<p>wow! thank you so much! I really hope I get in, cause it sounds like a pretty wonderful place to be! :-D</p>
<p>Do you still have those UArts vs. Syracuse charts available? My D and I would be very interested in the info you put together. We would be eternally grateful! I’ll be happy to send you my email address.</p>
<p>If you send me an email, I will send you the charts.</p>
<p>WOW! I read all the posts of HS seniors preparing for their applications / auditions and can’t believe it has been a whole year since my son was involved in all the excitement. He is LOVING being in Philadelphia and UArts! I think his biggest complaint is that they are keeping him very busy. Last night he performed for the first time at UARTs in the freshman “Living Arts” performances. He was very excited to be back on stage. His group came in 2nd place so he was thrilled about that. He was also cast in a senior directing project, so even though Freshman don’t have the opportunity to audition for shows he has had many opportunities!! He has also taken advantage of the many professional theater performances in the city. Student Rush tickets are offered at many theaters. All freshman are assigned a senior mentor and my son loves his and gets together with her frequently. He has Johnnie Hobbs for acting and absolutely loves that class. He feels that he has already learned so much! He has no complaints about his dorm (Pine) and has made many friends. I would say the hardest this for him so far is budgeting his $$$. It is hard with no meal plan, but we are working on helping him with that. After visiting on parent weekend I am convinced that UARTs is the place for him. We are just waiting patiently to get a glimpse of mid term grades to be reassured that all that money we are spending is worth it! Does anyone know when grades come out and if they are posted on student’s online accounts?? Still not sure about that :)</p>
<p>purple9, it’s nice to hear how much your son is enjoying his first semester. It really seems like only yesterday that my daughter, who is now a senior, was in his shoes and I remember well how it exciting it was for both students and parents. And you are right, even though freshmen are usually not cast in school shows, there are loads of other opportunities such as student productions. The music skills instructors are also often a good resource for other opportunities because of various work as Music Directors with which they are involved throughout the city. In my daughter’s freshman year (and later) she had many opportunities to be a “page turner” in the pit at professional productions which was a lot of fun and educational and also was part of a student ensemble that sang with some of the leads in Les Mis at a benefit concert put on by The Walnut Street Theater at the Union League. All of this came about because of mentoring relationships with Music Skills instructors.</p>
<p>With regard to auditions for shows, freshmen must audition towards the end of the first semester for the spring shows and can be cast but often are not simply because they are freshmen. At the end of the second semester, freshman must again audition for the following fall’s shows and often are cast. My daughter’s first school show was the fall semester of her sophomore year.</p>
<p>Grades don’t come out until the end of the semester. The school academic calendar has the date by which grades must be turned in. Once they are in, they are posted on the school’s portal for students. You have to log in under your student’s name to have access to the student’s semester transcript. If memory serves me right, there are mid semester reviews in which a student is advised of their progress and where they stand, but nothing is posted or sent home.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info!! I am excited that he will have the opportunity to audition for Spring shows. Just having that experience will be great!</p>
<p>I just want to echo what Purple9 has stated. Our daughter absolutely loves U Arts and she describes the program as “wonderful”. She has had terrific opportunities, is thoroughly engaged in her classes, is really busy and could not be happier. We are thrilled.</p>
<p>It seems like “just yesterday” that I started this thread. Now, some 4 years later, as my daughter is 6 weeks or so from graduation, I write this post sort of like my own “capstone graduation project”, having had the wonderful opportunity to closely share with my daughter her 4 years of college. I am tempted to title this post “Why UArts was the Right Choice”. Hopefully my daughter’s experience will be informative and of some value to those involved in the MT college search process for next year’s application cycle and for those who have acceptances on the table for September and are involved in the nerve racking process of trying to help their kid make the right choice for themselves. And for those parents who presently have students at UArts, perhaps you will see some of your own students and yourselves in what I write and we can share a smile knowing that as parents we “did good” for our kids by giving them the opportunity to pursue their artistic passion while obtaining a quality education that will give them the tools they need to venture out into the real world and continue to pursue their dreams and goals.</p>
<p>In April 2007, my daughter had options both between BFA programs and between BFA and very selective BA programs. It was a tough dilemma for her because each and every one of her acceptances was at a school that she could envision herself at. In addition, coming from a love for academics as well as performing, she was very torn between the liberal arts opportunities at the BA programs and the more narrow focus and specialization of the BFA programs. She had a threshold decision to make. She chose to go the BFA route because, as she put it, if she was going to commit to a performing major, she wanted 100% immersion both for the experience of the intensity and to test herself, her commitment and her ability to “make it” through the 4 year process of a BFA. As parents, coming from traditional academic/professional backgrounds and because our daughter was an all honors/AP student throughout high school, we held our breath more than a bit. In retrospect, it was not only the right decision for our daughter but one which did not in any way result in her getting sucked into an intellectual vacuum that one might be concerned prevails in a BFA program in general or at UArts, as an “arts university”, specifically.</p>
