College Counseling: Great Schools for Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting Programs

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Emily Standish, GoLocalPDX College Admission Coach

Photo Credit: iStock

Colleges and universities that grant a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in drama are serious about their graduates finding jobs in the entertainment industry. That is why the most elite drama programs admit less than 5% of applicants, rivaling the acceptance stats of Harvard and Stanford. If you are a student with a burning desire to succeed on stage or in films, television, and web programs, your college search will begin with a lot of research, preparing for your auditions and traveling to regional or campus auditions. According to Mary Anna Dennard of collegeauditioncoach.com, all audition-based drama programs are reach schools. Here are a few to consider:

California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA

CalArts offers BFA programs in Acting, Directing, and Design and Production (scene, costume, lighting and sound design).
The third and fourth years of the program are devoted to on-camera work in addition to stage performance.
Notable alumni: Don Cheadle, Ed Harris, Condola Rashad, Eliza Coupe, Alison Brie, Katey Sagal.

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Each year, CMU’s School of Drama produces over twenty productions in three state-of-the-art performance spaces.
In the spring semester of senior year, all BFA candidates showcase their work to professionals in New York, LA, and Pittsburgh.
Notable alumni: Ted Danson, Holly Hunter, Rob Marshall, Steven Bochco, Paula Wagner, John Wells.

DePaul University, Chicago, IL

The Theatre School at DePaul offers twelve undergraduate majors, including acting, set design, set technology, playwriting, theatre management, sound design, and more.
Chicago’s vibrant theatre scene provides internships to DePaul students at venues such as Steppenwolf, Second City, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
Notable alumni: Gillian Anderson, Kevin Anderson, Judy Greer, Karl Malden, Elizabeth Perkins.

Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, Greenwich Village, NY

The Institute of Performing Arts at Tisch offers comprehensive conservatory training in acting, directing, musical performance, production, design and stage management.
The curriculum for all drama students consists of NYU general education classes, professional training, theatre studies, and electives such as stage combat and audition technique.
Notable alumni: Alec Baldwin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michael C. Hall, Jeremy Piven.

Rutgers University, Brunswick, NJ

The BFA program at Rutgers accepts less than 10% of applicants, all of whom spend their third year at the Globe Theatre in London, studying Shakespeare.
All students in Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts function as a theatre company, sharing classes and production experiences together.
Notable alumni: Calista Flockheart, Sebastian Stan, James Tupper, Kristin Davis

Other colleges with strong BFA-granting programs are: University of Arizona, Baldwin Wallace University, University of Delaware, Florida State University, Ohio Northern University, Juilliard, North Carolina School of the Arts, Northwestern University, Otterbein University, SUNY Purchase, Syracuse University, Southern Methodist University, UCS, UCLA, Yale University. Search programs by discipline and region at SchoolsforTheatre.com.

An excellent source of information and advice about preparing for highly selective drama programs is I Got In! by Mary Anna Dennard, collegeauditioncoach.com.

Emily Standish is a partner in Portland, Oregon-based College Admission Coach LLC which helps students identify and gain admission to right-fit schools where they will thrive academically and personally. Contact me at [email protected].