<p>Ok... HI :D
I'm currently a high school junior, and I'm trying to think of what schools to audition for next year.
To be honest, I do not possess the most amazing grades. So far, I've gotten a 3.3 unweighted GPA, taken AP, and have a huge amount of extracurriculars in theater outside of school, while also being part of the community service club in-school.
The theater I do consists of rigorous classes, private vocal lessons, dance class, and various shows in semi-professional to professional youth productions where I've been everything from Les Mis ensemble to, a lead, Marius.
Let's say I got a 2000-2100 on SATs and a 29-32 on the ACT test... hypothetically, of course.</p>
<p>Do you have any recommendations other than NYU tisch? I know my grades aren't very impressive at all, but that's my dream school and I still plan on auditioning.</p>
<p>You should still apply to Tisch. It’s 50% academics, 50% talent there. We know students who got in with similar stats to yours. It’s worth a try but be prepared for the sticker price. Not an inexpensive program and not much aid given. Good luck!</p>
<p>austinmtmom- are there schools that are more hands on learning than book learning or by nature of mt are all the school pretty much practical and a hands on styles of learning</p>
<p>where your grades stand in relation to your ranking (or approximate class position) matter more than the GPA itself at most schools. They look at how well you did in the context of your environment. Even if a school website posts the average GPA for admitted students, this can be misleading, because you don’t know they calculated it. Weighted, unweighted? Assigning their own weighting system for school calibre? Etc.</p>
<p>in terms of seeing how you might fit into the ballpark academically for schools you’re considering, a better gauge is to look at the percentiles of students in different class rankings, ie., what percent are in the top 10%, what percent in the top 25%. This information is only based on those schools reporting class rank, but it will give you a guide for how academically selective the school is. This information can be found in the common data sets schools publish (not all make them public) or on the admissions website itself.</p>
<p>Academic admissions for MT students don’t always fall within the same guidelines as the rest of the school, but at least you have an idea of how academically competitive you will be in relation to the school.</p>
<p>broadway95 - You will find that there is a full spectrum of schools out there, just depending on the environment you are looking for. Of course MT is “hands on” learning in acting, dance, voice, musicianship classes. Schools are going to vary on the number of credits required for the major, plus on what classes outside of the major can be taken. Some schols will have more core course requirements than others. My D will tell you that she did a lot of in-depth analysis and writing her first semester in her Principles of Dramatic Analysis class, so there is “book learning” going on in the MT major too.</p>
<p>One of the things that my D found helpful was to go through the curriculum for the schools on her list and see what classes she would actually be taking each semester. She founds lots of variance out there and that process did help her get a feel for the type of program she was looking for. If she had done this a bit earlier in the process it would have taken one school off of her original list and saved us a trip to an on-campus audition. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Thx austinmtmom-that is helpful. My D will be a junior in the fall and we are doing our first campus visits this spring break to get a feel for the different types of schools (both large and small, different style programs). I think a good summer project for my D will be for her to look through the curriculum for the different schools so she can work on her list.</p>
<p>Hi!
Thank you for all the replies!
I am currently in the top 14% of my class, but plan on banging out a 4.0GPA for senior year.
For the first two quarters of junior year, I’ve gotten only an 83, and this quarter I plan on seeing an 86-88; and then hopefully getting the overall/fourth quarter average up to a 90+.</p>
<p>It really stinks when your most emotionally challenging times have been in your junior year high school.</p>
<ul>
<li>And as for college experience, I’m just looking for any high ranking program that is considered ‘good’ with many successful alumni.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you are in the top 14% of your class, I’d say you’re in terrific shape! I’d be hard pressed to find any “known” theater school outside of Northwestern where that wouldn’t be good enough for admission and at many, a good chance for merit aid. But, if higher grades are within reach, then by all means go for it. The better your grades, the more opportunities that open to you, separate from audition considerations.</p>
<p>FF- Your stats are close to my D’s - her GPA was higher but your SAT is higher - and she was accepted to Tisch last year. But Tisch is a true 50/50 school so it is that combination of academics and audition. And make sure you really work on the admissions essay.</p>
<p>In terms of schools, do you have a preferred location? Type of campus? BFA vs. BA? University vs. conservatory? Please don’t craft your list based on perceived rank. There are many wonderful programs out there. You need to try and find ones that are a good fit for YOU. And for the broken record announcement of the day - make sure you have a true non-audition safety that you would love to attend on your list. At least one. And if you can find a non-audition safety (that you love!) with rolling admissions that you can apply to late summer/early fall, so much the better IMHO!</p>
<p>broadway95 - It is hard. I look now at the schools that were my D’s “safety” school list and compare them to where she actually ended up going and kind of wonder at our process. At one point she was sure she wanted to be in the NYC area so she selected Hofstra (BFA in Performance with an MT minor - you audition into the BFA/MT track later on) and Fairleigh Dickinson (BA Theatre Arts with MT concentration and a semester abroad at Wroxton College and NYC internships.) She also looked at Wichita State University (BFA MT) but ended up not applying because she had some early decision admits that she was happy with so didn’t finish the application. We did not end up visiting either Hofstra or FDU, but did tons of online research. I think either could have been a goof fit for her but you never know because, well, you just don’t. And I wish I could tell you that we had some great formula for finding those, but the truth is they found her initially.</p>
<p>I prefer a more urban area, large campus (or conservatory), definitely BFA, and universities or a conservatory would work.
I’m thinking boston conservatory, as another choice for me.</p>
<p>Future Fiyero, be very careful to not only be thinking of ‘first tier’ schools. My daughter just went through auditions, and while we thought we had a wide selection, with the additional 20% of students that applied and auditioned for MT this year, found that there was HUGE competition for every school she applied to. BoCo was one of those. First of all, they are extremely expensive, almost as much as NYU, but being mainly arts, do not offer much money at all. And, hundreds and hundreds audition for it. They do take a large class, but that also means more competition for parts. If you look at the resume’s of their graduating class, the average number of shows performed in over 4 years is just 4!<br>
So make sure you look at all the schools on the comprehensive list at the top of this thread. Another option, which may bring up some schools you’re not aware of, is to go to the “musical theatre college auditions” website. It is for coaching help, but there is a very comprehensive list there of all the schools where they have had students admitted that might bring up some ideas for you to research. Some schools are not on the CC list because they just have a ‘focus’ on MT. I know there are a lot out there that people don’t normally think of. (I do highly recommend their services, by the way!)</p>
<p>OK wait you should definitely apply to NYU tisch with a 3.3–thats what I had and I’m here now! And I got an academic acceptance to Mich-- don’t let your grades discourage you, just focus on your audition and essays!!</p>
<p>Fiyero, Boco has lots of performance opportunities but there are no guarantees in regards to casting. In addition to Main Stage productions there are many Student Run productions to audition for. Also, Freshman are allowed to audition for shows and many are casted! However, they can only be in one performance per semester. </p>
<p>You have great stats. There is no harm in adding a Conservatory to your list of schools. However, conservatory life is not for everyone, I definitely recommend you visit and spend time with students, sit in on classes, etc. Good Luck!</p>
<p>nydramamama-when you say Conservatory life is not for everyone - any chance you can elaborate on the main differences? My D and I are just starting to look and I’m guessing the big difference is the academic type classes that are required at a University with their program and not required a Conservatory.</p>
