<p>Wow, that is a tough one. As i was reading your post, i was forming the answer in my head. I will give you my first response, first (and then a second thought, after the first response). </p>
<p>My son's Senior English teacher (was one of a few people who) read his Essay. I thought the intial essay was a good essay. Similar to Theatre for your daughter, my son's passion is music and guitars. She handed the Essay back to him, and (since you knew him really well) she told him "make some changes so that I can better sense your passion". He did a few re-writes, and the final version was something to behold. His papers are always good for classes, in the typical term paper format. This Essay really jumped out at you, when you read it. My point in all this? This Senior English teacher who has several years worth of experience with helping seniors apply, and get accepted into the most competitive universities in the country, probably knows of what she speaks. For you, and your daughter, I say Go for it. If Theatre is her passion, then pour it on. Let the short answer be about Theatre as well. (In one of my son's short answer questions, he wrote again, about his passion for Music and Guitar). </p>
<p>With that said.... my son also had many many hours of community service (not horses, but a national disease organization, like Heart Association, but a different one). Anyway, he was quite involved in working with the Agency, in fundraisers and other assistance. He did include this in his application as well. It may have come in the Activities section. My point here? We think USC also likes community service. (In reality, we have no idea what they really like or look for, since we only know that he applied, and was accepted, and we will never know what they liked or did not like in his application. I will add that he received one of the Merit Scholarships for 1/2 tuition, so they seemed to really like the information that he presented to them.). </p>
<p>In summary, I would probably still recommend her going with the passion for theatre over the volunteer work, in the essay and the short answer question. However, be sure to include the volunteer work in the Activities section.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter. If she has not already, have her show the essay to a couple of teachers (of different subjects) who she values their opinion. If they give responses, the response should not tell her what to write, but instead should be in a general area (make it more concise, make it more exciting, emphasize that point more, etc, without telling her what words or sentences to write. It should be her paper, but all college readers and guidance counselors would agree that general feedback is always a good thing. The teachers, in my opinion, should be people that your daughter really trusts their opinion. And, she should use her gut feeling in the end, to determine whether or not to make any final changes.</p>