What school are good for me?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>Hey everyone! I think using some of the college matching systems the internet and even this site provide might not be too useful for the theatre major community because there's more to a theatre school that suites you than just scores and setting.</p>

<p>Unlike most of the people on this site I don't have a perfect line up of stats and such.</p>

<p>ACT: 26 (Will/should be higher in the future)
uwGPA: 3.2 (I know it's bad, but I take honors classes, that and theatre is hard to keep it up)
Three AP Classes also.</p>

<p>EC(s):
Tons of theatre at my high school, I was an officer in my High School's theatre guild (Lettered), Math League for 2 years (lettered). Schools Pep Band and Concert band (Lettered)</p>

<p>Notable things:
I've had 2 leads in One Act Competition, one principal in a musical (also lots of speaking/ensemble roles) and lots of other major roles in comedies/plays too.</p>

<p>I run a blog. (this may be useless but I'll still list it)</p>

<p>I write content for an activism campaign page. </p>

<p>Outside of my High School I've performed in about 5-6 shows at a local community theatre during the summer and even more often when I was younger.</p>

<p>I took some classes at a professional theatre near me when I was younger and was in 1 non-main stage show (Children's Theater Company). </p>

<p>I live in MN, if that matters. </p>

<p>I am looking for a school in an urban setting. From what I've gathered, I'm more fit for a BA in theatre as opposed to a BFA, but I am open to anything. I am not the greatest singer, I can sing alright and occasionally I'll get singing stuff in musicals but I'm not good enough to be an MT major but musicals are great so I'd like a school that does some also. I like a wide range of theatre at the school, I'd like to be prepared to do any work in any theatre job, I don't feel I have to be on Broadway. A school that has connections/networking for after I finish school is also awesome</p>

<p>Despite my lower scores, I do really like to learn and take a variety of electives therefore a nice education would be wonderful also. Double Majoring is also something I'd consider, another interest of mine is communications, if I am a free lance worker having a larger range of options to find work for seems like it would be helpful. A few other things are must haves on my list are for the school to be secular and coed.</p>

<p>I hope that wasn't to crazy and nit piky, I'm just starting to get an idea of schools and saddly most high school guidence counclers arn't able to guide the theatre kids.
I'm looking for a list of schools that seem fit for me, a big list is great and ideally a handful of safities too.</p>

<p>The University of Minn is a school I've already looked at and seems great especially their BFA in theatre with the Guthrie but that seems very selective but I've heard great things of the BA there too. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Check out Columbia College Chicago, but be careful about its affordability to your family.</p>

3

<p>Columbia College Chicago is very easy to get into, it is very much a “safety” school.</p>

<p>I graduated in '98, and my only complaint would be that there wasn’t much help or advice about starting my career, not much networking or connections. There was no student showcase.</p>

<p>I don’t really see any point in double majoring in communications. If you really want a career as an actor, you need to commit to that goal 100% because it is so difficult and competive. And a theatre degree is in many ways a kind of “communications”.</p>

<p>Get the degree in the field you want to make your career. You don’t need a degree for your hobbies our your survival jobs.</p>

<p>I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t shoot for the selective programs, like the BFA with the Guthrie. You have a lot more theatre experience than a lot of the folks you would be competing with. And males generally have less competition than females anyway.</p>

<p>Many of these programs look much more at the quality of your audition and interview than they do on your academic scores. With your experience, you may want to look into more of these.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

4

<p>Thank you for your replies.
The only issue with trying to go around auditioning everywhere is that I don’t have the means to get to unified auditions or any place that’s too far away. The U of M BFA is close enough to me that I could audition there though!</p>

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<p>it sounds like Uminn is a great choice for u due to cost, esp in state, and strength of acting program, both for the BFA but also the Ba. plus i believe the Twin Cities has plenty of off campus acting options too. do u want to stay in minn or go elsewhere? Hamline might be option too if they are generous on FA and i don’t think your GPA would be that much of an issue there. By all means, focus on your EC’s. I totally agree a 3.2 is not bad with all the theatre you are doing and other EC’s you have but you want to convince the colleges you apply to of that too. do u think you’d be happy at UMinn or is it too close to home?</p>

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<p>also, some schools and I emphasize some may allow a DVD audition. I don’t think the highly selective ones do(could be wrong) but one school offered this to my kid as it was on the opposite coast so that could be option for auditioning. There are some downsides to a DVD audition but if it’s the best route that fits your budget, then look into it. At least you could at least apply to more schools that way.</p>

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<p>If you’re near Minneapolis, Chicago unifieds wouldn’t necessarily be that expensive though you might be too late to get slots now. You can get Megabus Minneapolis to Chicago for as little as $5 each way.There’s a youth hostel near Columbia/CCPA that’s about $45 a night for a shared room. (BTW, CCPA cares very little about grades or test scores, though they are not especially generous with financial aid.)</p>

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<p>Parachute boy. Are you a senior? Or are you a junior asking questions for next year.</p>

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<p>“I graduated in '98,”</p>

<p>I would suspect that any program has likely changed over time.</p>

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<p>@Dramamom0804</p>

<p>Awkward…I’m a sophomore, a lot of my peers have an idea of some schools they were interested in and my parents think I should think of something. I’m not too worried about detail-y stuff yet. This thread was just so I could start getting my foot in the water. Plus if there’s anything I should be doing to help me be prepared for the processes I’d like to know now as opposed to when it’s too late.</p>

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<p>parachute, the good news is as a sophomore, you have plenty of time to think about this and prepare. wish mine was as on the ball!</p>

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<p>Parachute boy. It’s fine to be a sophomore. I only asked because it seemed like some of the responses were geared toward you applying this year. You’ve got lots of time then and your resume is pretty solid. Get your grades and test scores up as much as you can to increase scholarship options and to ensure admittance into the more academically competitive schools. Keep doing what you are doing as far as being in shows. Do you dance? If not you may want to add some dance classes.</p>

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<p>I am not currently taking dance classes, I don’t exactly have the time right now. Next year I am going to take a lesser set of classes so I’m not as stressed and so I can focus on other stuff too. Maybe then I will consider it, I used to take voice lessons a while ago too, so I’ll have to see for next year. Thanks for all the help:)</p>

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<p>parchuteboy, your school type is similar to what my son wanted too so here are some schools we looked at or considered, all of which are urban. BU, Pace, Temple, USC, and LMU. other options would be NYU, American, Northwestern, and Depaul. and i’ve mentioned Uminn to you above. There are also several schools that are a short train ride from NYC if you’d be willing to live in a less urban environment. UARTS in Philly is also urban. My guess is the best connections would come from BU, USC, LMU, and Northwestern. Pitt and point park might be options too. pitt is not on the “A” list for theatre schools but they do a lot of theatre, emphasize backstage work in their curriculum, and have something called the repertory theatre that the whole student body can audition for. plus there are more playhouses in Pittsburgh than many are aware of that the school has connections to. obs CMU is in Pburgh too but that is very hard to get into and BFA only.</p>

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<p>oh and for now, i’m not even going to try to break down who of the above is BA, BFA, or both. those are just a list of urban schools I could think of with theatre. i know Temple and Pitt are BA only, USC and minn have BA and BFA options, pace may have both, i think LMU is BA only, and i will leave the rest for you to explore. We visited Pace, Temple, USC, LMU, and pitt if you have any questions about the campuses.</p>