<p>My daughter is a junior in high school who studies dance at the various open adult programs in NYC. She has studied ballet and modern, as well as rhythm tap, in various dance schools since she was three, and has talent, but for the past year her dance training in ballet and modern has been spotty, at best, because she has had several injuries. My daughter is now recovering from her second long term injury in a row, a calf strain, and we are starting to think "What now?" College auditions are less than a year away.</p>
<p>So, on to my questions. Which schools have dance programs of good quality in modern dance, but are not the very top tier, so a dancer who has missed some high school training could be successful in the audition? Which schools with dance programs (I'm really interested in all degrees of competitiveness) offer excellent dance merit scholarship? Does anyone know of colleges with dance programs within a 2 hour drive of New York City that fit into either of these categories?</p>
<p>Most liberal arts colleges with great dance programs do not require audition to get in. Skill level may be assessed when signing up for the first class instead. I don’t think those schools offer any dance scholarships, but it would be possible to get an academic or need based scholarship. Sarah Lawrence and Bard are two within two hours of NYC.</p>
<p>My DD attends Slippery Rock University. She has many friends who are from the east coast and love SRU. The cost is affordable, actually less than all of our in-state schools. The dorms are gorgeous, they have LLC’s that have built in microwave/refrigerator and showers in the rooms. They also have a dance studio in the dorm. It is a great program, up and coming that your dd might want to consider.</p>
<p>We are east coasters and my DD is currently a freshman at a small LAC in MI. Not within 2 hours of NYC, I know; we were unable to find comparable programs with both generous dance and academic merit scholarships in the northeast. </p>
<p>Alma’s program has challenging academics and facilitates dual academic/arts majors (DD is dual Pre-med/Dance major); there are lots of dance opportunities in a variety of styles as well as a gorgeous theater in which students perform.</p>
<p>They will also reimburse (I believe to a max of $250) an out-of-stater’s travel costs to audition and provide lodging at their Alumni House during a student’s visit. </p>
<p>You should check out Adelphi University, I recently visited there and it’s practically right outside NYC since it’s in Garden City, NY on long island. The dance program is very well known as being one of the first in the country to offer a dance program. Additionally, the audition process is less rigorous than others because you take classes with the college students as an audition and then present a solo to the faculty after the classes. This way, you aren’t really auditioning with all the other applicants and it feels like less of an audition. From my experiences I didn’t perform my best at the audition for this school and was still accepted. As for scholarship opportunities they are tremendous. I received a combined dance/academic merit scholarship of 18,500 with the schools tuition being approximately 29,000. This is not including any grant aid or financial aid I will receive. Definitely check it out, reputable program, excellent location, great scholarship opportunities.</p>