<p>As a parent of a sophomore chem engineering student and an aspiring acting BFA student, I think that all of these areas are significantly challenging, but they use your mind in different ways. My chem engineer took AP Lit and reads poetry and his favorite high school teacher is his English teacher. He won an award for English and macroeconomics. Yet he loves chemistry and is doing really well in a chem engineering program at a rigorous school.
My actor took Calculus and several other AP classes but like Marbleheader’s S, opted not to take a couple of AP’s this year because there isn’t time with performances and auditions. But she can handle the rigor of the classes.
Bachelors or Masters level work in either the arts or the sciences are both intellectually challenging. Let’s not forget that only 30% of Americans even have a college degree. (Surprising, but true.) College is challenging!
The makeup of our mind and our personalities guide us to choose one type of study over another, and maybe that preferred subject comes easy to us, and other subjects may or may not come easy… but does not make one subject inherently more difficult than another subject for everyone.
I second what bisouu says about synapses firing too. The best K-12 programs expose kids to learning in a variety of areas because learning new topics, subjects and skills fires new areas of the brain, and makes thoughts in all subject areas connect more readily. Don’t get me started on what standardized testing is doing to the breadth of educational programs across the country!</p>
<p>Just want to introduce myself. Great thread. I have a son applying strictly to BFA programs, except a BA at USC as his “safety”. Well, actually…we have University of Utah and Westminster College as safeties, too…but they are also BFA programs. </p>
<p>His decision to do BFA was based on his love of acting and his teacher/director’s “guidance” that that is the ONLY way to go, because he got his MFA and was able to teach at NYU “between gigs”. We asked our son to understand that this “guidance” is coming from someone who is a high school teacher. And does he want to be an actor or a teacher? Sigh.</p>
<p>Anyway…son is a National Merit Semifinalist, taking AP classes this year, but also… miraculously…two study halls. He has NEVER had a free period…and this has really been a blessing this year as he has been able to file all of his apps and schedule all of his auditions while preparing to be Richard III in their fall play and also researching/learning his monologues. However, none of the NMA scholarships are for schools he is even remotely interested in (exept USC). </p>
<p>His first choice is CalArts, followed closely by Carnegie Mellon, NYU, SUNY Purchase, Rutgers, Juilliard, LAMDA (3 year BA), BU, USC, etc… As I said, all BFA’s. It’s my understanding that admission to these schools is almost entirely audition based. I think most of them even put a percentage on it during school tours. For instance, I know my husband said that Carnegie Mellon (his alma mater) said 80% audition based. And when he asked if a Theatre student would ever be given the Presidential Scholarship, he was told, “Almost assuredly NOT”. Sigh.</p>
<p>He’s my first son. Second son (HS sophomore) also loves theatre but got involved in Robotics last year and leaning toward mechanical engineering. I’ll be following along here or if there are any other threads you would recommend. My husband has done most of the college visits with David, filled out the FAFSA (thanks, Honey!), but I will be going to auditions end of Jan./beginning of Feb. Really appreciate all of your knowledge.</p>
<p>Marblehead, how does your son like BU? They are the only school to have reached out after our visit…invited him to apply for the Kilichand Honors program, suggested there should be some merit scholarship money available (in addition to some NMS money, I think). </p>
<p>Anyway…fun to “meet” you all here. Yeah for the wine. Boo for the snakes. Looking forward to this journey with you all!</p>
<p>Welcome MsMommy!!! Maybe our kids will end up in the same spot :)</p>
<p>hi and welcome to the group. You need more safeties. Even with a brilliant kid like yours, an admission to USC is not a given. The BA at USC sounds like a wonderful option BTW so i’m very happy to hear he is going for it. Since you mentioned 2 other schools that should be safeties acamedically, I don’t know enough about their theatre depts to know if they can truly be considered safeties for BFA purposes. Yes, I think BU has some NM money and as you likely know, if he gets into USC, he gets 1/2 tuition. Since your kid is National Merit, congrats on that BTW, he can also add OU, Bama, and UCF as safeties. All of those schools are eager to enroll NM students and if enrolled, they treat them very well. So he should be able to apply to any of them, even if it is later than usual due to NM status. My guess and it is only a guess is that admissions and the theatre depts will work together to get your kid into the program he wants at any of those 3 schools. still would be best to see what the BFA requiements are for timing, audtions, etc. And I’d get in touch with those schools directly if you want to look into them more. UCF has a BA and BFA and although off the radar, from what I can gather, it has a decent BFA program. Bama, from what I’ve been told, has great theater facilties(don;t know about strength of program), and I knwo OU has theatre, not sure if it’s BFA, BA, or both. Oklahoma City Univ also has nice NM scholarships and from what I’ve seen in the past, has a decent BFA program. I am hoping those better versed can hop in here on OCU. </p>
