As a performer I guarantee you've heard this acronym: BFA.
A BFA is, by definition, "the standard undergraduate degree for students in the United States and Canada seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts."
What does this mean exactly? How is a BFA different than say, a BA in the arts? Where can you get a BFA? What does that curriculum look like? How hard is it to get into a BFA program?
Put simply, a BFA is a very rigorous degree program where artists completely hone in on their craft. A BFA is generally more extensive than a BA and is often a highly selective program (they typically accept between 10-30 depending on the school). This is, of course, all in terms of a theater performance BFA; some other BFA programs include visual arts, dance, stage management, technical design, etc..
Major BFA schools may surprise you. I have had several conversations with non-theatre folk about colleges where their reaction was somewhere along the lines of "I didn't know that school existed" or "Really? State schools have programs like that?". Case in point: Schools with BFA programs aren't always arts-only schools.
So how does one get into this highly selective program? What does this journey look like?
Today, I bring you part one of a two part series. I interviewed FOUR extremely talented performers and learned about their personal BFA audition stories.
Luke Swaller, Class of '23
BFA MT @ Indiana U.
Luke is a St. Pius X alum with an incredible resume & story. Aside from various academic and pre-professional roles, he made his professional debut last summer with STAGES St. Louis in their production of "101 Dalmatians". He auditioned and received a callback for the American-Wing National Broadway Tour of "The Book of Mormon" and is continuing his career at full speed. Some of his favorite roles include Anthony in "Sweeney Todd" Seymour in "Little Shop of Horrors", Lucas in "The Addams Family", and Mr. Feldzig in the STAGES academy pilot production of "The Drowsy Chaperone Jr.".
Luke and I worked together in the same performance group. He has a way of incorporating his vibrant personality and incredible diligence into every aspect of his craft. Through him, I learned how to maintain your integrity in an audition room, how to be the most crystal-clear version of yourself that you can possibly be. His staggering talent and undying dedication to performance will never cease to astound me.
Q: When did you decide you wanted to major in theater?
A: I began Theatre and rigorous training in the Musical Theatre Arts relatively “late in the game” compared to the bulk of performers out in the world today. I mean I always have wanted to be in movies and movie-musicals since I’ve been a child- watching The Wizard of Oz at 3-years-old or maybe even younger. It was the role of Seymour Krelborn, in my junior year of High School, where I stood on stage and knew it was right, that what I was feeling up there on the stage, under those lights was something special. That following summer, I found the STAGES Performing Arts Academy & the Triple Threat Teens. It was here I met my main mentor Tali Allen, and she reassured me of my ability to do Musical theatre and use my talents occupationally and I have been doing so since (still enlisting her help during every step I take)!!
Q: Why did you choose a BFA over a BA?
A: I always wanted a BFA, but it wasn’t until I was in my first year of college at Ball State University (not in their BFA program) that I knew I NEEDED to change. I was neither fulfilled, happy nor challenged, and knew the BFA rigor was necessary for my happiness and my growth to become an artist. So many people thrive in a BA program that focuses on theatrical studies, but I needed the focused training in performance that is only really available in a BFA MT program.
Q: Could you describe your college audition process?
A:I had a PROCESS when it came to college auditions. I know many people who take a gap year, go through the college audition process for multiple years, etc. but I think tackling this process while in college is an entirely different beast. For me in particular, a gap year was not really an option. I needed to still be pushing myself academically and theatrically and I knew I was ready for the next step of college but my first round left me extremely unsuccessful.
I started my college search around the middle of my junior year of high school. I had to narrow down my options and find the schools that fit me and my parents’ geographical, financial, academic, etc. needs. This is an integral step to finding your spot!! I had narrowed down my choices and decided to apply to only 5 schools!! This is kind of a low number for Musical Theatre students for many people will try to maximize their pool to try and gain as many opportunities for acceptances as possible. I’d recommend doing that looking back, but my path played out a little differently. I applied and was academically accepted to all of my schools in September of my Senior year of high school and began planning prescreens. Some schools require pre-screens to try and eliminate the pool size of auditionees the school has to see on campus or in in-person auditions; pretty much an audition to get you an audition. But nonetheless, an accepted prescreen is a HUGE success and you should be proud of every win you get, there aren’t many… So I did all my auditions on-campus. My pool size was small enough and Chicago or New York Unified auditions were not a beast I was prepared to face.