<p>First of all, a BFA program does not just consist of “on your feet” performing in studio classes. In the context of the artistic work, a student must engage in a thinking process of scene, character and script analysis that requires intellectual rigor and insightful self reflection. Putting that aside, in terms of academic work outside of the studio, UArts has made significant changes in its curricular requirements since its formation several decades ago as the result of the merger of performing arts and fine arts conservatories. The offerings and curricular requirements both within and outside of the theater department today reflect an educational philosophy that in order to be a “complete” performing artist, a student must have a solid foundation in an educational experience outside of the studio. In fact, the head of the School of Theater eschews the suggestion that the various theater BFA programs are a “conservatory program”. There is a commitment to liberal arts in various forms. Within the mandated MT curriculum, there are several courses in the history of musical theater and script analysis. These are literature based courses requiring extensive reading of materials covering the history of MT, historical, cultural and societal events and philosophical movements that relate to what was occurring in the world in which MT as an art was developing. These courses also require reading a plethora of dramatic literature. Research and the writing of papers was a regular component of the time my daughter spent in these classes. Outside of the department, students are required to take about 8 other liberal arts classes. Most of these will involve literature or the humanities and UArts offers a broad array of such classes. For those who desire hard core sciences, while UArts itself does not offer laboratory based science courses, it has a cross registration arrangement with the Philadelphia College of Sciences, a very well regarded school offering degrees leading to entry into the health care professions. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding UArts’ commitment to liberal arts, there is, however, a “flip side”. The school is not a full liberal arts university; it is in fact an arts university. Non-departmental liberal arts courses are through the liberal arts department of the school as opposed to stand alone departments that cover different areas of study and are in their own right degree conferring departments. As a general matter, there is not a progression of courses leading to “advanced level” courses in particular subjects. Students come to UArts to get BFAs in some area of the arts. There is no expectation of a minor or a double major in an area of liberal arts study. Notwithstanding the liberal arts requirements, there is in many respects a priority in the culture of the school, on a variety of levels, which is grounded in the arts curricula. This results in a prioritization of resources and time. Some students give short shrift to liberal arts. Some of the non-departmental liberal arts courses would not be considered rigorous. But there are many students, like my daughter, who were high achievers in high school and who value the liberal arts opportunities. There are many liberal arts classes that will provide as full a liberal arts experience as comparable courses at other colleges. For those who seek it, there are excellent liberal arts opportunities both in terms of the diversity of course offerings and the quality of the course content and instruction. My daughter has taken liberal arts classes with instructors she has felt were stellar and with content that was challenging and engaging. The key is that students need to ask their advisors and other students about courses and L.A. instructors that will give the type of L.A. experience which is wanted. Once my daughter scoped out the landscape, she was able to find liberal arts opportunities as challenging, enriching and worthwhile as any liberal arts class she would have taken at any other school. For my daughter, the mix of liberal arts and the MT curriculum was right for what she wanted. As compared to other BFA programs to which she was accepted, housed in more traditional colleges, the “arts university” culture had a significant benefit. When my daughter was in shows, her liberal arts instructors understood that with classes from as early as 8:30 am to as late as 6:50 pm and rehearsals going from 7-11 pm, she might occasionally need a relaxation of a due date for a paper. As a senior with permission to audition for outside productions, her L.A. instructors have understood her need to miss classes occasionally for scheduled auditions. At the same time, however and particularly during her last 2 years, she has had a gratifying liberal arts experience. </p>
<p>When deciding from among her acceptances, my daughter was of course concerned with comparing the balance of the MT curriculum. It has been written elsewhere that MT programs must provide the opportunity for “triple threat’ training. In my daughter’s experience, UArts meets this objective. The MT program puts a strong emphasis on acting. Ask an MT student about the role of acting in the MT program and the typical response is that the program turns out singers who are actors. For 7 out of the 8 semesters, MT students and acting BFA students take the same core acting studio classes together. They also take some of the same speech classes. The acting program in the sophomore year is Meisner based and in the junior is actions/objectives based. The acting and MT programs differentiate in areas of specialty. For example, while acting students take mask and stage combat, MT students take courses in acting the song. While acting students take other specialized acting classes, MT students take classes in MT repertory. Individual voice lessons, individual vocal coaching and MT performance/repertoire are of course heavily weighted in the curriculum. My daughter’s growth as an actor and singer has been wonderful to observe. The faculty has consistently pushed her boundaries and has given her the training, tools and ability to significantly expand her range and competence both as an actor and a singer and to perform at a professional level.</p>
