<p>In the field of MT do schools prefer SAT/ACT? I have heard students seem to do better with ACT. True/False. Do all schools now recognize ACT? Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>MTSMom:</p>
<p>There isn't a general rule as far as which standardized tests are "preferred" amongst BFA schools at all. It is more what each particular college wants. However, most colleges will accept EITHER the SAT or the ACT and do not have a preference. You have to look at each college's admissions site to see the requirements. I think it is a matter of YOUR preference, however, which you take. I find that students in the midwest and some in the west, tend to take the ACT where is is more prevalent. Most students in the East tend to take the SATs. I have clients from the midwest who have ONLY taken the ACT and applied to the same sorts of schools that my East Coast clients applied to who have only taken the SAT. Most colleges will accept either. Midwestern colleges get a lot of applicants who have taken the ACT. But they don't care which you submit. </p>
<p>What is more important is that the student take the test that works best for her. You could start with the SAT and if the results are not as hoped, some students then try the ACT and sometimes do better as the tests are different sorts of tests. I think your child should prepare and take the SATs and then go from there, depending how she does. She could try the ACT as well and decide which test she did better on and only submit the test scores from the test she wants to submit (meaning only submit SAT or only submit ACT scores, but you can't pick WHICH SAT scores to submit as they will see all of your sittings on the SAT if you submit SAT scores). Again, the colleges tend not to have a preference and receive both. A lot of which test a student takes tends to be which is the norm for the region. Here it is the SATs primarily. Kids in other regions of the US tend toward the ACT. But students anywhere can take either. Some try both and see which is a more favorable score. My kids only took the SATs (twice). We barely know anyone around here who took the ACT, but some may have tried it after not being pleased with their SAT score and as I said, some find they may do better on the ACT than the SAT. Hard to say until you try.</p>
<p>MicaelNKat: I read the new guide yesterday. It is a very good starting point, though there are some omissions and errors in thelisting of BFA Theater programs - but, hey, this is an ambitious text, as it covers music, dance, and theater. In this edition, there was no ranking of programs, which is good. What was particularly informative were the data on the number enrolled (undergrad/grad), sometimes by sex, deadline dates, and scholarship information. I also found the section on interview questions and the example resumes helpful.</p>
<p>A question for the college counsellors....What do you think about the AP tests when my daughter is planning on a BFA program?</p>
<p>Hi everyone! My youngest is a junior who will be applying as an acting major. All my kids are interested in the business, just in different areas. My oldest is an agent, oldest daughter is a film major...and now an actress. And since every application is different, every major is different...and every child is different I feel like we are at square one. And while my daughter isn't a musical theater major...hope you don't mind a tag a long.</p>
<p>Welcome, ellebud. Happy to have you here. Be aware, however, that there is a thread (though less active than those on this forum!) under "Art Majors" that has to do with kids interested in straight drama. You may want to check it out.</p>
<p>ellebud: I learned loads by reading the MT and acting (under MAJORS:ARTS) threads. You may also want to buy the new edition of 'College Guide for Performing Arts Majors' by Everett. I have been trying to get a dialogue going over in the acting thread for current HS Juniors/parents, but not much action at this point. There are a number of people who have provided me great advice. Do not feel shy about using 'private messages', as some of the best information that I have received has been off-thread. I find the process somewhat intense, and I have only one (son).</p>
<p>by the way; are there any straight acting types out there applying to summer programs. We have applied to Boston Univ., Rutgers (audition-based), Flying Swan (audition-based), and NCARTS. Would love feedback on the hypothetical; if accepted by all, which would you go to, and why?</p>
<p>I am so happy to have found this newest thread for parents of Juniors! Over the winter I was a committed "lurker" and I learned so much! I would love to be a part of this community...I have a junior D who is desires to major in MT. We are gathering information and trying to make some college visits.<br>
We do not have the money to visit all the schools we would like to. We live in St. Louis, Mo and will definitely visit Webster since it is local. Would it be a terrible mistake to wait until after the unifieds and find out which schools she is accepted to and then visit those or is that too late?</p>
<p>My friends who have observed my involvement in my daughter's MT college search and application process over the last year are not sure whether I am simply a type A micromanaging personality or whether my brain synapses are firing very oddly and I am in need of intensive psychotherapy. Well actually they are sure, but they won't tell me; instead I think they are planning an "intervention". In any event, in order to facilitate a cathartic experience, I would like to offer to the juniors out there and their parents the charts and spreadsheets my daughter and I used to map out and organize her journey over the last year. (Well, actually, I used them; she tolerated me.)</p>
<p>I offer the following:
1. College Search Overview Chart - info on colleges in Word chart format. Cells expand vertically as filled in.
2. Admissions Requirements Chart - organized by college, same format as above.
3.Musical Theatre Program Questions - what to ask when you visit. Word Doc.
4. Application Types and Due Dates for Each Part - info on application requirements/components organized by school. Excel spreadsheet.
5. Applications Received Chart - track when each application component has been sent and received. Organized by school. Excel spreadsheet.
6. Guidance Dept Chart - track each item your high school is supposed to send. Organized by college. Excel spreadsheet.
7. Audition Chart - organize audition scheduling and what is needed for each audition. Organized by school. Excel spreadsheet.
