College Choosing College

[Tourneeee]

Hello,

I am 18 just graduated from high school and I am looking for a college to go to for tech work. I have a part time job at a theater as a tech already but I only have it for a few more weeks. I live in Michigan and am going to Macomb community college for my generals. I am looking for a good university in Michigan (or really anywhere in the U.S.) that offers a good education in theater work so i can transfer. Any advice on colleges or any other things i should know would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[Footer]

U of M.

But... what do you want to do after graduation? How much can you afford to pay (are student loans the solution to send you to school)?

The community college approach is great on paper. You will run into a few issues though. Unless your community college has a great theater program your going to pull yourself out of the theatre world for a few years. You can work on the side, but odds are that will just be overhire stuff that you won't walk away with much. When you decide to transfer over to a 4 year school, you will run into all kinds of other issues. Theatre programs are pretty regimented when it comes to course schedules. IE you take stagecraft, then drafting, then intro to design, then lighting 1, then lighting design, then advanced stagecraft, then scene design, then you assist a design on a show, then you design a show. This process starts your freshman year. Many of these classes, especially the design classes, are not offered every year at all schools. It could make it very difficult to get out in 2 years which would blow the whole point of doing the community college thing in the first place. It is doubtful that any transfer from any theatre classes you take at the community college will count towards your theatre degree. Not saying it can't be done, but I would contact a few schools that you are looking to go to first before deciding on that path and see what they have to say.

 

[alyx92]

I'm currently a student in the BFA Design Tech program at UCF in Orlando. If you want information or have questions about UCF, PM me and I'd be more than happy to talk to you!

As far as community college goes, a few of my friends have gone that rout and are finding that they're going to have to stay in school an extra year or even two to be able to complete the program. So if you're okay with staying in school for 5 or 6 years, go for it. It certainly is easier to concentrate on your theater coursework if you don't also have to take science and math!

 

[StNic54]

I would go to the big list of Michigan schools (UM, MSU, Eastern, Western, Central, Wayne State) and check out each one's dept of drama, dept of speech, etc, and I'm sure you'll find something unique for each one. If you are going the community route, please make sure that the credits you intend to transfer are a guarantee - I hate seeing people take extra courses because the community curriculum doesn't match up. imho, just keep working as much as you can while out of college theatre, and you'll be fine moving forward. Most colleges that have a dept of drama will have a tech theatre focus.

 

[Tourneeee]

Thank you guys for helping me

 

[gafftaper]

Does the community college you are going to have a theater program with tech classes? Do they have a good T.D.? Those are huge questions. I used to teach at a C.C. and one of my students just graduated with a BFA in lighting design in only 2 years after leaving my program. So it can be done. But there are many C.C.'s out there with miniature theater departments and no tech classes. That makes a big difference, as you will likely end up having to attend at least one extra year to catch up. You really should almost talk with the University about a plan before choosing the C.C.

Also I want to echo Footer's comments about student loans. Be VERY careful how far into debt you get yourself. Take as much education as you can REALLY afford. It'll be a long time until you can pay those loans off working in this industry. I have a friend who got a BFA in theater but afterward couldn't afford to work in theater because he had too many student loans to repay. 10 years later he's still repaying those loans and never worked in theater outside of a little volunteer work at a community theater.