<p>The dance component of the curriculum, taught through the School of Theater, while not as time intensive as the acting and voice components, has none the less enabled my daughter to grow significantly as a dancer. She came into the program with a fair amount of ballet, jazz and hip hop experience, having studied dance for many years during high school, competed on a dance team and having worked as a dancer for an entertainment company since she was 15. MT students take 3-4 ½ hours of mandated dance classes a week, depending on the semester, focused on ballet and jazz with classes also in tap and partnering. For those who want more dance, it is available though not mandated. Students can drop in on additional MT dance classes and can also register for dance classes in the School of Dance with instructor permission. My daughter has done both. Her technique has consistently improved as has her knowledge of choreography for musicals. She feels confident that she can hold her own in an audition looking for actors/singers who can also dance. However, there are those who feel that more mandated hours should be spent on dance and upon further reflection my daughter agrees that this would be a positive change. There are also those who feel that there should be more advanced offerings. My daughter again feels that her technique in core ballet and jazz has improved each semester but that more advanced dance offerings through the MT program would be beneficial for students. It bears reiteration, however, that while acting and voice/MT performance are given more weight than dance in the structure of the curriculum, this doesn’t mean that a good quality dance education is not provided. Improvements could be made, as noted, but as I have described above, students do graduate with competence as actor/singers who can dance.</p>
<p>The course offerings and curriculum don’t mean a thing if you don’t have a strong delivery system i.e. faculty. When we were looking at UArts back in 2007, one of the things that impressed us was the number of full time faculty in the School of Theater. In my first post on this thread, I described how the faculty consists of pros who continue to work in the industry outside of “academia”. All of that remains true. After almost 4 years, what I think has been borne out by experience and is perhaps even more important is that the professors and instructors my daughter had have been effective educators. Creds and working experience are great and important, but if the person running the class can’t teach, then everything else is rather moot. Overall, my daughter’s experience in all of her MT related classes has been a very positive one in terms of the quality of the instruction and training she has received. Her professors and instructors have been invested in helping her grow as a performer, have been effective educators and have provided her with guidance and mentoring over the years. Because they are working pros, they have also facilitated connections and opportunities in the theater community of which students can take advantage during the school year. More on that later.</p>
<p>One of the questions often raised is how are the performing opportunities at a school. At UArts, students audition towards the end of one semester for the shows being staged during the next semester. Starting with the second semester, students are required to audition. The school puts on about 8 shows each semester at least 2 of which are main stage and at least 2 of which are musicals. Acting and MT students all audition for the same shows and MT students can be cast in straight dramas and acting students who sing can be cast in musicals. Excluding freshmen, who in practical terms are not frequently cast for shows that run during their freshman year, about 2/3 of the eligible students get cast each semester. Some students get cast more than others but no student goes the 4 years without getting cast. The school productions are directed by department faculty and often by outside directors from the professional theater community in Philadelphia (part of the connections thing I mentioned before). In addition, faculty members may use UArts spaces for works of their own outside of the school production season as may outside pros seeking to put on works in development. All of this provides additional performing opportunities. There are also many student productions.</p>
<p>In her time at UArts, my daughter has had a broad variety of performing opportunities including main stage and black box productions as part of the School’s production series and a staged reading of a new work by a playwright/faculty member with over 125 published plays to his credit which gave her the opportunity to work with professional actors brought in for the show. As a freshman, she was part of an ensemble selected by her music skills instructor which performed with the professional leads in Les Mis in a benefit for a professional theater in Philadelphia that was staging the show for which the instructor was the music director. She has worked in the pit with the music directors of professional productions (again instructors at UArts) assisting as a page turner. Because of the involvement of outside professionals in the UArts auditions and productions, students get seen and work with outside pros. Outside directors and casting directors often attend school shows. This can lead to exposure and opportunities. My daughter was recently cast as an understudy to the principal female in a local professional production and has been called in to 2 other outside professional auditions this year. In short, my daughter’s performing opportunities and experiences over the last 4 years have not only been very gratifying but have been an important aspect of the training and learning experience for her. While she hasn’t been cast every semester in a school production, the opportunities she has had have been many and very gratifying.</p>
