College Full Sail Classes

jkluch95

Member
Hi everyone,

So I'm a senior in High School and am currently taking a Music Theory class (it's an Understanding Music since I have no musical background except playing the saxophone in 5th grade). I'm looking to attend Full Sail University in the fall and was seeing that they require me to take a Music Theory class. Can anyone give me some insight to their Music Theory class? (I'm currently not doing the greatest in mine and don't want to be in over my head where it counts)

Also, how are the Gen Ed classes?

thanks!
Jon
 
I can't tell you anything about full sail, but I have taught at the grad and undergrad level for 12 years. Don't worry about the level of the class. The point of the class is to learn music theory, not to test your knowledge when you start the class. When you start next fall, there will probably other students who have never even taken a theory class before. When you start, you already have a leg up on them. If you feel you're not "getting it" in you current class, talk to your teacher. their job is to teach you and help you and trust me, that's really what they want to do.

Oh, and by the way. When you get there, stop and look around at the other students. Half of them are thinking "Oh god, what am I doing here, they all know so much more than me". 75% are saying "I'll never make it!". 80% are thinking "They all hate me, I'm too geeky, smart, dumb, tall, short, fat, skinny, ugly,pretty and they all hate me." Plenty of insecurities going around, far more than a mere 100%. The 5% who are super confident and smirking at the crowd are the ones who will drop out the first semester or finish at the bottom of the class. I've seen it happen that way year after year. Feeling overwhelmed or inadequate at first is normal, especially in this business of ours where egos are super sized and everything we do is out there for a million people to see and judge and criticize. Well..... maybe a few less than a million at first.

Anyway, as I said, if you have classes that you feel you're weak in, talk to your teachers, tell them how you feel and tell them you want to learn more and most important, that you want to understand the subject. Also, remember, the real lesson to learn, the most important thing to learn.... is how to learn. If you learn how to learn, then you are set for life. To this day, I feel that a day that I learn something new, is a GOOD day. I'm still proud to say that I don't know it all, .... yet, .... I'm still working on it and almost everyday is a good day!
 
I'm assuming you're looking to go for the recording arts program? I can't speak much as to the Music Theory course for them, I am a Full Sail graduate so if you have any other questions about the school I can answer those. You do have the option to "Test Out" of certain classes however I believe that was the General Education classes.
 
I can't speak for Full Sail specifically, but usually if it's an AP music theory class (I took it in high school) Your AP credit will transfer and you can get out of doing it. Also, if you haven't totally decided on Full Sail, I'd take a good look at UCFs Design Tech program (I'm a student in the program now and love it). PM me if you want more info!

EDIT: UCF is about 15 minutes away from Full Sail
 
Not to judge your choice, but have you checked out City Tech in NYC? It's a real school and much cheaper than Full Sail...
 
Are you saying full sail isn't a real school? :whistles:
 
I'm actually going for Show Production and Full Sail is a real school, but that's a discussion for a different time.

Thanks!
 
I'm actually going for Show Production and Full Sail is a real school, but that's a discussion for a different time.

Thanks!

With mountains of real debt to follow... if you don't have a good plan on how to pay that off your going to be in a world of hurt. I find it interesting that the salary figures they give on their website are from 2009... when there was still work to be had. Unless mommy and daddy are paying for this education, you easily could be making the biggest mistake of your entire life. If you graduate with more than 15-20k in loans you will either have to work outside of the industry OR default on your loans. The school has a 12% default rate in 2009... and I can guarantee it is higher now.
 
I will tell you I'm experiencing the wonderful burden that is full sail debt. I know I will never be able to pay off my debt in my current situation. I took on far more debt than I should have. I don't blame the school for this. I wish there were better services out there to help prospective students or places post college. I just signed on the dotted lines with whoever approved my loans. Not realizing fully the actual cost.

However the experience I received at full sail was worth it and I wouldn't have received it else where. Millions are struggling in this economy and any university has issues with job placement and high loans. Even people with sub 20k loans default on them.

