Let me start off by saying, I need A LOT of help if I am going to get into this school.
Emerson is by far my top choice and I have visited the school multiple times, kept in contact with an admissions counselor and met up with students who have gone there or are attending now. I can only say that this school has felt 200% right and I have visited many prospectives schools already because both my siblings are in college, so I know what to look for in a college campus.
A little about my school life:
3.7 GPA
Top 10% of my class
Treasurer of my Senior class (was Vice President my Sophomore year)
Secretary of my school’s Theater Troupe
National Honors Society (Secretary of this as well)
Honors Thespian
However, the only thing I feel like is holding me back are my SAT scores.
This June I took the SAT’s and got a 1610 (Reading 570, Math 460, Writing 580) and this isn’t going to cut it for Emerson is what I’m told. However, I can’t see myself going anywhere but Emerson, so I really need help/a shove to put me in the right direction to see what I can do to get to that point.
I am either planning to be a Theater Studies (concentration in Playwriting) major or a Writing, Literature and Publishing major if I attend.
I have also taken the ACT’s, but will not be receiving my scores until July.
Thank you in advance for those that respond, any help is great!
Won’t you need to submit a portfolio? Those scores are low for Emerson; there is no getting around that fact. They are known for being forgiving when it comes to Math scores, but they want strong verbal skills. I recommend trying both the SAT and ACT again, along with the English Lit. subject test. Be sure to prep for that SAT II. It is very different from other tests and requires literary analysis. My younger son had a 730 on his CR SAT, 33 and 35 on the verbal components (I forget which was English and which was Writing) of his ACT. He scored under 500 on the Literature SAT II (he did not submit the test report to colleges). Will you have strong recommendations from your English teacher?
Work hard on your portfolio. I also suggest applying to Columbia College Chicago as a safety. They were founded by some of the same people who founded Emerson. They are larger, with open admissions, but they offer the sort of curriculum you want. Look at UArts in Philadelphia, also. They have a Creative Writing major. Admission is almost entirely talent-based, and so your scores will be fine there (I think they’re test-optional). I think that Goucher is test-optional, and they are also strong in Theater and Creative Writing.
I just wanted to add that your verbal scores aren’t too far out of Emerson’s range, and so even a modest increase could improve your situation. In general, they seem to want the verbal scores to be over 600. I am aware of several applicants who were waitlisted or rejected and were explicitly informed that their scores were too low, despite strong auditions for the Theater program.
Thank you for replying @woogzmama !
I am not too worried about my portfolio because it is very large and I have won Playwriting competitions in the past with a lot of my pieces, I am more worried about the SAT scores. These scores were from the test that the two sections were taken out, so I am not sure if it did affect my CR/Math scores. I hopefully did better on the ACT though! I am signing up for October SAT’s so fingers crossed that I’ll do better!
Update: Just got into Emerson 
!!