<p>What can you tell me about the Musical Theatre BFA program at WMU?
-size of mt freshman class each year
-the program itself</p>
<p>The only thing I’ve heard about the school is that Marin Mazzie and Stephen Lynch graduated from the MT BFA prgoram there.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Jessica,
Unless someone new has joined the forum who knows more about WMU's MT program, nobody here seems to know very much. There has been some talk about it in the past, which I have participated in because I graduated from WMU and even taught there for a time, but not in the drama department. Also, my daughter visited them for their MT program a couple of years ago, but it was during the summer and she really only saw the facilities. Why don't you try to search what has been written so far, and hopefully, somebody who knows about the program will post their information soon!</p>
<p>This is a fairly informative thread from the past:</p>
<p>On that thread, you will see that the program accepts 22% or 34 out of 150 who audition. That is a higher rate than many of the BFA programs. Further, the applicant pool will not be as competitive (though still selective) than some more nationally known programs that draw students from all over the country.</p>
<p>Here is a tiny bit of very basic information about the university and MT program that I compiled for a student who was looking at this school but who has opted to not apply:</p>
<p>Western Michigan University: Kalamazoo, MI, urban, 21,400 undergrads, 85% accepted, Avg. GPA 3.4, 13% from top 10% of HS class, 33% from top 25% and 69% from top 50%, mid ACT 20-25. Theater Dept. has a BFA in MT, BA in Performance and a BA in Theater Studies. There are 9 faculty directed productions per year and these include a few musicals. The BFA in MT Performance is actually between the Departments of Theater, Dance and the School of Music (there are a few MT programs like that which are interdisciplinary among departments which is just different than a BFA that is self contained in one dept. ). There are quite a few music courses required in the curriculum. The dance course requirements seem a bit on the weak side to me, but you could ask if a student could take more dance since they do have a Dance Dept. there. They probably can as there is an allowance for some elective credits. </p>
<p>Otherwise the old thread I gave you the link to had some good information as a starting point.</p>
<p>I am from michigan and know several paople at the school, some in the MT program. I do not mean to bash the school, but it is not a quality program. Their training is far inferior to many BA programs.</p>
<p>They accept about 14 out of at least 300 each year. Check out their Alumni news - they also have some successful younger alums.</p>
<p>I know this is an old thread belling but since you posted I thought I would add that when we were at the last audition in March they said they had 550 audition. One of the graduating seniors had a job lined up with a cruise line and a couple other recent graduates I know are working regionally theatre</p>