Hi everyone!
I’m current junior, going into my senior year, and I was wondering how good ballet looks to colleges? I’ve been dancing for about 14 years now and I train at Boston Ballet, which is a professional school. I train six days a week, for about 1.5-3.5 hours a day. I also plan on dancing in college, but as a minor or as an extracurricular.
My sister keeps telling me that ballet isn’t going to make me stand out in my applications, but I hear from other people that having that high a level of commitment to an extracurricular looks really good. How good will my ballet experience look to colleges? I’m especially looking at Yale (it’s my top choice school).
I also have a 4.78 GPA (weighted, on a 5 point scale), a 3.78 unweighted, and a 35 ACT composite, if that says something about the kind of applicant I am.
Pursuing ballet to the level you have is definitely a very strong extracurricular, and one that is recognized by colleges for sure. I’d recommend submitting a dance supplement to schools that will accept one (Yale definitely does)!
If it reassures you, one of my friends training at a similar level got into Princeton
Your sister is wrong for sure. You have dedicated many many years to this. It shows you have a high level of dedication and a very deep interest. IMHO, fewer ECs with deep involvement trumps being a “jack of all trades”.
Absolutely your sister is wrong. I’ve heard many college admissions officers say that they want a well rounded class not a class of well rounded individuals. You have a passion, and you have shown great dedication and achievement in a demanding discipline. Plus you have a fine academic record. I think it will go over very well. I’d consider getting an extra recommendation from a teacher or someone at the Boston Ballet school that can speak to the achievements, work ethic etc. you have exhibited there. They get tons of applications from people who are yearbook editors, captains of sports teams community service leaders etc. and those are all fine activities, but ballet could help you to stand out from the crowd a bit which is a plus. Keep in mind that Yale is a longshot for virtually everyone so put in your application but I suggest that you don’t set your heat on any one uber-competitive school. Good luck.
Agree with the other posters that your sister is wrong. High level pre-professional ballet training is very special. Admissions officers know the discipline that is required to participate at this level and maintain an excellent academic record. My daughter with similar dancing background will be a freshman at Vanderbilt this spring. I feel certain that her ability to communicate her passion for dance and the importance of being a dancer to her intellectual development was an important part of her application.
As an undergraduate at Barnard, I knew many serious ballet dancers. Later, I used to take Saturday classes with a young woman who commuted in from Yale most weekends in order to take ballet classes in NYC. I heard that Harvard began accepting more dancers several years ago when they decided to expand their Dance program.
^Speaking of Barnard, consider adding Barnard and Columbia to your list to take advantage of Barnard’s dance program, one of the better collegiate programs.
Add me to those that say your sister is wrong. You got it right when you said “that high a level of commitment to an extracurricular looks really good”.
(But as already noted, no guarantees for anyone for a school like Yale.)
Take the time to create and submit an arts supplement. This will of course be a video. Best is to have a professional help you create the supplement, perhaps someone in the media department at the Boston Ballet. Proven commitment to an EC helps raise interest in your college application. Talent and advocacy from the college’s performing arts department takes that commitment to a higher level during admissions deliberation.
Echoing what others have said - your ballet is a big asset – I know that ballet dancers tend to do very well with admissions at Barnard. My daughter included a dance resume with her Barnard application, even though she had no interest in a dance major-- I think that college ad coms are very much aware of the long-term discipline and dedication that ballet takes.
Add me to the troupe that is dancing out, “Your sister is totally wrong.”
Showing exceptional dedication combined with a high level of actual achievement in an area that you love is what will differentiate you from all the other academic high performers trying to gain admission to selective schools.
What makes your sister think this isn’t going to make you stand out? What is she suggesting that you should do instead?
It’s fine as is but if you can volunteer to teach dance to seniors or children with disabilities that would add a nice dimension. Something along those lines.
I really wouldn’t worry. I think your exceptionally high level of accomplishment at ballet would make up for any lack of leadership titles. Plus as a rising senior there isn’t much you can do to change who you are and what you have been doing (you can 't just join a club next year and expect they name you president) so the best path you can take is to just continue doing what you love and excel at.
