<p>Any advice for a student who loves drama AND MT? My D has been accepted at BU for acting; waitlisted at UMich for MT (and Mason Gross for acting). She auditioned for programs that offered a BFA in acting and MT because she wasn't sure which would provide a better foundation if she wants both. If she is able to minor in music at BU and keep up vocal and dance training, any thoughts about doing that versus getting a BFA in MT? We understand that BU does limited MT (Sondheim, based on the info session--anyone know for sure?). If she wants the option to do both drama/TV and MT in the future, would it be better to be at BU?<br>
If anyone has any advice or specific knowledge about these programs, it would really be helpful. She's in Italy for 2 weeks with a HS group so won't have much time to explore. And...we realize that moving off of the waitlist at UMich is a long shot, but she was told that since she is accepted into UMich's school of LS&A, she could come to UMich as an Eng. Lit. major and take classes in acting and dance, then reaudition in 2010 for MT after she gets to know some of the faculty. That would improve her chances of being accepted, they suggested. Also, she knows this would mean at least 5 years at UMich...IF that were to happen. Anyone do what the MT dept suggested she consider doing??
Any advice would be wonderful--we're a bit confused at the moment!! We were pretty naive going into these auditions, so we've learned a ton through CC and through the audition process. In fact, we didn't even know some of these programs existed until the application deadline had passed. Wish we had known it all a year ago...
Thank you for your help!!</p>
<p>Somebody on this forum who knows about the quality of dance and vocal music instruction at the Boston University College of Fine Arts will surely weigh in when they see your question…I hope!!</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestion!!!</p>
<p>If she really does love acting, that should take priority. She can get good voice and dance training anywhere, the techniques for those are more widespread and available. But great acting training cannot be found everywhere! Great acting training is hard to find at MT schools, so look long and hard before she decides to go to a school where the acting is elementary and fundamental:)</p>
<p>You might be interested in these comments about Boston University from a thread on the Theatre/Drama forum:</p>
<p>"There is a dance minor offered and my daughter has a friend in the acting track who has so far been able to make it work. There are also “singing for actors” classes offered. My daughter was able to fit those in to her schedule this year because she took her liberal arts classes during the summer (at our local state university, much cheaper). That gave her some flexibility with her schedule which she found very useful.</p>
<p>My daughter says they really don’t have any musical theater. Most of her classmates all did musical theater in high school, they can all sing and many of them can dance, but the emphasis in the school of theater is very much on straight acting. The music dept is well regarded but the training is classical. She thinks that if someone really wanted to pursue musical theater while attending BU they would have to find a way to do it on their own, perhaps finding someone in the city to train with."</p>
<p>– Excerpted from Post #40 by WasatchMom on BU BFA Acting–Class of 2013 Acceptances thread.</p>
<p>Your D’s approach to applying sounds similar to S’s in 2007. A strong acting program was very important. He is now at CMU in Acting/MT so we can’t give firsthand reactions to either UMich or BU but they were both on his application list for the same reasons your daughter used. He wanted a strong acting base, even though he is a great singer. If she had been guaranteed a spot in the UMich MT class for fall, that would be a great option (and is there a chance that could still happen?). However, enrolling in liberal arts to see if she could transfer to MT (and start over) for 2010 is pretty risky. If she wants a strong acting program, we were convinced BU’s was excellent. S came away from his BU audition very impressed and also was encouraged by the faculty to consider a voice performance (music) minor as a great way to meet their requirements for a minor.</p>
<p>I agree with kedstuff in that your daughter should probably not enroll at Michigan on the <em>chance</em> that she can transfer into the MT department.</p>
<p>I would also look in to what acting and dance classes she could take at UMich as an LSA student. From my understanding those classes are pretty closed to students outside the Dept. of Theatre and Dance. I also think it would be very challenging for someone to try and really dive into the college experience with the hope of making a change after their first year. The fact that they were interested in her enough to waitlist her makes the prospect of a transfer much better than someone who was rejected but it would seem to be a really tough year of wondering…</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who has replied to this thread. The information has been very, very helpful. We really appreciate your insight and experiences, and it’s given us great food for thought.</p>
<p>UMich. No question.</p>