How many colleges is your child applying to?

<p>I just got the final list from the GC and there are 11 (3 UC's), one is EA. They catagorize as 6 long shots, 2 medium/safety, 2 medium, 1 safety. However the unofficial word is the GC expects most schools to accept...I don't get this. She may add 1 more medium UC and one more safety LAC.</p>

<p>S does not have much of a chance for HYP. His freshman year gpa is in the 3.0 range, his sophomore year is below that, but his junior year is very strong. He has high SATs with his top five scores 750+, and many APs, some with strong scores. His resume is supposed to be tops according to his college counselor and some others who should know. His interview skills are very, very good. I did not suggest applying to those schools and he has done so against the advice of his college counselors. He does have a strong advocate who is pretty influential in one of the schools who wanted him to apply there, but who knows what that means. </p>

<p>He did not apply ED at NYU but booked his audition while he was still thinking about it. They permitted him to keep the audition date so he went on ahead with it. His applications are all submitted as they were done over the summer so all he had to do was copy from the prior year apps for the most part. I recommend this to all of the kids I work with because of how busy senior year first quarter can be especially when there are some SATs that need to be retaken. His school encourages this practice to the point where it does have essay workshops over the summer, asks the juniors to pick the teachers to recommend them at the end of junior year and the counselors write all of the recs over the summer so the file is ready to go in September permitting kids to make some of the very early deadlines for early consideration and merit awards. He did not bother with the essay workshops, but he was not very busy this summer because he was put on such a short leash because of some issues from first term junior year. He also captained his football team and that necessitated a camp and preseason which took up most of his time and he had NO social life at all since he abused his priviliges. He was also in therapy extensively. </p>

<p>He was fortunate to get two October auditions which gave him a good start-- and did not miss any school for those. His football season ended early, thank God, and he had a marathon weekend but the school gave them a 4 day Veteran's Day holiday which gave him a triple header on auditions. He took off a day for the NYU auditions and we are heading for Michigan tomorrow night, missing one more day of school. He will miss one more day this term for the December auditions. So I think he has done well in not missing school as will have only used 3 days for the first semester, but his first quarter grades are not good, downright bad, and he will absolutely have to bring them up or will have a problem. He has been in one play during all of this which was very difficult to schedule but it was at school and several of his teammates also were in it so the rehearsals were scheduled around the athletic program. He is going to be in a cabaret next week, that is weighing heavily on his mind as he wrote it and is directing as well as performing in it. He is captaining his wrestling team as well, and will miss one day of practice for that but no matches as far as I can see, but the schedule is very, very tight. He does not get home till about 10pm most night, but there is about a two hour study period in his day which I hope he is using well (current grades indicate the opposite). He has a light schedule this year-no language other than half credit German and Italian for voice majors, no science, no history. He is taking AP level English, Calculus AB and Art History--the rest of his courses are all performing arts including a Shakespeare course which is considered a college level English course. He will have enough credits and requirements to graduated at half year if he chooses to do so with the double English.</p>

<p>As for the expense, well, I am over the $1000 point for app and audition fees. The triple audition was a bargain in that I was able to book the tickets way in advance, but still well over $1000 in total. I am getting killed on the Michigan audition, as he booked different auditons on that day before he cleared the academic review and I spent a day undoing the damages. Because he applied before 9/15, he was able to get that first audition date but he screwed up and scheduled over it, one among many other screw ups that occurred. The end result is that I am spending more on the Michigan audition than on any other 3 auditions combined. I was late getting the air tickets so we are paying top dollar and are staying at an expensive hotel instead of the cheapies that I had booked for the other auditions and when he visited Michigan in the spring, he stayed with someone he knew who was going there. I will be there with him and since we are getting in so terribly late Thursday night and the audition starts so early Friday morning, I went for the convenience....and the cost for this one is over the top. NYU would have been a cheapie travelwise if he did not forget his accompaniment CD. I'll post our misadventures on the MT forum when we end this first phase of the process. I've been too angry about some of the things to really even want to write about them. I think he'll be done with the MT schools at that point and what would be left are the non audition and music performance and straight theatre options. We are probably going to end up spending about $5000 total for the auditions. Am not proud of this, a bit embarrassed, but them's the facts of the matter. About $500 per school is what it averages out, not including app and audition fees. </p>

