<p>My D made her-decision-its CMU drama for summer! So forthose who have gone before-can she sing in the choir or take classes outside the major? Is there any type of performances at the end the parents can attend? How was the social life?</p>
<p>You might look at this thread to see if many of your questions aren't answered. The 'live' reports from the students (through-the-parents) ;) start on page 9. Before that are 'did you get in?' and 'before I go?' and 'should I bring?' kinds of questions. If you need more info, I would be glad to help, my S attended for acting last summer. PM or email if you like!
Carole</p>
<p>[thread=47705]CMU Pre-College![/thread]</p>
<p>With BU...</p>
<p>Once you audition, the theatre dept. sends of the decision to admissions. If you don't get in to the theatre, I'm pretty sure admissions does not look at your application. So, the theatre picks who they want and then admissions decides who fits academically.</p>
<p>SeaShells29-</p>
<p>I believe that BU weighs grades and SAT scores at least 50-50 if not more than that. My S's HS grades and SAT was not high enough for admittance.</p>
<p>We are about to embark on an east coast college tour looking mostly at schools with bfas in aacting but some bas. Does anyone have an opinion about Skidmore or UMass Amherst? Both BA's but I have heard they are good</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about the BFA acting program at Clark in Boston?</p>
<p>My son and I are looking at BFA programs for acting does anyone have any information about College of SanteFe, U of Colorado Boulder and UMBC's programs.</p>
<p>Here's the link to the College of Santa Fe on the Musical Theater Forum. In this sub-forum, there is discussion about the school and one posters daughter started there as a freshman this year.</p>
<p>I do not know anything about Clark's theater program, but I do know that it is not located in Boston. It is located in Worcester, MA, which is a fairly large city located about an hour and a half's drive west of Boston. Hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>Hi, I realize that most of this discussion has been about acting but I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on the tech at these two schools.</p>
<p>I've been accepted to both schools and originally USC was my top choice out of all my schools but after talking to someone CMU quickly rose to the top - mainly because I was worried that the location of CMU was going to hurt me, but he said location isn't that important it's the connections that a school offers that's important. Anywho, as I'm nearing the deadline for decisions I've gone back to being completely unsure of what to do. CMU has a far superior design program than USC but the city is really getting to me. One of my favorite hobbies isn't really offered there where as it is deffinitely down in the LA area. So, I guess my question is, does anyone know how much more beneficial one is to the other? If they were exactly the same I'd go to USC because I like CA (I'm from CA btw) and snow and rain aren't high on my list of things to enjoy... Not to mention, USC has a great film program and animation and stuff that I could also branch into while CMU has essentially no film. Also since USC is a larger university it offers a lot more majors, though I hope to stay in theatre design.But because CMU has such an amazing program it makes the decision extremely hard. What do you guys think is more important? Will having the better training make a huge differnence? </p>
<p>Thanks in advanced
-Andrea</p>
<p>I believe that the one advantage that LA has to offer, and USC (because of its film school) has an "in" with, is the film and television industry. Designers have entree to these lucrative (if not very artistically satisfying) industries; but you will not start out as a designer in this industry, of course...techies are the ground floor. Still, a living wage.</p>
<p>There is little paying theatre in LA. Period. If you want to work in live theatre, better to be closer to NYC, Chicago, Minneapolis, east coast, etc.</p>
<p>And I am partial, but I think that training always trumps weather.</p>
<p>eve</p>
<p>My S loves California, (we are from there) and he really doesn't like Pittsburgh a whole lot, but he chose CMU because of the training and the strong networking CMU has on both coasts due to the alumni organizations in LA and NYC.</p>
<p>I rarely see any theater tech parents around here or on the musical theater board, so I'll also take a shot.</p>
<p>It kind of depends where you see yourself working in the future. If you see yourself in the midwest or east coast, CMU definitely has the name recognition. And as Prof said, there is more theater there than here. On the west coast, CMU is less known, and SC has the advantage and lots of networking opportunities. Ex-Trojans can open lots of doors. </p>
<p>If you're thinking it's possible down the road you might diverge from theater more into film, I think SC can also exploit that much better. However I would agree that CMU probably has the better technical program and you will work much harder there and learn more than at SC. How does that feel for 4 years? Also, how much "real" tech work do the undergrads get, relative to the graduate students? That can be a factor.</p>
<p>Also I KNOW SC is very expensive (>$40k)--but I'm not sure how CMU compares. I can't really say which place you'd "come out ahead at the end" so to speak as it depends so much on the individual. You might do just as well jobwise with the less intensive program at SC and be able to enjoy the many other aspects they offer. </p>
