Is it harder for men or women to break into MT?- Page 2

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 11:16pm

when i applied to MT colleges, there were always WAAAAAY more girls than there were guys. i knew several guys who were moderately talented who got in lots of places and i knew several girls who were VERY talented who got in maybe one place, but some didn't get in anywhere. that's not to say that it's easy for guys because it of course isn't, but there are insane numbers of girls....and you find yourself sitting in a room with so many other girls who look like you....it's disturbing.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 11:24pm

kquill, they have targets every year at audition time. They may not be "hard" targets but they are targets nonetheless and they are almost always met. Like I said, look at the incoming freshman class at any BFA program and you will see similar numbers of males and females. They may change by one or two from year to year at the smaller programs but not much more than that. There's a reason for that! What are the numbers in your freshman class, btw?

[KQuill]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 11:46pm

My class this year has 18 males and 12 females.

And yeah, i agree that there's a reason for that...and that is simply because there are naturally going to be roughly the same amount of equally talented guys as there will girls because the ratio is basically 50/50. Just because there are more girls auditioning, doesn't meen that they are any good. If a male is into musical theater, its probably because he's pretty good at it. Would you agree that the average talent level would be higher in male applicants than with females?

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 12:20am

kquill, I'm not sure I agree totally. What I've seen is that the boys who are interested in pursuing MT in college are the most talented boys from high school theatre. Usually if they've pursued it that far, they'll continue. That is not always the case with the girls, in my experience. Many more of the girls who will audition for college programs are not necessarily equally talented. There are a much larger number, though. What you see in high school, at most schools, is a real dearth of male talent. This has an effect on the type of shows which are chosen for many high school musicals, as well as straight plays, because there just are never enough (or rarely enough) talented males to cover several roles. This was not the case at my h/s because I went to an arts school, but I'm talking most schools here.

When you get to college auditions, there are just many, many more girls who audition and there is a big range in talent levels (at most auditions). The range is not as great in the group of boys auditioning. However, due to sheer numbers, it is much more difficult for the girls to be admitted. So, there are a few different issues at play here in the admissions process and how it is different for boys than girls. This carries through into the professional world at auditions where you'll see females outnumbering males usually by more than 2 to 1.

[KQuill]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 12:25am

well, at least we agree that most males that wanna go further are pretty good, while there are probably many girls that have it as a hobby, want to be Sutton Foster, but..suck lol