<p>His school has a strong performing arts program, so a number of kids are going this route. Many have applied ED to Tisch, Steinhardt, EA to Emerson, etc. Not that many MT majors, many perfomance and straight drama programs, and many to non audition schools since many of these kids are very strong academically and test score wise. Also a number with show biz connections of which we have none except for whomever S might have worked with in his experience and many legacies. </p>

<p>I have worked with a number of kids, am working with a number of kids who apply to 20-35 schools. Many are applying to dual programs, many are determined to get into a very selective school, many are determined to get money. They need the statistics to be on their side as much as possible to make such goals. If you get the stuff done over the summer, it is very possible to do this, though I do not recommend it to most people as it does require a lot of organization and juggling, both of which I can probably do better than most simply because of what I have been doing for the last 20 years. But this is testing me terribly, as he does not walk the line for anyone or anything and has made things pretty difficult. Also we have spent more on him than on all of the kids combined at this point, and probably will for college as well, as I doubt if he is going to get any merit aid of any consequence given his field of study and choice of schools. Is it worth it? I don't know. Not a good subject to bring up to my H these days.</p>

<p>"Texas and Strick, I'm sure you've already looked into this, , but in our state, housing is a big issue at the state schools, so those apps need to go in early to get on the housing list - just a thought for others who may read this thread."</p>

<p>Ours too (that is, I'm in Texas as is Texas), cangel. Fortunately for us there's a separate housing list at UT, my S's second choice. We did put down the necessary $50 in case he isn't accepted at his first choice. It's not an issue at the other schools on his list.</p>

<p>S has already audtioned at Emerson. I did look for some overlap when you posted your D's schedule, as I really would have loved to have met you. But his apps were out by the end of September but for a few stragglers and his auditions booked though some of those had to be changed (even though they say you cannot change them). I had hoped that you would be at the Michigan or CMU auditions. The overlap with your D are those two schools, Tisch, Syracuse and Emerson. But we tried to get the earliest possible dates as we knew that things get busier as the year goes on, and I really did not want to do some of these schools in the middle of winter. So far weather has not been a factor. </p>

<p>As for the number of schools, my son is in the extreme group with his number. I don't like to tell people here because of the reaction I get. But other than the HPY schools, his counselor has been amazingly supportive. She feels that with these audition schools, kids should apply often and early, and little demonstrated interest, great essays or anything is required since the decision hinges on that audition. You can really just visit the schools at the audition and not do anything else, but that audition had better be good. </p>

<p>For kids who are applying to schools where demonstrated interest and personal fit are a big deal, applying to this many schools would be downright foolish. You cannot "court" the adcoms doing this as it takes all the time to just to go to the auditions. But he also had his audition pretty much set last year, all he took was the SAT2 Writing this year, and he is not taking private lessons this term other than auditon practice, so it does work. Last year, second semester was the real whirlwind because he was in All States, a number of plays, sports, taking SATs, studying for school to get those grades up, studying for 4 AP exams, writing a rough draft for his senior project play,taking private voice, dance, strings, audition lessons as well as being in 2 orchestras, 3 choral groups. Though we did get by, we dropped the ball an awful lot that term, and there were some opportunities we had to let go to keep commitments previously made. This term has not been too bad as the apps were pretty much done by the time school started, and the auditions were for the most part on days when there was no school. The Jewish holidays in September and Columbus Day in October helped as well.</p>

