I remember being in that position a few years ago, and it was frustrating. Most of those schools were on my list as well, but i ended up going to Northern Illinois.
A few things that you want to keep in mind is check out who is the head of the lighting department, who will be teaching you for the next four years of your life. Are they just a
drop out from the real world, or do they still work in it? This is important because most of the time they will take you with them to work on their shows, in
return they pay for most of your expenses.
How well known are they? This can get you jobs both while in school and after, as well as where you are going to go to grad school.
The professor at NIU, Benny Gomes, is not only still working and awarded for his designs, but i have worked many shows for him and they all have been a great experience. But one of the most important things about your professors is that you should be able to get along with them. unlike in highschool where your teachers were just people who taught you things, your professors become your friends, and even your contemporaries- a professor who looks at you as a threat is probably the worst thing you can do for yourself, they will make your life a living hell. Fortunatey, Benny is one of the best teachers and friends i've ever had.
Another thing that i saw in the thread is equipment. As this is a very inportant part of any school, you want to go to one that has crappy equipment.
Yes, crappy equipment. The better you can design and work on the bad stuff, all the better and easier your life will be when you can get the nicer stuff. As far as
CMU with their equipment . . . they have a decent selection, but they dont have the newest and best stuff out there. Most stuff that comes out always has some bugs, and always becomes more of a pain. At NIU while we do have our heaping pile of crap instruments, we do have S4's and a really good attachment with UPSTAGING . . . a lot of the time we can get intel lights from them for next to and even sometimes nothing for shows. We get trained on new consoles, high end consoles that we would probably never get to see in a school setting. When they taught us the MAXXYZ, it was about the same time that they were programming the
Sting world tour, and we actually got to go in and program a little of the show on the MAXXYZ. They also offer a great opportunity for work and getting yuor hands dirty on the equipment that they
send out on tour.
Drafting: You want it, and you want it bad.
Hand drafting,
CAD, sketching. You want it all. a school that can teach you how to do this well, will make your life very easy. Again . . . NIU doesnt really have much in the way of
hand drafting, but they teach you enough to get by. But our
CAD instructor is on the bard for AUTODESK (the people who make AUTOCAD), which means we get the newest version and beta test it. He also is an award winning
CAD designer. A definate bonus.
But just beacuse i have all these great opportunities at this school doesnt mean that its the right one for you. Look at how much experimentation time you get, and make sure that the school lets you use your own tools that your comfertable using, not jst the ones they have because they knw how to teach them. Its always a good idea to know as much as you can, this will make you marketable in the long run. If you go to a school where you pick a color for something, and they tell you no, its probably not a good school. One of the best things a school can offer is to let you fail, rather learn from your mistakes- not someone elses.