I do believe issues lay with the schools, not just full sail. With the cost of tuition and how it just keeps increasing. There's also issues with the private lenders.

My hope is one day either my company is successful which I feel without what I learned at full sail I wouldn't be as ambitious as I am now. I learned a lot from the hands on experience.

Also I'm hoping one day I can gain some equity on property or buy a place and rent out some space then use the equity on that to put my loans under.
 
I find it interesting that all you need (education-wise) is a GED to be considered as an intern for Cirque. You'd probably be fighting an uphill battle, but it makes ya think.
 
Les, did you reply to the wrong post?

Two things, from my understanding, you must be either a college Junior or Senior or graduate student to be considered for an internship with Cirque. Also, many more companies will accept a GED and not just high school diplomas since there are a large number of home educated or co-operative educated students in the United States. The only option available to those students is the General Education Development test. It's not just about dropouts.
 
Les, did you reply to the wrong post?

Two things, from my understanding, you must be either a college Junior or Senior or graduate student to be considered for an internship with Cirque. Also, many more companies will accept a GED and not just high school diplomas since there are a large number of home educated or co-operative educated students in the United States. The only option available to those students is the General Education Development test. It's not just about dropouts.

Nah, I was just reminded of a recent ad I saw on Facebook for the Cirque internships. After seeing all the debt being accrued, I realized that sometimes it is less about education and more about "right place at the right time". Both can get you there; one just works faster and more reliably than the other. I'll see if I can find that ad.

EDIT: Here it is. Posted by Controlbooth, actually.

Lead Carpenter, KA

Of course, you need 5 years of professional stage carpentry experience, so you couldn't just walk right in after high school.
 
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Ah, yes, I understand. I was thrown by your addition of intern in your post. Good point, though. I think that there are many members here who have said repeatedly that college is not always an asset for this business. When it is, it is usually only for the first job. Now if you are a Yale graduate, that might be a different story.
 
Yeah, that was an error on my part.
While I consider myself to be on a pretty good career path (and education wasn't a factor), I do intend on getting back in there and taking some classes, but not necessarily related to theatre or technical theatre. I think that the idea of remaining debt free (or as close to it as possible) is the key. As you mentioned, in this business formal education doesn't matter much once you're in (though continued training is important). However, it is always a great idea to have a safety net -- especially if you decide to change career paths one day.

Many of the job postings I have seen tend to hold equal value between a college degree and 5 years of related professional experience. They don't always care what that degree is in, so long as you have one, but they probably would prefer that your 5-year's experience goes beyond volunteering at the local community theatre.

This is, of course, a can of worms and there are many exceptions on both sides. The way I see it, you just need to work hard no matter which path you take. The only recipe for failure is not applying yourself or refusing to learn and adapt.
 
While I don't know if this will help the OP, I have some experience with schools similar to Full Sail (not as a student). In the Phoenix area, there's the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences . I found, as someone who was responsible for hiring technicians, that the students who attended that school after having real world experience were much better technicians leaving it than the ones who attended it directly out of HS. I think the catalyst was knowing what they needed to get out of the program and the desire to get the most out of the program. You can take that for what it's worth.

It's true that many employers will ask for a college degree as a pre-requisite for employment, but many will add the caveat of equivalent experience. I think the bias used to be based on "trainability". If you had the ability to get a college degree, then you had the ability to learn the requirements of the position. Again, take this all with a grain of salt as I am not in the position to hire for the past eight years, nor have I been job hunting.
 
...
EDIT: Here it is. Posted by Controlbooth, actually.

Lead Carpenter, KA

Of course, you need 5 years of professional stage carpentry experience, so you couldn't just walk right in after high school.
That's interesting, because the HEAD Carpenter (or Director of Carpentry, or whatever his official title is) for KA is one of the few people I know with a Doctorate in technical theatre.

But it really does not require any college degree to sweep up cork.;)
 

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