<p>Cangel, I'll answer what I can. There are 100 kids in my daughter's graduating class, and I'm guessing a chunk of them decide from the git-go to apply to the local state university. I asked D if she knew how many colleges other kids were applying to and she said a few are applying to 14 or 15 and that's all she knows except that a few have already gotten into their first choice schools. There are two guidance counselors for the juniors and seniors. We (that's a real "we" as I had to write an essay) filled out pages and pages of essays and short answers to help the guidance counselor both come up with a list of colleges, and to write the gc recommendation. We (parents plus child) met with the gc once and she gave us a list of about 30 colleges to look into, based on D's answers. I know she did research into colleges particularly for my daughter since she had looked into what colleges had the major my daughter is considering, which is not a popular or standard one and isn't found at all schools. Whether or not she recommends that each kid apply to so many schools, I don't know. We researched all of those, scratched out a bunch, added a few. D met with the gc each time she added a school to ask the gc's opinion. We have to keep undating the information we already supplied to the gc, and there have been class-wide workshops and meetings, but I wouldn't say there's actually been any personal mentoring as to how to approach a particular school. She did read and comment on D's common app essay.</p>

<p>Many of the schools on her list are highly competitive and the rest are competitive. None of them go strictly by stats so nothing is guaranteed. But no, we're not asking for aid. If I had known about cc when we first started out, would the list be shorter now? I don't know.</p>

<p>I also don't know how D will choose. I hate to admit how many times I've bought her two tee-shirts or two necklaces since she couldn't make up her mind (--one for now and one I'll put away for Chanukah...) There are certainly some schools she likes more than others. She graduates in February, so if she needs to make decisions--depending on how this all plays out--she'll be attending prospective student weekends and doing overnights in April.</p>

<p>Tonight we'll work on the schedule for doing the rest of the applications and she's already given a good deal of thought to the "Why this college?" kind of question for each of them. And, 11 is only one more than 10. :-)</p>

<p>seven schools</p>

<p>Jamimom, I will post more later but am in a hurry at the moment....but catching you before you leave for UMich...my D's best friend is auditioning there the same day as you, 4'10" petite, dark hair with bangs, from CT also, first name begins with L., and her mom is petite with very short straight dark hair and glasses. I can't wait to hear about it. Like your son, my D decided against ED at NYU but is applying RD. She was away all summer so could not do what your son fortunately was able to do prior to school. I do not know how she is doing all this right now with what else she has going on. Like your son, she created and is directing a cabaret musical revue she just started this week. It sounds like they have much in common. </p>

<p>Catch you later...
if not before you leave, tell him to break a leg...
Susan</p>

<p>Good grief Jamimom! It's a wonder you have any time to pay attention to us CC folks!Your son must be very talented just to be able to handle all of this. Amazing. Please keep us posted as best you can manage to talk about it. I hope he appreciated what you did in terms of driving all that way for the audition tape (and your neighbor too!)</p>

<p>I'm applying to 10.</p>

<p>Most are reaches, but hopefully I'll get in to one of the reaches :)</p>

<p>I am on the internet alot or doing work on the computer, so I find it relaxing to check the CC boards and post. I lurked a long time before posting and have never started a thread. But I have worked with college admissions for many, many years-and found that not only can I contribute info, but I have learned a lot myself. And for the most part, whether posters agree with me or not, they have been pretty nice about it. I tend to post more opinion than fact, more anecdotes than studies, but I think that some of my observations are useful. Usually they are pretty much common sense things. </p>

<p>I don't do as much with my son as Susan does with her daughter in that he is in a school that pretty much provides him with everything. He leaves early in the morning and is back late at night and his day is pretty full. All of the private lessons are scheduled through the school so I do not have to schlep him around. STill I did not go to his play this time, nor did I go to any college visits with him since I was too busy with the other kids and my own stuff. However, since we are investing so much into these auditions, I feel it is important I accompany him though it has been at a big cost to the family. With as many kids and animals as we have, my leaving for several days does cause some problems. Last week, my H had to work at home for two days since the little ones had no school either and I can't find a sitter that stay here for any amount of money. They take one look and run. This weekend, my brother is coming here from the Bay Area early for Thanksgiving, and as an ex military man, he will keep things in shape, but some of the dogs do have to go into the kennel even then. He is arriving tonight and will help out his crazy sister's zoo. I expect to get home late Friday night with S2 and am leaving tomorrow evening. So it is just a 24 hour absence. D and my nephew are coming for the December weekend that I am going to be gone, and it will take both of them to handle the load. Soccer season is still going, and hockey has started as well for the little ones , plus I have swimmers. So the driving around alone is a problem. I will most likely send S by himself for most of the auditions after the first of the year because I really cannot put in the time to go with him and hopefully he'll have the hang of it. Incidents like forgetting the needed CD, and few other blips really make me nervous. This is a field where they just say "next" if you are not ready.</p>

