<p>I will echo shaun0203 sentiments by saying son’s school list only had schools that were “academic” safeties, though by no means, artistically a safety. It was nice to know while waiting for the audition results that if the artistic stars aligned, he would be able to attend because he had been accepted academically. Only CMU and Otterbein did acceptance as a bundle. Luckily he was accepted to Otterbein with merit and talent and will be attending in the Fall.</p>
<p>@MT4Life, I’m not as quick to dismiss academic reputation even if you are talking about one or two academic classes per semester. A school with a solid academic reputation in general attracts students who take their school work seriously. Peers that can be your roommate, or living down the hall from you or the person you end up dating. It’s a lot easier to hang on to the work ethic that is necessary for theatre if the people around you have strong work ethics of their own regardless of what they are studying. I assume the same would apply to straight conservatories with solid artistic reputations. It’s unlikely there will be a high percentage of slackers found there either because they will get weeded out quickly. </p>
<p>This is an issue that is open to interpretation and our family landed differently on it. As my daughter gets a step closer to graduation and all of the uncertainty that comes with that in MT, I’ll never regret that in addition to strong artistic training, she remained academically challenged throughout college. She may need those other skills to survive one day.</p>
<p>My D would have said “all theater all the time”… but the world is wide, and you never can tell which way the road is turning. I fully support her dreams, but it can’t hurt that I hope she will graduate with some “other” skills too.</p>
<p>Completely agree @toowonderful and that was not really fair to my D. She has a completely separate life at school with leadership, yearbook, peer tutor and other non-theater skills. She knows she needs to be prepared to do something else if it doesn’t work out. But couldn’t you say that about most kids who go to college and major in things that don’t later pertain to their careers? I knew a lot of english lit/art history/romance languages/etc…majors in college and so does my S. I don’t think that a BFA MT offers less valuable skills than a more traditional BA. In contrast, I think many of the BFA programs are more intense and rigorous than anything but other lab classes (science) because of the hours spent performing and preparing to perform.</p>
<p>And yes of course a school that has both, if your kid is up to it and wants it and gets in and you can afford it…</p>
<p>The kid that knows they want to major in English Lit, Art History, Romance Languages, even Biology etc. probably paid attention to the academic reputation of the colleges on their list even though they too had a specific field of interest. If other majors care, why should it be immaterial for a theatre major to care? </p>
<p>I totally agree about the academic reputation and agree that it applied to conservatories as well, as you mentioned above @halflokum. My comment was directed at the skills idea which I believe is a different issue. Part of the reason I care about D’s test scores is that I do want her to attend the most academically rigorous school with a BFA MT that she could handle :)</p>
<p>I understood you @evilqueen. I expanded on your point because I’m trying to suggest (to anyone listening not specific to you) that when you are examining your list of options both in terms of the list of schools you create and next spring the schools you actually end up able to pick from, I’d be open to including academic reputation as a factor amongst all of the other factors which will shape your choices and not simply think it doesn’t matter. It might someday. I’m not proposing that everyone needs to shoot for the top academic schools. For many, that would be the waste of an application and a poor fit even if you snuck in the back door. I’m urging caution for MTs throwing it out as a factor just because the bulk of their classes will be theatre related.</p>
<p>@evilqueen- Every family needs to make their own choices about what works best for them. For US (and this is NOT meant to disparage ANY school or program) one of the criteria was “would this school interest you WITHOUT theater”. The goal was to find a place where she could see herself happy learning, and then add the theater part on to that. It didn’t have to be a tippy top academic school, it just had to be a place where she could see herself learning and growing- because that’s the real point of college</p>
<p>I would not suggest anyone throw out academic rigor as a factor in making their list of schools, just to know your child and what their strengths and weaknesses are. And I am reminding everyone that if your child does not have top grades, there are still wonderful options. Wonderful. I am not suggesting that anyone should stop trying to do their best in school!</p>
<p>Do not discount what you can get out of a school with a less competitive academic reputation. My daughter’s school is still a university with a full medical school, law school, etc. Their dance program has been at the top of the lists for many years… There is great school pride. And while some kids seem to focus more on skiing, there are many more students who are working their butts off to do well. Because it is a state school (?), many of these kids are also working jobs to afford it, something that you don’t see the need for at many private schools. I am thrilled that my D has taken the opportunity not only to attend several Ballet West performances in SLC, and numerous concerts that come through town (including Audra McDonald and Miranda Sings!), but has also gone skiing, hiking, camping and bike riding - things she never chose to do at home in NY. There is a lot to be learned by everyone and everything my daughter is exposed to. </p>
<p>@shaun0203 by the 100 points comment for the SAT’s, I was referring to minimum scores she would need for many of the merit awards out there. That may be the only way we can afford some of the schools she is looking at. Your daughter’s attitude seems a lot like my daughter. We may try for 1 or 2 academic reach schools, but for the most part, we are “living in the truth” and applying to schools that shouldn’t pose an issue with her academically. Most schools are going to be a reach financially, so I’m encouraging her to push herself a bit to try and get those scores up. Ultimately, it will mean a lot less debt in her future! </p>
<p>MTRaleighmom, how can you know that now? Aren’t most awards based on a combo of both test scores and unweighted grades? You don’t have her final grades yet. In any case, I do understand the impact a 100 points can make on finances. I will also throw it out here that many kids do not yet have the ability to really understand the repercussions of their choice to incur school debt now. We just didn’t allow it and we were lucky enough to be in the position that there were still many schools (primarily state schools) that we could afford and were willing to pay for. But if our daughter had chosen to go to one of the most expensive private schools, she would have taken out loans. It was hard at first to make the decision to not let her apply to any of the uber-expensive schools, but in the end I think she understood and in fact, never brings it up. We all hear of those situations where talent awards make the very expensive schools much more affordable. In fact, MTCA was a big proponent of applying to them anyway because of the potential for scholarships. But we knew we would have a very hard time if our D got accepted to one of those schools and we then told our D no, we were not able/willing to pay that much for school. </p>
<p>@MTRaleighmom - many schools publish the threshholds for automatic academic scholarships. Some are based on scores, some on class rank, some on a combination of both. MTRaleighmom has probably looked up this information already to set up goals for her D. Our school has a portal where we can check my D’s current gpa’s (weighted and unweighted) so we can use this information to predict which academic scholarships she will most probably be eligible for. It is a great way to help plan which schools are academic reaches, fits and safeties. We have even found one school in my D’s list that has a lower academic standard exclusively for performance majors academic scholarships! 
