American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Tuition costs? etc

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American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Tuition costs? etc

Posted: 10/6/05 at 10:10am

I am a senior in high school and I am looking very seroiusly into purseing a carrer in Theatre. I heard about AMDA from a friend and it sounded like it would be a good school. Any infomation you guys could give me about the school would be soooooooooo helpful.
Like:
Tuition Costs
How hard of a school is it to get into?
What should you have already done as a performer to get yourslef prepared for the school?
Do you need to have any specfic qualifications before applying?
etc?
I will be going to New York in April to visit it but I wanted to get some info before hand.

Any info would be GREATLY appriciated!!!

re: American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Tuition costs? etc

Posted: 10/6/05 at 10:26am

I graduated from AMDA Feb. 1998. It is a very difficult school to get into and very expensive. When I went there tuition/housing was like 15 - 20 thousand bucks per year (it's a two year program).

My suggestion would be to get at least a couple of years of college under your belt BEFORE you try for it. A couple of years in summer stock couldn't hurt, either. Real theater is NOTHING like high school or community theater and a lot of people go to AMDA and a VERY unhappy with some of the things they are told about the way theater works. So many thought they were going to step off the plane and be greeted by every casting agent in town clamoring for them to be in every Broadway show and got very bitchy when that didn't happen.

When I was there we had a big mix of fresh out of high school newbies and older more experienced (and by that I mean life experience) people. The newbies tended to be the ones to be easily swayed away from classes by the city (and the naughty things the city can unleash on the unsuspecting, i.e. drugs) and were the ones who had a higher drop out rate. Also, out of all the ones still plugging away in the business today, none of them are the ones fresh out of high school. Whereas the ones who were older and (if you forgive the cliche) wiser were actually able to put what the school had to teach them to good use and a lot more of them are still around today.

AMDA is, as is any college, a place where you get out of it as much as you put into it. Perhaps even more so than other colleges. The people you hear complain that AMDA is a waste of time and money tend to be the ones that slacked off, skipped class, and pretty much partied. The ones who sing its praises are the ones who worked at it as hard as they would've a performing gig. I kind of fell in the middle of those classifications.

Take my opinion as that - an opinion. But that is my recommendation. Hope this helps (at least a little.)

<-- Tevye, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, March 2018

re: American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Tuition costs? etc

Posted: 10/6/05 at 11:27am

try doing a search, there are a million threads on AMDA....or look at the student board.

thought AMDA may have been difficult to get into when bob went there, at this point in time it is not very difficult at all. the acceptance rate is around 40%.

it is very expensive. it's around 24,000 now, i think - and that, of course, doesn't including the costs of living in the city. since it isn't a college IS a professional training program, there are no dining halls, meal plans, etc - so you have to add the cost of food on top of that 24K.

to answer your question about what kind of background you should have, AMDA really accepts people with all different backgrounds. the more experience you have the more prepared you'll be, but at the same time, there are people who enter AMDA with less experience as well.

the only prerequisite for applying to AMDA is that you have a high school diploma or other equivalent.

other than that, you really need to formulate your own opinion about it. there are people on the boards who will doubt the credibility/intentions of the program, and there are people who think it's a fabulous training program worth every penny. go check it out yourself and see what you think - i've tried to give you only facts and not throw in opinion stuff...i hope it helped a little!!

"grace, you're stuffed in a box getting rid of ass plaque. let's face it, this evening is a bust."

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