Best BFA Drama Programs??

[champzboy]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 1:54pm

what are the strongest BFA Straight Acting/Drama Programs in the country? Not necessarily the biggest names but where the best training is for dramatic performance. Thanks!

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 7/29/06 at 3:15pm

That is tough..
I believe that Julliard does not meet it's reputation. I could be wrong about this, but generally the reputation is Julliard is where you go once you know everything and it gives you a nice little name. (That's the way it is with music performance and composition anyways.)

I have heard great things about Otterbein, and the University of Michigan is always near impossible to get into...

[EmieMarie]

Posted: 7/29/06 at 3:22pm

i've heard amazing things about depaul, butb there is the cut program.... so you have to be fricken amazing

THe University of Washington has an excellent drama program, but i think its a BA...

[EmieMarie]

Posted: 7/29/06 at 3:40pm

I'm actually looking into webster drama! Do you know anything about it?

Oh, and is EVERYONE going into musical theater? i've seen vbery few people going into straight acting or directing (me!)
but it is BROADWAY world...so that may explain alot....

[dramatothemax]

Posted: 7/29/06 at 4:17pm

Yes I do know a lot! I recently auditioned for them (scholarship audition thing) and talked to the musical theatre guy, Peter Sargent, and the acting teacher Bruce Longworth. PM me and I can tell you all about it!!!

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 7/29/06 at 4:58pm

Has anyone heard anythong about Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. I kow they have a BFA and an MFA. Does anyone know anything about the faculty?

[SarahBeth]

Posted: 7/29/06 at 5:36pm

The Webster conservatory in St. Louis is very good. Their theater is amazing, I was blown away. I didn't apply because I wanted to go to a small school though, but I have heard very good things about the school I am going to. Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/29/06 at 10:34pm

Juilliard, Juilliard, Juilliard. Hands down.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 7/30/06 at 4:12am

There are three drama schools that basically are regarded as THE best in the country: The Drama Division at Juilliard, The Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, and The Yale School of Drama. Yale doesn't offer a BFA (although I could be wrong), but you can still study theater there.

After those three, there are other "second tier" schools with BFA's which are also good--some of them just as good, just not as famous. They include DePaul University (where I'm going to get an MFA starting in September), The University of Michigan, Cincinatti Conservatory of Music (CCM), Carnegie Mellon, The North Carolina School for the Arts, and Northwestern, which is a BA program rather than a BFA, but is still considered excellent. Below those, other schools of note include Syracuse University, Webster, Rutgers, and Indiana U, where I went to undergrad. They don't have a BFA, but have a good theater department all the same, and do eight high production-value shows each year. And If you're looking for voice training, their school of music is generally regarded as the best in the country.

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/31/06 at 4:20pm

I think it's hard to determine the best but as most people said Julliard, CMU, NCSA, Purchase, and others tend to rank high...although it's hard to rank schools.

Although our acting program at UArts is pretty damn good as well *wink wink

[PeaceFrog]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 12:41am

Where I'm from it's all about the conservatories at Juillard, CMU, NCSA, SUNY Purchase, and Cal Arts. Other well-thought-of schools where kids I know go are Boston University, Southern Methodist, Otterbein, and Minnesota. I don't know anybody at DePaul or USC but they are supposed to be really good.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 1:51am

Michigan's "Straight Acting" Program is not a reputable as their Musical Theatre program.

CMU's acting program is on the same level as their Musical Theatre program.

Most professional actors do no enjoy their experience at Juilliard.

Talking to Heather Goldenhersh at the Doubt stagedoor said she hated her experience and that she basically graduated on a stretcher. Audra didn't like her experience there either.

Don't be mistaken, those people are extremely talented, but apparently the environment doesn't seem to be very nurturing.

Michigan takes about 20-30 MTs, and CMU takes, on average 10.
Michigan's acting department is completely seperate, and in a completely different school than the Musical Theatre program.

CMU's acting and MT program are very integrated. Actually, they're considered to be in the same program, just on different "tracts".

Just a little more information on two greats schools.
Feel free to ask questions!

[LiLMuNkEe22]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 2:29am

The University of Evansville in Indiana is by far the best school to go to for theatre if you want to someday go to graduate school. a lot of the schools everyone is mentioning ARE wonderful, but will help you more and will be easier to get into once you have a few years of college theatre under your belt. Unless you are the next Robin Williams or Meryl Strep (which you very may well be), I would highly consider looking into a program like Webster, Roosevelt, CCM, DePaul, and Evansville.
I know the most about Evansville cuz my boyfriend goes there, but they were just accepted this year as one of the 4 schools (the others were Julliard, Yale, and NYU) to go and perform for the College Festival in (i think) DC. Not many people realize how phenominal their department is... but getting in is tough!

Good luck with whichever you like the best!

[brainpolice23]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 10:52am

Both Michigan's acting and musical theatre programs are part of the school of music. I had the opportunity to sit in on a few classes there when I visited, and I must say that the intensity of the freshman acting and movement classes far surpassed the levels of numerous other schools I've visited. I also saw their student production of Mother Courage, and I thought it was fantastic. Michigan's theatre program is getting better and better every year, with better talent auditioning. In terms of musical theatre, their program is very highly regarded. But from what I saw, the intensity and teaching in a musical theatre acting class does not come close to that of a straight acting class. Also their tech theatre classes are great.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 11:19am

This is juat Re: Audra, her biggest problem with Juiliiard was that she was a singer and not an actor. She felt like she was the wrong major, but that's not really the school's problem.

