All this month we will be exploring questions, concerns, and recommendations for high school juniors and seniors looking down the runway at high school graduation and all that lies beyond.
If you are considering a career in theatre, there are three options for college:
- B.A. in Theatre (a liberal arts program)
- B.F.A. in Theatre (a conservatory program)
- College degree in not-Theatre
Every student has to make the best decision for him or herself and their family. There will be more forces at play than your desire to be on Broadway – cost, distance, risk tolerance (of the student and the parental figures). But first, let me be perfectly clear about one thing:
Where you go to school
– and what you study there –
is not the prime determining factor of your success in life.
Can we all agree on that? Great, now let’s look at some things to consider during your college decision process.
The B.F.A.
If you want to go to a B.F.A. program in Theatre or Musical Theatre, a conservatory, you need to be prepared to have a great audition package and also be willing to apply to a whole lot of places. My voice teacher recommends that her students who are preparing for Musical Theatre programs apply to at least 14 schools. Fourteen!
Here’s why: these programs only accept a dozen or fewer candidates per gender each year. From their four classes of about a dozen students, they need to be able to cast any show they might be doing in the near future. So, it doesn’t make sense for them to admit another ‘Millie’ if they already have a couple of Millie options in the classes ahead of you. If that’s your type, then that school will pass on you simply because they already have a version of you in their program. Welcome to show biz, kid.
In order to best position yourself to get an offer, you need to think strategically about the schools you apply to (more on that later in the month), and also how much time you need to prepare your audition package. All too often, I see very talented individuals come in grossly under-prepared because they didn’t anticipate how long it would take to get their materials ready. Building your first book of songs and/or monologues is time consuming. For preparing your monologue, I recommend at least a month (or two) to find your monologue, and another month at least to prepare it. I’ll let a voice teacher offer advice on song preparation.
The advantage to a B.F.A. program is that you primarily will be studying to be the exact thing you want to be, i.e. an actor or a musical theatre performer. (You’ll still have Gen Ed requirements, though.) You get to wallow in your art form for four years. How delightful! And at the end of those four years, you will (in most programs) be escorted to one or more major markets (NYC, LA) and presented to agents and casting directors in showcases. What a launch to your career!
For students following this path, it is important to think about how you will cultivate skills to help you pay the bills in between acting jobs. Read the blog posts about figuring that out here and here. It is also crucial to cultivate business skills because, as an actor, you are your own business. You are the CEO and the CFO and the CCO and the Director of Marketing and the Bookkeeper…and so on. Oh yes, and also the talent.
The disadvantage of pursuing a B.F.A. is that your undergraduate degree is a specialist degree. Would you be better served to do undergrad in a liberal arts program – theatre or otherwise – and pursue a graduate degree in your flavor of theatre (acting, directing, playwriting, etc). The bonus here is that an M.F.A. is a terminal degree, which means you can be a college professor after an additional three years, instead of having to pursue a PhD, like many other fields.
Which leads us to our next option: the B.A. in Theatre, which we’ll discuss next week.
Need help getting your college audition package together? I offer private coaching for actors auditioning for advanced programs, such as college/university or summer programs that require an audition for admission. Contact me to schedule your sessions today.