<p>CMU sounds like a great choice for your second son btw due to his interest in robotics.</p>
<p>and BTW, I did not mean to come across as harsh on USC. Not my intent at all. But my kid planned to apply there, has good but not phenonomal stats and due to that, i’m pretty up from an outsider’s view regarding how hard it is to get into USC. My guess is both our kids have a good shot of getting accepted(and yours actually sounds better than mine) but with an acceptance rate of 20 percent last year, that’s too low of an acceptance rate to bank on the USC BA as a safety so it was more of a mom warning to put some more feelers out :)</p>
<p>Thanks, bisouu! Thanks for the welcome. It will take me a bit of time to learn about each of our children…but YES! Wouldn’t it be fun if our paths or our children’s paths would cross at auditions or schools.</p>
<p>And mommabear, THANK YOU! This is exactly the type of information/assistance I was hoping to get here. I will definitely look into OU/Bama/UCF. My son is strong-willed and it has been difficult to get him to wrap his head around anything other than his “dream schools”…but now that all of those applications are submitted, we have a bit of time to look at some other options. When told that CMU would accept 6 boys/6 girls, his response was…“No problem!” LOL! At least ONE of us is super confident. </p>
<p>Thanks again. I feel it will be a long journey between now and April/May!</p>
<p>Also, mommabear, YES on CMU as an engineering choice for son#2. He tagged along on school tours this summer, toured the engineering school while David was looking at theatre and he loved it. He also had the chance to tour MIT because they just happened to stop by the campus as a tour was beginning and they invited him to join in. It’s fun to watch him watch his brother’s process and take it to heart. He even joined the Rowing team this fall because he thinks it may increase his chance of acceptance at some of his dream schools. </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>bisouu, I couldn’t respond to your PM because I am new. It gives me a message that I must post fifteen messages before I can PM! I will try to remedy that!</p>
<p>Anyway…yes…it is cold here. We are discussing where we might want to live once both boys are off to college. And BTW…I am secretly hoping for a California school rather than an East Coast school. But will take whatever we get!</p>
<p>I’d like Cali too 
and in your case, it is closer to home so all the more reason to have the kids there</p>
<p>On another note, someone at the beginning of this thread was thinking about Loyola Marymount. My son’s ex-girlfriend is at school there…just beginning her sophomore year. She did not become involved in theatre until her senior year of high school…may have had something to do with my son 
Anyway…she LOVES their BA program. Loves the dorms. The campus is gorgeous (even though she occasionally needs a bike to get between classes on time). Her workstudy program is in the theatre department this year, she just had to get certified to drive a forklift. Last year she was in a production at least once a term, both student and instructor directed. She was just chosen to study independently with a well-respected local director (through a class) and then acted in a class-produced film. She is the stage manager for the upcoming production of Rent while also working on her next part in an “experimental” piece they will be performing. I have been very impressed with the program and all of the opportunities she has already been offered. Just my 2 cents. If anyone has any specific questions, I would be happy to ask her. She is thriving there.</p>
<p>thanks. that is good to know</p>
<p>Ms mommy - Fordham University at Lincoln center gives full tuition scholarships to National Merit Semi Finalists. My D is a commended student and she missed the semi by 2 points after our state ended up with a particularly high cutoff this year. She would have made it last year. That’s why I really looked into Fordham’s program; we were expecting she would be a semi. Anyway, Fordham has a really good program although it is an auditioned BA. If you’d like to have the scholarship you could look into it. If your S wants a Masters a free Bachelors is a good start.
