New here! Help for a hs senior?

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>Hi! I’m a senior this year, starting to apply to colleges and focusing in on MT auditions. I’ve been on this site for about a year, reading forums without making a sound, but I’m to the point where I would love some help/feedback as I start this process!</p>

<p>My school guidance counselors have been absolutely no help on the college front - it’s senior year and they haven’t talked to us about the process once - and my parents both went to community college before their 4 year college, so neither of them have any idea about what I’m doing, or how difficult it is! Basically, I’m stumbling around in this by myself. I can’t believe the level of involvement from some of you parents! It’s wonderful, no doubt, but totally foreign to me! So any words of wisdom are welcome.</p>

<p>My GPA is 3.7, and would be much higher weighted. (I didn’t even know what a GPA was until the end of Sophomore year! Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten that B in P.E., eh?) My school doesn’t do class rank. ACT 30, although my math is low at a 23. I will be retaking it, and taking the SAT in October as well. I’ve taken difficult courses, almost all honors or AP. I do only have 2 years of a foreign language though. Plenty of extra curriculars - theatre, choir, piano, voice lessons, dance.</p>

<p>Voice and acting wise, I’m strong. I’ve been singing for my whole life in choir, private voice lessons for 4 years. I didn’t get in to theatre itself until 9th grade, however, but have done it voraciously ever since, working my way from chorus to now having 3 or 4 leads under my belt. Dancing is my weakness, I just don’t have the experience. I’ve had 3 years of tap and ballet, and once I get I’m really rather good, but it can take me a while pick up combinations, something I’m really worried about for auditions. So schools that focus on dance potential more than training are where it’s at.</p>

<p>I’ve started on the Common App and am getting started on applications for the other schools as well.</p>

<p>My priorities in a schools are strong academics - I’ve got lots of different interests and am not looking for a conservatory program, if I can help it - and the opportunity to study abroad in the UK. Attending RADA or LAMDA, even if it’s just for one of their summer programs, is one of my biggest dreams! I don’t care about sports or greek life, I love cold weather, and a nice campus is a must.</p>

<p>Colleges I’ll be applying to:
-Northwestern (my top choice, it really has everything I want. I’m worried, however, about admission chances)
-Elon
-Penn State
-Webster (close to home, a plus)
-Baldwin-Wallace
-Ball State
-Ithaca (quite far from home, a minus)
-Stephens College (a really good, non audition BFA in my home town, academic safety as well, but I was really hoping to go to another city!)
-UMKC (BA in theatre. lots of family in KC, good theatre town, academic, financial(!!!) and audition safety, but I’m not in love with the school itself.)</p>

<p>So, anyway, questions -
How does my list look? Varied enough as far as safeties? Are there any other good non-audition programs that you can recommend? I feel a little lacking on that front.
Northwestern is a reach for anyone who applies, but with a solid application am I at least in the running academic wise? I’m not going to apply ED, as I want to keep options open, especially financially, but if I apply early nonetheless will I be able to get into the theatre program? I’ve heard it fills up and the admission rate is smaller.
How do I go about setting up auditions? Should I go to unifieds for all of the schools that I can, and go to the campuses of the rest?
And do I have a chance talent wise, or will my dance hold me back?</p>

<p>Thank you all so much, this forum has been beyond helpful!!!</p>

2

<p>I would consider looking at Muhlenberg (non-audition BA except for scholarships), James Madison (auditioned BA), and Syracuse (auditioned BFA on a university campus… mentioned because you have Pen State and Ithaca on your list), and NYU (auditioned BFA with strong academics).</p>

3

<p>Allison, are you sure you’re not my daughter? You each have a very similar profile; good GPA (my daughter’s unweighted is about 3.8), good ACT (hers was a 32), good singing/acting but not as much formal dance training. With your ACT of 30 I suspect you’ll be competitive anywhere on your list except Northwestern. I know looking at the schools my daughter is applying to, with her GPA and ACT she will be competitive for their best merit based scholarships and should be accepted at all schools. So I think you’ll be fine there.</p>

<p>So I can only tell you what she’s doing. She’s looking at programs where there is a strong dance component as well as acting and singing, since she knows that’s where she’ll need to bolster her training the most, so some schools on your list like Elon and Ball State are on hers as well. She took Northwestern off because of the expense primarily. If you’re looking for a strong academic school with a good program Illinois Wesleyan might be a consideration and is on my daughter’s list.</p>

4

<p>Two non-audition programs that you may want to consider are:</p>

<p>Tulsa University BA in Musical Theatre
Nebraska Wesleyan BFA in Musical Theatre</p>

<p>These are both 4.5 to 5.5 hours away from Columbia and are probably comparable to Stephens College.</p>