<p>Wow! Just a quick question, Jamimom, how many dogs to you have??</p>

<p>Thanks Searching, I still think that's an amazing number, although it sounds like they are tailoring that to her major and other requirements, and only a some of their advisees have that number of schools. DD's school limits applications that they mail to 6 (there is some flexibility, but they wouldn't do 14), they will supply materials for more, but you would pack and send. Most of their work is involved with either end of the class (140-150 seniors, 99% to college, 90% to 4 year schools, but 75% apply to one or two non-selective state schools) - the kids applying to schools with essays (kid speak around here for selective schools), and the kids at the bottom of the class who are struggling with a 3.0 to go to the state school. </p>

<p>The process can be very different in different areas. I wish she was graduating in Feb though I would rejoice!</p>

<p>Jamimom, hi again. True, I have to schlep my stage kid more than you with yours at his prep school but what I do does not compare to you with that huge brood of yours! I am traveling to all the college auditions and it is going to cost a lot but it has to be done and somehow I will have to come up with the funds. Not to mention all the lessons to prepare for these every week! My D's voice and acting private lessons are each 50 miles from our home. Dance is 25 miles and the show she just finished the past 2 1/2 months was also 50 miles away. The musical revue she is doing is at least AT the school though on her own time. She has a permit but no license but we also are trying to fit in 40 hours of practice driving by Jan. </p>

<p>Maybe at some point we can find a way to touch base via private message or email as I would love to hear about your audition experiences. My D does have several summer program friends from other states applying to these very same programs. As I said, her best bud will be with you on Friday...if you run into that very talented girl, tell her or her mom you know her VT buddy's mom! They're from New Haven. My D also has a few VT friends applying for MT but two of those are trying for ED at Tisch. My D's Tisch audition is one of those Sat. ones you can do for advanced dancers. She would only accept Cap there though. I realize your son is willing to do a straight acting program as evidenced by his list of schools, but my D only wants MT. Which studios did he specify? My D has over a dozen friends at Tisch and a friend or two at several of these other programs so it helps getting inside viewpoints as well as staying with kids on campus. Her first audition will be the EA one for Emerson coming up in a few weeks. </p>

<p>I don't know anyone who will have done as many as your son this early. My D could not start apps til the fall but has been very motivated and fitting it in, despite barely being home and then of course she commited to a major production far away with huge time commitments but that is the life of a performer as you know. </p>

<p>I hope at some point to hear about the auditions your son had at the schools that overlap my D. This is one time in her life I would not mind if she were a boy cause I think that would help in this process. It would be something if both kids ended up at the same school wouldn't it? I hope she gets in somewhere! Is your son's first choice to get into one of the BFA MT programs? I'm sure between his talent, and the 20 apps, your son is going to have choices! I'll be glad when it is all over!</p>

<p>Susan</p>

<p>About half the schools are MT, 6 are non audition, and then there are a few pure drama and some music performance. For Tisch, his first choice was CAP21 but has indicated that he has some interest in Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. But actually, he is beginning to think he should have applied to the Steinhardt program as it is more like the two programs he likes best which are CMU and Michigan. He had always had CMU and Tisch as his top two choices, so it was difficult for him to see anything else. But he has been working more with non musical theatre lately, particularly Shakespeare and some other classical forms, and he is now not so sure what he wants to do. </p>

