# Cornish College of the Arts



## PeytonJr (Feb 28, 2009)

I've recently been looking around at schools that offer theatre design degrees, and since I'm in Seattle, Cornish College of the Arts caught my eye. Has anybody had any experience with them, or know what their reputation is like?


----------



## Nikgwolf (Mar 1, 2009)

Hi there, I was just looking through the posts and I thought I should point out that shortly after you posted this, someone who is currently attending Cornish College of the Arts just introduced themselves on the new members board. Here's the post: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/new-member-board/10546-another-new-member.html

Take care!

Nik Robalino
Flickr: nikgwolf512's Photostream

P.S.: If I don't mention it someone will...Don't forget to try the search function if you haven't already.


----------



## gafftaper (Mar 5, 2009)

Hey Peyton, it's been a few years since I knew people attending Cornish. I would say in general they probably have the best reputation in our area. However, none of the local universities have top national reputations. So the question of it's program is so much better than UW or Western (who also have good programs) to make it worth your $ is an important one for you to consider. 

CWU has a summer theater program for teachers. I've been attending it for a few years now. I really like the faculty over there. It's not a huge program but it seems to be a good one. E-burg is not the greatest place in the world to live. 

I tell my students here if they want to stay in Washington to consider Cornish, Western, UW, and CWU. 

If you do some searching around here you'll find I've written a lot about the importance of education in building your career. Unlike many careers there is no guarantee that a degree will get you any work in theater. There are many people out there working in theater who don't have a masters, there are many out there who have a B.A. in something else (like me), there are also a lot of people out there WORKING in theater with no theater degree at all. Hard work, dumb luck, and who you impress are just as important as what sort of a degree you have and where it's from. 

Two candidates show up for a job. If one has a Masters degree (but no life experience) and the other has no degree at but spent 5 years working for someone I know across town and has a stellar recomendation... I'm probably going to hire the person with no degree. 

The T.D.'s of the largest theater in town. Has a B.A. and is a carpenter who worked his way up through the shop starting out as summer stock overhire. 

Yes you NEED to know what you are doing. But as long as you can prove you know it, who taught it to you isn't nearly as important is it is in other fields.


----------

