<p>Hi I've been accepted to University of Miami's BFA Acting program, Montclair State's BFA acting program, and waitlisted at Elon University's BFA Acting program. If anyone knows ANYTHING about these programs, or how the waitlist at Elon works...I would love to hear anything!! I'm trying to make a decision and would appreciate some comments.</p>
<p>First of all- Congrats! Have you visited these schools? What part of the country are you from. If you love the very warm/humid weather- then Miami is the place to be. Miami is a major city and the university offers the full college experience- ie. Division 1 sports, Greek life… A lot of entertainment venues (most of the big concerts and shows go to Miami) are available and South Beach is minutes away. I don’t know much about the BFA Acting but the MT program has been on lists for 2nd tier of top schools for MT (under schools like CCM, CMU…) The campus is like a resort and full of Latin flavor. The school is also ranked higher nationally than the others and the admission requirements are pretty high there. Montclair would offer better proximity to NY and I have heard that Elon is really pretty. Good luck! (My son is in BFA Acting at Tisch but he got into UM for Classical Guitar. Having been born and raised in North Florida, he wanted a scenery change and decided that NY had more to offer for him and better public transportation)</p>
<p>Thanks supportive! I’m from the northern part of the country so the warm weather in Miami really appeals to me. Do you mean that Miami ranks higher nationally than the others in terms of academics or arts?? (arts is more important to me) I should be visiting both of them soon(except for ELon, still trying to figure outa bout the waitlist), but still trying to get as much information as possible so I can make the best decision:)</p>
<p>I think you will love Miami then! (A lot of “Yankees” live there and the shopping is great) Anyway, US News and World Report does not rank arts programs. Most of the arts rankings are subjective. Miami is ranked #47 in the Best National Universities in the 2011 edition. Montclair is ranked 61 in Regional Universities- it’s not on the national list Elon is also not on the national list but ranked 2 on the Regional list. So, Miami is considered more prestigious if you will. However, as you know- a really good theatre program isn’t always in the top ranked colleges. For instance, DePaul is ranked #136 in the Best National Universities list but it seems that their theatre department has a higher reputation than UM. Just about everyone in the country knows UM and I believe UM has a higher arts reputation than Montclair- again- this is based on what I’ve read on MANY arts boards. People from all over the world go to UM. Anyway, even though the arts are the most important- you gotta fit- know what I mean!</p>
<p>Congratulations on having choices! That is very exciting. I know very little about those programs. My D applied to MSU but was rejected. It’s a nice campus, excellent facilities, wonderful stuff going on, and has great access to NYC - that’s all I know.</p>
<p>Some good questions to ask at this point would be:
- What are the exact details of the curriculum? Can you look online and create a potential 4-year plan for yourself, and which school offers what appeals to you most?
- How are the performance opportunities set up? How are people cast, and how much experience can you get on stage and also in tech and other areas?
- How do the gen eds appeal to you?
- What is your ideal “college” experience, and which one is more like that? There are no right answers here - but you probably have your own opinions about location, student body, academics, size, etc.</p>
<p>Visiting of course is great, and meeting students to see if they feel like “your” people.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>First of all, congrats on your acceptance into the programs! I auditioned at the North Texas Auditions back in November and received a callback from Miami. The campus is beautiful, but I really don’t know much about the program itself. I know it’s a relatively difficult school to get in to - the academic requirements are high - and after hearing how well some other students did on their SATs, I felt somewhat inadequate…So big congrats on that! One of my best friends auditioned for Elon, and I have yet to find out if she was accepted or not. I hear a lot of people on this website talking about how great a program they have, but you might want to do some more research.</p>