D begins design/tech portfolio interviews this week...tips?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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Getting all of her essays written and apps filled out over the last couple of months felt awfully busy, but things are about to GET REAL this week. Fall play just wrapped up this past weekend and D heads to DePaul for her interview Friday and UNCSA two weeks after that. Then the holidays will be here and before we know it, January will come around with several on-campus and 5 NYC Unifieds. Goodness, this is flying by.

Any tips for a nervous (and slightly awkward) kid who loves the craft (costume design) but is not the most adept at interviews? Past experience out there with what a portfolio review/interview is like? We are going up the night before each so that we can see a show (and she’s attending the theatre day at DePaul the day before her interview)–I am hoping this gives her an easy topic to break the ice. She’s got the grades, and (I think) the art skills to get in. It’s the interview confidence that I’m a bit worried about. It was less-than-ideal that her top two schools are the first ones to be scheduled, but it is what it is.

She does, at least, have an acceptance to Baldwin-Wallace, whose theatre tech program is BA, with half-tuition merit scholarship. It’s not her ideal (though it was a bit of an ego boost to know they want her), but I’m hoping having that in her back pocket eases her nerves a tiny bit.

All advice appreciated! I wish she had the nerves of steel that so many on-stage kids seem to have honed in their craft.

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Hi, @momof2lefties ! My daughter went through this 2 years ago (I can’t remember if I’ve connected with you before). She is a costume designer also. She is not ordinarily nervous about interviews, but this was her LIFE, and she didn’t know what to expect. She was fortunate to have her last choice BFA be her first portfolio review, but still!

The reps from all the schools were pleasant and easy to talk to. They got her to talk them through her work, and those kids who love the work are often able to talk about IT more easily than talk about THEMSELVES. The passion will shine through. The interviewers were very interested in seeing her research, hearing her thoughts/analysis, seeing photos of realized productions.

Her DePaul interview was at NY Unifieds (maybe 1/2 hour?), but the one on campus may be a lot longer—my D’s campus ones were. She did not interview with UNCSA. They did not show up in NY during the blizzard of '16 (some of the other production people did, but not costume design), they gave her no notice, and they did no follow-up (other than automated messages that said “you haven’t done your portfolio review—schedule now”). Despite their excellent program and reputation, they just fell off the list after that.

Your daughter’s acceptance to B-W is great and I’m sure she will have others. She sounds dedicated and serious about her craft, and honestly, I think those qualities are golden in this process! :slight_smile: It was a great comfort to me that my D is entering a field where people are working and there aren’t 900 people applying for every slot. Best to you both! And enjoy the show.

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Hi! I’m applying to scenic design programs and I just had my first interview last week at Otterbein! I can’t speak for everywhere, but at that interview it was mostly me talking about my work and what I hope to accomplish in theatre. The TD talked about what the program offered and what I would get out of it, but it was mostly me talking about my creative process and what I’ve don in theatre. Your daughter sounds like me (I’m also nervous and slightly awkward :slight_smile: ), and my interview went fine. It was incredibly relaxed and I felt really good about it. Looking forward to my next 6 reviews :frowning:

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@letterhead, thanks for the input. UNCSA admissions so far has seemed very disorganized–I hope the process this year goes better. It has been a bit frustrating as of right now.

@techopeful, glad things went well! D just received her academic acceptance to Otterbein today (her interview is not until January). She was at the theatre visit day there a few weeks ago. Were you around for that? She really liked it there. Break a leg on your upcoming six.

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My son is a freshman in a theater tech BFA this year, with a hoped for concentration in lighting. He did several portfolio reviews/interviews. He was nervous but is basically a friendly kid (youngest of 5). He said he was asked what his favorite show to work on was and why, what show(s) he thinks he might be interested in working on (I think this was to see his general knowledge of theater), whether he preferred musicals or straight plays and the like, He said the major critique he got was on his drawing skills, which are lacking, and it is showing this semester as he is struggling with drafting. The impression I got was that the schools are looking for kids with drive, potential and enthusiasm, along with some basic knowledge. This is college and not a professional job, so they can’t really expect the applicants to be polished and experienced. Some kids come from schools like Performing Arts (the “Fame” School) and the like, some come from schools which have well funded and deep theater programs and some kids come from schools like my son’s, where academic achievement is prized above all and theater is an afterthought. All types of kids get into college programs.

One thing I did with my son was a mock interview. I had him display his work to me, to hear him say it AND to make sure that the pages of the book turned easily and things didn’t fall out, etc. He said it helped.

Good luck to everyone. My son says he is working hard but he is really enjoying himself.

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Thanks, @techmom99. D is in her first portfolio review at DePaul even as I type this. Looking forward to hearing all about it when she and her dad get home tonight. I will add your comments to her prep list for her next one in 2 weeks. The ball is rolling now.

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@momof2lefties -

I hope her review went well. I guess she is a lefty? So is S17, the only one in the family. What other schools is she looking at?