<p>I will tell you that at CMU and Emerson, the breakdown was pretty close for boys and girls auditioning in his group, and at CMU, they do not look to make it a 50/50 split accepted as they have not done so for several years, and I believe there are more males in the program at the moment. </p>

<p>I think that he is really applying to too many schools. I would have been able to trim the list down to 10-12, but he is insistent. Basically the 4 "shoot for the sky" schools, HPY and Julliard, along with the two "practice"schools are dispensible, and then I would probably cut two more from his list but he has a reason for each school. And one of the "practice" schools has risen on his list after the audition. I also don't think he needs the safety non audition school, even though I am a big advocate of safeties, but he applied there on line so there was no cost to that one. But then Juilliard and a few others came up to $100 total with audition and app costs so it averages $50 a school. His first choice changes daily. He has HPY aspirations, unrealistic, given his grades and some other situations, at times. Then it's CMU, then it's Michigan (like right now as he is revving up for the audition),a day in NYC, and of course it has to be Tisch. But then he loves Chicago, and then LA. The problem is that only a few of the schools are not super selective, so realistically he has mostly reaches, most of them single figure in selectivity. </p>

<p>I am working with a few kids who have more schools than S but not for audition reasons. One absolutely wants a top schools and is applying to the most selective schools. Getting a safety or even a match for that one was difficult since any school that would want him was automatically eliminated in his mind. I think of him as "Rodney". Another needs a full aid package, and is a pro bono situation for me. And a few want combo schools for BA/MD degrees which involve two apps for each program. I have one kid who is desperate to get into a school through his sport and wants it to be a step above what his profile warrents with a very pushy mother right there. And then one kid is just a mixed bag and has no idea what he wants, but, again most of his choices are reaches, again because of parental pressure. A large number of apps can be done if you get the stuff done very early and out to the colleges by early or mid October. Many of S's applications were out by 9/17. To tell you the truth, the worst one was the UMich app, as he did not prepare for that one as I did not push it thinking that as it was a state school, it was not going to be very involved. WRONG, as you probably know. He barely got that one in online by the early 9/15 deadline if you want this particular audition date and early notification. I think they just give the app a once over for audition kids, because that one was not a fine piece of work and had a lot of mistakes in it as I did not proof it or even glance at it until it was transmitted, and then it was too late to do anything. Not that it mattered that much as he made changes on the ones that were proofed from the summers, and some of those changes were not good. </p>

<p>But the majority of his classmates last year only sent out one app. They were accepted early,and that was it. Many of the kids at S's schools have about 10-15 apps on hold that will go out if the ED or EA school does not pan out. And that was what the college counselor told S to do as well--since Michigan and some other state school choices notify early as well as his favorite "lottery ticket school", he could hold all but the choices he preferred over Michigan until he heard from them. But because we wanted the auditions early too, it was easier to have the apps out before the audition, so the entire file is in hand during the audition rather than separating out the files which is how things get lost when the full load of apps come in. Also with S, he does not have a long attention span for these things, and he is so done with apps. He can do alot of work in a small time frame and work a frenzy on the stuff, but then once he is done, it's like dragging an elephant. So for him this is better, and I don't have to worry about whether anything is outstanding, as everything is in and confirmed as such except for auditions and interviews, and more than half of those will be done by Christmas.</p>

