<p>I have never started a thread before, and was not sure where to put this--may post something similar in the Search and Selection forum, but this Forum has the "heavy hitters" in coming up with some answers.</p>
<p>S brought a friend and his mother over who are at their wits end and frightened as can be. Not someone he knows well, but a young man who has done a lot of theatre at school with him, and who is pretty good but no training or experience other than in school plays. He is a nice kid with mid 1200 SATs and a "C" average at a prep school. He has lost any interest in academics, is not taking any tough courses this year, is trying to just do time. Yes, it does happen even at the expensive schools. He is very amenible to studying drama.</p>
<p>My first reaction is that the boy should maybe take a timeout from college, but it is pretty clear that the maturity level, the home situation, everything else points to a worthwhile investment in getting him into a college where he can "grow up" while he learns something he enjoys. It may not work but is a shot. The family can afford to send him away without any financial aid issues. I do not believe that auditioning is a good option for him, as he has had no instruction and it is late in the game. </p>
<p>So am looking for schools with a good drama program, a good on campus atmosphere, not too isolated in location from a largish town or city, ranging more midsized--2000-13000 students (there is play in that feature) where his stats are acceptable. He is well educated and if he chose to put his nose to the grind stone, I have no doubt that he could do well anywhere, but he needs to incubate somewhere until he reaches that point.</p>
<p>S thought some of his choices may have overlap, but he is going into schools where the audition is very important, and from what I have seen at the auditions, the kids going through this are dead serious and have prepared for this for years. Not the arena for this kid who is just getting his feet wet in drama. </p>
<p>Am interested in suggestions. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I'm not an e xpert, but I've heard of Muhlenberg as having a good non-audition theater program. His SAT should be fine, his GPA is problematical, but if his GC pushed, he'd probably have a shot. It's in Allentown, not too far from Philly, and seems to have a good campus atmosphere--very pretty campus, my sister lives down the strreet, and she and my mom attend plays there a lot.</p>
<p>Just a thought - but don't some places have a "13th grade," where students can go and take a year before college in an away-from-home but still very structured environment? I think that my stepmom did that, as she was 17 when she graduated from high school.</p>
<p>I am happy to get these suggestions. You would think I could have come up with a list but I rarely have worked with theatre kids in admissions and am new to the process with my own (that is how I discovered CC, by the way--the MT thread), and he is going through a highly selective process for someone who has trained intensively in this field. I rarely get asked for help for kids whose grades and SATs are at this level.</p>
<p>Jamimom, yeah that is a bit of a tough one. I agree that it is too late to go the audition route as you have seen...it is a jungle out there in that process..tons of highly qualified talented kids, so few slots, all have been preparing for it for some time. I do not think this boy's SATs will be a problem. My D has actually seen kids get into prestigious BFA programs with those kind of SATs and not the best GPAs.</p>
<p>I am not as familiar with BA programs in drama...but off the top of my head, I would have thought of Indiana, Skidmore, and Muhlenberg. Let me see if I can come up with more....</p>
<p>Jamimom: Several of the very top theatre kids from our high school (highly competitive Midwest public) have gone to Illinois State U. in Normal. These are the highly talented kids whose focus in high school has been theatre, not academics. It's a 3rd tier school, about 16,000 undergrads (I know that's larger than your friend wants), but with an acclaimed theatre program. Several of the members of the Steppenwolf Theatre Co., including John Malkovich and Terry Kinney, are graduates. I just checked the website quickly and no audition is required.</p>
<p>Yes, Susan. It was pretty clear that the audition route was not going to be the way to go. Too late, really. I don't think the SATs are going to be as much of a problem as the grades, though schools do not give as much academic leeway when they do not audition. Skidmore is a school they had already investigated, and the school GC felt it was a waaay reach, and that Muhlenberg would be a reach.</p>
<p>Aries, a 13th year is not a good option as the kid is really burned out academically. He may just rejuvenate if he is working in some field that interests him, but looking at the courses he took already, he would have to go into some AP level courses as a next step for it to do any good, and he has taken an academic pass this year. He is taking the Drama course with my son and another theatre type course, and doing well in those, but he is "doing time " academically. No, I think he needs to go to a college, and if can get into a fun drama program and if it sticks, he may just grow up enough to branch out. I have seen him participating in every level of production at plays at the school for 4 years. He clearly loves doing this and is familiar with what needs to be done to produce a play. It's just that he has had no outside directed lessons. Too busy. He does have a full list of ECs, but nothing that stands out, and the only reason the drama does is because he really likes it and wants to continue in that direction. My gut feeling is that he may take off if he is doing something he likes, and he will find that academics are not that difficult and that he is truly well prepared, but right now it is not on his mind.</p>
<p>Jamimom - Is he set on staying in the northeast? Texas Christian University (<a href="http://www.tcu.edu%5B/url%5D">www.tcu.edu</a>) has a nice theater department and he would probably have a good shot of acceptance in terms of their academic requirements for admissions. I do not think TCU's theater department requires an audition. One bonus about TCU's program is that you have to maintain a certain grade point average to participate in campus productions. </p>
<p>Finally, Goucher College in Maryland has a great theater department and does accept a certain number of male students with lower GPAs if their SAT scores are within their range (his are). Average GPA for males there is about 2.9 if I recall, so they do accept males with C averages. (Last year, we had a male on the board with a 2.5 average and SATs in the 1100's who was accepted) Median SAT is 1200. A plus: right now they are looking to increase the size of their incoming student body by about 200 students over the next two years and they are really struggling to get their male-female ratio below 70/30 which may boost his chances. No audition required. From reading the internship board in the fine arts center when we visited, it appeared there were also tons of internship opportunities in theater in Baltimore for Goucher students.