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@techmom99 yes, a lefty. Both of my artsy daughters and no-one else in the family either. (Except my mom, who found out a few years ago that her mom “switched” her when she was small.) Younger daughter is a freshman in high school and has wanted to be an animator since she was five years old. So I will be going through all of this (very similar) portfolio review process again in a few years. At least I have a better idea now of what’s involved.

I spoke with her on the phone this afternoon and she thinks the review went well and it ran well over an hour (they had told her 45-60min). She said she was expecting a lot of questions to be thrown at her but was much relieved when it turned out just to be a conversation. My husband said that the interviewer came out afterward to meet him and ask him if he had any questions about the program. They asked her to download digital versions of her portfolio artwork into their portal so they could have them as reference going forward. I guess we’ll find out in 5 months. They are only accepting four student into the program (and interviewed 60 last year), so I won’t hold my breath. In any case, it is so helpful to have one under her belt.

She has UNCSA coming up in 2 weeks. Then in January–Otterbein, Evansville, CMU, BU, Emerson, Shenandoah, Coastal Carolina, Millikin, and Bucknell. She already has an acceptance into the BA tech program at Baldwin Wallace. I wish the admission process was a rolling one–she might be able to knock off a handful of these if that were the case–but I get why it’s not, and that’s just the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

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My actor/techie is a lefty too :slight_smile:

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@momof2lefties -

I think my son’s school took about 90 total, but that includes dance, acting and MT students. His cohort is about 15 and he is technically a design and tech major; they get concentrations later, I think. It sounds like your D has a wide range of schools.

Hopefully, she will have a good result. It sounds like she was happy with the interview.

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The best of luck to you all! D is considering theater tech; she’s a junior. She does not have a portfolio, because until this year it wasn’t truly on her radar as a career path. Would it be OK for me to ask to describe your portfolios in more detail? D isn’t costume; more stage management-oriented, with set building & design, I guess you’d call it (I’m so clueless…)
Any advice would be great on how to catch up on this facet of the process.

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@Gatormama -

Techson17 didn’t decide until the end of junior year that he wanted to do theater tech, so you are ahead of us. His portfolio consisted of a head shot, a resume of his work in HS and in local community theater type programs. Since he’s interested in lighting, he also listed things like having done lighting for the pep rallies, Battles of the Bands and things like that. He had a couple of scripts in which he had written lighting cues and he asked the lighting director for a couple of the lighting plots for shows he worked on. That was so he could demonstrate what he had worked on, not to show that he had designed the plots, because he hadn’t. He also included photographs of some of the sets of the various shows that he had helped to build/design. He used a three ring binder and put everything in a separate plastic page protector. It wasn’t professional, but it got him into all three schools he displayed it at. He also had multiple copies of his resume because he never knew how many people would be interviewing him.

For stage management, your D would emphasize that part. Maybe copies of notes she gave to the actors, parts of a script where she made notes for them or the like.

Don’t sweat it. Techson17 told me that kids in his program sometimes switch to stage management from theater teach and SM is a BA under Acting, not a BFA, at his school.

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@techmom99 - you’ve relieved me greatly. I’ve had some near-panic attacks when I think of D showing up to a portfolio review after the College Confidential equivalent of a theater tech god/goddess makes a presentation.
"I designed the set for “Hamilton” in my spare time, after directing two Chekov plays while simultaneously running the sound board. Oh, and here’s the new lens I’ve designed for our lights - I’ve just filed my patent application. My costume rack is over here, aren’t those netted gowns diVINE?

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@Gatormama -

Oh, so you’ve met my son! LOL! Just kidding. It seems to me that the theater tech people, at least the ones I encountered during S17’s college search, were decent people just looking to share their program with kids who could benefit from it.

I am sure that your D will find her place. I knew S17 had his when he called me one day and said: “Mom, the people here are so nice, like just genuinely nice, not at all like in HS!” I mentioned that he struggles with drafting. He told me that most of the other kids do and they often work together in pairs and groups in the lab, where they have 24 hour access. They seem to be a group and this could be because the BFA experience is so intense.

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Thanks for the follow-up, @momof2lefties ! How are you managing all those interview/portfolio presentations with school? My D is only a junior and has an intense theatre schedule this year (along with 3 AP classes and honors classes) and I cannot fathom how we’ll manage all that time away from school for interview/reviews.

@techmom99 gives excellent advice! We have been told by several schools/faculty members that the portfolio is there not to strut about the Hamilton set design, the new puppet technology developed as a rising freshman, etc. (LOL! @Gatormama ) but to serve as the basis for a conversation between the prospective student and the faculty member. The school is looking for fit, just as the prospective student is looking for fit.

My D has not had any official interviews/portfolio reviews, but she has had visits and meetings with faculty with a review of her portfolio. She has an online portfolio so she usually sends a link to her portfolio as part of the initial contact with the department chair. She brings her laptop with her when she meets with faculty so she is able to show some videos she has in her portfolio. (The videos are mostly process work – so the steps in developing certain props, her work in make-up design, and some photo collages of sets for her scenic painting work.) She also goes old-school and brings her portfolio binder (with hard-copy prints) along as well. Her high school art teacher has provided great feedback for what to crop, what to highlight, etc.

