Looking for some input from experienced students / parents regarding the importance of academic achievement in BFA
MT admissions. I realize schools vary. Some background:
Come from a strong academic family. Expectations (and results) have always been quite high in HS, college, work force, etc. Our oldest has followed in that path. D17 is different. She’s very smart but is all in with MT. Has been for many yrs. Attends a performing arts magnet and actually does take AP classes but the rigor of the school and her personal motivation in those classes is way less than our norm. She gets mainly Bs with an occasional A and occasional C. Often, mid term she’s at a few D’s and manages to bring her grades up to B.Again, she’s smart, but so busy and focused on her art there just isn’t much time for anything else. I get on her for that a lot as I want her grades to not eliminate BFA choices.
With that said, how do strong BFA programs like Emerson, Boco, Elon, etc consider academics in the admissions process? I hear NYU is very difficult academically. (Don’t worry, she’ll be applying to several safeties as well). Is it somewhat like recruited athletes where they are less academic than the normal student body but display the ability to at least graduate? Is it more or less qualifying as a regular academic admitted student? Or is it pretty easy provided you have a great audition?
Difficult rationalizing lower than superb grades (when she’s capable of) but I know I need to look at this through a different lense.
There’s mixed responses regarding academics in MT. We were told some schools will take academics into consideration during the prescreen process. Michigan, Elon & Penn State in particular. Michigan has their minimum requirements right on their website, but they aren’t as high as regular admissions standards at Michigan. We’ve also heard repeatedly that academics at CMU don’t matter, it’s all about the audition. NYU is another higher academic standard school that we’ve heard takes academics into consideration.
One thing we’ve learned is there’s NO logic in this process! I’d recommend researching schools, putting together a balanced list and not worrying too much about the academic piece. Many of the schools with strong MT programs do not have high academic standards. High grades and test scores will mainly help with academic merit aid.
My oldest D was similar-100% MT and her grades were less than stellar. Two of the schools mentioned above all but rolled out the red carpet for her after her auditions, only to receive personal letters stating that her grades did not allow her to be admitted, but that she would’ve been otherwise last year. No matter what anyone says, grades matter. I’m hoping that my youngest D’s stellar grades will make this current season a little easier on us.
Thanks for the responses. She will likely graduate with a 3.2 - 3.5 (not sure about weighting) and hopefully a 1300 SAT. So not stellar at all but competent. I frequently think of her like a strong D1 athlete recruit / candidate. She can achieve anything she wants academically, just is focused in the arts (and is building a killer resume including professional credits, youth theater teacher / director, professional theater review - published, etc.)
For NYU - admissions is bifurcated: academics and artistic applications are judged entirely separately. You have to pass BOTH to get in. I have heard of arts profs trying to go to bat for a kid they REALLY want - but that is not the norm. The reasoning is - 40% of your classes at NYU will be outside of BFA - so you need to be able to work at that level. CMU, on the other hand, only had kids take 4 classes outside the BFA during their entire college experience, and therefore you don’t need to worry that you will be able to keep up with the engineering majors
@rickle1 my D was in much the same boat as yours. Schools we left off our list because of academic requirements: Emerson, NYU, U Mich and Penn State. That still left her with plenty of options, and she was admitted academically to every school she applied to, even Muhlenberg which was the most stringent for academics of the schools she applied to.
