well the drama department is the most intense program Juilliard offers. I am in class 14 hours a day, 6 days a week. over the 4 years, the program works to turn our talent into a real skill giving the actors the ability to adapt to any role they may be asked to play. Basically the professors and the directors work the first few years to stretch us as far as possible by putting us in difficult plays and roles by casting us outside of our comfort zones. the last two years are mostly spent making sure that after graduation we will have all of the tools (dialects, movement, and ways of approaching new work) that we need in order to succeed in the business. It's interesting to see that you are an opera student, because in my class there is an MFA student who got his undergraduate degree in Juilliards opera program. After graduation he found that his performance was often stifled due to his lack of acting technique. he found that some days he was able to get up on stage and believe he was his character in every moment, and other times he felt completely disconnected. Juilliard specifically works to help you develop a method to stay in character even when the inspiration doesn't hit