<p>Hi! I just finished the amazing Cherubs program at Northwestern (with the MT extension) and I was wondering if that helped with admission to MT programs for college? Obviously nothing guarantees a spot in these competitive programs, but I was just wondering.</p>
<p>The training and experience you received will certainly be of benefit in your auditions. Listing Cherubs on your resume will reflect additional information about your involvement in theatre. At the end of the day, however, it’s the audition that counts for artistic admission to any program and the mere fact of your attendance at Cherubs will have little to no meaningful influence on the admissions decision making process. Participation in Cherubs or any other summer program should be done out of a desire to have the training and experience and because it’s a rewarding way for the student to spend the summer, not out of a notion that having the participation on the resume itself creates an advantage in the admissions process.</p>
<p>What ^^^^ he said.</p>
<p>^^^What he said.</p>
<p>EDIT:</p>
<p>Oh, ha ha ha, I cross posted with mtdog! 
My post was pointing to MichaelNKat’s post.</p>
<p>I agree that participation in college summer programs is no guarantee of admission to any school. </p>
<p>That said, it does seem that a higher-than-overall-average percentage of kids from D’s MPulse group who applied to UMich MT were admitted (not all participants chose to audition), and I’ve heard the same is true for Northwestern Cherubs, but that may just reflect the quality of participants rather than indicating any direct boost. In both cases, though, the majority of kids who participated in summer programs were not ultimately admitted to the school, so if there’s any boost it must be slight.</p>
<p>I suspect some kids might slightly improve their odds of admission by getting positive exposure to staff prior to formal auditions, but it’s equally possible that some kids could reduce their chances through poor behavior during summer programs. I think I’ve heard that Cherubs is not taught by NU staff, so any boost from that must be indirect.</p>
<p>Possibly even more important than the training and whatever resume boost our D received from MPulse, she also became much clearer through that experience about what she wanted from college, and that clarity helped her land in the perfect school for her (go Wildcats!).</p>
<p>So I think MichaelNKat has it exactly right --</p>
<p>"Participation in Cherubs or any other summer program should be done out of a desire to have the training and experience and because it’s a rewarding way for the student to spend the summer, not out of a notion that having the participation on the resume itself creates an advantage in the admissions process. "</p>
<p>I’m so glad you had a great summer at Northwestern, and good luck as you go through the exciting college selection process!</p>
<p>I know two kids who went to the Ithaca summer program thinking it would give them advantages for their MT program. They were both rejected.</p>
<p>D’s very talented friend went to the Carnegie Mellon pre-college summer program and was rejected. In all she auditioned for 16 schools and was rejected by all except one. Luckily the one she was accepted to is perfect for her and she couldn’t be happier.</p>