<p>Accepted to both programs. Can anyone provide feedback on the programs for comparison?
I am a dancer first!</p>
<p>MTCrazy, I don’t know anything about U of Miami so I can’t compare, but as I am sure you already know (or you wouldn’t have been interested in the first place), Point Park’s dance program is one of the very best in the nation! That coupled with the reputation of the MT program would in my opinion make it an extremely exciting place to be for an MT major who is a “dancer first.” As for Pittsburgh, it is a cultural “diamond in the rough” and is a great city for dance, MT and acting and PPU is really in the thick of it. Friendly people at PPU and in Pittsburgh in general, it is a safe environment for an urban campus. I am sure U of Miami has a great deal to offer too, but I don’t think you would regret spending four years at Point Park.</p>
<p>collegesearchdad… awesome & accurate description!</p>
<p>Something else to keep in mind is that the locations are very different places to live from each other in some material and substantial ways. Putting aside the climatic differences, Pittsburgh has CMU, Point Park and University of Pittsburgh in a city which is a great college town. I’ll probably get slammed for this, but my nephew goes to University of Miami Law School and describes the cultural and social scene as, well, so South Beach with all of the negative connotations inherent in the stereotype. Seriously though, in addition to the comments above, really think through where you would want to live for the next 4 years and what kind of environment really matches your preferences.</p>
<p>I can talk a bit about the UMiami Dance component of the MT curriculum because I visited campus, talked to admissions, and talked with a few current MT students…</p>
<p>There is apparently only one main dance teacher who teaches dance to all of the MT majors. Dance is suggested for 3 of the 4 years in the BFA MT curriculum at UMiami, but I believe seniors can still take dance if they opt to (according to admissions, but I would check on that). Dance is 2 or 3 days a week and the emphasis is on ballet and jazz. I believe there is a “dance styles” course that can be supplemented with the main dance curriculum, in which you can take one style of dance for a semester, depending on what they offer (tap, modern, etc.) but I would check on the specifics of that class and I’m not completely sure if it works with the MT curriculum. Look at the Academic Bulletin online for UMiami.</p>
<p>To be honest, the music/singing/acting components of the curriculum seem to me, at least, after research, to be more intensive than the dance component, and I hate to say that because I do not attend the MT program at UMiami, so I can’t really be the ultimate judge of that. I have heard some really good things about the quality of the dance training at UMiami, however. I did speak with Joshua Henry, an alum of UMiami BFA MT who starred on Broadway SCOTTSBORO BOYS, was in IN THE HEIGHTS, as well as other dance shows, and he said that he has been cast in multiple heavily intensive dance shows because of his high quality dance training at UMiami. Apparently he entered the program as a non-dancer and left with a strong base of dance training.</p>
<p>So honestly, it’s hard to say how strong the program in dance is, but I would visit dance classes, which you can do on campus!!</p>