D is not planning to apply to any of the Big Name schools, so perhaps her experience is different, but all the schools she has visited have been incredibly welcoming, and there’s always someone who says, “Oh good! A tech person! We so need you here!” due to the preponderance of actors applying to the school.

BAL to all the tech/design folks!

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@OrangeFish also makes a good point. My son’s portfolio was entirely in his binder and he never uploaded anything, but, if you have yours online, you should have at least some in a printed out back up form with you. S17 told me about a kid whose computer crashed at the interview and who didn’t have a back up.

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I agree with lots of what’s been posted (with the caveat that my daughter has just started the process and has not gotten in yet). She has only had the goal of costume design since the beginning of junior year. Her school only really has drama as a couple of classes (she took the one tech class they have) and mostly as an EC–they do one play and one musical a year. She was a performer sophomore year and then has been working behind the scenes since junior year.

Her portfolio includes set design sketches and photos (both in the process of being built and finished) of the productions she has worked on as the student costume designer and scenic artist, but is mostly a lot of (non-theatre) studio art (drawing, watercolor, collage) she has done in her art classes. All of this is in a pretty large (20x30"?) multi-ring, zip portfolio with clear insert pages, because some of her pieces are big. It was fairly pricey ($70ish), but as an artist, I know she’ll need to have one eventually anyway. She likes cosplay, so brings along part of a costume that she made (and photos of her in it), as well as her art sketchbook.

Most of the schools we have been to for theatre school visit days have said that they are looking for enthusiasm and potential, not finished perfection. They definitely get that most kids don’t go to performing arts schools and have been very open to taking a look at her portfolio and giving advice. I will say that the interviewer she met with yesterday asked her to upload digital files of the physical work onto the school’s portal website when she got home, so that they would have all of it for reference when they eventually make a decision. So maybe not a bad idea to put stuff online as well.

Time management has definitely been challenging, especially because she is not particularly interested in the minutia of application details. Her school has juniors take a college counseling class spring quarter and then another fall quarter of senior year. In that junior class, they start brainstorming for essay topics and put in requests for their teacher recs so those can get done over the summer. Most of the kids have until mid-late October to get their essays really rounded out in the fall class, but because theatre majors have to go through the interview process and most of those can’t be scheduled until the Common App is in, we were shooting for the second week in September and she managed to get it actually ready to go only about 2 weeks late, around the end of the month. It was critical to have an early meeting with her college counselor, as she had no experience with her major, little with the BFA process, and no idea as to the quantity of applications and requirement for early appointment-making. The Common App for some schools requires more than one essay, so it’s really a good idea to get logged into that as soon as it opens for the fall. There is also a ton of generic info to get filled in on it, so get ahead of that and just have your kid spend some time on data entry. Whatever you can do to just get that stuff out of the way early is really time well spent. Putting together a resume of high school classes, honors, activities, etc over the summer really makes this part go much faster. I won’t lie–I did have to nag her a lot to get it done, and I did help her get the generic data all collected into one reference document. And I did the data entry for the parental info part of her Common App so that I didn’t have to just sit there and dictate everything to her. The rest of the app was all her responsibility.

It seems like a lot to get done early, but having all of this collected made it so much easier for my D to be able to work her fall play (which was in rehearsal all of October, right when we were aiming to get her Common App in). I took on the piece of the puzzle that involved setting up her interviews, since she was at school during almost all business hours and there were a lot of moving parts. I made a list of emails that she needed to send out to the admissions people for initial contact, and then any additional pure scheduling emails that needed to be sent were sent by me under my email address. Lots of the scheduling was done online. She is doing 4 interviews on campus (Fridays and Saturdays) and we’ll be going to Unifieds in NYC for 5 or 6. We picked NYC because it is over a weekend, versus Chicago Unifieds that are during the week. Fortunately, two of her on-campus ones were able to be scheduled on teacher workdays. The others will be excused absences in November and January because they are college-related. It is possible they will overlap with winter musical rehearsals, but she is just going to have to miss a couple days. Big picture is a bigger deal.

Sorry for the LONG response! I hope it is helpful. Just remember to get the info all pulled together and work on the essay over the summer. I think you could probably even set up an account on the Common App website under your own email just to take a look at what your kid’s prospective colleges are asking for in their essays this year and the generic data that s/he’ll need for the rest of it.

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THANK YOU @momof2lefties for such an incredibly helpful post! Fabulous information!

Best wishes for you and your daughter as you both continue the journey!

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Ditto, @momof2lefties - I truly appreciate the detailed response and best of luck to your daughter. If you have time to post back about how Unifieds were for a non-performance applicant, I think @OrangeFish and I would be so appreciative.

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I’ll keep you posted!