Academics vs. Dance Ability at top schools?

<p>I agree canamdance. I don’t think that anyone thinks that a BFA is required to get a job or will even help. It’s the simple fact that many 18 year old are not ready to go out and work, especially modern dance. A lot of growth and maturity happen during those years. I think it’s too bad that ballet wants the dancers at such a young age. They miss out a lot being with their peers in college before they are out in the adult world for the rest of their lives.</p>

<p>I know this is so long ago, but yes, that is what she was thinking of doing. It’s not the fact that a BFA is necessary for the job per se, but rather, she thinks the focus will be good for improving her skill.</p>

<p>And I agree. One of my best friend’s sister dropped out of high school to dance for a company, was injured and can’t dance professionally ever again. She’s been struggling to get on her feet again.</p>

<p>Hi Danceclass. What are these schools that don’t require SAT’s?</p>

<p>I mostly researched schools just in the northeast, but these are the colleges I found with dance programs that are SAT optional:</p>

<p>Bennington
Bard
Bowdoin
Bryn Mawr
City U of NY Staten Island
College of Holy Cross
Connecticut College
Dickinson
Franklin and Marshall
George Mason
Goucher
Hamilton
Hampshire
Harwick
Hobart and William Smith
Marlboro
Mount Holyoke
Muhlenberg
Sarah Lawrence
Smith
Union
Wheaton (MA)</p>

<p>Keep in mind that some, like Connecticut and Hamilton, have other stringent requirements, like SAT IIs, so they’re still very very selective. Some of these only offer dance as a minor, or part of the theater department, so it all depends what you’re looking for.</p>

<p>Thanks for the prompt reply. My DD is a competition kid and wants to be a commercial dancer, but also wants a college education, even though, as of right now, she’s not very academically oriented, even though she has good grades. She’s particulary worried about “making it” in the real world as a commercial dancer, and about what schools would be the best fit for her to that end. She’s is very talented and has worked with reknown choreographers, who think the same. Her heart is definetely in jazz/comtemporary.</p>

<p>Hmm… You can probably cross several of those schools off your list in that case. I don’t think many of the smaller schools offer much in the way of competition-style dancing. Maybe what you need is a larger university with a large musical theater department. That way your daughter would get the opportunity to try out for lots of performances. Being large; however, those universities would receive a great many applications and would not be able to devote the time to them that the small liberal arts colleges do. They probably all require SATs to set cut off limits.</p>