When planning your future, the one big question is whether you'll end up at the right school for you. However, that isn't as frightening as you might think, and the solution is research! Researching a school is a great way to learn whether you will enjoy their classes, whether the school is the right size for you, the faculty you will work with, and whether you prefer being on an urban or rural campus. 

Essentially, you've got to cyber-stalk a school. The first step is to visit the college's website. Seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? College websites must be well-organized and simple to navigate, right? WOULDN'T YOU THINK SO? They're actually a total nightmare. But don't worry dear reader, you've come to the right place for how to find things! 

Step 1) Research the School In General

This is arguably the most crucial step. Before you dive into a specific school's program, consider the school as a whole. Be extremely vigilant during this step. A school may have the best program for you, but if you don't want to be surrounded by thousands of students in your major alone and prefer a small school environment, that school may not be for you. Also, make sure that the tuition is within your budget! Typically, they will have a section on their website dedicated to overall tuition costs and the percentage of their students who receive financial aid in addition to tuition. You won’t receive a financial aid package from a school until you’re academically accepted, but also keep an eye on your email for offers of financial aid from schools because they will occasionally reach out to you and offer you money if you apply to their school. 

Step 2) Navigate to the school’s theatre page. 

A surprisingly difficult step. Sometimes you have to go through a whole searching rabbit hole just to get there. It can go anywhere from “Academics → Undergraduate → Majors and Minors → Performing Arts → Theatre” or anything in between. You can also cheat this stage by looking up something like “[university name] acting BFA” or “[university name] theatre program,” but this doesn’t always work because, once again, each website is its own beast. 

Step 3) Read up!

Once you get to their actual page, read everything you can! They occasionally have videos of previous productions or accounts from students who have graduated from the program, as well as quotes from faculty about their processes and anything else under the sun. All of this information will give you a general idea of how the program works and what they value, as well as the opportunity to see how your values align with theirs. 

Step 4) Course Catalog

This is where you'll really learn what you'll be doing for the next four years. Colleges usually have something on their website that says "Course Catalog" or "Major Requirements" or something similar. That is a list of courses that must be completed in order to graduate with a diploma from that major. There may be required courses such as "History of Theatre" or "Movement," which you will have to take alongside GenEd courses at some point. Examine these to see if they'll be teaching anything of interest to you. For example, if you want to try your hand at directing, see if they have an elective course in directing! 

After all of this, hopefully you'll have a better understanding of the schools you're looking at, and can figure out if applying to them will be worth your time!