Hi,
My daughter applied to 4 summer intensive programs this year (U-Mich, NYU Steinhardt, Marymount Manhattan and University of the Arts). She was accepted into all apart from U-Mich and ended up attending Steinhardt.
Now were going through the insane process that is MT college applications and as a first time parent of an applying college student I’m wondering if I can read anything ‘in the tea leaves’ from her summer acceptance experience?
The prescreen process for the schools she is applying to is almost identical to how she applied for the summer programs. With such slim acceptance rates from pretty much every MT school does having a summer program on their resume hold any advantages? Is this all still just a giant crapshoot?
Thanks for listening 9to this stressed out parent)!
I wouldn’t read anything into it. The summer programs are generally much bigger than the BFA class sizes, so it’s often impossible for all students who attended a summer intensive to also be admitted to the BFA (especially because BFA classes are often built on type, whereas summer intensives often don’t have casting in mind in the same way). That’s not to say that getting an acceptance based on relationships built in a summer intensive doesn’t happen, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Summer intensives are best used as a gauge of how competitive your child is in a larger pool bigger than their own community, and being admitted to 3 of them is certainly a promising indication that your D is at the level of many of her peers who will be on the audition circuit with her from across the country. Summer programs can also be GREAT for getting feedback on potential audition material from professors who see hundreds of auditions every year. However, many talented students are still shut out of audition-based BFA programs every year, so of course, ensure that your D has an affordable non-auditioned safety or other backup plan (e.g. taking a gap year to reaudition).
Thanks for your thoughts. Much appreciated.