My Chances??

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>Hi, im a senior and am going to apply to the theater programs at the following programs:CMU, FOrdham, SUNY, BU, Emerson.</p>

<p>My Stats Are As Follows:</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
Lit Honors: 95
Italian 1: 90
Alg Honors/Geo Honors: 84
Biology R: 87
Theology I: 94
Gl History & Geo I: 97
Studio Art: B
Choral: A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Amer Lit/Comp Honors: 94
Italian 2: 94
Geo/Alg 2 Honors: 83
Chemistry Honors: 82
Theology II: 94
Gl Hist & Geo 2R: 95
Choral: 93</p>

<p>After Sophomore Year I transferred to a boarding school because they had a better theater program than the one at my school and my grades slipped a little but it was admittedly a more challenging academic program all around..</p>

<p>Junior Year:
English III Honors: A-
Spanish I (I got a waiver for the 3 years of 1 language from my school): A
PreCalculus: C ( I despise math and science bad i know)
Biology Honors: C+
AP European History: B-
Drama and Performance: A</p>

<p>I dont know how to figure what my GPA is...
Senior Year I plan to take: Advanced Drama and Performance, Psychology and World Topics, Human Physiology and Anatomy, AP United States, AP English, Spanish II (no Math thank GOD!) </p>

<p>ACT score of 28 (first time without studying ) plan to take it again prepared.
I dont plan to submit my SATs so i wont bother putting the scores. </p>

<p>I've taken a summer course in acting a few years back at Lehman College.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Theater Ensemble- all four years (Alice In Wonderland-queen, Antigone-Chorus,Guys and Dolls - General Cartwright)
Vocal Ensemble - all four years
Guitar lessons
School Newspaper - four years and senior year copy editor
Grace Notes (acapella group at my school -- super hard to get into)
Admission Ambassador
Proctor (big responsibilty, check girls in their dorm room etc.)
Big Sister </p>

<p>Volunteer: Berkshire Museum (junior year) and Shakespeare and Co. (senior year) </p>

<p>With a stellar audition what do you think my chances are of getting into these schools and what other schools should i look at? Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>anyone have any idea??</p>

3

<p>Nomad ~</p>

<p>There don't seem to be as many "Chance Me" posts on the Arts Major and Musical Theater Discussion Boards as in other discussions on college confidential. So don't be discouraged or offended by the lack of response to your "My Chances" thread, to date. </p>

<p>The bottom-line is that for most (if not all) of the highly-selective schools you listed, your audition will count for 90%+ of the admission process. For example, while CMU is academically very selective in areas such as Engineering, I have consistently read that for the BFA Drama program, the audition is everything and grades/scores hardly count at all. </p>

<p>However, the opposite is generally true for liberal arts colleges which offer BA Theater degrees ... From your list, I would guess that Fordham U will look more closely at your grades/test scores even though an audition is required ... But if you were to consider other (non-audition) LACs which offer strong BA Theater programs, such as: Vassar, Skidmore, Williams, etc., your grades and test scores will matter a WHOLE lot more. </p>

<p>Hope this information helps ... best of luck to you ... just curious: what boarding school did you attend?</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
what other schools should i look at?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Recognizing the geographic pattern in the schools you listed above, I'd add:
Goucher, Skidmore, Hampshire, Rutgers, SUNY New Paltz (as well as SUNY Purchase), Manhattanville College. </p>

<p>These have good theater programs and might cushion you a bit on the grades. Each has different approaches re: audition or not. </p>

<p>Other unsolicited advice:</p>

<p>Study very hard for the ACT's since you can't undo grades but you can pull up the ACT. </p>

<p>Knock their socks off with your Senior year grades (my kids also liked it when Math went away Sr. year..). Maybe consider telling friends you're reducing social time in Fall of Sr. Year. You're going to be very busy with apps, supplementary apps, audition visits mid-winter, studying for ACT's, etc. Friends can wait. Get serious academically in the coming year, so you have the chances you hope for. Your auditions will come later in the year, so make Fall First Term all about academics. </p>

<p>In my personal opinion, the corner to cut is don't do the Fall Play at school! You might have enough on your resume already with lists of parts you've played. So that's a way to buy yourself some time. Those rehearsals take up lots of autumn time, and you need it more for your app processes than yet another stage credit. YMMV, but this is how it worked in my household, anyways. In your new school, though, you might feel you want to gain the respect of the theater department for great teacher recs, so evaluate your situation personally. I'm really saying: guard your time zealously, so it's used in all the important places.</p>

5

<p>Miss Halls School in Pittsfield,MA.</p>

6

<p>thanks for your advice!!</p>

7

<p>anyone else??</p>

8

<p>I too was at a boarding school and auditioning for theatre (and musical theatre programs). I later taught at a boarding school running the theatre program for a few years. I am sure that you are incredibly busy! But, if one of the reasons that you transferred to Miss Halls was because it had a better theatre program you may not want to miss out on those training opportunities in performance. I think if you are passionate about performing and want to do the fall play at your school you should. </p>

<p>Does your boarding school require you to play a sport each semester or tri-mester? If so, can you substitute theatre, music, or leadership for one of those required semesters of a sport? </p>

<p>I am sure that you have a wonderful college guidance counselor who can help you with a sense of where your academic stats fall for the schools on your list. Make sure to check with he or she. However, realize that at schools where an audition plays a large role in admissions you may have a shot at a school where your academics do not completely fit the profile (this is not to say that academics do not play a significant role in theatre school admissions). For example, as was stated above the CMU BFA Drama admissions is almost completely weighted on the audition. So, even if you do not have the academic stats to get into CMU it could be worth a shot. I would not recommend filling your list with schools like this however, the chances of getting into CMU drama are like the chances of getting into Harvard -- many qualified applicants are not accepted. </p>

<p>As far as other schools... If you are open to a women's college I would suggest looking at Smith College. You may also want to look at Muhlenberg College, Wagner College, Syracuse University, Pace University, Marymount Manhattan, Wheaton College, Connecticut College, Ithaca College. All of these programs are very different, but have good theatre programs.</p>

<p>You will want to compile a list of schools with at least one academic safety (according to your guidance counselor at school) that you would be happy to attend because they have a good non-auditioned theatre program. Fill out your list with academic/ artistic match schools, and a couple of academic/ artistic reaches (like CMU, Rutgers -- Mason Gross, BU).</p>

<p>Good Luck -- feel free to PM me if you would like.</p>