My husband also went to Carnegie Mellon and my older son considered it. Small world.</p>
<p>i forgot about Fordham. that is also a good choice. and dramamom, my kid missed it by one point this year. Aagh. Yes, it was a high year… And msmommy, both of us can be great resources for you on finding NM schools with decent drama programs.</p>
<p>LMU was on my D’s list until we were told we could not visit the theater department and could not audition in person but had to do it through DVD.</p>
<p>OU is an auditioned BFA. On-campus audition required. Prescreening can be scheduled at Chicago Unifieds. May be an academic safety for NMSF, but not a safety for the BFA program.</p>
<p>Other programs that give merit aid (where being a NMSF can certainly help):
-Univ of AZ(auditioned BFA)- very generous pkg for NMF
-Syracuse, Ithaca (auditioned BFA)
- Univ of MN -Guthrie (auditioned BFA)</p>
<p>Welcome, MsMommy. The more you read posts here, the more you will see the following mantra: No auditioned program should be considered a safety. </p>
<p>ALL auditioned BFA programs are highly selective. </p>
<p>It would be a really good idea for your son to add one or two non-auditioned theatre programs (ones that he would be glad to attend) to his list. There are threads on this forum discussing and recommending such schools.</p>
<p>msmommy, welcome! I have had 2 kids at USC and hope to offer some suggestions to maximize your S’s chance of acceptance. As you likely know, while USC guarantees 1/2 tuition scholarship to all NMFs who are admitted, each year they turn down many NMFs… so it is, alas, not a safety. My second tip is that I often suggest students audition for USC (BFA) because they can put the Theatre BA as a second choice. This gives the benefit of being seen/connecting to the School of Dramatic Arts in person. Any student admitted to the BFA, may switch to BA (my S2 did this because he was also admitted to the film school, decided he wanted to double major and that meant he had to get the BA), but it also means if a student does not get into the BFA, he/she has a (I think better) shot at admission to the BA, especially with great stats. </p>
<p>For safety sake, it’s best to have at least 2 schools that are not audition-based and who admit a significant % of applicants. Even with stellar stats, schools who admit less than 25% can be very unpredictable.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Okay, after long conversation this morning, here is where we stand. S will audition in Jan. in NY for NYU, BU, hopefully Purchase, Rutgers and Fordham (although we missed the app. deadline of Nov. 8 by two days…the system did take his app and allow him to schedule an audition…I will need to call on Mon. to see if all is well). He will send a DVD to Pace. He has already visited most of the campuses, and also the ones in CA.</p>
<p>He will audition in CA in Feb. for Chapman, CalArts, USC and CMU and Juilliard. </p>
<p>Fordham, Muhlenberg, Westminster (here in Utah) and Northwestern (school overall says about a 15% acceptance rate…YIKES!) are his current safeties (in his mind and in the mind of his college counselor). He would also like to audition for LAMDA and possibly Guildhall and RADA, although I don’t think any of these audition dates are posted yet.</p>
<p>Thanks again for everyone’s assistance. I’ll keep working at finding a school he might love that has a higher acceptance rate than 20%. He has done everything so far himself, with a bit of help from his dad and the school college counselor. When I chime in, he looks at me like I don’t trust his talent, brilliance, etc. I’m really trying to help with finding a true “safety” without him getting upset with me. Anyone else have this issue…or have any advice for me? He’s a great kid…it is just difficult for me to be the only person in his orbit not just saying, “You’re terrific. Shoot for the stars!” Of course, I say this, too…but am also trying to keep him “grounded”. BTW, when I suggested OU/Bama/UCF he said, “No way!”. I just saw URI on my notes. Going to check that out.</p>
<p>msmommy, i have the opposite problem with my kid. Glad yours is so ambitious. about to make another post with some comments too. and u are wise for him to have some safeties. It took Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford, and other talents awhile to hit it big</p>
<p>Muhlenberg if he is willing to go BA if he does not get into BFA is a great safety BTW. they don’t offer NM at least I don;'t think so but are VERY generous with merit aid</p>