<p>Location, location, location. A mantra not only when buying real estate but when looking at colleges. Will your student be happy living where the school is located, is the campus the type of campus that is appealing. For those who find a city environment appealing, or at least have no strong objections to it, Philadelphia is a mecca for students. UArts is a city school whose buildings are interspersed among performing arts venues and office buildings located in the heart of the city’s performing arts and business district. There are about 5 major professional performing arts venues within 5 minutes walking from any point on campus and another couple about 10-15 minutes walking. Touring productions, local theater, original productions, music, opera, and ballet all at students’ door steps. A gazillion restaurants, shopping, museums, historical sites, all part of what the city has to offer. Most students, after their freshman year, move into off campus housing. My daughter has loved living in center city Philadelphia. For those looking for a “campus” environment that serves as the focal point of social life, UArts will be disappointing. Campus life is really focused on program related activities. For those who enjoy a dynamic city with loads of city based social activities and nightlife, UArts will be your “cup of tea”. I remember very clearly the day my daughter decided UArts was for her. She had sat in on classes that day, walked out, looked up Avenue of the Arts and down and said “This is where I want to be.”</p>
<p>At the end of the day, or in this case 4 years, the ultimate question is whether a program has prepared a student to pursue performing as a career, has prepared the student for the “business of the business”. In 2007, the answer to this question was an unknown and in many respects a leap of faith about what the UArts experience would provide. Now, after 4 years, the answer in my daughter’s view is emphatically yes. She feels that her training has made her competitive. UArts has provided her with contacts and connections. And this year has been a year where many of her classes have focused heavily on how to prepare to enter the world of professional performing. Everything from the ins and outs of agents, mangers, AEA vs. non-Equity work, having a diverse and complete audition repertoire of songs and monologues, roles and “types”, auditioning techniques, head shots, resumes etc. In addition, the instructors teaching much of this are themselves outside professionals - actors, directors and casting directors. A show case in NYC and workshops for those intending to go there after school. Personalized mentoring by instructors based on each student’s post graduation plans. For my daughter, who intends to remain in Philadelphia, an internship with the Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia was arranged through UArts at her request.</p>
<p>So a chapter is closing and a new one is opening. It’s been a wild and exciting ride for my daughter, one filled with a load of personal growth as well as the education she has received. My daughter and we can look back over the last 4 years and state without equivocation that UArts was the right place for her to be. And now the excitement begins – again!</p>
<p>Michael,
It is hard to believe that your daughter is graduating. It seems like only yesterday we were having the pleasure of watching her perform in HS productions. We were fortunate enough to see her perform at Uarts in mainstage productions over the last two years and it was very apparent how much she has grown and matured as an artist and performer. I am glad to hear that she is staying in Philadelphia so we may have the opportunity to see her perform here professionally.</p>
<p>“And for those parents who presently have students at UArts, perhaps you will see some of your own students and yourselves in what I write and we can share a smile knowing that as parents we did good for our kids by giving them the opportunity to pursue their artistic passion while obtaining a quality education that will give them the tools they need to venture out into the real world and continue to pursue their dreams and goals.”</p>
<p>I definately do see in our S what you have written. It is equally hard for us to believe he will be finishing his sophomore year. This has been an incredibly intense year of training with his Meisner class but he has loved every minute of it. We just saw him perform in a black box student directed one act musical play last night. He was one of a cast of four fellow sophomores. It was readily apparent to us how much he has grown vocally and as an actor. He credits this to all of his wonderful teachers.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D and enjoy. Please keep us posted concering her future endeavors.</p>
<p>Thank you for your kind thoughts. Your son also has grown and developed so much over the last 2 years. The Meisner year is very demanding but so beneficial. As a result, things really start to click junior year. He (and you) will find his junior year to be very exciting.</p>
<p>In the past, one of the concerns voiced by some parents and students was the lack of a meal plan at UArts. Even though all of the dorms are apartments with kitchen facilities and there are numerous supermarkets, grocery stores, cafes, food courts and restaurants in the neighborhood, there have been those who preferred a meal plan arrangement. Well, just as my daughter is graduating, UArts has announced the implementation of full food service and 3 new on campus dining locations. Here is the link to the Dining Services webpage with all sorts of info. See the links to the left of the page. I can tell you that the dining facility in the Terra Building will occupy the space of what is currently a very large italian restaurant with a full commercial kitchen. Of course, this is all happening after my daughter graduates! And for me, it will result in in the loss of my favorite place to grab a glass of chianti at the bar after work on Fridays ;).
