Parent of a sophomore at an arts-focused high school and aspiring BFA Acting major here. Our school district requires three science classes for high school graduation. In making admission decisions, are any BFA Acting programs going to care if my student doesn’t take a science course senior year of high school, especially if it makes room for another theatre class and AP Calc is still in the mix?
Would it actually matter more in admissions to BA Acting programs?
Most don’t. They care about auditions and talent. However a few do. Schools like NYU, Syracuse, UMich (likely) care about academics. Ironically, Carnegie Mellon puts little weight in it.
However, most of the programs will weigh academics for scholarship purposes so keep that in mind. Have no idea if it matters what classes you take when.
What are the requirements in your state? The district may just be enforcing the state wide standard for a HS diploma…
Three science courses is the minimum required to graduate from our high school. But I know for general college admission, many of the most competitive colleges prefer for students to take four science course (one per year).
Rickle got to the heart of my concern - some drama schools who also care about general academics might weigh it and it could come into play with scholarship money.
FYI - D was a good - not incredible but good - HS student. She stood out in her Performing Arts school as most kids didn’t go above and beyond. She received academic scholarships from essentially every BFA program she was admitted to, some more than 50% tuition. Of course she was academically accepted into several schools that became Nos for BFA. So I would go the extra mile and beef up your academics as much as feasible so you have a chance at better pricing for the BFA programs. They won’t take grades over talent, but if they’re “equal” I have to think grades win provided all the other boxes get checked.
Thank you @rickle1. This is incredibly helpful.
although not exactly what you are asking my S is an excellent student and was accepted academically with scholarships at all of the schools he was accepted for an acting BFA, and he only had 2 years of foreign language. He was also accepted at Northeastern likely due to his acting supplement. So doing the most academically is not absolutely necessary if it is not in your otherwise best interest.
Be careful here though. Many many students don’t follow-through all 4 years of the ba /bfa for acting. You need the academics to go in another direction.
I’m going to offer a slightly different take on an answer. It depends on the strength of your child in science. If it is going to possibly hurt the student, I would suggest no, but really pump up the leadership activities and make sure the class taken in place of science is not a “throw away” class.