What about acting?

Introduction
None of the reviews on here yet acknowledge the stellar theater program at the University of Michigan, that's going to be my focus. LSA is alright, but the School of Music, Theater, and Dance is a whole different boat. If acting is what you're after, U of M is a really good bet. Although U of M isn't a conservatory school, its theater programs offer many conservatory style classes. Its good for the student who wants to pursue acting but also wants a to double major or take in a wider world of theater arts.

Acceptance in the Music, Theater, and Dance school comes after acceptance to LSA/the general school and entails a separate application/auditioning process. Its okay to be green in these auditions, a lot of what they are looking for is potential to do well.

Campus Life and Social Life
All departments and classes in the theater school are ungodly close-knit. A handful of students are simultaneously involved in Greek Life and other clubs, but most of the focus for any of the different types of theater majors stays within the department. Available to any actors, directors, or designers to participate in are Basement Arts(a student-run theater program), the RC Players(the theater program in the residential college), and Musket(a student-run large-scale musical production group). There are also specific clubs to comedy from improv to stand-up all over campus. Weekends typically involve either rehearsal or performances and then a cast party or two. Classes and majors frequently have their own parties.

In the city of Ann Arbor and wider in southeast lower Michigan, there are a lot of great opportunities to get personal experience in different aspects of performance in a professional setting. There are many professional theaters such as the Performance Network and Purple Rose that offer internships in the summers as well as talent agencies in the Detroit area that offer commercial and film casting. If comedy is your interest, the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase is a close bet where one can get some stage time. Advertisement
Academics
There are five different majors that come to mind in the Theater aspect of the school: BFA in performance(acting), BFA in design and production(set, lighting, and costume design), BFA in directing(directors), BFA in Musical Theater, and BTA(Bachelor of Theater Arts, a general studies sort of major for people interested in theater, there is a concentration in Performing Arts Management available to this major). The department puts on several shows per semester(deemed main-stage) that are directed by faculty. These shows all-around give opportunities to individual majors to shine in their area.

Classes in the department take place on North Campus in the Walgreen Drama Center, which is generally quite a distance from the majority of student housing. Classes in the theater department are generally lower numbers of credits but high numbers of hours put in, for example most acting courses are 3 credits, but meet for 4 hours and Stage Management courses are 2-3 credits, meet for 2 hours a week but also include Assistant Stage Managing a show. It's time consuming. Very time consuming. It is good preparation, however, for a major that's about a lifestyle of working all the time.

For actors(regular and musical theater), it is required that you are in two of the mainstage shows through the course of your time at the University. This guarantees that you will be cast, but you could be townsperson #4 twice. The class sizes are kept small, but its still difficult to get the bigger parts. As frustrating as it is, its still quite representative of the world after college. It should be noted that being in the mainstage productions, or any production for that matter, is as time consuming as all get out as well. The BFA in any of the performances is not ideal for someone who needs to maintain a 20-30 hour per week outside job.

The BFA programs in design and production and directing are both similarly time consuming but also very hands-on. Early-on students are able to start designing, managing, or directing shows on campus. Frequently these students are balancing several shows at a time to get as much experience out of the program as possible. They sleep in the Walgreen center.

BTA is the ideal program for someone who would like to double major or transfer into the theater program. Its classes in everything: directing, acting, management, and history. The BFA programs are 4-year tracks no matter what. If someone wants to be an actor or get some training, classes are offered to non-School of Music people, but are difficult to get into. BTAs have all the access to the facilities and can create a major that suits them best. The Performing Arts Management concentration with the BTA degree is also a popular program because it offers classes in the Business school and gives a more specific direction to the program's open-ended class requirements. Although it is difficult, it is also possible to get into the upper-level acting/performance classes as a BTA, one just has to foster connections with professors.

Student Body
The students of the department are close-knit. I already said that, but its difficult to express how extreme it is. In most of the BFA majors, the groups of cohorts in each class take at least 75% of their classes together each semester. The BTA majors generally have a wider diversity in what classes they are able to take and generally have wider social circles.
The networking that you are able to do in this major at this University is amazing. In general, people from this department end up being quite successful, and because of the small class sizes people know one another quite well. Having an opportunity to have somewhere to stay when you are starting out and make the choice to move across the country is such a great benefit. Just during your time at the school, you will meet many people who you will probably end up working with several times later in life.

In Closing...
I appreciated my choice to transfer into the theater school because there are a lot of opportunities to make it your own depending on where your interests truly lie. U of M's theater program is not necessarily for people who are not willing to put in the time, and the more rigid theater majors are very difficult to do if you need to maintain an outside job. The department is very time consuming, but has a lot of benefits especially in the networking that you leave with.