Going to a Fallback Freshman Year

College Majors Musical Theater Major
21

<p>actressfosho,</p>

<p>you posted:
"Tisch said ...</p>

<p>Each year, we clear the records of the students who were not admitted, so we do not take into consideration whether any transfer applicants have auditioned before. Approximately half of the transfers we audition each year have selected CAP21 as their first choice."</p>

<p>But on the application I've seen, they do ask if you have applied to NYU before and if so, which school, and if so, were you accepted?</p>

<p>Why would they ask that if they did not take it into consideration? Of course, what I'm talking about is the freshman application - maybe they don't care for transfers but do for re-applying freshmen. </p>

<p>??</p>

22

<p>Meh … I haven’t found doing the transfer applications that bad. The apps I’ve filled out have only taken about ten minutes apiece and I did them all on a Sunday afternoon. Only one required an essay and that was a short little thing. As for transcripts, I just got ten sealed copies of my h/s transcript from my old guidance counselor when I was home on fall break. My college transcript won’t be available until about the twentieth, but all it takes is a fax to the Registrar’s office and they’ll send them wherever I want for free though I know it’s not like that everywhere. I’m not scheduling as many auditions as last year, either; so, getting that done hasn’t been a problem. I’m planning to do some walk-ins at the Unifieds, too; so, the extra high school transcripts will come in handy if I get accepted from a couple. My high school acting and history teachers still had my letters of recommendation saved and all they had to do was reprint them and send them to me with some minor modifications. Really, the most difficult thing for me was getting the part of the one app that needed to be filled out by my college advisor done. He’s also my acting teacher and is pretty upset that I’m leaving, but understands why. Tears were shed and hugs exchanged. He did write me an amazing letter of recommendation that lays out my situation well, so I’m actually going to use it instead of my h/s teacher’s. It would have also been difficult if I had stayed put next semester instead of transferring home because there are only two flights out to the Unifieds and I could have ended up on the same one with the chair of the department which would have been … awkward. Let's see ... I have a good headshot and plenty of monologues to choose from and plan to do mock auditions for several tough cookies over winter break to get things worked out, so I think I'm alright. This leaving thing is weird, though. Two more exams and one more party after which I’ll probably never see most of the friends I’ve made again. That part hurts.</p>

23

<p>Hmm thats hard. I am trying to transfer into an MT program right now and it is NOT easy. There really isnt any need to go get your GE in my opinion. It wont really help you if you want to act. I mean it is nice to know information about random things, but other than that it is pointless. Also, most schools who accept transfer students only accept about 3. Tisch does accept 80, but they only accept about 3 into CAP. I know I have to do at least 5 years of college, which is not vey good considering that in MT your youth is vital. So if you feel strongly about it than go for it. But i think the odds of you getting into a conservatory are a little bit higher now rather than as a transfer.</p>

24

<p>I am following this thread with some interest because there is a very good chance I could be in the position of wanting to transfer next year or possibly even the year after. How have you dealt with telling your friends that you are planning to transfer and how have they reacted?</p>

25

<p>that is such a good question, and seeing as i'm in this exact position, i think i'd be a good one to respond.</p>

<p>basically, your friends want you to be happy. my friends (including my roommate; we are completely inseparable) aren't glad that i'm leaving next year, but they recognize that i'm really unhappy at the school i'm currently at. we have all talked about our likes/dislikes about the school, and everyone agrees after hearing my reasons that the school i am at really isn't the right place for me academically or artistically. </p>

<p>i'm not going to sugar-coat it; the idea of having to do the whole "fitting in" thing again next year is completely terrifying -- it was hard enough to do it once. but i know that i need to be somewhere else, and hopefully being around people who love what i love will make the transition easier. i am going to miss my friends and my roommate incredibly. i have met some absolutely amazing people who have already changed my life in the short period of time that i have known them, and i hate the idea that i can't live with my roommate for the next four years...but they really are supportive of me. i hope your friends are the same way.</p>

<p>maggie</p>

26

<p>My own situation is a little different and I stayed pretty quiet about transferring until I was completely sure I was going to do it around midterm. When I finally mentioned that I was leaving, my friends understood why and were supportive. I feel like there was good closure.</p>

<p>I'm actually going to be starting my second college in a few weeks and I'm going to be auditioning for conservatories into February, so I guess I'm lucky that I already have a group of friends to hang with where I'll be next semester. I'm even going to be rooming with someone I already know. Assuming I get in the places I want, it's also gonna be a little weird that I'll be a year behind someone from my old h/s studio and possibly be in the same classes with at least one of my "widdle juniors" that I used to boss around last year. LOL</p>

