Hey! Wanted to ask whether a professional ballet dancer (top academy, awards) has benefits during the application process like athletes? (College has Ballet company)
Not if you are talking about recruited athletes who are allocated spots by sports that the coach gets to use, subject to final approval by the AO. There are probably over 200 reserved spots for Harvard recruited athletes.
A professional ballerina is a great EC, but there are not designated spots for ballerinas or dancers. There is not a performance art professor/instructor that gets to designate X students for preferred admissions with the AO.
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I assume she’s not majoring in ballet?
I agree that it’s a really great EC. Our D was part of a pre-professional ballet company with class/rehearsal averaging 25 hours per week. She did very well in admissions. Didn’t apply anywhere with a ballet major and only planning on dancing extracurricularly in college. She’s thinking psych or political science for a major but pretty undecided.
Ballet takes a lot of grit. I think admissions officers know that.
Adding here: Didn’t see that this is in the Harvard thread. I’m sure ballet will be seen in a good light but it’s Harvard! 4% acceptance rate. No EC alone is getting anyone in.
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While not given as clear of an advantage as are recruited athletes, your achievements in ballet should be viewed as a strong extracurricular activity which demonstrates commitment, perseverance, and diversity.
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Agree --It can certainly be an above-average EC if done at a high level, but for a tippy-top college (since you tagged Harvard), you still need the scores/gpa/high level of course rigor to even be in consideration, unlike recruited athletes who have a coach selecting a team and in general it is a lower academic bar to get in for many athletes (based on Harvard lawsuit and other data) . In fact–anecdotal for sure–we know a high-level dancer at a top private school that sends kids to ivies each year who got rejected across the board at all the top schools despite >1530, very high class rank, loads of IB/AP classes etc.
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A. T here is not the same system of awards that athletes receive, and “Top ballet dancer of Ohio” does not have the same cache for colleges as “star football player of Ohio”, and “winner of silver medals in three competitions in X” sells better than “understudy for the Prima in the youth ballet performance of X”
B. College dance is not a multi-billion dollar business - Alumni are not paying billions of dollars to see the ballet performances of almost any college. Top athletes bring in lots of money, top dancers do not.
C. Ballet is not a common activity for the children of wealth and privilege, so providing advantages to Ballet dancers will not increase the competitiveness of applicants whose parents (or “elite” high schools) can afford to be part of a highly competitive team for Lacrosse, rowing, etc. Moreover, most ballet schools are independent of high schools, and ballet is much more affordable than, say, rowing or soccer at the levels which achieve awards. So it is not a good indicator of donor-level wealth.
D. Few Ballet dancers becomes super wealthy or famous, and as such are not a good “investment” for colleges looking to have a “Who’s Who” of alumni.
E. The relationship between college and sports goes way back, long before women were allowed to set foot in Ivies (and most other colleges), back when dancing was not an occupation for any well-bred young man or woman. On the other hand, participating in college sports was not only acceptable, but the best way to demonstrate that a boy was “manly”, not an overly-intellectual “weakling”.
F. Ballet is still seen as a “female” activity, and as such is not treated as seriously as sports (which is “manly”).
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I remember when folks asked me if my musician son was “recruited”. No…but this didn’t make his accomplishments any less notable. Ditto his little sister who didn’t major in music but was quite talented as well.
This is an excellent activity which shows commitment, discipline, ability to work in a group, etc. You should be proud to have this on your list!
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Not exactly like a recruited athlete, but it helps a lot. Harvard prides itself on its top performing arts ensembles. My kid had the grades and the scores, but it was the performing arts achievement that got them in. There is a young woman who is a first year who danced with Ballet West last year. So go ahead and highlight this in your application. My kid sent two academic recommendations, and two arts recommendations, plus an arts supplement. They definitely weighed that arts supplement, and wanted to know what their faculty member in that field thought of it. Turned out that faculty member was one of kid’s arts recommendations.
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Ballet will definitely help. One of my kids danced professionally in high school and did well with admissions, regardless of intended major.
You should submit an arts supplement with video, dance resume including awards, and letter(s) of recommendation related to dance (1-2).
Harvard has a ballet program that is extracurricular but high level. Admissions seeks to build a class with varying talents and dance contributes on campus.
Submit a supplement even if you do not intend to dance there. As others have said, the discipline and commitment required by ballet is well-respected.
And if you don’t dance at Harvard, you can dance at Jose Matteo’s studio or at Dance Complex.
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