Hi All,
I was hoping to get input from some people about applying to UCLA as a transfer for the musical theatre department. I know it is very competitive, but is there anyone who successfully made it into the program that can give me insight into the process as well as your background in theatre? How heavily does one’s theatre resume play into admissions? Do they mainly admit people based on talent? Or does experience weigh more heavily? I participate in theatre when I was younger and about two years ago realized it is something I want to do. I have been taking voice lessons and drama classes, but certainly do not have as much experience as other people. I am looking to learn and train at the university level, but am worried that my lack of experience will hurt my chances. Please let me know about the whole process and specific stats of people who have been accepted as Juniors!
ucla has a web page at http://www.tft.ucla.edu/students-admissions/prospective-students/ with some more info. You can contact them to see if they will have any events in your area since they say on that page
The general information page about the UCLA program is not very useful for the MT program. General admissions officers have little to no information about the process for this major.
The MT program is very highly rated and provides excellent training. It is one of the better programs on the west coast, which is not known for MT programs. It is highly competitive for admissions and even more so for transfers. It is an auditioned program: you reserve an audition space and auditions are held at the campus. There were no off-site auditions at the time my DD2 auditioned as a transfer, but that may have changed. The audition consists of a general information session with parents after which applicants split off to do a group dance, vocal audition and an interview.
For admission to this program, the audition counts the most. They look at your background and training, and of course you must meet the minimum academic requirements, but in the end it is the audition. It is very, very competitive for admissions. They admit 12-15 students per year, including transfers, out of hundreds of applicants. At our info session, they stated that they occasionally admit transfers but not consistently. They may not admit any for a couple of years but then may admit one. Our DD2 was admitted as a transfer but was the only one that year and she chose to go elsewhere. The program is designed as a 4 year program, but they do adapt it for transfers so that they are able to finish in 2 years.
If you apply, be sure to have all of your transfer requirements satisfied. Since chances for admission as a transfer are very slim no matter how talented you are, be sure to apply to other programs- many MT Majors apply to 15-20 programs. Look at non-audition programs too. Re-post this on the MT forum to get more answers. Also read that forum as much as you can to find out more about the application process.
One thing I forgot is that most MT auditions include some dance. My DD2 thought that the routine taught at the UCLA audition was one of the more difficult she encountered. If you are not dancing, you should try to take at least some basic ballet classes so you know some terminology. The more dance you can get in, the better.