Tier One School

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>How do you know if a school is a "Tier One" or elite school?</p>

2

<p>I don’t think there is a true Tier 1. And you will get many answers on here if you start asking how schools should be ranked. I think you will note there are some schools that have a long tradition of producing working actors on a national level. To me this includes Carnegie Mellon, CCM, NYU and Michigan. But there are certainly many, many more schools who consistently graduate working actors on a regional and national scale. I would include schools like Baldwin Wallace, Boston Conservatory, Juilliard, Syracuse, Ithaca, Penn State, Elon, Otterbein, Florida State and OCU in this group. Then you have some newer but exciting programs who are just beginning to produce graduates like Texas State, Pace, Rider and Coastal Carolina. Any and all of these and many more schools are amazing programs. But these by all means are not the only programs producing successful graduates.
There are many threads on CC that try to rank schools based on graduates working on Broadway or other measures. Someone less technologically challenged than me could provide you with those links. But my best advice is to use your own criteria to create your own rankings based on the criteria that are important to you. There are many examples of great performers who went to many different schools. Sierra Boggess went to Millikin. The guy currently playing Pippin on Broadway did not get in any MT programs and went to, I think, Missouri State? One of the female leads in Gentleman’s Guide went to Harvard. Steve Kazee went to Morehead State. They may have had to work harder to find opportunities or to get noticed, but they are proof positive it can be done.<br>
So while I think the top programs are great, don’t overlook other schools that may actually be a better fit for you just because of a name or a ranking.</p>

3

<p>I am curious @Ikemom what would spark this question, especially in a MT context where test scores and grades can’t really be used to help define the criteria for a top tier school. In terms of admittance numbers many of the MT schools would be considered elite.</p>

4

<p>I got a laugh out of the theory put forth in #SOBLESSED: the Annoying Actor Friend’s Guide to Werking in Show Business:</p>

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<p>This question comes up every year and there are many old threads on this topic. Here are a few of them, if you use the search function, you will find more:</p>

<p><a href=“top programs - Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1617651-top-programs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Best Musical Theatre Schools based on Broadway Alumni - Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1479281-best-musical-theatre-schools-based-on-broadway-alumni.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1116787-colleges-did-current-broadway-performers-attend-10.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1116787-colleges-did-current-broadway-performers-attend-10.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Top MT BFA Programs? - Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/912438-top-mt-bfa-programs-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Musical Theater College Ranking: Opinions? - Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/439469-musical-theater-college-ranking-opinions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/115201-best-programs.htmlhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/571238-best-musical-theater-schools.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/115201-best-programs.htmlhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/571238-best-musical-theater-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Your Opinions: BFA MT College Rankings - Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/205286-your-opinions-bfa-mt-college-rankings.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/389999-mt-colleges-tiers.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/389999-mt-colleges-tiers.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/317121-top-10-whatever-musical-theatre-programs.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/317121-top-10-whatever-musical-theatre-programs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1337495-college-prepares-you-best-broadway.html#post14356230”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1337495-college-prepares-you-best-broadway.html#post14356230&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<h1>SOBLESSED has to be my favorite read of the last year. Especially since D main “frienenemy” (a saga that could put Lord of the Rings to shame) had almost all of the characteristics Annoying Actor Friend says to avoid :)</h1>

6

<p>

To reiterate that the concept of “top” or “elite” theatre schools is slippery, on our D’s list Northwestern and Yale surpassed every school on the above list. As others have said in the linked threads, the TOP theatre school absolutely is a function of what an individual needs/wants in the way of education and training.</p>

7

<p>Yay time for the Top School annual debate LOL</p>

<p>In all seriousness I think the top school is the one that fits YOUR (or your childs) needs the best.</p>

<p>My S chose his school because “if just felt like the best fit” for him.</p>

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<p>Yes. Please read my entire post and not take sentences out of context. You will see I very much agree with MTMajorCook. Each person’s ‘top’ schools will be different. Choose what is best for you.</p>

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<p>@vvnstar - I didn’t intend to take anything out of context, but rather just to agree with and illustrate your initial point. I should have included that in my post above, but now it’s too late to edit.

Like you, I ABSOLUTELY agree with MTMajorCook and virtually all others here on this point. SO sorry if it felt like I was disagreeing!! :)</p>

10

<p>Forgive me for going off topic for a sec, but how do you guys copy and paste quotes inside boxes?</p>

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<p>[ quote ] Quoted text [ /quote ] - remove the spaces to get:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>[ i ] Italic text [ /i ] - remove the spaces to get:</p>

<p>* Italic text *</p>

<p>[ b ] Bold text [ /b ] - remove the spaces to get:</p>

<p>** Bold text **</p>

<p>You can nest these:</p>

<p>[ quote ][ b ][ i ]Quoted Bold Italic text [ /i ][ /b ][ /quote ]</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>And you can color the whole thing: </p>

<p>[ quote ][ color = red ][ b ][ i ]Quoted Bold Italic text [ /i ][ /b ] [ /color ][ /quote ]</p>

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</p>

<p>The [ quote ] [ /quote ] delimiters have to be on the outside of the formatting expression.</p>

<p>More fun:</p>

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</p>

<p>The formatting expression for that is:</p>

<p>[ quote ] [ i ]Here is a [ b ]bold[ /b ] word embedded in a string of italic words[ /i ] <a href=“remove%20the%20spaces”> /quote </a></p>

12

<p>These discussions always remind me of the following scene near the end of “1776”</p>

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</p>

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<p>Ain’t that the truth.</p>

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<p>Ahhhh… watched 1776 yesterday! One of my favorites! :slight_smile: </p>