular instructor. After a few campus visits (some of which were audition trips) my D had a pretty good idea which schools were appealing and which were not. She did make second visits to the final two schools on her list to make her decision. At that time she observed as many classes as she could squeeze in at both schools. She took private voice lessons at both and talked to current students. She felt comfortable in the end that she had made the right choice. Have faith that the pieces will fall into place for you too.</p>

42

<p>Fosselover,</p>

<p>Thanks for asking about how we are doing. At first, I was “away” because we had no power or telephone, then I was too overwhelmed by the hurricanes. I have been lurking about, on and off, but since my thespian daughter is only a freshman in high school and the college one is majoring in film and creative writing, most of the time I feel I have nothing worthwhile to add. However, since you inquired, I will fill you in and ask forgiveness from the others for “detouring.” </p>

<p>With Frances we suffered extensive roof damage that resulted in leaks throughout the house. Unfortunately the prior owners had wallpapered the entire house, including ceilings in some rooms. Due to extensive leaks, the wallpaper is peeling everywhere and mold may be setting in. My husband is suffering terribly from allergies and I am not feeling that great myself. The wallpaper needs to be removed in the entire house (which is large) and it is impossible to get anyone to come do the work. Some rooms have walls that are 22 ft high so we cannot do it ourselves, otherwise I would have started removing it already. </p>

<p>As if problems with the wallpaper were not enough, the ceramic tile by the foyer buckled up and cracked from over saturation of the foundation and bad workmanship. Although the damage was only by the entrance, the tile extends to other rooms including the kitchen. It was tile original to the house and impossible to match. So this means that we need to remove and replace the tile in several rooms. </p>

<p>My home is a disaster zone. In addition to the hurricane damage, shelves in the walk-in closet in the master bedroom came tumbling down (unrelated to the storm) and we had to empty everything out of it to redo the closet. All this in between storms. However, at least our home is standing and no one was hurt. Friends in Pensacola did not fare as well and lost everything. So every day I count our blessings.</p>

<p>We are fortunate that we had not only windstorm insurance but flood insurance, too. Although we are not in a flood zone, since I always have been leery of a canal behind our property, we opted to purchase flood insurance when we bought this house. The windstorm would not have covered the floor damage but the flood insurance will. So other than some hefty deductibles mandated by recent regulations, over $10,000 in our case, insurance should cover most of the damage. By the time that all the repairs are done, the costs will exceed $80,000, the equivalent of 2 years of tuition and room and board at our son’s university (Brown), so I am thankful that we were well insured.</p>

<p>I am so glad that our daughter is only a freshman and the other one is in college already. When I think of the many kids whose homes were damaged and who are having to deal with college applications and setting up auditions while trying to recover, my heart goes out to them. Can you imagine having to deal with the stress of college applications under such circumstances? It must be unbearable.</p>

<p>Anyhow, good luck. I can’t recall if your daughter is a junior or a senior. Fill us in on the progress.</p>

43

<p>Dramatica - I hope you can get all of that taken care of in the near future! It's so rough to go through those kind of storms...but, like you said, at least your house is still standing. I've only been on the edge of a level 3 or 4 hurricane and in a level 1 storm, so I haven't quite experienced the same thing. I actually used to drive to Navarre Beach (Pensacola)...I can't imagine how that place looks now...</p>

<p>On another note...how are everyone's applications going? I'm having a hard time trudging through those essays. My theatre resume is also looking pretty bleak, but i've got to make the best of that.</p>

44

<p>I am SOOOOOOOO glad I found this thread! Many thanks to the person who linked the old part to the actors group on Live Journal! I am a sophomore in high school and plan to graduate a year early. The information here is going to be a world of help in picking colleges. My dad is in the military and we have moved around a lot, so I haven't been able to go to a performing arts high school. The drama clubs at the different schools I have been to have all been different in the actor training they provide though the teachers at the past two I have been to say I have a gift and have cast me in leads at school and found ways to get me into community theater shows. However, I still think I will be at a big disadvantage in getting into any of the top BFA colleges because I have not been able to get any kind of concentrated training for any length of time. It is kind of frustrating, really, because I have read lots of books but haven't been able to get the type of training I have been reading about. I think I might audition for some of the good BFA programs, but will need to also apply to some good BA type programs. I want to find some that don't require auditions, don't have a BFA program and don't have a graduate school attached but still have good teachers and a reputation for graduating people who have gone on to have successful careers. I need to research this for myself, but can anybody give me suggestions for some good places to look as a start?</p>

45

<p>Kellster:</p>

<p>I've recommended this book before, but it's worth listing it again. The Directory of Theatre Training Programs, 9th edition, lists every university theatre program in the country, with brief descriptions and contact information. It's a good place to start:</p>

<p><a href="http://dorsettheatrefestival.com/html/training_book.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://dorsettheatrefestival.com/html/training_book.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As for how to discriminate among programs, you can look at which schools participate in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. You can find links at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.kcactf.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.kcactf.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Each region's website is different, but you can find good information everywhere.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

