<p>OP - It is important for EVERY applicant to have safeties. Perhaps you’ll find a way to communicating that without having to discuss how the probable mismatch of credentials vs current list.</p>
<p>The GC’s at our HS tell all of the freshmen “And then when you are a senior, we’re going to suggest that you to apply to six colleges: two reaches, two matches, and two safeties.” She needs to get some good advice from her local GC, who is being paid to advise her.</p>
<p>If she really wants to act, in an odd way, it may be the best thing for her (getting rejected from all the schools). I learned a little late with my first kid, that while a degree in theater and voice is great, nothing beats experience (portfolio). What would have been better for Kid 1 is to have moved out to Los Angeles, and auditioned like heck while going to college. Look at all the shows with kids and teenagers.</p>
<p>If the kid really wants to be a star, then go to where the stars are, and try to become one. Auditioning and gaining acting experience should be her primary concern. Getting a degree is secondary. Fortunately, with her scores, that is not giving up much.</p>
<p>BTW: LA is better for TV/Silver screen. I think NY might be better for stage.</p>
<p>Op, I agree with Coloradomom. The most prudent thing to mention is that EVERYONE needs a few safeties and make sure that they have gone talked with their GC. The intricacies of applying to a theater major with possible auditions vs non-auditions, conservatory vs more traditional academic, BFA vs BA would be great info for someone who wanted to learn about it, but since she does not seen very receptive, it’s not your responsibility to educate her. Yale’s Graduate School of Drama is quite different from Yale’s undergraduate major of Theater Studies. But better to let them figure out what they want to. And I learned a lot from KatMT’s post!</p>
<p>"Around here, if you are special, you go to a UC. If you are VERY special; not Riverside. That’s it. "</p>
<p>Shrinkwrap, you crack me up again. Actually, Merced is the new Riverside. I saw once that UC Merced has an acceptance rate over 100%…somehow people who don’t even apply get accepted (get shuttled over from another UC denial)?! I saw this stat somewhere, but definitely NOT on any UC websites.</p>
<p>Funny you should mention that. My son got waitlisted at Riverside, so…</p>
<p>Not so funny, but Riverside no longer takes the kids who didn’t even apply ( a “referral school”).</p>
<p>And son is in LA, at LMU, shooting for “the sliver screen”, originally with engineering as his back up plan.</p>
<p>I doubt this will help but at some point you may want to mention there are 30,000 high schools in the USA … 30,000 vals, 30,000 star quarterbacks, and 30,000 theater stars.</p>
<p>Her GPA means nothing without a test score to back it up. The #1 kid in our kids’ class has similar stats, well worse really, 4.0 and a 24 ACT. She was focusing on the Ivy’s and similar. No way was she ever getting into those schools. She didn’t have the resume to back up an application. Her parents hired a college counselor that brought them back to earth or she would have been sitting home next year with no place to go. I know kids with top, top stats that didn’t get into those schools. Hopefully someone will talk some sense into this family.</p>
<p>Does that school have any GCs? They should be able to help open the parent’s eyes.</p>
<p>This is an acquaintance, not a close personal friend, and she’s telling, not asking. It is a horror show in the making, but I would say nothing. They don’t want to hear it. Any kid who is prepared to survive in college can read Naviance data and basic advice about safeties on her own.</p>
<p>I’m sure this girl will enjoy participating in the theatrical performances at the community college she will be attending while planning a transfer to a four-year college where she has a reasonable chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>I would suggest simply directing her to the M/T forum on CC as a great source of help and information for aspiring performers. And leave it at that. Otherwise “shoot the messenger” syndrome is sure to ensue. </p>
<p>Marian, too funny, and unfortunately all too likely. :D</p>
<p>The theater majors I know are busy sweating admission to Emerson as much as to Northwestern or NYU. As I understand it, those who go through the audition process find that even more humbling and more daunting than the regular process our kids endure. This kid may be in for an eye-opening ride.</p>
<p>But then who knows…I’ve also seen kids with scores lower than hers get into places no one would have predicted. There was a girl at d’s high school a year or two ago with a C in math and 600ish scores in math on the SAT who was admitted early to Brown. The counselor actually told me after a heated discussion with the parents that the kid wasn’t getting in and these parents were delusional. No, she shouldn’t have said that and yes, it left me very wary about talking to her. The point is though that there are many factors and I guess we don’t really know what’s going on behind the scenes. At this point I find it best to leave things be with those I don’t know well and console them when it doesn’t go the way they hope.</p>
<p>The simple fact in the MT process is that there at NO safeties unless they are non-audition BA programs. My daughter has similar stats (but a remarkable amount of ECs and AP classes). We have ONE safety which I define as a safety financially and academically. This kid has no idea what she needs to be doing at this point to have a shot. I feel sorry for her.</p>
<p>Sad situation for the kid. Live and learn.</p>
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<p>Not every school has knowledgeable or involved GC’s, and not every school has Naviance. If this girl is the star in her high school, she probably has no one to compare herself to with respect to college admissions.</p>
<p>Even if they have a GC they are unlikely to know or be motivated to learn about the MT process. Last time I talked to our GC, she asked me “how do you know all this stuff?”. Because I do her damn job for her. We do not have Naviance either and the school does not submit anything electronically. Sad.</p>
<p>I know someone like that. They put all their eggs in the Stanford basket. He did not even star. He was a member of the school orchestra, that was it. He had no volunteer work, no, anything really. Then they were shocked when he did not get in to Stanford. They even seemed angry about it, as if they had been seriously slighted.</p>
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<p>This is not a “hook” (perhaps a +), now starring in a Broadway theater production - that’s a “hook”. If her goal is truly theater, she needs a massive amount of guidance immediately. At a minimum, she needs some professional help to help her select and prepare her audition materials. (It could have been done without a professional, if she had done it earlier.) Her only hope would be to apply to a school where her audition counts more heavily than her academics (Not Yale or Northwestern, NYU?). Someone needs to tell her that there is a better chance of getting into Harvard or Yale, than of getting into most audition theater schools.</p>
<p>I know of a boy who was a marginally talented star in my son’s HS theater dept. He also just applied to the top schools for theater, with no safety, and was rejected by all. He took an involuntary gap year, enrolled in some local productions, ate some serious humble pie, and re-applied the following year… He’s now a freshman at NYU, to everyone’s amazement. My guess is that he was glad he landed at NYU instead of Cal State Fullerton or somesuch safety. So ya just never know.</p>