</p>
<p>@shaun0203 I have found the thresholds for merit awards at many schools on their websites. It’s usually a combination of GPA & SAT scores. We will have her final grades in a week, but have a good idea where she stands right now. Just hoping she can be just above the hurdle on both fronts to qualify for some merit. I figure if she is able to earn any talent awards then that will be icing on the cake. We are keeping her list to mostly schools in the middle (academically and financially). We would love to get some in-state tuition somewhere, but, as we all know, that is just something unpredictable. We will most likely be throwing her hat into the rings of many of those types of schools, but there is just no guarantee. We have a large family and are not in the position to pay completely for schooling. The kids are going to have to take loans. They have a longer lifetime earning potential than my husband who only has 10-15 years left before retirement. What we are hoping is that we will be able to help them with their loans on the backside. By no means do we want her taking on more debt than necessary though. We have decided that some of the really expensive programs just wouldn’t we worth it in the long run. There are plenty of great programs out there for half the price of some of the “big boys”. We will throw in a couple of stretch schools but none too far-reaching. There are just so many variables and with the subjectivity of the whole process it makes it that much harder to predict. Just trying to make the informed decisions that I can and God-willing she will have a couple of choices in the end. So appreciative to have this forum for sharing info and supporting one-another. There is just so much information to weed through that it makes this site that much more valuable!</p>
<p>@MTRaleighMom - You have a great outlook, balanced with practicality and hopes and prayers. Communication is key and it seems just by the way you describe the schools that are on your list, that the tough financial discussion has been made. Congratulations and best of luck!</p>
<p>FYI…Ohio Northern has their 2015 audition dates up on their website.</p>
<p>Looks like I’m a little late to add in but oh well. I’m a 5’11’’ Baritone-Tenor. My parents took me to see theatre before I could talk. For as long as I can remember I’ve know that this is what I was meant to do with my life. I started in my first show at the age of 6 and haven’t stopped since. I’ve done countless school, community theatre, and summer camp productions (and one college show). I consider myself a triple threat with 11 years of acting, 10 years of singing, and 8 years of dance (and 12 years of piano). I’m a strong actor and dancer, but since my voice changed I’ve struggled. I’m taking voice lessons this summer and hope that my vocal chords will work themselves out before Unified auditions next year. Grades are very important to me and I want to attend a college with a great theatre program as well a rigorous academics. My top schools are: CMU, Northwestern, Michigan, Ithaca, Marymount Manhattan, CCM, and BoCo. Columbia Chicago is my safety. (Am also looking into Emerson, Syracuse, Roosevelt, Pace, Point Park, and SUNY Purchase). My parents are highly concerned that I don’t have enough safety schools and are worried what would happen if I got rejected everywhere. Looking forward to auditions next year, kinda freaking out reading all the posts about Unifieds.</p>
<p>Sondheim - no NYU? </p>
<p>Sondheim lover…if you want rigorous academics…CMU won’t cut it as the BFA in MT program involves very little in the way of academics at that particular school. BOCO and CCM have very little academics and they are not rigorous. Marymount Manhattan has academics but I would not consider that school academically challenging. </p>
<p>Given what you wrote, have you considered NYU, Elon, Syracuse, Emerson, Penn State, or UCLA? They fit your criteria better. Also, for someone like you, I can’t see having Columbia Chicago as a safety. Have you looked into Muhlenberg? Hofstra?</p>
<p>I’d suggest considering U Miami as well. Strong academically as well as solid training.</p>
<p>Drew University in New Jersey might be a good safety and it has an honors college that looks rigorous and they give amazing merit aid :)</p>