Am I experienced enough for a college musical theatre program?

After reading through many, many posts on here, I’ve seen that some parents and students have mentioned that they’ve heard of “kids who have only done high school shows” getting into some colleges and that’s why they’ve refused to apply there… because I guess they think the program isn’t good enough or something? But that got me thinking whether my level of experience is enough for college!

I’ve been taking voice lessons, dance lessons, attended many camps and workshops. I’ve been doing about 3-4 productions a year since 2011, 2012… However, most of the shows that I have done have been through school and youth community theatre.

I’m looking to major in musical theatre next fall, and I’m preparing for auditions now. I was wondering if you guys think that high school training is enough to prepare me for this, and whether or not colleges judge that type of thing? Or am I just being paranoid?

@jessieburnett you are just being paranoid. My D’s credits were all high school and local community youth theater prior to college. The credits on your resume are far less important than what you do in the audition room! Concentrate on that, don’t worry about the resume. (Although, at schools that did strike up a convo in the audition room, the resume was often used by the auditors as a conversation starter.)

@jessieburnett - your past production experience is fine. It looks like you’ve done plenty of work beyond just being in performances. That’s what will show in the audition room. The auditors are looking for what YOU can DO - not what shows you’ve done. Those who say a program isn’t “good enough” because they take kids with only school productions on the resume don’t know what they’re talking about.

I would not worry about why other people have or haven’t applied to a certain school. I think that most people take a number of factors into consideration.
You should apply at the schools that are a good fit for you.

As far as being qualified I have read of many people who had less experience than you who have gotten into well respected programs.

It seems like you have a lot of experience that should give you confidence as you go into your auditions Focus on your audition… you’ll do fine.

You will hear a lot of B.S. during the audition process in hallways and lobbies and yes, even here on CC. Stay within yourself, rise above the noise and confusion, and remember the oft-turned phrase by actors, “You are enough.

Colleges want to see what you do on that day in the audition room and will then decide if you are right for their school based about 95% on that. Your background is fine. Good luck!!

If you do a million shows and bad habits sink in really deep, it is that much harder to change them. We were just on the Julliard tour. The kid that gave us the tour had never even heard of Julliard when it was suggested that he apply. And, he had been in the whopping 2 shows before applying. Talent is talent no matter what your previous experience has been.

While I agree that your experience should be fine and talent is what counts, I do want to highlight another side of this. You might not get into a BFA program. Our D didn’t. In her case it may have been talent level and that is something to consider for yourself. And as someone else mentioned, school selection is very important. Auditiining at only the top schools can reduce your chance of acceptance.

But you don’t need to be in a BFA program to study musical theatre. Our D is in a non-audition BA program and taking mostly the same classes as the BFAs, including MT classes. In the real world auditions they won’t care whether you have a BFA or BA, just what you can bring to a role. Yes, some programs can get better connections and open more doors, but the BA is still a legitimate route as well.

@raellis123 , can I ask what college your D attends? I’m starting to compile a list of both BA and BFA programs. I want to look at strong BA programs because I am interested in double majoring. Thank you!

Hi @NYKaren , she’s at Northern Kentucky University.

@raellis123, do you know if Northern Kentucky requires foreign language courses for graduation (not for admission)? I have been looking and looking but can’t find this info on its website.

@2wuhanmom , I don’t recall foreign language being a university-wide requirement. I think a semester may count for gen eds, but there are other ways to fulfill that as well. It may be required for specific majors (like English). But my D isn’t taking any language from what I recall. She took Spanish in HS but didn’t get to AP Spanish so I know she didn’t bring language credits with her.

Thanks, @raellis123!