During the summer I developed Anxiety and Major Depressive disorder, leaving me with both crippling anxiety but no motivation. I only recently asked my parents for help and they don’t know how badly I did this year. I never had perfect grades but this year they really bombed, even getting an E in spanish. The only class I did really well in was my music class because that was the only time I didn’t feel completely worthless. Once I start my therapy and medication i am determined to get good grades this semester, but I’m afraid that this semester will ruin my chances for college.
Musical theatre is my passion. It’s the only thing I’m good at. I have a full ride scholarship to a local college for music, but I want to go somewhere else with a great MT program. I just don’t know what to do. My dad wants to send me to a summer program for MT, but I’m probably going to have to do summer school.
Full Ride?! Take it!
Take the Full Ride!!! You can always supplement with acting/dance especially if you won’t have any student loans to pay back!
First of all, good for you for seeking help for your anxiety and I hope that things are better for you.
As far as MT goes, there are programs that are looking for talent and potential first and grades second. Tisch and Syracuse may be out of the picture but there are plenty of schools that you can get into. Go to the Musical Theater forum and see what’s there.
As far as the full ride for music, if the school has a theater program or a way that you can participate in MT while there, even if it’s local community productions, consider it. There is so much to be said for graduating debt free.
will the full ride scholarship be available even with your grades from this year? Many scholarships have a gpa component
Let your health and well-being be your number one priority right now. There are MANY ways to get an MT education. Getting a full ride in music and using “college money” to supplement in MT training would be an excellent route. Although no HS student likes to see it this way, being close to home during college CAN be a good thing. Our family knows from experience. Do the best with where you are right now, let the college plan evolve. Getting into a “top” MT program is not the only way. Your path may end up being different from anyone else’s. That’s OK.
The Chair of the music department worked with me on a show and offered it to me without looking at any of my academics. I think it would still stand. Requirements for the college aren’t that hard
Being in a “low key” college environment - one with less rigorous academic standards - could actually be a benefit for building your MT skills and experience while in college. Having reduced academic demands may free up your schedule and your energy/brain power for concentrating on the heavy demands of music, dance and theater - whether on campus or off. Depending on the size of your town and the number/quality of community theater/dance opportunities available to you, this could actually be a highly desirable situation. Getting out of college debt-free is in some ways akin to having a “golden ticket”. Just be sure to look at the college’s admission standards and be sure you will qualify. Keep in touch with that Dept Chair and make sure he/she knows you remain interested in that scholarship.
One other suggestion: are you taking dance lessons/classes? If not, perhaps try to fit that in. It is a very useful skill in today’s MT world and the physical exercise may help improve your confidence and outlook.
I ask this out of genuine curiosity- is it common for schools to have full ride talent scholarships (which is what this would seem to be if a dept chair could offer it discretionally and it had no base in merit/academics) I know that such things are NOT common in theater departments- is music different?
@Broadwaybaby713 I see you are a junior. Take this time to get healthy. Hopefully you can boost your GPA. One semester won’t ruin you chances. I think if I were you I would take the full ride music major to the local college. Do you have a written offer? But I noticed in a previous post you were considering university of Michigan and you said New York. I will assume NYU. These two schools have academic requirements to even get an audition. Summer college for musical theater is a great idea but it is no guarantee into a program. I wish you the best. Hang in there!
Yeah…at this point I’ve decided that if I can afford it and earn scholarships through competitions I really want to go to CCPA. My voice teacher went there and I feel like a smaller, conservatory style program would be best for me. Maybe Boston since I’ve heard they offer a lot of scholarships. Obviously it’s a bit of a long shot in terms of paying for it but those i know who go there really like it. (I also have family in Chicago so that would be good too) Thank you for the advice.
If I were you I would double check to make sure that the full ride scholarship offer still stands. If it does, you should definitely consider it. I like the suggestion above of using money that would have otherwise been spent on college on outside training (acting, dance, summer programs etc). At the very least, you can go into college auditions knowing you have a decent (and very affordable) school you can definitely attend for a performance related major, which is more than most people auditioning can say. You could potentially audition for less schools, and since you would already have a safety you could audition only for schools that you would 100% want to attend, even if most of them were top tier.
As for the anxiety/depression thing, I feel you. I’m a junior too, and I’ve been having a tough time with my mental health as well. My grades were definitely affected, although not quite as severely. If I were you, I would talk to my guidance counselor about the first semester. I believe there is a way either in a rec letter or on the common app that they could maybe mention that you dealt with some personal/mental health issues this semester. That way colleges would know why your grades dropped so much this semester. They would be far more understanding, because it isn’t your fault (as opposed to you were too busy partying to study). Good for you for reaching out and getting help, and you seem really determined to get better and get your grades back up to what they were in the past. Hope it all works out 