<a href="http://www.goucher.edu/academics/template.cfm?page_id=55&dep_ID=32%5B/url%5D">http://www.goucher.edu/academics/template.cfm?page_id=55&dep_ID=32</a></p>
<p>Carolyn, thanks. I was hoping you would post. A big reason why I put this on the Parents Forum. You are up and on CC early! Did not really expect to see post from you till later. Yes, Goucher looks good, and I will look at Evansville as well. Don't think Texas Christian will cut it as the family is Jewish and was not really receptive to some local Catholic school choices that I suggested. Thanks everyone, and let me know as you think of things as I want to get back to them on Wednesday so they can get the transcripts and give the teachers rec before Friday, the last day of school.</p>
<p>Jamimom, a good friend's daughter, very talented actress, went to Evansville. Their mean SAT is 1144, ACT is 25. Average GPA may be a problem for this kid; it is 3.54. Howver, the acceptance rate is 86%. So there may be a chance with some support from essays and recs.</p>
<p>I honestly don't know much about theater at this school, but a friend's son attends and loves it - Belmont University in Nashville. Their forte is music, but (because it's Nashville) it is all about the technical and business aspects of the entertainment industry as well as performance, it is also a liberal arts college. I've never heard it mentioned on the forum, but he is having a good experience, has changed his focus from production to business I think - they also have education, very nurturing. I know there is a theater department, just don't know too much more.</p>
<p>Ah, well strike TCU then. A few others to look into: McDaniel College in Maryland, Wagner on Staten Island, Arcadia in PA (has both a BFA and BA in theater, requires audition ONLY for the BFA program), Susquehanna U. If he visits Goucher, have him take a look at Towson State nearby as well - larger than Goucher. My first choice for him, however, would be Goucher - they seem very supportive and are growing.</p>
<p>Since he's Jewish, I'm going to put in another plug for Illinois State. About 500 Jewish kids, active Jewish community. One of the parents of a theatre student there was just telling me about how pleased their daughter (and they) have been with the Hillel and the community.</p>
<p>I'm gonna add some more but some are reaches, some are matches and it is hard to say with those grades though he is in an elite prep school....can't say...but here goes:
Connecticut College
Boston University
Dickinson
Goucher
Ithaca (has BA, so don't be confused w/ their BFA)
James Madison
Univ. of Miami
Sarah Lawrence
Rollins College (may be too small fo him?)
Marymount Manhatten College
Macalester College
Hofstra
George Washington U
Emerson (not to be confused w/ their BFA program)
Drew
College of Santa Fe
Carleton
Brandeis
Bates
Bard</p>
<p>I could recommend Loyola University New Orleans with those SATs. The usual theology/philosophy requirement is 12 hours and it isn't doctine but a wide mixture of options. The drama dept at Loyola New Orleansmay have late auditions but the school itself doesn't cost a fortune, is generous with merit aid/financial aid and the location is in the Garden District of New Orleans right next to Tulane. I've known many kids who went there totally disillusioned with college applications and it turned out to be a great choice.</p>
<p>What about state schools? My sister was a fine arts major (drama) at Univ. of Oklahoma. She never made it to Broadway or Hollywood (she got married and had babies), but got a good education and loved her time in the theatre department. Yes, it's huge, but other state schools might be a good option.</p>