<p>Hello! I have gotten waitlisted at my number one college, Emerson. But I need to put a deposit down somewhere else by May 1st anyways, in case I do not get off the waitlist. I still wish to major in Musical Theatre. I was wondering if I could get some advice and some feedback on which of these three colleges would be best to attend for that major and reasons why.</p>
<p>University of New Hampshire
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Salem State College</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>I know the University of New Hampshire has a good program as does Salem State. Salem State starts you out as a BA student and then you audition after your Freshman year and every year after that to enter the BFA. Salem State has summer theatre productions also which are very good. My daughter has a friend who is a Freshman there this year and is really enjoying it. My daughter was accepted to Salem State, but will be going somewhere else this Fall. She would have been quite happy attending Salem State. Her drama teacher at school attended UNH. It is a BA program. My daughter was not interested in paying out of state tuition when Salem State was as good so she didn’t investigate their program much. She also wanted a BFA program. Both have alumni that have gone on to do well. I know nothing about Univ. of Massachusetts. My daughter did not look into that program. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Salem State does not have a musical theatre major; however, it has a fantastic theatre major (students regularly win national recognition) and an excellent music major. A number of students major in theatre and minor in music, for a musical theatre focus- I don’t know if a double major is possible. I think they do a mainstage musical every other academic year, and do several musicals every summer (some of the summer musicals are student directed). I don’t know about UNH, but I would consider Salem State your best option in the Mass State system for a theatre major.</p>
<p>As a graduate of a MA public high school, 3/4 of the people I know are at UMass or Salem, haha… </p>
<p>I’ve heard only negative things about UMass but mind that they came from a girl who is really critical about everything. Note that she also said that she has to walk half an hour across campus to get to one of her classes, so I’d take that into consideration as well…</p>
<p>I’ve seen a few productions at Salem and have generally enjoyed them. I have a friend who was a theatre major there but dropped out last year (she’d be a senior this year) and she said the theatre major is like a cult… but I’ve also heard many many other programs referred to as “cults” so I don’t think that means much.</p>
<p>UNH has a a relatively new Musical Theatre Coordinator. I know some very talented students who are at UNH for Musical Theatre. Dance is a particular strong point of the program, I think. It might be worth contacting the program coordinator to arrange a visit, talk to current students, etc…</p>
<p>It may help you to know that at a local performing arts high school, UNH is almost always suggested as a non-audition school to consider for Acting or MT … we therefore know many students who chose to attend UNH and from what we hear, those students are very happy with the Acting/MT programs that UNH offers. Best of luck to you!</p>