#23: Dear Julie… BFA or BA? Help!

Wednesday 7/31/24

Today’s DEAR JULIE is a great question for students, parents, and coaches!

“DEAR JULIE, How do i know if i’m supposed to get a BFA or BA? I’m planning to study musical theatre and there seem to be a lot of options in both and I don’t really understand the difference.”

Excellent question! 

The path for BFA or BA is VERY important to some and irrelevant to others. 

The basic difference is that a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) will have the majority of your credits in your major while a BA (Bachelor of Arts) will be about half - 60% - keep in mind for the BA you can use elective credits back into theatre-related classes if you want to pick up some more! Let’s get one thing crystal clear - neither is “BETTER”. There is only what is “BETTER” for the student in question. It is my STRONG recommendation that unless you KNOW you want to double major, explore BOTH options. Do not limit yourself. CHOICE is the name of the game for musical theatre college auditions!

Each school will have a similar set of classes simply because of what is needed for accreditation - but each school will also handle classes differently! Haha! Best to always default to the CURRICULUM per school you are looking into. 

Let’s break that down a bit! (Keep in mind, there are also BM -  Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre - that will vary it’s credits - and there’s only a handful of them so we’ll skip it for this)

Starting with BFA:

The BFA degree in theatre, dance, etc will be a highly specialized degree. The training may be (MAY be) more intense and the days are probably longer. In most BFA programs you may have limited time to do extracurriculars, double major, or even pick up a minor. Lots of BFA programs require 110-120 credits in your major - and well, 120ish is about the number needed to graduate! If the number is lower like 100-110 credits, that probably means there are some school required classes everyone has to take. Time is also a question in BFA programs. A class may look like 1 or 3 credits - which means that a class would meet either 1 hour a week or 3 hours a week. However, a 1 credit class in a BFA may be a daily ballet class for an hour - so 5 hours a week, not 1. The mainstage musical you get cast in may be 3 credits, but rehearses every night 6-10 plus tech plus weekends PLUS performances. So the hours are not created equal. 

SOME BFA programs either ARE a conservatory or are conservatory style. The difference simply is that a conservatory will have little to no “regular” classes and conservatory style will have a few more! 

In a BFA & BA you will still have additional requirements in theatre in directing, stagecraft (which is probably learning about costumes or lighting or set building - usually attached to an actual show), and other theatre classes that may not be directly acting or musical theatre. 

BA: 

Now, some BA programs offer the same level pre-professional training as BFA - always check the curriculum. While others may be more “choose your own adventure” like BA in Theatre and then choosing a concentration like acting or musical theatre. When I was at Marymount our choices were BFA in Acting or BA in Theatre with an Acting Concentration and a Musical Theatre Minor. Now they have a BFA in MT but at the time, this was the way to do it. And WE WERE BUSY. 

BA programs generally have less credits in your major - probably about 50-70. That leaves about 60 or so for the gen-eds & electives. You may be able to pick up a double major or a minor with those credits! You really get to control your time in college a bit more. I LOVED that I had all my acting/musical theatre classes each semester, plus shows, plus other classes I was simply curious about. Some I remember taking were Business Law (thank GOD i took that!), Gay and Lesbian studies, Women in Literature (where i wrote a paper about Carrie Bradshaw… god i love liberal arts), Psychology, Political Science, and an Ethics & Law class. Other than that, I really did mostly theatre! But, I was in 2 “non-theatre” classes a semester except my final one. I had 42 credits in my major (theatre), 18 for my acting concentration, 18 for my MT minor = 78 JUST in theatre.  42 credits remained for general requirements which was exactly the number needed to graduate. 14 classes over 8 semesters! And of those 14 classes, about 3-4 were classes the entire school had to take. The remaining 10 classes you had a choice! And, some of those options were even theatre adjacent. 

That’s just an example of MY BA experience but I think there are lots of similarities. I was able to do all that plus was involved in shows, student shows, and my pride & joy - I was on student government all 4 years and was the VP my junior year and President my senior year. And you know I do nothing half-assed so me and the then-Pres of the school were besties, of course. And we did A LOT of work. Aside from attending sporting events and having a “real” campus, my collegiate experience was a total win. AND, we left with an amazing network of peers and connections out in the field. 

There are a handful of BA MT programs too! You will see BA degrees offered in theatre (choose a concentration), theatre performance, acting, musical theatre, theatre studies. The theatre studies may be the least performance based so just always check the curriculum. 

Look, for MT or Acting, you are probably going to need to apply to 15-25 schools depending on some specifics. A mix is always good. You want choice and you may think a BA is better for you, but as auditions go on, you may be lured into BFA! Or, the other way around! Like I said earlier, the name of the game is CHOICE.

If you have choice - you have power. Just get in and then decide.

Dreams Don’t Die

Julie