Many of the best applicants do things they are passionate about and don’t spend their days worrying about what a “perfect” college might like. As I noted above a school like Yale is a crapshoot for anyone, but your ballet will make you just as strong as anyone (if not stronger) in the EC department and should be an asset, not a detriment, as you apply to top colleges, especially ones with strong dance programs.
You might want to contact the head of the dance studies program at some schools you are particularly interested in and let them know your background and interest in pursuing a dance minor during college.
How old is your sister? Why would she have expertise in college admissions?
When colleges look for “leadership” they are not looking for a title. By “leadership” they mean a student who has taken initiative or has shown independence or strength of spirit.
Don’t water down your college profile by wasting time trying to please others. Show the colleges who YOU are and what is special about YOU.
And do broaden your college list. Yale is a long shot for everyone, and while it’s fine to apply to to a reach, your college search should focus primarily on colleges that are a good fit where your admission is likely.
Most college dance programs focus more on modern dance than ballet, so if you want to consider to pursue ballet in college you will want to look at programs and facilities or in depth.
Not everyone has to be a leader. What utter nonsense. It is an urban legend that top colleges want only kids who have been leaders of something. (I’ve actually heard college admissions officers explicitly refute the idea that if you aren’t a ‘leader’ you aren’t what they want. ) They want kids who have demonstrated exceptional talent and achievement and not just academically. You’ve done that. Don’t flail. Keep your grades up and your eye on your gift.
You have outstanding stats. I’m certain that adcoms at Yale and similarly elite schools will understand the requirements of advanced ballet training, and will recognize that a student training at a professional school is talented and committed in a way that makes the applicant stand out from many in the applicant pool. It’s not the same thing as being an Intel winner/Olympic athlete or publishing an acclaimed novel, but as high school-level ECs go, it’s strong. And adcoms will certainly recognize that some pursuits don’t elect captains or presidents or whatever buzzwords might indicate “leadership” to some (your sister, for example).
What I observed a few times in my (now blessedly gone) years as a dance mom was that high school GCs often didn’t recognize what it meant when a student’s primary EC was dance. I saw kids turned down for NHS, for instance, because school staff thought the kid wasn’t involved in/committed enough to school ECs, and so presumably wrote weaker recs. NHS means nothing in elite college admissions, but you do want a GC who will write a strong rec that portrays you accurately. If you can meet with your GC and be sure he/she recognizes the level of your commitment, that shouldn’t be an issue. I think it’s worth doing.
I agree that while the colleges generally appreciate what goes into pre-professional ballet training, the HS counselors and faculty sometimes don’t. We made a point of providing a lot of information about my pre-pro dancer over her high school career to her teachers–like reminding them that she didn’t even start her homework until 8:45pm on school nights, informing them about summer intensive attendance and other activities she did related to ballet. Probably the best thing we did was to provide tickets to the professional ballet performances that she had roles in as a student or trainee–mostly Nutcrackers. It was kind of expensive, but each year I would buy an extra pair of Nutcracker tickets and would give them to one of her teachers or the GC. This got the point across better than anything about the level of her accomplishment. She also choreographed a short piece and set it on her ballet friends as a school project. The teacher attended one of the choreography sessions and was amazed.
I think that if the faculty and GC can really understand the depth of your experience and what you have accomplished they will be able to reflect this in their letters. Also, the ability to maintain the academic performance that you have in spite of many hours of ballet/week is remarkable. They need to make that clear in their letters as well.
I would also mention any time you have spent volunteering for Boston Ballet ie; working at fundraisers, volunteering to help with children’s auditions, etc. should be pointed out to your GC.
Good Luck with the college search–wherever it leads you!
Your sister is wrong. Adcoms know what commitment it takes to train in ballet. My daughter has similar dance credentials as you. She also trained with the Boston Ballet, Princeton Ballet and CPYB. She got into some schools that some of her peers with higher test scores were wait-listed to. I know a young woman who a few years back was accepted into Harvard. She credits her dance. Although not available as a major that was the year that they wanted to improve and enhance their program. My D eventually chose an out of state flagship because she wanted a good engineering program that employers heavily recruited from ( which is her major) and a dance minor. ( She wanted a dance school that you had to try out for the minor…not just one that anyone can sign up for) Edited to say: Engineering is demanding, she calls Dance " The GPA Booster." Automatic A’s.
