The American Musical and Dramatic Academy

I just wanted to take this moment to thank Joanna Figueroa financial counselor. We ran into a situation. Ms. Figueroa was there for us 1,000 x's 10% of the way. We are proud to say that our son will complete his senior year. I am humbled and blessed by God for people who are willing to help with every step.

My daughter has had a fantastic time at this school and their year end Performance was fantastic.

I’m currently studying at AMDA. It’s really the best decision I have ever made. The teaching method is really good, I’m in my second semester and I feel that I already learned and developed a lot of skills. Besides that, the teachers are amazing, they are really from the industry and are giving us the real training to be there. The conservatory is intense, but that is really why Amda have a lot of amazing alumni now working in the industry. As an international student, Amda’s support from the beginning was always really important for me, and the friends that I’m making here are really the best.

I joined AMDA NYC back in 2021 Fall. This school has changed my life. Incredible staffing who are all working professionals within the acting world and all are incredibly motivated, fun and inspiring. My time at this school has been nothing but positive thus far and, the school continues to get better and better. I have done my own reading into reviews and the bad reviews have definitely changed. I have seen things change here, I have seen things become progressively better for the students here at AMDA. AMDA has become much more of a supporting and safe environment for not just me but for everybody who needs it. You certainly learn a lot here, develop great connections with your teachers and get plenty of opportunities out here. I myself, am certainly glad that I chose this school. Great friends, great classes, great locations, great teachers and all around an incredibly exiting journey.

I attended Amda for two years and finished their conservatory program in July, and I can tell you it's really not worth it going in there. Getting into the school isn't super hard, which means there are tons of people who get in and have this fantasy of being an actor and working in Hollywood, but without actually wanting to put in the effort or time to get there, which translates into lots of people who aren't willing to rehearse. But say you can't control who's with you in the program, so let's keep going. The school has a terrible and a strict absence policy, and they changed it in the last year or so so that even with a doctor's note, it's hard to make up for your attendance grade, which counts for the majority of your overall grade. Adding on to that, during my 2-year stay, from day one, we never had a nurse on the New York campus, and I've heard from faculty that the school wasn't able to find a nurse, which I'm having a hard time imagining how the school wasn't able to provide a nurse in 2 years considering that their full tuition before any scholarships amounts to $49,500. Like, where does all that money go to...? Which leads me to my next point: the cafeteria food, which consisted mostly of cold salads and celery/carrots with some dips, which then became a joke among students and even some faculty members, and I heard a teacher say they got sick after eating something from the cafeteria. And again, it makes you wonder where all the money goes, but moving on. When it comes to the quality of education you get, it depends highly on the teacher you get. where I had some teachers that I learned a lot from, and others not so much. However, for the amount you pay each year, it's just not worth it in my opinion. It's highly debatable whether it's needed to even attend an acting conservatory in order to do acting, but I do think in some cases you will get the same education, if not better, if you were to take acting workshops and put yourself out there, audition, and do acting jobs. I think an acting school is a good fit for people who want that college acting experience; however, there are better options than AMDA. Talking about faculty, I've met some incredible teachers who made my experience here better, but I wouldn't credit that to the school itself, as I also had other teachers who maybe shouldn't have become a teacher to begin with and others who made racist remarks to me, and even after being reported, the most that the school did was removing ME from the teacher's class (applauding AMDA for their problem-solving skills) The school always preaches about being an accepting, welcoming school, but in my experiences, that doesn't apply to everyone, as I've had to sit in class and listen to a teacher either make a racist joke or remark multiple times. Personally, I didn't stay in the NYC dorms, so I can't say much about that, but every week I had to listen to horror stories from my other classmates who did. From cold water to mold in the showers to the school not giving them time to move out at the end of the semester, and more. People always say that AMDA is what you make out of it, which can be true, but also, there are way better options out there; you really don't need to come here.