I have done extreme amounts of research on the topic of my college and put a lot of thought into what I want to do with the rest of my life. After weighing the pros and cons, and a lot of research on this career, I think I actually want to go into theater, drama, acting, the like. I know that it can be risky and you really have to pour your heart and soul into it, and I’m willing to do that.
A little story/background info about me. I’m fourteen and am in the eighth grade in a small town. I’ve lived in this small town my whole life. Some say its a little too early to be thinking about college, but I say its never too early. This small town had absolutely NO drama or theater or even speech classes, so I had no idea about this whole other world. My whole life I have performed outstandingly in the academics area. I was even placed in the gifted program at an early age. I’ve always kept my grades and gpa up, always kept straight As. I also always thought i’d want to be a veterinarian, as I absolutely love being around all animals. That was until about a year ago. Recently, we moved to the city, where they had an amazing drama program. I didn’t pick drama as my elective right out, but I should’ve. I ended up picking cultural arts. Anyways, being transferred from my former school (where I was in the gifted program), the new school decided to place me in the gifted program. The new gifted program participated in something called Extempore. For extempore, we had to write and perform a play. I instantly fell in love with writing it, acting it out, creating the props, being up on the stage as everyone watched me, I just loved it. Since then I’ve done a few small plays in classes (nothing on stage, really, except for the school Christmas concert) but I took every opportunity available to perform in any way possible. Acting, play writing, props, even singing (well I TRIED to sing, little god-given talent there). Long story short, I fell in love with it, and have no doubt it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I even waited, to see if this was a phase. IT"S NOT. After weeks, months even, of research, I’ve even decided the college I wish to attend, post-high school. I want to go to NYU Tisch. I know how competitive it is and how hard it is to get in and especially how expensive it is, but I’m willing to do anything to get into this school. It might even be my dream school. I don’t have a lot of experience in the theater area, but I plan to build an extensive resume and work my tail off to get into Tisch. I’m not really interested in singing or musical, but if I have to train my voice or whatever, I will.
I was just wondering if anybody had any advice in what they look for at Tisch, and how they got in. What the auditions are like, how they paid for tuition, how ANYTHING. Anything you can tell me is helpful! Keep in mind I am new to this site so please forgive me if I’m doing this wrong. Thank you in advance!
Just a tip, for Tisch, if you’re not interested in singing or dancing, you don’t have to apply for the Musical Theatre major. They have just plain Drama majors, where you act but for plays rather than musicals. In fact, there is less competition for the Drama majors when auditioning. To prepare for this, you will have to focus on just your acting rather than singing and such.
Tisch requires academic admission first and it has very high standards, higher than many other performing arts programs. Keep your grades up and get the best possible scores on your standardized testing. Also, it’s not well known for being particularly generous with aid.
I admire your willingness to do whatever it takes to pursue your dream. Keep in mind what Broadway/Film/TV actor Aaron Lazar told our master class: Become an actor if this is the ONLY thing you can imagine yourself doing. This is NOT the same as pursuing your dream or ‘not settling.’ Applies to TSOA and any other program.
@TischDad Ok, I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks!
@koreanstudent thanks! I’ll post in that form, too. I don’t think I saw it earlier.
The good news is there are more opportunities for non-musical theatre actors in Tisch than MT, given that only one of the studios is focused solely on MT. Things we learned through the process last year (my D is a freshman in Stella Adler):
- Admission: Tisch BFA drama applicants are actually reviewed differently than other NYU students - they based decisions on 50% academics/50% artistic. My D had excellent grades in high school, and a strong GPA/class rank, but did not have an overwhelming AP/DC course load, and was not extremely strong on her ACT (it was quite average on the math side), and if academics had been the primary method of review, I have no doubt she would not have gotten in. They are looking for interesting, diverse, & talented students for the drama program, so it isn't all about grades as it would be for other majors (bearing in mind that academic classes are rigorous so evidence that you can hang in those classes is a factor).
- Finance: You already know NYU is ridiculously expensive and they don't offer much if anything by way of merit-based aid, and they are NOT generous with need-based aid. In my opinion, it would not be smart to burden yourself with loans in that amount to pursue an acting degree from any school. Our family made some serious lifestyle changes and made many sacrifices to make it happen for D w/o allowing her to go into debt.
- Audition: The artistic review was one of my D's favorite auditions of the year (it was almost exactly a year ago that we went to NYC for it). She was initially only interested in MT, but as the day approached, she decided to be open to all of the possible studios. Since she was auditioning for all studios including MT, she did that audition...I don't know what it's like for those ONLY pursuing drama. They had the typical sing 32 bars of two contrasting songs and do two contrasting monologues. There wasn't a ton of interaction with the auditors. The dance/movement call was her favorite b/c they told them straight up they would mess up and feel uncomfortable but that was OK.
- If Tisch is your goal, keep an open mind. With the studio system, students are placed in the studio that professors/admin believe are the best fit for that student, and there is no wiggle room - you either take what they give you or you don't go to NYU. Students have the option to switch to another studio their junior year.
- Speaking of studios - one thing that really wasn't clear to us when she decided to audition is that the studios are not in Tisch - you will travel 3 days a week to the studio you are assigned to - each of those studios is an independent studio that partners with Tisch to provide the training that applies toward your BFA. It's not a big deal, thanks to the subway system, but keep that in mind. My D has had no problem with the 19 block commute from her dorm to Adler.
Good luck to you. My D loves loves loves everything about NYU and can’t imagine herself anywhere else.