<p>I was hoping that someone would be able to give me a little bit more information on one (or all!) of the below institutions and help me out with my big decision... Being that I need to choose a University to study at so that I can go on an exchange from my university here in Australia!! :) I am currently studying a Bachelor of Theatre (specializing in Music Theatre) and would like a university that has a strong music theatre program, or straight music! I would love the university to have a great college spirit as well as great programs and teachers! I don't ask for much! </p>
<p>I can only choose from... Endicott College; Northern State University; Southern Utah University; New Mexico State University; Eastern Illinois University; Buffalo State College; The University of Texas at Brownsville; and Casper College.</p>
<p>I am definitely leaning towards Southern Utah, Eastern Illinois or University of Texas at Brownsville, so if anyone can give me whatever information they've got I would be forever grateful!!! :) Also, if anybody has any information about the areas that these universities/colleges are in that would be amazing too! There's only so much information 'Google' can give me! </p>
<p>Thanks heaps everyone! I really look forward to reading your replies! </p>
<p>Hi, Emma. I think the reason that no one has answered you is that the colleges you have to choose from are not well known as musical theater colleges. This is not to say that they don’t have music and theater opportunities; indeed, if you Google them, you can see what they offer in the ways of music and drama. But, I think it will be hard for the people on this thread to compare these schools in terms of their musical theater programs, because most of the people here are focusing on the more well-known MT programs. I would suggest going to the College Confidential threads on these individual colleges themselves and asking the people familiar with these schools what information they have on MT and/or music, and about school spirit, teachers, etc. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Emma, I have worked in this business for 20 years, and have never worked wit anyone from any of those colleges. </p>
<p>Why don’t you contact all the colleges and ask them for names/ emails of their alumni IN THE BUSINESS that you can talk to about how they felt their education at that place helped or didn’t help so much in their careers? If they fail to provide any names, I would beware!</p>
<p>Are you more of a singer, more of a dancer, more of an actor? that’s important.</p>
<p>Endicott is close to Boston, and on the ocean, on a nice little campus. And Boston has fabulous theater to watch, or even audition for. I may be biased b/c I live in Massachusetts, but if I had to pick one of those schools, I would pick Endicott. Eastern Illinois is 3.5 hours drive from Chicago, which is far, but Chicago has great theater, too. Really, I think Endicott gives you the best of both worlds, and a taste of what the east coast of the US is like.</p>
<p>I am currently a student at Endicott. The location is great (both for musical theatre because of the proximity to Boston as well as in general), but there’s next to no musical theatre program on campus. We don’t have a theatre major and I don’t think we have a theatre minor, either. We do four shows a year, two of which are musicals. We did The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee first semester and Cabaret this semester. The shows were great and everybody involved is extremely talented, but the department here is extremely small.</p>
<p>I echo the warning about Brownsville, TX. It is on the Mexican border and not a very picturesque spot. However, it is close to South Padre Island (partying and beaches). I would only recommend it if you are studying Spanish, Latin American studies, etc. Not theatre.</p>
<p>Southern Utah does have a substantial theatre department including a BFA Theatre with MT emphasis and a summer Shakespeare Festival. Fair or not, it also has the reputation for being where Mormons go when they don’t get into Brigham Young. Mormon influence seems to be particularly strong at the school, for example, the university invited the head of the Mormon church to be their commencement speaker in 2009:</p>
<p>Great location for skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc.</p>
<p>UT Brownsville was an open enrollment school up until this school year with a partnership and shared campus with Texas Southmost College (a junior college). They are now transitioning into a more of a typical UT system school, but the transition away from the shared campus partnership will continue through 2015. I don’t think that they have a theatre department.</p>
<p>Buffalo State College does not have a music theatre program, although it offers a B.A. in Theatre Arts; a B.A. in Television and Film Arts; and a dance minor. You could probably piece together a program from the courses offered in those majors/minor. It would be pretty tough to get into vocal music classes at the college, unless you would want to audition for the vocal music major (small program, classes reserved for majors only). If not, you’d probably have to arrange and pay for private lessons outside of school, which could easily be done. The theatre department stages 3-4 plays and 1 musical each year. The college is in a great location – right in the city of Buffalo (near North Buffalo) and within walking distance to all kinds of trendy shops, restaurants, cafes, museums (the awesome Buffalo Museum of Art is directly across the street), theatres, nightclubs, a gorgeous city park (again, across the street), and whatever else you might be looking for. You could easily take the bus from campus to anywhere in the city. As far as school spirit goes, it’s somewhat of a mixed bag, some students are totally into supporting the sports teams, others are not. But the college does have a large athletics program, including a football team, ice hockey team, basketball and all the other major sports teams. So if you’re looking for school spirit, it’s what you make of it at Buffalo State – you’d certainly find like-minded kids who share your enthusiasm, and others who could care less. With regard to the teaching staff, I would guess the instructors are well-qualified. The City of Buffalo has a large, thriving arts community with lots of professional theatres and theatre companies. Many very-experienced, well-respected artists involved in the local theatre scene also teach at the college.</p>