Sadly, I was rejected from all my top schools and garnered only one acceptance, from a great school but a school I just knew was not the right choice. So, I decided to attend a University in their BA program with the opportunity to re-audition.
I did the whole process again in an absurdly small amount of time. After Christmas in 2019 and with no word from the school I had been attending on whether they were going to accept me into their BFA program after my re-audition, I decided I needed options. I knew that I needed my BFA training and the past year I spent not as BFA was just even more proof of that. My list was SMALL!!! Once again, I only auditioned at 5 schools, I had a larger list but due to missed deadlines and just some schools being RIDICULOUSLY expensive (GO MICHIGAN!! GO BLUE!!) I was seemingly backed back into the “5 school” corner.
I did all my applications and prescreens within half of a week and was ready and set to go before my second semester of college started. It was not easy to navigate, but I ended up missing days of classes to attend Chicago Unified auditions and 1 on-campus audition at a school that did not attend the Chicago Unified. This time through the process, I was waitlisted at programs, denied again, but also successful. My time in college gave me access to collegiate dance courses, voice lessons, acting classes, etc. which set me up to thrive!
The BIGGEST take away from my story, and any successful college audition candidate is tenacity. You have to tenacious to do Musical Theatre as a career and take on the uncharted waters of college auditions. No one can predict what is going to happen during this audition season, you can hire coaches, take audition masterclasses, but I didn’t. All I did was train and grow as myself and in my artistry and show the schools what I had to offer and fight to be where I am today. Indiana University waitlisted me for their BFA program and I emailed the head of their program weekly if not more than once, expressed my interest endlessly, and fought for my spot. The beautiful thing about my situation is that unlike every other program I auditioned for in this past year, Indiana MT is allowing my to join as Freshmore and graduate “on time” with the Musical Theatre class of 2023. I look back on the craziness I endured and I could not even begin to detail the grief or sadness each rejection made me feel, the exact details of everything I went through, or even the unexplainable joy I was gifted when I finally got the acceptance I know I worked for and deserved.
"...you just have to be tough and tenacious. There are THOUSANDS upon thousands of kids who want anywhere between 6-70 spots in a single collegiate BFA Musical Theatre class. Whether you hire an audition coach, join an organization such as CAP or MTCA, craft your book with a vocal coach, or even navigate this process all on your own, trust the process and be yourself." - Luke Swaller
Lili Sheley, Class of '24
BFA Acting @ MO State
Lili is a Ladue Horton Watkins High School alumna with performance credits spanning traditional theater, directing, and musical theater thus far. She is also an alumna of the 3-time ICHSA quarterfinal medalist A Capella group "Viva Voce". Some of her favorite roles include the Baker's Wife in "Into the Woods", Ariel in "Footloose", Amanda in "The Glass Menagerie", and Wednesday in "The Addams Family".
I've known about Lili a bit longer than we've actually worked together. Over the past year, we've worked on a very large caliber show and I was able to learn a lot from her. I've met few people that are more resilient, more passionate about their art. She's an extremely eager learner with a robust array of talents that will certainly serve her well.
Q: When did you decide you wanted to major in theatre?
A: I decided that I wanted to major in theatre when I was four years old. There were times when I thought that I wouldn’t be good enough or that it was unrealistic, but I always knew that I really wanted to perform.
Q: Why did you choose a BFA over a BA?
A: I chose to pursue a BFA because, in my experience, it is a more respected degree in the theatre world. I think that, while BA is a wonderful degree if you want to double major or do something other than full-time theatre, BFA is the way to go. The way I understand it, a BFA has more rigorous courses geared toward making you the best and most successful performer you can be. However, if you are not accepted into a BFA program, a BA is the next-best-thing and you can absolutely get a great education and become a successful artist. There is a kind of stigma about BA, but in reality, you would be taking most of the same classes and people outside of the theatre world wouldn’t know the difference.
Q: Could you describe your college audition process?
A: I started my college journey with the common application. I have high GPA and ACT scores, so I wasn’t really stressed about admission into the actual schools, as most acceptances were given based on Artistic acceptance anyway. I then recorded my pre-screens, which included an up-tempo song, a ballad, two contemporary monologues, a Shakespeare monologue, and a short dance segment. This process was actually pretty fun. My mom helped me figure some things out and the accompanist we hired was so talented.
