<p>My son wants to study musical theater in college. Any advise on how to begin to prepare for the process? He performs in high school, does some local non equity acting, and has a vocal coach. His grades hover at a B but may improve over the next few years.</p>
<p>read the: [Musical</a> Theater Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/]Musical”>Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Contact Emmybet who has posted that her D is a freshman at Adelphi U on Long Island, studying for a BFA in musical theater, I believe.</p>
<p>Start taking dance classes, if you haven’t already. And read up on this forum - lots of great advice.</p>
<p>Jayloncole - Here are a few threads that are great places to get started.</p>
<p>Preparation:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/477658-preparing-apply-information-h-s-juniors-seniors.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/477658-preparing-apply-information-h-s-juniors-seniors.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/5590325-post8.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/5590325-post8.html</a></p>
<p>What it’s like to study in a BFA program:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1067706-freshman-experience.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1067706-freshman-experience.html</a></p>
<p>Paying for this (and why grades are important!)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1209471-why-include-expensive-colleges-list.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1209471-why-include-expensive-colleges-list.html</a></p>
<p>Happy reading!</p>
<p>In my opinion, almost more important than getting training (or at least AS important!) is making sure you get him whatever coaching he needs starting NOW so that he is able to get really great test scores (SAT or ACT). Have him take it next year so you can see where he needs help and then practice, practice, practice.</p>
<p>You don’t want to limit his options because you can’t afford it and there is some SERIOUS money available if you have a combination of good grades and GREAT test scores! (really good grades are very important, too, but it’s those test scores that will make the difference as far as scholarship money.)</p>
<p>Totally agree tracyvp . . . if I had to do it all again we would hire a tutor for the cursed ACT math test! My D’s scores cost her a lot of academic money! She is a great student and takes challenging coursework. She has really great grades (has a tutor for math), but test scores seem to negate that fact. </p>
<p>I also agree with tracyvp regarding coaching. From a list of many critical things, great coaches will help you find and enhance your strengths. (We love MTCA!)</p>
<p>I agree about the grades and would like to add that vocal training in high school is huge. I see you have a vocal coach and that is really important. It will really ensure vocal health. Learning correct breathing can really make for a much richer voice. It takes years, start now.</p>
<p>Along with doing what others have already said, we started visiting schools on spring break and that really helped. It gave my D a feel of the types of schools she liked as well as an idea of what is needed to getting there.</p>
<p>Along with all the great advice above–definitely look into summer pre-college programs. That’s an incredibly valuable way to get intensive coaching and feedback, and–maybe even more important–the only way a student can get a taste of what it’d be like to do theater or MT for four years of college! Lots of good summer-program lists and advice on both this board and the theater-drama majors forum.</p>
<p>And if I could tag along on that advice, if you can afford it, it might be good to do a couple of different ones over the next couple of summers. </p>
<p>But if you can’t, I might suggest doing one that uses faculty from SEVERAL different college MT programs rather than just one college’s program. We were only ever able to afford to do one program, ever, and we were so glad we chose one where she was exposed to faculty from at least 8 different colleges. It helped her to figure out which types of schools she was interested in. She actually was able to eliminate a few schools from her list based on working with the faculty from those schools.</p>
<p>He does musical theater every summer, either in youth summer programs or local non equity. Also plays high school football and throws javelin for the school track team so he’s a pretty busy guy. Totally agree on prepping for the SAT/ACT - I’ve seen a low score keep a lot of otherwise qualified students out of their top choice schools</p>