Chance a german actor for LACs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>first of all thanks for reading this. </p>

<p>Im a german secondary school graduate from the class of 2005, so Im a little bit older than a “usual” freshman applicant. My school record isnt the best, but its okay. Since you cannot adequately compare the german scale system to the American GPA, I just can say that I wasnt an A+ student. More like a B student, but I took a very hard courseload. In Germany we go through 13 years of education and only around 20 percent of all the students here make the same graduation type (the german abitur) I made, so its quite rigorous. </p>

<p>But enough of me, let some facts speak for themselves:</p>

<p>Tests:
SAT l: 2010 (650 CR - 750 M - 610 WR)
SAT ll: Maths 2: 720 US History: 570 Literature: 570
TOEFL: 108</p>

<p>ECs:
Theatre/Film/Television: I played in several stage plays across the state, wrote own plays which got supported by and shown on art festivals.
I was in the main cast of a national television show which was nominated for 2 international awards: the Rose D’Or and the international Emmy 2008 (cross your fingers for me on the 24th of November :slight_smile: )
I directed some short films and founded a film and video club in my school which I was the president of. I also coached deprived kids in acting at the theatre I worked for.</p>

<p>Music: I produced Dance Music and got some record deals at minor labels, no big deal though. Im very passionate into producing my own pop/rock music now and plan to send a CD along with my applications. Good Idea? I also worked in a local club as a DJ</p>

<p>Sports: I played football (the american style) for a couple of years and got elected in a quite renowned team in our country.
Im also into tennis and golf.</p>

<p>What else?
I was class president, valedictorian and president of the students’ council for the last 3 years of my school attendance.</p>

<p>My recommendations are decent and describe my passion for the arts and my quality in leadership.</p>

<p>Im a good writer so my essays hopefully will be an advantage. Im going to focus on my passion for the theatre and film. Other essay will probably be about my interest in different languages and cultures.</p>

<p>Im a first generation student. Im also the first person in my family who ever graduated german “Gymnasium” and made his “Abitur”</p>

<p>Unfortunately my parents are everything but rich, so I need fin aid. I think that I could come up with like 16.000 Dollars per year.</p>

<p>I know that my school record may cuts me off at first view, but I hope that my ECs will take me into further consideration.</p>

<p>My College List:</p>

<li> Vassar</li>
<li> UChicago</li>
<li> Gettysburg</li>
<li> Sarah Lawrence</li>
<li> Oberlin</li>
<li> Middlebury</li>
<li> Wesleyan</li>
<li> Swarthmore</li>
<li> Franklin & Marshall</li>
<li>Bennington College</li>
</ol>

<p>also:</p>

<p>Williams, Bates, Amherst</p>

<p>Thank you guys so much for reading all this.</p>

2

<p>Add-on: I wanna major in Film Studies and Theatre Arts</p>

3

<p>Hallo! God, how I wish I could study drama. But that's offtopic.</p>

<p>Your SAT IIs could be harmful, but I don't know what is expected of us intl students. :(</p>

<p>Your EC record is amazing, 10/10.</p>

4

<p>!bump! ! !</p>

5

<p>Since you have schools from the Midwest on your list, check out Lawrence University. Lawrence</a> Theatre Arts</p>

6

<p>bump again...does anybody wanna evaluate my school list? Reaches, Matches, Safeties?</p>

7

<p>bump bump bump</p>

8

<p>Consider NYU (New York University), Northwestern University (although your SATs may be too low), & Skidmore College. USC (the University of Southern California) has a great & well funded film school.
P.S. How did you arrive at Gettysburg College and Franklin & Marshall on your list of schools? These are very unlike Vassar, Oberlin, Swarthmore & Sarah Lawrence.</p>

9

<p>I'm also concerned that many of those small LACs would be less than ideal for an older student socially.</p>

10

<p>The main criteria for my college selection were things like need based fin aid for internationals, location, film AND theatre studies and a chance to doublemajor in both.</p>

<p>Maybe I should really consider size since hmom5 made a point. I will be a 23 years old freshman....beer-runner I guess :-) jk</p>

11

<p>NYU and Northwestern do not offer need based fin aid to internationals, otherwise I would love to apply there</p>

12

<p>humdty bumpy</p>

13

<p>I don't see why UChicago is on your list. They don't have much of a drama program. It is too big a reach anyway, as are Swarthmore, Williams, and Amherst IMO.</p>

<p>If you didn't need aid, I'd give you a shot at the others, but getting admitted without being able to pay is going to be tough with your stats.</p>