8. College Evaluation Chart - when acceptances come in, line the schools up side by side. Word Chart. Cells expand vertically as info put in.</p>
<p>You see, my friends were right. Please take these off my hands. It will be part of my road to recovery.</p>
<p>Send me an email (<a href="mailto:michaelnkat@comcast.net">michaelnkat@comcast.net</a>) and I will gladly send you these docs. All you will need to do is delete the school specific info in the cells on the charts and you will have templates for your own use.</p>
<p>OK, everyone, here are a few questions that I am sure has been answered scattershot somewhere on this forum, but to which I still don't have an answer:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How many colleges ought a students interested in pursuing a BFA in MT have on his or her list? For regular (non MT) admissions, I have always read that kids should have two safeties, two matches and two reaches. After almost two years' worth of reading on this list, I am going to venture a guess that most MTers apply to more than six schools. But how many is "average" and reasonable and how many is, well, too many? On this list and elsewhere, I have heard of kids auditioning for as few as four schools and as many as 20. Is there a happy medium and how do you find it?</p></li>
<li><p>How do parents help their kids narrow down the list of MT schools that they might be interested in? For instance, my D is a junior and is beginning to get serious about figuring out which schools are within the realm of possibility. (She started by trying to learn as much as she could about all the schools in the Big List atop this forum.) I have learned so much on this list, but I nonetheless feel out of my depth in trying to pare the list down. I would guess that some kids have strong feelings about geographic area, size, public vs private, etc., which would help them trim their lists. (For instance, one mom told me her daughter did not want to go to college "in the middle of nowhere." My daughter keeps saying she cares what goes on IN THE PROGRAM and not where the program is.) Help!!</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of safeties, one cannot count any school that requires an audition as a safety, right? </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Sorry for the deluge. Figured it made sense to get 'em all down now. Thanks in advance for any help people can give.</p>
<p>Here are my thoughts:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>First, BA or BFA? If the former and non-audition, then the "traditional" numbers make sense. If the latter, then I think still having 2 BA's as a "backup" (1 safety and 1 comfort) makes sense. As to the number of BFA schools, I think that is limited only by the geographic area you are willing to consider and the amount of time and expense you and your kid are willing to expend. There is also a burnout factor for our kids as well as their need to still attend to normal school responsibilities. My daughter applied to 5 BFA programs, 1 audition BA and 1 audition optional BA. After discussing it with her, that's what we all concluded made sense in terms of numbers. Some kids also use unifieds as a way of including more. We elected not to go that route for reasons related to item #2.</p></li>
<li><p>As to narrowing the list down, I assume you mean coming up with the "short" list to which apps will be sent. For us, there were 3 main factors: a) pure conservatory vs. LA college/university setting at which some LA is available within the BFA structure, b) location that we were comfortable with and c) visiting the campus to determine, among other things, whether it was a place where my daughter could see herself living for 4 years. We also scoured the websites of the schools to determine if the programs seemed to be what my daughter was looking for, including looking at the course catelogues and the curriculum. We knocked off several schools from the "long" list that fit within a,b, and c based on the curriculum and course catalogue not matching my daughter's desires. We then visited each of the schools on her "short" list during the second semester junior year to make sure they should stay on the short list. We also met with the theatre departments during the visits.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is an exponentially more time intensive process than a "regular" college process. My son is a criminal justice major in college and the selection process was so much simplier. Size, location and type of campus and does the school have a strong criminal justice program. Is it a strong LA school.</p>
<p>Hi Michael-That's for all your help and advice that you have given all of us so far--It really helps us to hear from experience-Also, the spreadsheets/charts are awesome--they definitely shows how intense this entire process is. Thanks again :)</p>
<p>Been reading this amazing site for a while... I have a Junior who will be trying to go in this direction shortly and the site has been asking me to post something so hello to all of you and good luck to all of us :)</p>
<p>Welcome BwayRocks! It is going to be an exciting year ahead for you and your kid. Hope you'll join in sharing the adventure along with others here on CC. For now, observe what's going on for this year's seniors! I'm glad you posted.</p>
<p>As SoozieVt said, there are regional preferences in the tests. Most schools will accept either. </p>
<p>In preparing my eldest son for college admissons at Mid-West and West Coast schools, we were told by Princeton Review (test prep company) that the SAT is more focused on language skills (reading, writing) than the ACT. So, my son took both tests. His language skills were not a strength and so we hoped he'd fare better on the ACT. In the end, it was hard to find an ACT prep class that would work with his schedule (in the West SAT rules and most prep classes are for the SAT). So his scores on each test ended up equivalent. I do believe he may have scored higher on the ACT if he'd had specific prepping for that test.</p>
<p>So the aspect of strategy to play to the strengths of your student should be investigated.</p>
<p>ElliottsMom--Thanks for your advice --We just took the SAT's in March so I am going to see where what path we take when the results are in. D's is definitely a reader and writer rather than Math and Science-So we shall see!!
BwayRocks--Welcome!!:) Glad to find another Junior Parent to share the adventure of college searching and audition process!!</p>
<p>Hi Everybody - I, too, am a long-time CC lurker who is looking forward to getting to know you all better as we begin the college search/application process. I have found the info here to be invaluable and appreciate learning from all who have gone before us. My D is a junior who is interested in MT . . . obviously:) We are awaiting the first round of SAT results, which I hear are due this week. We are beginning college visits this spring, starting with several schools within a couple hours of our home (CCM, Baldwin-Wallace, Otterbein) who offer weekend visits for juniors. I'd also like to fit in a visit to Indiana while school is in session to get a feel for a larger university. She has applied to some summer programs and so far we've heard from Perry-Mansfield, which sounds interesting based on the reviews I've read on CC. Looks like we've all got an exciting year ahead of us!</p>
<p>Welcome EJDsmom. Glad you come out of lurking...</p>
<p>It is going to be a great adventure and I hope your time on CC will help you through it with all the others. Enjoy the college visits. They are a lot of fun to do. It is exciting to think about your D's future.</p>
<p>I am glad someone stepped forward to start this. I have a S who is a junior and is desperate to study MT. We are starting the visits next week while he is on Spring Break. I look forward to posting our thoughts, and reading everyone else's. Break a Leg!!</p>