<a href=“http://www.uarts.edu/studentlife/diningservices.html[/url]”>http://www.uarts.edu/studentlife/diningservices.html</a></p>
<p>We LOVED that restaurant and have gone there everytime we’re in Philly. Their Pinot Grigio is good too. Sigh.</p>
<p>If you’re jonesin’ for Italian, try Georgio’s on Pine at 13th and Pine, Bellini Grill on 16th between Locust and Walnut and Viola East or West (2 locations) on 16th between Locust and Spruce. Great Italian, reasonably priced, reservations recommended. Bellini serves alcohol, the others are BYOB.</p>
<p>I’m a Dante & Luigi’s fan myself (the Italian food of my childhood)… it’s a further walk from campus (to South Philly) but after indulging… the walk is appreciated! (762 S. 10th Street)</p>
<p>Will keep all those in mind when we next come to Philly, hopefully this fall. Thanks.</p>
<p>My son is a junior, and plans to apply to Acting BFA programs. UArts is the first school we visited, and we were very pleasantly surprised. It won’t be a top choice, but we all feel that he could be happy there. We got a very good feeling from our visit, and he will probably audition and apply pretty early in the fall on the hope of receiving early notification in the rolling admission process. I think his chances are excellent, and it would be nice to get an acceptance pretty early.</p>
<p>Thanks MichaelNKat. Your posts are invaluable. They have been the most helpful I’ve seen to far. I have an 11th grade D who is MT driven but with wide and varied interests. She feels she wants broader exposure and opportunities. The discussion of MT in context of liberal arts is partficularly helpful. Did your D ever consider a BA in Theatre with a concentration in MT?</p>
<p>Hi jmomjj. Welcome to the “waters”. Yes, my daughter did consider a BA program with a focus on MT but ultimately concluded that she wanted the more narrow focus and immersion of a BFA. Her reasons for reaching that conclusion had nothing to do with the comparative quality of BA vs BFA programs but with the type of college experience she wanted. There are many good BA Theatre programs out there with strong MT opportunities and related training. Three that come to mind are Temple, Muhlenberg and Northwestern. Temple and Northwestern are audition based programs for admission to the MT concentration. Muhlenberg is audition optional for scholarship money. There’s been a lot posted on this forum about all 3 schools. Muhlenberg was on my daughter’s list of finalists after all of her acceptances came in and she liked it very much. After spending 6 years in Jr and Sr high taking every Honors and AP class she could get her hands on and having MT as a focus to her life that she fit in around her academics, she just really wanted to switch gears and do a 180 in how she would structure her time in college. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask. If you do a search on the MT forum, you will also find a load of threads discussing the differences between BFA and BA programs including opportunities for liberal arts.</p>
<p>So, I’m really glad I read this because I’m still completely on the fence about my choices. I just go into UARTS for MT, NYU (playwrights horizons studio), and USC (BA in theater)</p>
<p>I’m a transfer, and my dream has always been musical theater, but after getting into NYU, it just felt weird giving that up… maybe it’s a name thing. PH studio will give me an incredibly well-rounded education (design, directing, etc.), as well as musical theater, but UARTS is waaaaaaay more affordable (0 debt vs 90k), and I’d be majoring in musical theater (I also loved the community and teachers). I didn’t get a very clear impression of NYU during my tour, so unfortunately I’d be diving head first into the unknown. I did hear that I could still get MT training while at PH studio, but I’m not 100% sure. USC felt the most comfortable and safe. The campus was amazing and the nothing compares to that trojan family, but I’ve heard mixed things about the training/program (I also live 30 mins away…not much of an adventure). My goal is to be very well trained/competitive (in acting /musical theater) after I graduate, and have lots of good connections to help me get started. I also already have over 60 units of academic credits, and I’m valedictorian at my college… I’m ready to eat sleep and breathe theater. </p>
<p>Any advice?</p>
<p>UArts is now offering minors in Creative Writing, Philosophy and Religion and in History of Visual Arts as liberal arts minors through the liberal arts department. This is a significant expansion of the curricular offerings which previously only offered “arts” types of minors. In light of these developments, I would urge any reader of this thread to engage in their own due diligence to determine if my comments above concerning liberal arts are still fully accurate given the new directions. I suspect that some of my comments remain accurate but others may not. Try to talk to current students to get the full low down based on the additional resources and programming that have apparently been committed to the liberal arts.</p>