Hello, all you awesome, helpful moms and students. My D is a junior just gearing up for next year’s applications. She has a moderately strong acting resume at the community theater level, and one PBS TV Movie coming out this year. She has a 4.0 Weighted GPA, but having a hard time pulling up SAT/ACT to the same level. Do you have to hit the overall school average? We are stressing about how hard to work on standardized tests. It’s a major buzzkill for artistic kids, as I am sure many of you know. Especially if you have specific knowledge of students who are accepted and what their stats are and how admissions works at top ACTING programs. She decided against MT. Thank you sooo much!
For top acting programs, USC BFA, UCLA, NYU, can your grades and SAT/ACT be just below the averages?
Has she taken both the SAT and ACT? Many kids do considerably better on one over the other. With a 4.0, I would think that her full academic resume will push her through for academic admission-but test scores most certainly come into play for scholarships. It may be worth the $/time to do a prep class, and give it one more shot.
Thanks! What I am most trying to figure out is if the standardized test Averages are the same for the Audition programs (BFA) as they are for regular admission. Yes she is taking both ACT and SAT, but trying to figure out if we really have to hit the school averages, or, if you audition well, is your GPA and scores that are lower than their averages, but still decent scores, enough to get in.
I have a junior as well. We’ve been in “list building” mode for a long time. Some colleges are all about the talent, and stats don’t matter, some its a blend talent/stats, and some are all about the stats and don’t even audition. Which is why it’s taking us so long. We are a high need family, so merit money is important. For many schools, the stats can have a big impact on the merit money, even if admission is “sealed” with the audition. I know Carnegie has a GPA that’s lower than the rest of the school, but they’re the only ones to break it out on their website (that I’ve seen).
It depends on the program – email them and ask. For NYU and USC it is 50/50 you have to be academically accepted and accepted by the program. For other programs like Julliard and CalArts they really don’t care about anything but your audition. Contact each school to find out.
If the student’s test scores fit between the 25%-75% of admitted students range, they should be fine in terms of academic requirements of the general admissions office. Most schools list this 25% number on their Freshman Profiles–you can google for 2015 or 16. If the student’s score is below that 25%, they still have a chance but it would mean the department will have to pull strings for them–go to bat with the regular admissions office. Putting that much pressure on the audition can be daunting, as there are many very talented applicants who do meet the academic criteria. Clearly, 25% of admits come from below that threshold, but that allows the arts schools, athletic teams and special life stories to have a chance. Much safer if she can get to the threshold. Her gpa is so fabulous, it would seem to help a lower test score, but at the schools you mention (USC and NYU) going lower than 1900 SAT is perilous.
I know competitive actors who got into USC and NYU with great GPA’s but lower standardized scores. It can be done.
It CAN be done… but it does increase the odds/difficulties. @FourStars - you mention that your D has a 4.0 weighted GPA, what is unweighted? (which is something colleges, particularly academically competitive ones, often use)
TBH - the best $$ (in terms of return on investment) we spent in the entire college process was to get D private, focused tutoring on testing after she had taken a 1st ACT and SAT junior year. She decided she liked the ACT “better”, and she and tutor dug into all the tips/tricks to boosting. Worked really well, she raised her original score by 5 overall points from 1st sitting to second, and then took it one more time just b/c she had a particular score in mind that she wanted to match/beat (went up one more point overall, superscore went up 2). It wasn’t easy to schedule the tutoring or the tests given the madness of senior year (in fact is was a HUGE pain, she was in 3 shows at the same time fall of senior year, and was booked every moment of the day)… but in the end I knew she had a score that qualified her for any school she wanted to apply to.
My kid is at NYU - and I can tell you that passing the academic threshold is important, b/c the classes kids are taking outside of studio are quite rigorous. D has had several talented friends decide NYU was not for them b/c while they loved studio, they could not keep up with the pace of the regular classes
I think colleges only accept kids with grades and test scores above the school average.
@Beppeb - that is not true, b/c the scores of the accepted students are what create the “average” - therefore, mathematically, half the scores were lower, and half were higher.
I think that was a joke. (I laughed.)
@Jkellynh17 - given that they are a brand new poster, I wondered… but decided to take it at face value 
It’s like Lake Woebegone where all the children are above average.
As the parents of above average children ourselves…
Hi everyone! Sorry I went radio silent after asking the question! It’s really time to dig in. My junior year D had Finals, ACT while doing a nice community theater project (Romeo & Juliet) with Tech Week hell and two weekends of shows. I know you all know this scene! Her ACT was the day after opening night of the show and during High School finals. Rough timing. But! Her ACT is so much better than the SAT. We are so relieved. ACT score is basically 4 points higher than the equivalent SAT she had! She did do some prep before Tech Week. @madbean - thanks for the suggestion about the 25%/75% range. I agree, that is probably the answer to my question. She needs to at least hit the 25% mark. She is right there for NYU, Michigan, UCLA but a little shy at Northwestern, USC, etc. @toowonderful, I sort of agree with you that prep is the best use of time and money, but she is away now for 7 weeks this summer. She feels she can get one more ACT point in September, so that is the goal. 1-2 more points.
Anyone interested in this subject, be sure to take both SAT and ACT and see which one is better for you!
I understand of course that 50% of the students are below the average. My crude understanding is that kids who are just straight academic (yes some extra curricular, but no major “hook”) need to be above the average, whereas the kids with a “hook”, sports or arts etc, can be at the low end of the range. I guess that is what I want to believe!
@FourStars - if you are talking about a BFA program (at a school like NYU or Michigan) the audition IS the “hook” element.
Yes, yes, that is what I meant. My son is heading to run XC and Track in college at a D1 school next year and the counselor explained pretty clearly about the “hook” and while almost every aspect of their college applications are different, they are both applying with a hook. You are a wealth of information. Thank you so much.