I received advice to only apply to places I could actually see myself happy, places I really loved, so I only ended up submitting pre-screen materials to 6 schools; Point Park University, Rider University, Carnegie Mellon University, Millikin University, Syracuse University, and Boston Conservatory. I also decided to audition for Missouri State University, Webster University, and AMDA, which left me with 8 possible schools. I received call-backs from Point Park, Syracuse, and Carnegie Mellon, which narrowed the choice down to six. I auditioned for AMDA in the fall. This was a really fun audition where I got the chance to do a workshop on confidence and learn a bit about what most colleges are looking for. I was accepted into their BFA Musical Theatre program two weeks later. While musical theatre was my top choice, I wasn’t sure that AMDA was right for me. I love theatre and I want to do nothing else, but I wished that they had more non-theatre classes, like English and history.
Next, I auditioned for Point Park. This audition was really fun; I went to Pittsburgh and auditioned the next day. The environment was really encouraging and I felt great going in. I sang and did a monologue, took a music theory test, and did the dance call (which was super fun and exciting, even though I’m not a super strong dancer). In January, I auditioned for Carnegie Mellon. This audition was the most stressful, seeing as Carnegie Mellon is the top school for Musical Theatre in the US. There were two separate rooms for singing and acting/monologues, which was different. Also, there were a lot of students talking about their experiences and giving advice, which I thought was really cool. The stressful part came from the kids who had been in the summer programs for Carnegie Mellon. They were so confident and already knew all of the teachers, which made me and a lot of other kids feel less-than. I believe that the staff was partial in their decisions, but it made the process feel a little off.
I then auditioned for Webster. For this audition, I drove down, did my songs and monologues, and left. The audition went really well and I felt like I could really see myself at Webster. Next, I auditioned for Syracuse. I couldn’t make it there for an in-person audition, so I sent videos. While they said it was fine, I didn’t feel good about not getting to meet them. Finally, I auditioned for Missouri State. I drove down on a weekend to have a one-on-one audition with Kurt Heinlein and Robert Westenberg because I couldn’t make it to one of their group auditions. I auditioned in one of their black box theatres and I had a really great time. For starters, Robert Westenberg has been one of my favorite actors since I was about three years old and the rest of their staff is completely stacked with wonderful performers and people. Secondly, they gave me direction in the audition. While this may seem odd, it made me feel like they really cared and wanted me to show what I could do. I left that audition feeling really confident in myself and my ability.
In early March, I was rejected from Carnegie Mellon. While this was upsetting, it was kind of expected. At this point, my top choice was Point Park University. Then, a few weeks later, I heard that I had been accepted to Point Park’s BFA Theatre Arts program. I knew that I should be grateful for this, but it felt like a rejection because I didn’t get into their musical theatre program. I was then rejected from Webster University. I felt really good about that audition, so this one really hurt. Next, I was waitlisted for Syracuse University. I didn’t know what I was going to do if I didn’t get into Missouri State, because I wanted to study theatre so badly.
Finally, I heard that I had made it into Missouri State’s BFA Acting program. While it wasn’t Musical Theatre, I was assured that I could continue vocal training and dance as I studied acting, which completely sold it for me. I was absolutely thrilled to accept my place in this program. I have met a lot of the other BFA students and they seem so kind and serious about their studies. I can’t wait to start my training this fall!
"Finally, don’t take a rejection as meaning that you aren’t talented. If you weren’t accepted, it likely means that you just didn’t fit the school’s specific type or requirements. I promise that you are talented, or you wouldn’t have gotten this far." - Lili Sheley
That is all for this first round of interviews. I would like to thank Luke and Lili for being so willing to speak about this whole process. I wish you both the very best as you head into this next phase of your lives!
I hope this post gave you more insight on the BFA process- I learned a lot from their interviews for sure. Next week, I'll be back with Alec and Cate's stories. Stay tuned!
This week's #songforthesoul is Keli O'Hara's rendition of "What More Do I Need?" from the musical Saturday Night. I love her voice and her interpretation of this Golden Age uptempo.
As always, happy reading!
Arden