<p>Now I've learned something new - use the previous year's application to be ready early in the fall! Great idea - but what about the essays, don't they change every year? I remember one horrible Holiday/Christmas break several years ago when D#1 struggled to complete applications and write essays. Everybody suffered through it, and I would love to avoid that situation next year with D#2. If there are other simple tips like that please post them sometime.
With regards to the # of applications, my D#2 started looking at programs last spring (soph. yr.)in order to narrow her choices down this year so she could prepare for the auditions next year during her sr. yr. Now I am worried she has narrowed things down too much. She has done a lot of research, campus visits, talking to the professors who teach her instrument (but only lessons from 1 so far) etc and has eliminated a lot (she does not want a straight conservatory approach for undergraduate but plans to continue music on a graduate level) So now she only wants to apply to just 3 schools; one LAC and 2 private universities all very selective for music, no real safeties. Of course, if an audition is required how could anything be considered a safety? Although she did not initially want to look at any large state universities, she did meet in Oct. with a university rep who got her interested in their program and it is only a 4 hour drive. Hopefully, this winter she will visit and look at the music program there as well as the program at our state university. I will tell her to check how early she can audition for the state universities since it would be good to have 1 or 2 done before she has to do the others. Maybe she will do 5 applications which will make auditions logistically easier, but I wish she would consider doing more.</p>

<p>Clearly this thread was hijacked by musical mom's!</p>

<p>Someone please explain how musical theater is a college subject!</p>

<p>Always plenty going on on this board!
Currant child applied to 8 colleges and as has been admitted to all but have not heard from one. This is rediculous.He should have limited it down to just 2 or 3. Many colleges admitted to are supposed to start contacting us concerning how much merit aid in Dec..</p>

<p>Bettina wrote: "Clearly this thread was hijacked by musical mom's!</p>

<p>Someone please explain how musical theater is a college subject!"</p>

<p>Bettina, you are kidding, I hope. First off, I do not think the thread was hijacked. Any discussion has tangents. One mom posted about her son having 20 applications but for a very specialized type of program that is EXTREMELY selective. I responded as I have a child going for the same programs and the discussion did involve "number of apps" but was a fuller discussion about those specific schools and the process that is involved. No, it does not pertain to every poster, but you know, people learn from others. </p>

<p>So, I will use this as a "teachable moment" (sorry but the teacher in me is showing....)
Musical theater IS a college major, not an extracurricular activity. In fact, in the case of my daughter (and even Jamimom's son), she is applying to professional degree programs (BFA) in musical theater, so it is not just a "Major" but a specific program (a terminal degree) that is professional training, and must be declared when applying directly to the program (way more than is required to apply for a liberal arts degree when you do not declare this ahead of time). Besides the applications that every student must do, essays, etc.....these applicants must audition to get in. It involves preparation of two songs per school (often that meet certain criteria), two monologues (certain criteria must be met), and dance. There must be an additional resume that is not the same as their activity resume they wrote with the applications, but is a theatrical resume. One school even had a different format for that, requiring a third resume for my D. One required an extensive repertoire list. Many have ADDITIONAL essays for the program beyond the ones on the basic application. A professional headshot must be taken and purchased. Much prep and coaching needs to be arranged before the auditions.</p>

<p>The applicant must travel to each college on SPECIFIC dates for the audition. </p>

<p>The acceptance rate at most of these programs is in the single digits, thus none are safeties and nobody can apply to just a few.</p>

<p>So, it most definitely IS a college subject and quite more is involved in the admissions process than a typical college applicant.</p>

<p>I love Soozivet, she might be the most intelligent person I have never met. (This means alot, I also have never met Steve Hawking) Futhermore, I have also never understood these guys obsession with Musical Theater, because those degrees cost beaucoup $ and when you graduate you are lucky to make $15,000 a year. My cousin majored in this area and she does plays and stuff, but she pulls in like 8 grand a year which is pathetic in my eyes. BUT, if you have a passion and you can go for it with the proper finances, why the hell not. (Susan, you did not type "Susan" at the end of your last post, you are slipping :-) )</p>

<p>I'd have to agree with Soozievt. Jamimom's son faces a completely different kind of challenge than say my son who's general credentials are good enough to get him in a number of schools that are highly ranked for his major and where there are hundreds of slots at each. When you have to personally try out for a handful of slots in any program, it's just different, more like athletics than anything else except there's less scouting and everyone has try out like a walk on.</p>

<p>And of course it's a college major. Schools have had acting, directing and other arts majors for years. What's it hurt to add singing and dancing to the equation?</p>