14

<p>"If you didn't need aid, I'd give you a shot at the others, but getting admitted without being able to pay is going to be tough with your stats."</p>

<p>I agree.</p>

15

<p>I think your list is fine, and while UChicago and Swarthmore are reaches for pretty much everyone, you should apply if you're very interested in those schools and have solid reasons for wanting to go to those schools.</p>

16

<p>I think there are a number of issues. First, if you need a lot of aid you need to be at the very top of the pool of applicants for a good shot. Given that, I think the list is very top heavy. If you have good options at home that's OK. If you're counting on coming to the states, you need to add some less selective schools.</p>

<p>I think your age will work against you at many of these schools. A 23 year old freshman is likely to be a duck out of water among the silly, beer drinking 18 year olds and they are rare at most of these schools. A large urban school like USC makes much more sense. It might be doable if you can afford at least half.</p>

<p>As I can't help with specific colleges that meet your needs, I suggest getting more thought on the International board.</p>

17

<p>In addition to USC, look up Chapman U/Dodge College for film and theater programs. In terms of finding age-mates outside of your own program of study, Chapman has law and business schools, and other graduate programs including some MFA's in the arts programs. There are also MFA students your age, and I heard that at Chapman (perhaps at USC, too) there might be some cross-enrolment in a few of the same classes, but that's just a detail to check.</p>

<p>I have no idea about your work in Germany, but Chapman also has a small-but-mighty Holocaust Studies center, with courses, a minor, and other events/speakers/ functions. You might email them to see if they could be a possible employment location to help with everyday finances (translating work and such). One of Chapman/Dodge College's new majors is "Acting in Film" where it's not impossible that having a different age niche could be an advantage. Lots to explore. USC will also have graduate programs, and that's good for you socially too.</p>

<p>People are warning you about the immature American college freshmen, so they're suggesting you might better enjoy a medium university than a small liberal arts college where all freshman hover around age l8 and the seniors might be 21, then graduate, so no grad students your age.</p>

<p>You might look at Brandeis University (outside of Boston) which has a theater department (not much in film) and could take interest in your background and language abilities from Germany. They have significant departments in German, Holocaust Studies, Jewish History so might be very interested to have a student from Germany attend. You can see their undergraduate and graduate theater programs described on their website.</p>

<p>Much luck to you. </p>

<p>Regarding age, well, I recall the comedian Jerry Seinfeld who was questioned about marrying a woman nearly 20 years younger. He said, "Fortunately, I'm very immature." (just kidding, I'm sure you're very mature). The point is: if you are in a city or a medium or large university, you have a better chance of meeting age-mates, but that may not be the main issue for you. From here, it's common wisdom to advise older students to go to places where there are more social choices than a rural, residential Liberal Arts College of people ages l8-22. It's your choice, but that's why the advice is coming to you, I think.</p>

<p>This is a very unusual recommendation, but take a peek at Ball State University in Indiana. I believe they have a new TV and Communications building, heavily funded by the American TV host David Letterman. It is his alma mater, and perhaps they would embrace an unusual applicant such as yourself. The building certainly looks shiny in the website! IT is not famous academically, but this unusual funding for the department and the nationally known David Letterman make that particular department stand out with potential. </p>

<p>Finally, a very unusual approach would be to look at LAC's where you see proximity to cities, and a good theater offering. Some that come to mind are: Sarah Lawrence, Muhlenberg, Goucher College. As a real safety, you might look at the State University of New York, which might be affordable for you, for example: SUNY at New Paltz, or if you can somehow audition for them, SUNY at Purchase, NY. Those are not LAC's but perhaps the pricetag is better. </p>

<p>Northeastern U in Chicago is sophisticated but I have no idea on their financing of international students.
Oberlin and Amherst will fund international students nicely, and have very thoughtful academic college theater departments, but are extremely competitive academically for admission standards in general. Of the two, Amherst is part of a larger school community of 5 institutions, including the University of Massachusetts of 25,000 students. In the UMass are numerous h graduate departments so you can find others your age for housing and social life, even if not in your classes. The issue with Amherst College is it is so very small in population, that although it has good funding for international students, it has few spots in total. Oberlin has a larger population than Amherst (2800 undergrads, not 800) but is very much isolated without other schools around it, so the entire community at Oberlin is undergraduate, unlike Amherst's surroundings which include University of Massachusetts, a state university with graduate departments and your age-mates.</p>

<p>Try posting over on the forums for Acting and Film majors (two separate subforums) and see if anyone has more ideas for you. To find them, click top-left of this page under "Discussion" and keep scrolling down until you see those subforums under specialty majors.</p>