5

<p>Millikin would also be fairly close and would be an option.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>There are many past threads that touch on this topic. Here are a few:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1370740-musical-theater-colleges-limited-dance-experience.html?highlight=dance[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1370740-musical-theater-colleges-limited-dance-experience.html?highlight=dance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1317322-mt-acceptances-while-lacking-dance.html?highlight=dance[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1317322-mt-acceptances-while-lacking-dance.html?highlight=dance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1296382-dance-auditions.html?highlight=dance[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1296382-dance-auditions.html?highlight=dance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1172820-dancing.html?highlight=dance[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1172820-dancing.html?highlight=dance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I’ll comment about Northwestern. S#1 applied to NU through the music school in voice performance. As you may know, auditions for the MT certificate program at NU do not occur until after the first or second year. Once admitted to NU in either music or Theatre, one can audition for MT. There is a screening audition as well as a live audition requirement for voice. I don’t have any data to back this up, but I expect that if you have a great voice (given your academic standing) you might have a better chance of being admitted through the music school. I am an NU alum and the application numbers have skyrocketed over the last 5-10 years. There are over 32,000 applicants for 2000 spots in the NU freshman class and I will tell you that a vast majority of the applicants will have academic credentials every bit and often better than what you’ve listed. My son’s academic credentials were similar to yours and he was admitted, but opted for FSU’s MT program instead. In my unsupported opinion, he was in the academic range but because he had a great vocal audition, that put him in a smaller pool and seperated him from others with similar academics. I can’t recall whether one could apply to both theatre and voice, but just a thought. Feel free to PM if have other questions about NU. We did lots of research on NU last year. Best wishes.</p>

8

<p>Nccpdad - The MT program at NU is in the process of changing beginning with this year’s entering Freshman. Most information from past years will no longer be accurate so anyone interested in the MT program should only rely on current information, not past experiences. It is one of the first steps in moving from a MT certificate program to a MT major.</p>

9

<p>That is great news for my alma mater, amtc, thanks for the update information. NU’s website, however, has not reported this change</p>

<p>Music Theatre Certificate:</p>

<p>Each year in May, voice and theatre students audition for a coveted spot in the Music Theatre Certificate program. This interdisciplinary program combines the extensive resources of the School of Communication’s theatre department and the School of Music’s voice and opera program in a challenging curriculum that prepares students for careers as music theatre performing artists, choreographers, composers, lyricists and directors.</p>

<p>The 30 students admitted to the program on the basis of their vocal, monologue and dance auditions develop the versatile performance skills demanded by this specialized art form. Theatre majors enroll in School of Music courses, including two years of voice lessons. Voice majors take theatre courses, including three quarters of acting in the School of Communication. All students take dance classes through the theatre department’s dance program.</p>

10

<p>These two paragraphs have been out of date for at least a full year - voice lessons are no longer offered to MT kids through the School of Music but are fully offered from the School of Communications. Wonder how long it will take for the powers that be to update the website.</p>

11

<p>Hi Allison,
Your list looks good. My D also wanted a non-conservatory type BFA MT program within a school with great academics. She made her final decision between Ball State and Elon and she chose Ball State and has shared that this was 100% the right decision. She is both a BFA MT and a member of the Honors College so she gets the best of both worlds and honestly, she gets treated like a rockstar at Ball State!</p>

<p>She loves the passion each performer has for his/her craft and also how EVERYONE is treated like family within the BFA’s (Acting, MT and Dance) and the BA’s too.</p>

<p>Ball State’s acceptance letter was tailored to HER and spoke of how important intelligent performers are to their school. This really appealed to her because she had worked so hard in school to maintain her GPA and she wanted that acknowledged. She told me there are about 16 Freshman Honors students in some form of performance major this year. </p>

<p>It can’t ever hurt to take the SAT/ACT again and try for an even higher score. School’s do not frown upon this. Look up what it takes for things like Whitinger Scholarship (Ball State), Fellows (Elon), and other merit monies at each of your schools. Feel free to PM me if you have any other specific questions. Best of luck on your journey.</p>

12

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<p>It’s impossible to know what stats will be needed next year as NU’s selectivity has climbed steeply in the past several years, but looking through this results thread might be of some help. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/northwestern-university/1308001-official-northwestern-rd-2016-results-thread.html?highlight=2016[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/northwestern-university/1308001-official-northwestern-rd-2016-results-thread.html?highlight=2016&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I agree that you might consider re-taking the ACT, and maybe try the SAT as well, since some kids do better on one test or the other and it can’t hurt.</p>

<p>It’s great that you plan to pursue academic rigor along with a theatre degree, as being a well educated person will serve you your entire life no matter where your career leads. </p>

<p>Best of luck in your application process!</p>