<p>This thread has some GREAT questions in it… am hoping that more people can chime in with answers! The great questions include:</p>
<p>What are the top BA in ACTING programs?</p>
<p>What schools allow BFA students to double major?</p>
<p>And, what does the ranking that puts Drew U. at the top really mean? Does anyone know how good of a program Drew has right now? (My D is applying there.)</p>
<p>I have one other question that is related to the first one above: What school or schools on the East Coast have a program that is very comparable to UCLA’s BA program? (My D read about it and said “This is exactly what I want!!.. but on the East Coast.”</p>
<p>Thanks to anyone who has info about the above questions.</p>
<p>I would say Emerson - they have a BA Acting program that is very good. My D was accepted to the BFA Emerson program, but the BA program looked quite excellent. We were very impressed with Emerson, but it is very expensive. Still, you must audition for the BA as well as the BFA program.</p>
<p>The comment about Emerson was interesting. my S visited Emerson and liked the BA Acting program there. He is applying, but the financials look problematic. Emerson does not seem to be very generous on aid, unless someone makes the Honors program. I wonder if anyone has had any good luck with financial aid from Emerson.</p>
<p>I would suggest looking into UCLA.
It’s BA Theater - Acting is basically a BFA. The only thing is that you have a whole bunch of GE classes on top of your acting, movement, and voice classes, which makes the program even more intense.
When I was applying, I looked into USC’s program, but I felt even USC’s BFA program didn’t compare to UCLA’s BA program. I didn’t even bother to look into USC’s BA program.
Of course I’m a little biased because I’m an acting major at UCLA right now lol…if you have any questions about the program let me know</p>
<p>Great thread. Thanks to everyone who is asking these questions / providing such good answers!</p>
<p>One question that does not seem to have been answered is what schools allow BFA Acting students to double major? I’d really be interested to see if anyone has examples of schools that do. One particular school I’m interested in for example is SMU.</p>
<p>Syracuse allows double majors. In reality, however, it is very difficult to do in only 4 years because of scheduling. U-Michigan is another school that does, and the same scheduling problem applies.</p>
<p>SMU does let you double major, especially with the BFA in Theatre Studies emphasis. It’s much more difficult to do with the Acting Major, nearly impossible without summer school and/or coming in with a lot of AP credits. Minoring is very very doable for both though, as there is a larger liberal arts requirement than most BFA programs.</p>
<p>I think that what program(s) you look into should reflect what you want to do with your acting degree. USC offers the opportunity to double major AND pursue a professional career while you’re in college. If you want to be on Broadway, go to a school near audition (professional) centers. Likewise, if you’re interesting in movie/television look to New York and Los Angeles. While I certainly do not endorse the option of dropping out of school this is a reality for some actors.</p>
<p>USC, UCLA, and NYU have a natural rivalry. Admission to USC’s school is based (for BFA) most heavily on audition. For BA grades are more heavily weighted. And in the BA program double majoring is very doable.</p>
<p>As for the strength of the various programs, look at the graduates and what they are doing with their degree, where the graduates end up by location, and who are their successful/working actors. And, before you sneer about the word “successful” I know that enjoying one’s art is wonderful. But if you can’t get an agent (and USC provides a workshop for seniors with industry insiders), can’t get a job, don’t know how to audition professionally, then you’re likely to have a difficult time in the casting office.</p>
<p>UCLA audition is 80% of the decision, so I think that’s pretty heavily weighted too.
As for assisting the seniors, last year at the accepted students event, they told us that they had a special class (not just seminar) for the seniors. In the class, they had an opportunity to audition for casting agents, including those for soaps (which albeit not the best work is a place that many people start) and they also had to get an agent before they left the class. So, the seniors already signed with an agent as a condition of graduating, essentially…</p>
<p>I was just looking at the Temple website, and their acting BA looks just wonderful. It would be great to have more firsthand experience reflected on this thread-- chrissyblu’s is just great re: UCLA… One question is: how deep does the BA go-- how many acting classes, how various are they, size of faculty, number of productions… And gen. ed. requirements-- how flexible are they? </p>
<p>Also, it would be great to have a list of BA acting programs, as mikey asks-- that would really narrow down the field.</p>
<p>There is a Temple MT student on the MT forum who could probably give you a lot of info about the theatre department. Living in the Philadelphia area, having a son who graduated from Temple’s College of Liberal Arts and having spoken to students presently in Temple’s theatre program, I can give you some of the info you are seeking. First, because it is a BA program, there is a liberal arts distribution requirement that must be met. These requirements vary a bit from college to college at Temple but the info is there to be found on Temple’s website. Look at the Theatre department’s pages but also look at the pages for the college that houses the theatre program. There are “core courses” that must be taken as well as electives distributed among different disciplines.</p>
<p>The curriculum for the BA theatre/acting program is also posted. In addition to looking at just what is on the web page, also pull up the departmental handbook that provides a more detailed and thorough explanation of the theatre degree requirements, concentrations in acting, availability of advanced courses and whether the advanced courses require instructor permission (some do, some don’t - the advanced acting courses do).</p>
<p>The acting program has a very solid reputation. In fact, students a couple of years ago developed and staged a drama about returning veterans that was picked up for an off-Broadway production using the original cast.</p>
<p>Philadelphia is also a great theatre town. Temple is located about 10-15 minutes north by public transportation from the theatre district in center city Philadelphia which houses 9 professional theaters within 5-10 walking minutes of each other, featuring touring companies, local productions and original work, let alone at least half a dozen small theaters in the same vicinity. Take a look at the website for the Theater Alliance of Greater Philadelphia to get a picture of what’s going on that Temple students have available to them.</p>
<p>TIME Magazine’s recently released Top Ten lists for the decade of 2000-2009 suggest that Northwestern University may have the top theatre program in the country-- regardless of whether it is a BA or BFA degree program. Three of the top 5 plays of the decade were written and/or directed by current Northwestern Univ. theatre faculty members, including the #1 play of the past decade. One of these plays originated entirely on the Northwestern University campus with NU actors, directors, writers, etc. Northwestern’s BA program allows all
students to double or triple major in the college of arts & sciences. The theatre/acting program is in the School of Communications.
UCLA almost certainly is a top BA acting program simply due to the local acting/directing/producing talent & resources available.
Both programs are well known for their connections in the industry. Admissions to both program is extremely competitive.</p>
<p>Anyone here familiar enough with Pepperdine and Chapman’s programs? D is looking at several BA programs and would like to double major. The BFA Screen Acting at Chapman looks great but if not admitted to that would a BA at Chapman or Pepperdine be better for D who is interested in film and tv? In looking at each schools pages there is not alot of discussion on either.</p>
<p>^^Pepperdine, because the film school at Chapman is very, very prestigious and therefore very difficult to be admitted to. The Screen Acting BFA’s, however, are able to have access to that department. I’d recommend you look at the programs at Loyola Marymount and Cal State Long Beach because both have very good acting and film departments.</p>