<p>My daughter applied to SC last year because they are local to us, but rather unwillingly, as she felt their program was rather lightweight and they didn't even have a teacher in sound design which was her main interest. She was relieved not to get accepted actually, and so was I, considering the cost. She did not consider CMU. She was also accepted at UCLA for their BA tech theater major, turned them down, and went with Penn State where she loves their intensive program, so she practically lives in the theater. She doesn't mind the weather and wanted to "experience" another part of the US being a Calif. native. She is perfectly happy with the school and her decision.</p>
<p>It is a tough decision and it's a good thing you're trying to consider it on as many aspects as possible. But there's nothing like visiting to help the process. It can clarify things amazing well and real quickly, so I hope you've gone and seen CMU for yourself.</p>
<p>Yeah, I checked out CMU about a month ago. It's deffinitely a nice city and I like how it's much safer than LA. Also, CMU and USC are the same price.</p>
<p>My thoughts on film are just that it's extremely hard to make a living off of only designing for theatre so a lot of designers branch out to other things such as film or architectural lighting (I'm leaning more towards lighting, or possibly set). Honestly any job that deals with designing things is my ultimate goal. </p>
<p>The work load doesn't bother me at all, I already work at tons of outside theatres; I'm a bit of a work a holic, I can't stand doing nothing.</p>
<p>Takek: I have read lots of things lately that all advise a student to go to the school that feels like the best fit socially as well as academically/training-wise. If you aren't happy, it won't matter how good the program is. If your "gut" is telling you you'd be happier at one place over the other, I'd go with that - both are excellent programs and apparently cost the same. Also, although USC has an excellent film school, I don't know how much of that would be available to you as you would not be part of the film school and most of their classes are available to only those in the film school. My son was accepted at USC last year for its theatre program and they gave him an incrediable financial packet, but ultimately he opted for DePaul. It was a tough decision because USC has more name recognition and was a better financial packet, but when it came down to it Chicago and DePaul just "felt right" to him - and he is very happy there. He felt he was more of a Chicago guy than an LA guy at this point, and I do believe he made the right decision for him - although he could be cut at the end of this year as DePaul has a cut system, and then I may have a different opinion! Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Just FYI...CMU is definitely well-known by industry folks on the West Coast. In fact, CMU's LA "mafia" is actually bigger than the NYC "mafia," just because Hollywood has been so good to Carnegie grads for the last several decades.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wcdac.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wcdac.org/</a></p>
<p>Hello - I haven't checked into this site for quite a while. Everyone has probably decided all their summer program issues but jsut wanted to say that my daughter went to NCSA for two summers and loved it. Their program is billed as an introduction to conservatory life. As such they do not produce a play at the end. As far as i can tell everyone got quite equal attention. There was a lot of improv work as well as prepared work and stage combat which she loved. At the time I felt it woudl be a good way to think about really getting a BFA or not and also that in programs where plays are produced obviously the personwith a lead and the "herald" are having vastly different experiences ( for the same parental money !) and at NCSA I feel that it was quite equal. The last week of their program includes an audition preparation element and everyone does a monologue adn is critiqued by the gentleman who does the auditioning for NCSA a tthe college level. I believe you may only be eligiblel for thsi if you are a rising senior in high school though i sort of feel somehow my daughter did this twice. She is now in an "elite" program that also cuts so we will see what the summer and next year bring!</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>emom</p>
<p>clarifying a point on your last post, when you say a 'program that also cuts', you weren't referring to NCSA were you ? The college does not cut- I have it from the top guy- There is natural attrition, and if a student isn't working out they may be asked to redirect or leave. But as he said, they bring in 27 and their goal is to graduate 27.</p>
<p>My son didnot attend the summer program , but is in the one year HS program- much the same- No 'show' at the end , all about the ensemble, troupe-- A lot of time working with the college faculty, a lot of help with preparing for auditions.
NCSA drama is a very nurturing, but very intense. Not for everyone I imagine, but perfect for my son.</p>
<p>Hey everyone! I'm so glad that were talking about NCSA. I just applied to the summer program for drama. I'm from SF so I really want to go there this summer and confirm that it is indeed my number one choice. I had a teacher tell me that he thought I would really love it, and that he could see me doing well there. I would love to hear more info about it, just because it seems like not a lot of people know about it.. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>For more discussion on a variety of summer programs (including NCSA) check out the thread on the Musical Theater Forum. </p>