Must shorten my list, help please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone, I'm an incoming senior looking to major in theatre or musical theatre. However, I'm mostly applying for the BA programs, meaning I'll get in based on my grades and stats as opposed to an audition. My numbers: 2090 on the SAT after taking it once (I'm planning on taking it again with an expected/hoped 60 point increase), my unweighted GPA is 3.91; weighted is 4.15. I've taken three AP courses to date, self studied for an AP test, and I have three more APs coming up on my senior schedule.
AP's:
Bio: 5
Lang: 4
USH: 4
Psych (self studied): 5</p>

<p>My senior schedule: AP Lit, AP Calc, Honors Econ/AP Gov, School services, Anthropology at a community college, and Theater Workshop.
Awards
I'm a national merit commended student. I was a part of CSF in ninth grade. I'm an AP scholar with honors.
EC's
I've competed five times in an acting festival. I've been a thespian for three years, and I am the upcoming year's new Thespian President. I am on my school's speech and debate team, having earned membership to the National Forensics League this past year. This year I was a state qualifying finalist in an original event. I'm on next years cabinet as fundraising commissioner. This will be my third year on my school's varsity soccer team, and I will be one of the captains. I have coached GU7 soccer team at AYSO three years in a row for community service (and, of course, the experience :). I tutor grades K-8 in math and writing. And my biggest extra curricular activity is my youth group. I am part of a Jewish youth group which works as follows. It's an international order, that is split up into various regions across the world. I am a part of a region that takes up most of Southern California. We have about 400 people in the region I am a part of. Every region has sub groups comprised of either all girls, all boys, or both. There is a board (essentially a cabinet) for the Region, as well as for each individual subgroup. I am the President of my girl subgroup, which is comprised of about 20 girls, and I am on the Regional Board as well as Treasurer/Fundraising commissioner. I didn't mean to drone about the way it works, I just wanted to make sure the magnitude was communicated. :)
There are a couple more little things here and there, but those mentioned are the ones that I spent significant amounts of energy and passion on.
Miscellaneous: English was not my first language, and I will be a first generation college student. My school has the highest API score in the district. My ranking is in the top 10th percentile. 19 out of 219.
On to the schools!</p>

<p>American University
Boston College
Chapman University
Kenyon College
Middlebury College
Muhlenberg College
Northwestern University
NYU*
Tufts University
UCLA*
University of Miami
University of Michigan*
University of Southern California
Vassar College
Whitman College
Yale University (my BIG reach)</p>

<ul>
<li>denotes under consideration because of the audition requirement/BFA program. </li>
</ul>

<p>I'm extremely passionate about theatre. If all goes well, my plan is to get my BA degree along with a teaching credential, act in New York and LA (my hometown), then settle down and teach (and perhaps write scripts), and finally open a theatre camp. That's my dream. One of my college essays is devoted to a beautiful epiphany I had at the culmination of my acting journey. (Not all rainbows and sunshine). So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think my 'resume' qualifies me as a strong applicant in the colleges I listed? Are there any colleges on that list that I should remove because they don't juxtapose well with my ambitions, ex. not offering a double major/teaching credential along with an Acting/Musical Theatre BA? Any new colleges I should know about? Your help would be so greatly appreciated. If you've actually taken the time to read all of this, I heartily THANK YOU!</p>

2

<p>Get rid of the following:</p>

<p>Whitman
Kenyon
Muhlenberg
Chapman
Middlebury</p>

<p>Do you have any safeties?</p>

3

<p>Muhlenberg is actually my first choice because of its strong theater program and academics, and Chapman is my realistic ‘close to home’ pick. Any particular reasons the others aren’t such great choices? I mean I have a safety that I haven’t listed here for a worst case situation, but I’d say I’ve got a few on there that are in between the safety-match zones. American, Chapman, Muhlenberg, Miami, and Whitman, basically. Am I wrong? I don’t claim to be super informed; this is just the vibe I’ve picked up after all of my research.</p>

4

<p>If Muhlenberg is really your first choice, you can drop the rest- you will get in. But NYU would be great. I’d say drop Yale- no chance there.</p>

5

<p>Whitman is a great school with a great theater department. Walla Walla has a truly charming downtown just 2 blocks from the Whitman campus. It has down-to-earth, very friendly, intelligent, motivated students who also enjoy themselves. Don’t take Whitman off your list. </p>

<p>You’ll find that small liberal arts schools in general are often denigrated by people who don’t really know about them. So take that with a grain of salt. You can get a great education at an LAC and if you plan to go to graduate school, rest assured that grad schools know all about the quality of the schools on your list.</p>

<p>Muhlenberg is a fine school also, and with your stats, you’re very likely to get in. Have you visited any of the schools on your list, most of the time the final decision is based on how well the school fits you as a person. These schools all have different personalities, so try to visit to see for yourself. Written descriptions can be misleading, several schools my son thought would be great came off his list after he visited.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

6

<p>Thank you for the earlier post. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>You seem to be doing quite well with most of the schools on your list, but yes, I would definitely try to raise your SAT score. Also, Yale requires the SAT plus two subject test scores, so those scores matter as well. However, you can forget about the subject tests if you decide to only submit your ACT score, which I highly recommend. With your theatre background, you seem very oriented in the humanities, so you’d do well in the reading/English sections of the ACT. Additionally, a lot of people test better on the ACT than on the SAT (as well as the reverse). I’d take it with the writing just to see how you do. </p>

<p>ACT: 31-32 would be beneficial for most schools. Yale, Northwestern: 33-34 (to be safe)
SAT: 2200 + most schools. Yale, Northwestern: 2300 + (it’s a crapshoot with these schools)
GPA: stellar already, but make sure to keep it in that range so that you can impress schools with your midyear report.
Hooks: I don’t see any, which means that better standardized test scores are imperative.
Concentration: Your passion in theatre shows very nicely, which should result with a good response from admissions, especially at Yale with its artsy atmosphere.
Essays: They NEED to be amazing, frankly. Excellent recommendations will better your chances, too. </p>

<p>American University (in)
Boston College (in)
Chapman University (in)
Kenyon College (in)
Middlebury College (most likely in)
Muhlenberg College (you’re in)
Northwestern University (with better scores, still reach)
NYU* (High reach) The Tisch School of the Arts is overwhelmingly difficult to get into, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get in.
Tufts University (slight reach)
UCLA* (reach) again, the audition.
University of Miami (in)
University of Michigan* (reach) hard university to get into and the selective theatre department.
University of Southern California (match and slight reach)
Vassar College (in)
Whitman College (in)
Yale University (my BIG reach) (high reach) mainly because of SAT. </p>

<p>^ Those are presumably your chances at those schools with some prep in SAT after you up your test scores.</p>