46

<p>This is probably a good time to mention, for the benefit of new readers, the National Unified Auditions. Held in February in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the "Unifieds" offer prospectives the opportunity to audition for the best-known BFA programs in the country, as well as some from abroad. A link with the list of participating schools and their contact information can be found at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/thr/unified.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/thr/unified.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Other schools, not members of the Unifieds, also hold auditions during the same days. For example, Carnegie Mellon, North Carolina School of the Arts and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, to my knowledge, will hold auditions in Chicago from February 7-9, 2005. (Juilliard, for some reason, has scheduled its Chicago auditions a week earlier.)</p>

<p>A word about procedure. Unlike the group auditions held at various Thespian conventions, the Unifieds are individualized. Each college is assigned to a specific meeting room, where prospectives audition for college representatives. Arrangements for the auditions must be made separately with each school. This is awkward, obviously, but for many families the benefit of reduced travel expenses to several campuses outweighs the difficulty of juggling audition times.</p>

<p>Although the vast majority of students we see are interested in Acting or Musical Theatre, many colleges are also interested in interviewing prospective students of design/technology, stage management, arts administration, directing and playwriting. Check with each school.</p>

<p>We hope to see many of you there!</p>

47

<p>The Directory of Theatre Training Programs, 9th edition, is incredibly useful. Of all the books, we have used it the most. My D's friends who are not planning on majoring in drama, but want to still pursue the art, look through it to see if the schools they are interested in also have good theater training. I will pass it on to the drama club at the HS next year.</p>

<p>Thanks doctorjohn!</p>

48

<p>Thank you doctorjohn. I will get that book. I have another question. Some colleges that have BFAs say on their web pages that they are looking more for potential than than polish at their auditions. Is this true at some places and is there any way of telling which ones mean it? I figure there is no point in auditioning for schools like Julliard or the Cinci Conservatory without lots of training, but there must be some somewhere I would have a chance. I have to admit I am intimidated from reading all the posts from performing arts high school kids and from the moms on the musical theatre thread whose kids have been training their whole lives. Is it really possible to get accepted at the good BFA schools without having done all that? I am going to talk to my parents to see if they will let me go someplace like Stage Door Manor this summer to see if I can hang at all.</p>

49

<p>Kellster,
Be afraid. Be veeeeeeery afraid! Mwahahahahaaaaaaaa!!! NO! JUST KIDDING! :D Just make sure you take advantage of every opportunity you possibly can where you live. If you have the gift, you’ll have a shot. If you really feel like you’re missing out on the arts high school experience, maybe you should look at auditioning for the senior program at NCSA as an alternative to graduating early. You might look into transferring to Idyllwild or Interlochen or maybe going to their summer programs, too. If your parents can afford to send you to Stage Door, they can probably afford that. Really, this arts high school thing can be a double-edged sword. I don’t know how you can really tell which schools look for potential over polish and vice versa, but I keep being told to possibly expect some rejections for already being too advanced at some of my choices. I certainly wouldn’t have been this time last year! Some schools might also have a training method that’s a lot different from what I’ve done that might be viewed as incompatible, too. I know a girl who got accepted to some of the “Ivies” last year and her rejections came from schools she had considered closer to safeties. Another thing we run into is that I’ve heard from people who are very bored with the freshman programs they’re in right now because they’ve already done most of what’s being covered in their acting classes. In the meantime, they’re not growing much and the students who are newer to serious training are growing rapidly and might well pass them. As for actual colleges, if you have good grades and do well on your SATs, you might look at some of the small, liberal arts colleges with BAs that were listed in the earlier threads if you’re still not confident about the BFA schools. As I recall, some require auditions, but most do not have graduate schools. Catawba College is another possibility that doesn’t require an audition for the BFA program until the end of the freshman year. That’s good in a way because it’ll give you a chance to “catch up” the first year. They also have lots of big scholarships for students with high grades and SATs. On the down side, if you don’t get into the program, they’re not exactly a top academic school. Oops! I'm writing too much again. Off to rehearsal ...</p>

50

<p>doctorjohn,
By the time the Unifieds roll around, D will numerous auditions under her belt by travelling to campuses, and I think that the Unifieds are the way to go for any further auditions she does after Jan. 1 because of additional expense, time, and general wear and tear on the accompanying parent!! not to mention winter travel, which I am not fond of in snow county. </p>

<p>Would you state your opinion on whether one is at a disadvantage auditioning off campus?</p>

51

<p>Some of our numbers from last year may be revealing. Chrism, of the 17 initial offers we made for the BFA in Acting and Musical Theatre, 10 were to people we saw on the national tour. So I don't think that auditioning off-campus puts a student at a disadvantage, unless the school says so. Michigan is blunt--they much prefer to see people in Ann Arbor. But I think for the rest of us, as I've said before, we wouldn't make the considerable investment of time and money if we didn't expect to recruit a significant portion of our class from the unified auditions.</p>

