<p>I read on the site that they accept freshman and sophomore transfers, and I’m not sure if that means they place transfers at one of those levels, or if once you have a certain amount of credits you just aren’t allowed to audition. Anyone know?</p>
<p>It means that they accept transfers, but you have to start the BFA curriculum from the beginning, for the most part. This is true not just at Montclair, but at many other places as well. For instance, my daughter transferred in this fall. She has plenty of credits to be a sophomore, but she's with the freshman group of BFA MTers. One or two of her classmates who transferred were placed in an acting class past the first one, but that seems to be on an individual basis.
The advisors go over your transcript to try to find as many equivalent courses from your earlier college as possible, so that the credits transfer. If there's no equivalent, you need to take Montclair's course.
And of course, some of this could be subject to change as the pool of auditioners for Montclair's program has been increasing very quickly, now that people have figured out what a good program it is!</p>
<p>My d transferred into the BFA MT program post-sophomore year. It took Herculean effort (taking 12 credits last summer) and lots of negotiation that has been very time-consuming and paperwork-heavy (my sympathies to both her and her advisors) but she is graduating "on time." You do have to be very active in checking and re-checking the WESS graduation audit to be sure they get the right courses designated in the right categories. So, it is quite a bit of work for all concerned, but you don't necessarily have to start (and remain with) the freshman cohort if you enter as a transfer. It is probably a more coherent educational experience to do that (it's tough to enter a group that's already been together for a few years), and I understand some programs require that you do "go back to go," even if you've completed a year or two already (at least as far as theater courses go). Good luck!...</p>