I agree that one should pick the school that they feel fits them best. I would not pick based on prestige.
While a not an analogy per se, but the same point…when D1 was narrowing her list of acceptances to revisit and consider in spring of senior year, she eliminated her acceptance to University of Pennsylvania (including being selected as Ben Franklin Scholar there), an Ivy, and preferred Tufts and Smith to Penn in terms of fit. She landed at Brown, but the point being, she wasn’t picking based on prestige. When she went to her second grad school, she picked Berkeley over Stanford because she felt the program at Berkeley was a better fit for her than Stanford.
Anyway, I was saying earlier to the OP that her quandary with Northwestern had to do with what if she didn’t get into the MT Certificate program there and I think if she talks to current theater students and recent grads, she may find out how she can indeed train and be involved in MT at NU and so it is worth digging further and also hopefully visiting both schools. The pros/cons exercise and the exercise in assessing how each school matches (or not) her personal selection criteria is very helpful along with visits and talking with those on campus. These two schools are very different from one another.
PS…I had an MT advisee in the past turn down Northwestern and NYU/Tisch (and others) to attend Texas State. I had another advisee turn down Brown and Stanford to attend NYU/Tisch.
Yes @myloves exactly. I’m not disparaging the fine Northwestern name lol but all the time on CC …like ALL the time everyone says “fit fit fit” and how important it is to not go gaga over a schools name & then when asked about a choice to be made from a high school student all the responses tend to say chose the school because of the name prestige… Just sayin it gives sorta a mixed message in my opinion…I realize the comments are made in good faith and I haven’t doubt the Northwestern connections are cast in theatre but if you go there and it feels “off” … I mean you do have to stay there for 4 years…
… and of course many kids at Northwestern turned down top BFA programs and Ivys for NU. I agree it is all about fit, but would hate to see anyone turn down NU due to concerns about auditioning into a Certificate program there (there are other Certificates including Acting for Film, etc), most of which can be replicated outside of the Certificate program.
@theaterwork#21: I agree about the mixed message there. But I don’t think every response to the OP said to go to NU no matter what. Some did, I realize.
By the way, you don’t have to stay at any school for 4 years if unhappy with it. You can transfer (not to say you should go into it with that mindset).
I’d also like to mention that both of our kids got great benefit from being st a school as well endowed as NU. Both had paid summer research opportunities through the school, as well as several amazing travel and performing opportunities.
Not trying to say Northwestern isn’t a stellar school which it obviously is … It just seemed to me that several posts were saying to go there because of what the name would do on your resume afterward.
And yes of course you can always transfer schools…
From what I read, the OP is only holding back on NU because of fear, not prestige, name etc. Again, don’t let fear hold you back from doing what you want. <3
Your decision making is obviously yours, so I encourage you to think about the pros and cons of each and really determine what you want. The 2 are vastly different. My D was not wanting to be as far away as Chicago so she didn’t apply to NU, but would have faced a similar dilemma had she gotten into Brown (she didn’t). Had she gotten accepted, she would have gone to Brown over Hartt even though it would have meant putting together her own program (no MT option there at all, but exceptional Theater program) because of the overall stature of the school. You honestly never know where your future will lead, and in my mind, between the 2 choices you have laid out, Northwestern would be what I would want for my D. It is an incredible school with an excellent reputation outside the MT world as well as within.
You really can’t go wrong either way. They are both great opportunities. Viterbo is a very underrated program, and NU comes with all of the bells and whistles being touted here.
As further illustration of the importance of individual fit, while @toowonderful’s D chose NYU, many MT kids at NU chose it over NYU without a second thought and are very happy to have done so. There is no one universal “best” choice, but for what it’s worth I don’t know of anyone who has transferred out of NU.
Northwestern has a fabulous reputation, but my sister went there on a huge scholarship (granted, many years ago, and for a different major), and absolutely hated it there! Great school, but just wasn’t the right fit for her at all, and she transferred. Do your research, visit, visit, visit, and figure out what is right for YOU. My daughter wanted MT and MT only so wouldn’t have even applied to a school where she wasn’t assured of that, but you DID apply, so you must be open to it. And yes, congratulations for having choices!
If you have specific questions about Northwestern or Viterbo ask away as I’m sure there are folks on cc (including me) who will be happy to help you find answers.
I also meant to mention that NU is currently on Spring Break so if they are slow to correspond now that is probably why.
I wanted to speak a bit to these points you raised. Last time I checked, the average class size ar NU was 8 students, and the entire MT cohort D’s year was only 15 students, but it is certainly true that the overall Theatre class of 100 is larger than many BFA programs. While many of those students are future straight actors, film actors, comedians, directors, writers, producers, our D veiwed the wider group of contacts (both students and professors) as a big plus for the program, and feels that even more strongly as she watches her fellow classmates already beginning to permeate all aspects of the entertainment industry. It is true, though, that Northwestern students play a very active role in tailoring their curriculum to suit their unique interests, which is different than the process at most BFAs and might appeal to some types of kids more than to others.
And ss to your second point about the quality of education, it has amazed me to see how often academic interests have come into play in the various contracts D has booked over the past couple years. Who know that discussions of obscure historical events (Ds second major) could result in rapid bonding eith directors and producers… but you never know what will help you stand out in a crowd of hundreds of talented actors.
One final thing I’d meant to mention is that in our experience many of the smaller BFA programs will very actively woo potential students, but NU will not. While the wooing feels very warm, inviting and flattering, I would really try not to let it influence your decision for a few reasons. First, that is exactly what it is intended to do. Second, wooing (or the lack of) is not a real indication of either the training or the emotional experiences you’ll have during 4 years of college. Third, if you’re planning to become a working actor it’s good to not be too attached to being woowed… hah!.
Well I’m guessing when everyone wants to go to Northwestern it seems, they wouldn’t need to “woo” anyone. None of the top tier schools woo anyone as they have a zillion applicants. I’m guessing some of the smaller programs , at least a few, are wooing applicants in an attempt to build up their programs.
@theaterwork- you might be surprised at the amount of woo that comes AFTER acceptance from some highly regarded programs. After all- as often pointed out here- they accept many of the same kids. The only BFA where we got a lot of woo was from Syracuse my D’s year. I will freely admit I loved it ( who doesn’t want to hear a program director talk about how much he wants your kid?) but it actually turned D off- I think it was a significant factor in her going a different direction. (That and the fact that she really wanted an urban campus)