<p>That said, it is easier for us to evaluate dancers on campus or in Chicago, only because I can't take our dance coordinator to NY, SF and LA. (In those cities, I put dance auditions on tape for her to look at.) But that doesn't necessarily apply to other schools. CCM, for example, does an extensive dance call everywhere they audition. But it's a very expensive proposition and most schools can't afford it. </p>

<p>Kellster, of the 16 who eventually decided to accept our offers, 8 had attended performing arts schools, summer college preparatory programs, or after-school theatre programs, and there's no question in my mind that they learned a great deal from these programs. But 8 had only done high school work and perhaps some community theatre. So don't count yourself out. If you believe in your talent, and if you really want to do this, you will find a way to do it somewhere. </p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

52

<p>Looking at the otterbein website (thank you by the way!) I see there is red writing about other colleges and simultaneous auditions. Some of the schools are ones that I am highly interested in, but I don't understand the simultaneous auditions, will their audtions be held at the same place, or will they be holding interviews and auditions at the same time, but at different places for each school? Sorry if this is confusing, or that I don't understand it, but it's been a long day and I still have to do homework! </p>

<p>Tomorrow SMU is visiting my school and I can't wait!</p>

53

<p>Devron:</p>

<p>This is the way it works. In Chicago, for example, the schools all rent different spaces at the same hotel, the Palmer House Hilton. Most schools are in meeting rooms on the second floor; a few are up on the seventh. Typically we've been in Burnham 4, and Hartt has been right across the hall, SMU around the corner, Ithaca a couple of hallways away, and so on. Each school sets its own schedule. We do 20-minute individual auditions and interviews. You would come in, we would talk for a couple of minutes, you'd do your audition pieces (which we videotape so that we can go remember you), one of us might work with you on one of your pieces, we'd talk about our program and answer any questions you have. Then you'd be done, and off to your next audition. Some schools do shorter auditions; some want you available for half a day. But the basic process is the same. Most students who come to Chicago do 2 or 3 auditions per day, but I have known some students to do as many as 16. I wouldn't advise that, however; by the time you get to the last one on Wednesday, you may not have much energy.</p>

<p>Does this clear it up for you?</p>

54

<p>For those of you in Southern California-</p>

<p>If you are going to the CMU presentation "The Da Vinci Effect" Nov.3rd at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel it would be nice to link up.</p>

55

<p>Thanks thesbo and doctorjohn! Its good to know there might be hope. Wow! I didn't know those arts high schools existed! I am going to learn about them and bring them up to my parents when they both seem like they are in a good mood. Does anybody know if it is possible to start at them when you are a junior? Does anybody know if you can declare for high school graduation and audition for colleges and still go to the NCSA senior program if you don't get into any of the colleges you like and do get in there?</p>

56

<p>Yes, thank you very much! I went to the SMU information presentation but I was only allowed 15 minutes by my english teacher. I live in San Francisco, so I suppose it's easier to go to auditions there in two years. I understand the process now, sounds pretty easy, but have there ever been any overlaps from audition to audition?</p>

57

<p>Devron, by "overlap" do you mean one audition taking a long time, and running past the scheduled beginning of another audition? It shouldn't happen if you allow enough time between auditions. For example, I wouldn't schedule an audition at 9 and another one at 9:30. But you probably could do one at 9 and another at 10:30. If you intend to do several auditions on one day, I'd recommened asking schools if they ever run late, and if so, by how much. The students and parents who have been through this may have some good advice for you.</p>

58

<p>hi everyone. awesome info on this group. </p>

<p>can anyone tell me anything about the drama department at university of arizona? seen plays, know someone that goes there, etc? i need to add more colleges to my list and have been looking at them. </p>

<p>there is a mom on this group that knows people in the business in new york. if you are still reading can you tell me what the reputation of suny purchase is in new york? also, i heard some rumors that julliard has slid downhill and is now overated. have you heard anything about that?</p>

<p>here is my list of schools i applied to so far ...
juilliard
cal arts
usc - doubt i have the grades
ucsb
uc irvine
utah
cal state fullerton</p>

<p>also, i want to do walk ins at the national unified auditions. does anybody know how that works? can the colleges do wavers if they want you and you are past the application deadline?</p>

<p>thesbo, if we both go to juilliard or suny purchase i want to go out. :)</p>

59

<p>Jewelyard,
Sure. Why not? It'd have to be at Purchase, though. I pretty much added them when I dropped Juilliard. Everything I've heard about Purchase is that the training is awesome, but it can be a weird place to go to school if you're a fairly normal person. I'll be interested in seeing what Alwaysamom has to say about their reputation in Gotham, though.</p>

60

<p>Jewelyard-</p>

<p>SUNY Purchase has a great reputation for acting training. I have not heard that Juiliiard has "slid". It is still an intense program as far as I know. The audition is intense. Cal Arts is big on experimental theater I believe. Make sure you go visit the campus. Not everyone feels comfortable there. It is very different for some people.</p>

<p>You can do walk-ins at the Unifieds. If they like you they will work around the application issue. I knew a student last year who did a walk-in for Purchase and was accepted and she never filled out an app. She did not decide to attend though. She is at CCM. </p>

<p>Have you thought about Chapman?</p>