<p>I'd say the important thing is to just use good social judgement. Don't be a 'tard and preface everything with it and don't treat people like the situation is temporary and you're in an "inferior place" and you'll be fine. Of course, there will always be some meanies that'll say something bad about it now matter what, but they won't be your friends, anyway. :)</p>

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<p>lmao@wte eating your soul. no doubt it can bite my butt! i wouldn't say it is bad enough to warrant waiting a year to come. i can see an advantage in getting all your gen eds out of the way before you come if your experience is that you totally can't stand training and doing them at the same time though at tisch there is no way out of having to at least take SOME regular academics. alwaysamom is also right that you wouldn't want to graduate in 3 years because you would miss out on lots of important career development stuff. </p>

<p>lotsa broken legs to you guys who are trying to transfer. that's gotta be tough!</p>

28

<p>bumping up thread.</p>

29

<p>This should be on the top of the list for Tuesday morning...so here it is.</p>

30

<p>I noticed that the quotes I had at post 18 got deleted. As far as I know, it was from a technical problem when they upgraded the server. I still have the quotes in my college search email and here they are again since the thread got bumped up ...</p>

<p>I sent this email to NCSA, Webster, CCM Drama, Tisch and SUNY Purchase ...
[quote]
I am a senior at an arts high school and am scheduled to audition for XXXX. However, I have been offered a full scholarship to my state university for academics. I am sure that I eventually want to pursue intensive actor training like that offered by XXXX, but I am wondering if it might be best for me to go ahead and attend my state university next year to get all the general education requirements the different schools finished and then audition as a transfer the next year so I would be able to completely throw myself into training without having many other academic concerns. I have looked at your general education and elective requirements and it looks like I could easily cover most of them in one year at my state university since I already have some AP credits. Is it more difficult for transfer students to be admitted to your school than those coming straight out of high school? Is there any reason your school would frown upon me doing this? I will appreciate any advice you can offer.

[/quote]

NCSA said ...
[quote]
We do get transfer students - just provide the transcript when applying... No reason to frown upon that scenario...not any more difficult. The audition is the main criteria, if you pass, then academic programs & student life offices evaluates. Drama courses at other schools basically never transfer. Any academic course which is comparable w/ our curriculum & you made a C or better grade should transfer.

[/quote]

Webster said ...
[quote]
You can certainly go to the state university for a year and transfer over, but please be aware that you would still have to do the full 4 years of the acting training after that here at Webster. You are correct that you would have more time to focus on your Conservatory training, but you would still need to do the full 4 year sequence. </p>

<p>Every student, transfer or no, undergoes the same audition and selection process, so there is no difference there.

[/quote]

CCM Drama said ...
[quote]
We consider transfer students for admission equally with those coming straight from high school. The most important factor in gaining admission into CCM's dramatic performance program is a good audition.</p>

<p>The biggest downside I can think of offhand is that being a transfer student disqualifies you from being considered for the University of Cincinnati's academic scholarship, the Cincinnatus award. You would still be considered for talent-based scholarship through CCM, but the Cincinnatus scholarship can be a big financial help to CCM applicants with good grades. (Cincinnatus awards start at $5,000 for out-of-state students and go through full tuition with room and board.) To qualify, you need to have a 3.0 GPA, have a complete application by January 15, and also have an SAT of 1170 OR an ACT of 26 OR be in the top 5% of your class.

[/quote]

Tisch said ...
[quote]
Congratulations on being offered a full scholarship. The plan you described seems to be a fine plan; I would recommend that you contact the office of admissions to ensure that all of the classes you would take would transfer over. We audition approximately 500 transfer students and accept about 80 (compared to auditioning 2500 freshman and accepting 500). Obviously the transfer applicants tend to have slightly more experience than freshman, so it can be slightly more difficult. I would recommend taking enough acting training at your other university to be fully prepared for the audition. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

[/quote]

I then asked Tisch ...
[quote]
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply! I do have two addition questions if you have the numbers readily available. Approximately how many of the transfer prospectives typically auditioned for Tisch previously and were not admitted? Also, approximately how many specify CAP21 as their first choice studio?

[/quote]

Tisch said ...
[quote]
Each year, we clear the records of the students who were not admitted, so we do not take into consideration whether any transfer applicants have auditioned before. Approximately half of the transfers we audition each year have selected CAP21 as their first choice. Please feel free to continue sending me questions.

[/quote]

Six weeks after I asked the question (!!!), SUNY Purchase said ...
[quote]
The acting program at Purchase College is an intensive four years of study. A transfer student may be accepted to the conservatory but in most cases will begin again as a freshman.

[/quote]

I hope they were telling the truth because I am going to audition for most of those schools plus some UK acting conservatories next year.</p>