OnStage: This past year, we released our rankings for the best BFA and BA programs in the country. In prepping for this, we did a ton of research on many schools throughout the country. We looked at everything from curriculum, facilities, productions, faculty, alumni, cost, etc.
While we all know the big names like Yale, Tisch and Carnegie Mellon, there so many other colleges in this country that provide an incredible educational experience in theater.
8 comments:
As a student of one of the larger universities, it is interesting to read this list. I think something that I don’t think about that often is that once I graduate, not everyone is going to be from Carnegie Mellon and have the same education that I do. And that is not necessarily a bad thing, because each school approaches theatre education differently which is important to remember. It’s helpful to learn how other universities approach education because every learns in a different way. This article would be extremely helpful to a younger me when looking at universities. I think that a lot of high school students, including myself, only looked at some of the more high-profile universities and didn’t consider other schools that may have suited their education wants and desires more accurately. What I think this list encourages is that each student can find a place to study theatre that can suite them.
It is interesting to see what other school's programs are like and how they approach theatre education. I think its really neat to hear all of the ways that other schools are offering opportunities to their students. When people first start looking for a college, often times people just look at the name and the reputation, and then start to look at exactly what the school can offer them. I think that this list does a great job of presenting what the schools can offer students and other important things like the amount of scholarship money the school offers as well. I would have liked a list like this when I was looking for college because it givers a great bases on what to look for when applying for college, something I had to figure out on my own. overall, this article showed me that each school is different and handles educating its students differently and really, you just have to find the school that's right for you.
I think have an article series like this is a great idea and a very necessary thing. Its all too easy to fall into the mindset of if its not Tisch, Yale, CMU, Julliard, or one of a handful of other schools then their theater can’t be worthwhile. While those programs are certainly more well know and there may be some truth to saying they’re better that doesn’t mean the less well known schools are bad. Our program follows one method of teaching theater and it works for us. However, there are other methods out there and many of these schools make use of them. When we graduate we will end up working with people that have been trained differently, and we’ll have to know how to work with them. If there was wider spread knowledge of the schools like this, it could help us understand their methods and techniques.
I remember when I was applying to schools last year, the first thing my mom and I did was look at all the "lists." Googling things like "best school for theatrical design and production" or "best theatre school list" day after day. We had no one to really help us besides the Internet, especially at first. So the Internet formed all of our opinions on theater schools, mainly that only the ones on these lists were viable options. Looking back, I realized that that simply isn't true. Carnegie Mellon is a special program, I felt, because of the financial investment CMU has in the technology used. I love having new toys to play with, and that inventive I got from the school as well as the lovely facilities made me want to go here. But at the same time, when I told non theatre people other schools I had applied to (Webster, Otterbein) no one had even heard of them. It was a strange experience trying to justify these very good schools to others who simply didn't know.
Last year my dearest friend who wanted to pursue theater was told that he couldn't go out of the state to pursue it in college. Living in Texas, that left him with very slim options. And he was devestated. How could he pursue his career from Texas? And that's when I let him know something that is really important about theater education. No matter where he comes from, if he works his ass off and has the drives, and tries to go for internships, he can succeed. if you go somwhere like Carnegie and you don't try as hard, you might not succeed, but you can succeed from anywhere.
And the emphasis on the big colleges of Carnegie and NYU, isn't always good for everyone. I like this list, because it shows opportunities for people who simply can't come here. Because, I know it was a trial to get here myself. And no matter where you are, you deserve the opportunity to pursue your career. And, in the midwest they LOVE theater.
It's interesting to see that there are so many schools out there that value theatre education. This article was definitely eye-opening. From the descriptions in the article I could tell that these institutions all value theatre education, and I think this is what decides whether an institution has a good theatre program or not. As many others have already mentioned in their comments, we will be working with people who came from different schools once we step outside of Carnegie Mellon. This article further confirms the fact that there are talented people everywhere, and it is easy for people who go to schools like Carnegie Mellon to forget that.
I love seeing smaller schools recognized, since half the schools I applied to when I was going through the college process were relatively unknown schools with good programs. Though the program's weren't exactly on the caliber of Carnegie Mellon, part of what made those schools so strong was the passion that went into their theatre. They weren't "theatre schools," but they put so much work into their programs to make them as strong as possible. At the end of the day, I think that's the most valuable thing you can learn in theatre. We're all doing theatre because we love it, and sometimes it can be hard to remember that love when theatre consumes all of your time. However, the passion and drive that go into the programs of these smaller schools remind their students every day of why they are doing what they do.
It is so cool to see that there are so many other schools that have such different approaches to their theatre programs. Its funny because I didn't even think of applying them because I didnt even know they existed. It is interesting to hear how some degrees can be joint majors and how certain schools require you to study one thing before you can go on to study the next part. I cant wait to meet someone in the industry who didnt come from cranegie, or nyu, or yale. I want to meet someone who came from University of Kansas. Many times, the biggest talent comes from the smallest town or the most far away city. This articles taught me that we must not take for granted the other theatre programs in the country and their worth.
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