<p>I am a Swedish guy looking to take up acting classes in USA (California) about this time next year after having finished high school, which means i'm looking for an undergrad program. Now, the problem is i have no idea what would best suit my preferences and so i made this thread in hopes of getting some good advice and guidelines!</p>
<p>I want to do acting and acting only. I'm not interested in majors that have 50% of the courses being about the history of theatre and whatnot. I want to work on my acting and everything that implies (voice courses, movement courses etc. etc.).</p>
<p>Also, i'm not very experienced, i've only done a few school plays before, but immediately knew this was what i wanted to do for a long time coming. What this means is, i probably ain't good enough to audition my way into the most renowned universities around, since i doubt i'm good enough to even stand a chance.</p>
<p>Another thing that should be taken into account is my budget. I have ~$20 000/year to spend on tuition.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>There are people on this forum who are very knowledgeable about California schools and I imagine one or more of them will chime in soon.</p>
<p>A question for the OP: Fictional, is there a reason you prefer a California school? Some people like the idea of going to school in CA because of a particular interest in film acting. I don’t know whether that is the case with you.</p>
<p>If you broadened your geographical range, you would have a far greater choice of US schools of varying degrees of selectivity and cost.</p>
<p>Living in California and doing a undergrad program at 20,000.00 a year is just not going to happen and you have to take classes on the history of Theatre no matter what. Maybe Acting Studios in L.A. like Stella Adler and The Acting Studio at Edgemar in Santa Monica might be a better fit.</p>
<p>The reason for me wanting to study in California is because of the climate/environment and because, yes, i am very much interested in film acting! I would consider studying acting in other states, but i figured since California should be the best place to network with people already in the film/tv industry and the fact that i am already in love with the state, i might aswell go there.</p>
<p>I also considered NY as an option, but i prefer the climate and the environment in California to such an extent that i decided to focus fully on trying to find a suitable school there. However, if there are some magically good school on some other location, i would consider it, tho it would really have to outshine the Californian options.</p>
<p>I have seen that tuition fees vary widely between colleges, and so i don’t really know what the norm is or what i should expect. I have some savings available, but if i want to study for 4 years, as i plan to, i can’t really go above $20k in tuition cost. I do have more money available than that, which i am going to spend on housing, food etc. and so the $20k cap is for tuition alone. Though i would prefer to have a somewhat less expensive tuition fee than that, to give myself some margins, if possible.</p>
<p>I don’t have anything against “history of theatre”-classes, it’s just that i would prefer to keep those to a minimum, if there are such options.</p>
<p>Maybe an acting studio would be something to look into. However (i might sound like the pickiest guy on earth) i would very much like to experience college life, whatever that may imply, so i’ll check that out first!</p>
<p>On an ending note. I spoke to a company in Sweden which arranges for swedes to study abroad and they recommended Santa Barbara City College. I noticed the tuition cost is very low and they seem to have a somewhat good reputation (?). What about taking an Associate’s Degree in Theatre there? Are their acting classes any good for beginners?</p>
<p>Regarding the idea of taking acting classes at a community college in California…apart from how good or bad the classes might be, community colleges don’t provide housing.</p>
<p>Santa Barbara is an extremely expensive city. Where does the company that arranges for Swedes to study abroad say that SBCC students from Sweden would live?</p>
<p>They provide two options, 1. “Buena Vista Apartments” and 2. “Active Student Housing”. The first option would be to live in an apartment with 3 other students from this organization and the second option would be to live in a villa with 5-7 other students. Not much more information is given and i am not sure in what part of Santa Barbara these are located either. According to this site, the housing isn’t that expensive, atleast not to the point where i wouldn’t be able to afford it.</p>
<p>Santa Barbara is great but, a good maybe two hours fromL.A. Just about all community colleges offer some kind of Drama classes look into Santa Monicas community college program but, once you start this type of college you need to get enough credits about two years to transfer into a university and that is where the money problem starts around 30,000 a year and up housing and food on campus around 11,000 a year.</p>
<p>The best bet for you is The Acting Studio at Edgemar. (I go there and I friggin LOVE it). You do hands-on workshops and classes like on-camera work, scene study, script analysis, improv, casting director workshops, and more. They also accept international students sponsored by M1 Visa. The site is [url=<a href=“http://www.theactingstudioatedgemar.org%5Dwww.theactingstudioatedgemar.org%5B/url”>http://www.theactingstudioatedgemar.org]www.theactingstudioatedgemar.org[/url</a>] or call at 1-310-392-0815.</p>
<p>Chapman University in Orange offers a very unique BFA in Screen Acting, and it’s also a great school. Excellent proximity to Hollywood as well as the theatre scenes in San Diego and Orange County.</p>
<p>Hi - Echoing what typecast said, if you want the college experience, you’re going to have to take a significant number of academic courses, both inside and outside the theatre dept.</p>