[gustof777]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 11:49am

exactly. She was unhappy that as a voice major she could take no drama classes and since then Juilliard has changed so that drama kids can take voice and vice versa

[seakap]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 12:47pm

Okay. so with a mixture of my personal opinion and with prestige and hours and hours and hours of research on all theatre schools in the us of a, this is the list that I have come up with for top BFA acting schools...

1. Juilliard
2. Carnegie Mellon University
3. DePaul University
4. North Carolina School of the Arts
5. Boston University
6. SUNY Purchase (put kinda low on the list because most of the faculty that made them famous is long gone)
7. NYU (I put it here because people will murder me if I don't, but for undergrad, I think it's bloated and WAY over rated..but it does have NYC)
8. Evensville (more so if you want to go into MFA)
9. SMU
10. USC
11. CCM Drama
12. Ithaca
13. FSU
14. U-Arts
15. Emerson

This is the list I choose and I stand by it. It wouldn't be my audition list exactly, because I put the opinions and views of a lot of other people into this, so this what I have learned to be the best. Of course this doesn't mean these will be the best for you and prestige means nothing.

I could come up with 2 more lists for the student who wishes to have more classical, or more contemporary, but this is the mix of those.
Updated On: 8/7/06 at 12:47 PM

[PeaceFrog]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 4:05pm

Oooh oooh oooh oooh oooh! You're gonna get murdered even more for saying that about NYU than had you said nothing! What I've been told is that it more depends on the studio there. Atlantic, Meisner, and CAP21 are supposedly amazing with some of the others maybe not so much.

Why did you leave off Cal Arts?

[seakap]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 4:11pm

haha, yeah I'll murderd for it, but it's my opinion. Yeah, the studio matters, but the undergrad just isn't as good as everyone says it is. It's not like you are at an NYU acting school. You go to different studios that are independent of NYU and these are places anyone can go to, and it's just not a united front. There are SOOOOO many undergrads...like more than 10 times more than most other programs. I just don't think it's as great as most do.

[jaesdare]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 5:11pm

If you're looking for a program were everyone will be like a family, don't look at Juilliard. We have at least one person go every year into acting, and they'll come back to my school and talk to us about. And generally they say that it's all technique, they feed you tons and tons of technique- so much so that when you leave, you're a little sick of it for awhile. They say that you grow as a technical actor, not as a person. And they're going through major faculty changes, so the program is a bit adrift at the moment.
We have 2 or 3 go for straight acting at CMU every year. They all really really love it. They all said they were a little ahead their freshman year, but other than that it was great.

CCM and U of Michigan, do have great musical theatre programs, but their acting programs are not even close.

NYU is being recommended to us, only for CAP21(musical theatre) and ETW, the others are at a decline right now.

Webster, Hartt, SMU, CalArts, and Guthrie are other really really great ones, that are getting harder and harder to get into because people are realizing how good they are.
The ones listed above are all BFA's.

Yale has a BA through the English department, as does Brown I believe. Northwestern is also a BA. The head of our theatre department, says "A BA feeds your soul, a BFA feeds your technique." Yale is more for a grad school, that's when they really want you.

Another school you might look at is Royal Scottish Academy, which only accepts 4 Americans each year. You get a BFA in acting in 3 years, and you can choose to stay a 4th year when you would receive and MFA in musical theatre. When you graduate from either the 3 or 4 year program, you get a 2 year's working visa to work in Europe. Most of their students go to London, and start working really quickly. And they have great connections at Glasgow.
Also, London's academy of dramatic arts is very prestigious. They never accept Americans, though, but they're on their. This year the first American they called back, was from my school- so a revolution might be underway.

Wow, sorry for the 50 page essay. These are all my opinions, so sorry if they disagree with other people's :)

[stella985]

Posted: 8/7/06 at 7:20pm

About the NYU studio thing...CAP21 isn't considered very highly. The joke is CAP21 is only good if you want to end up in the chorus. If you're interested in musical theatre you're better of in one of the other studios and just taking private voice or being a voice major in Steinhart.

[It's All Good]

Posted: 8/8/06 at 11:00pm

Well, I guess I will add my two cents here as well. In terms of BFAs that are the most competitive/hardest to get into:
Juilliard
Ithaca
Carnegie Mellon
USC
UCLA( somewhat easier) That is based purely on numbers. Meaning the number of spots available vs. the number of people that audition every year. It is very difficult to determine which is the "best" program. I happen to think that, like college itself, your education will be pretty comprable no matter where you go BUT the more compettitive the program=the more prestige=perhpas more opportunities. If you are really concerned about the quality of your training I think there are many programs throughout the country that would make you happy. If you want a highly prestigious program that will have a bigger/better senior showcase turnout than consider the above schools.

[seakap]

Posted: 8/8/06 at 11:46pm

One thing I want to add is that we all KNOW that the "best" or "most prestegious" doesn't mean it's the right school for you, and we need to find a school that fits each of us...but this is just fun dicussion to see what everyone thinks about these school!

[devonx19]

Posted: 8/8/06 at 11:49pm

No mention of Marymount Manhattan??

[actor2010]

Posted: 8/9/06 at 12:25am

NYU Tisch actually has a very strong undergraduate program. It is one of the few BFA Dramas that are so specific (the many different studios allow students to learn different techniques that are suited to each individual actor). All of the individual studios (Atlantic, Stella Adler, Strasberg, Meisner, ETW, Playwrights, and CAP) are noteworthy and have built excellent reputations in both new york city and in the theatre community. And those are just the primary (first two year) studios! There are several more for the juniors and seniors to audition and choose from!

Some people bad mouth its program because it has been so "overrated" in the past, but programs shouldn't be overlooked because of their exposure--it is still one of the most competitve and highly regarded programs in the country.