Newbie needing guidance!

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>Hello everyone!</p>

<pre><code> Let me start by just saying thank you to everyone on this forum for providing such wonderful information and insight into this whole process. The support and encouragement I have witnessed in reading through countless threads has inspired me to take the plunge, step out of the proverbial shadows and begin posting!
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<p>I find myself in a less-common though not entirely unique situation and am hoping that some of you all might lend your wisdom and support! I am currently an undergraduate student at a large state school (though not my home-state school!) It has always been my dream to pursue theatre/acting as a career path but through a series of events (including an unexpected surgery for me as well as my father's bout with cancer) and at the encouragement of my parents (who both are physicians and were until recently VERY skeptical of a career in the arts) I ended up choosing to go the "normal" route in terms of college. A little background: I have been doing theatre since the age of four fairly consistently at the pace of about 4 shows a year. I was incredibly active in my high school's drama dept (president, etc.) and did shows in our community as well. I also attended a very academically competitive high school (per my parents request) rather than attending the local performing arts high school which, granted, in retrospect I might not have done - though I had a very well-rounded education which prepared me for the world in ways other schools might not have. </p>

<p>Now let me say, I have had an absolutely fantastic experience at my current university. I am a film major and have taken a few theatre classes on the side as well, but in my heart of hearts, I know 100% that this is not the place for me. I want (and have always wanted) to be in a conservatory (or conservatory-like) environment. Having such a wonderful time at my school and yet still feeling unfulfilled makes me even more sure of my convictions. </p>

<p>I talked to my parents over winter break and they finally got on board. Unfortunately, my realization and changing of plans occurred a bit too late to try to get auditions in this spring. I would have been underprepared and short-changing myself. So the next question was what to do - after talking it over with my parents I have decided because of finances (and the fact that with AP/IB credits plus this year of schooling I am already a junior in terms of academic standing) it does not make sense for me to stay another year at this university or really any school for that matter. So, I am planning to take a year off.</p>

<p>I plan to use this year to A: work (since I'm likely going to have to pay for four more years of school and have already paid for one!) B: Do as many shows in my local Florida community as possible C: Read, watch, learn as much as I can on my own - a veritable inundation of theatre into my life (as if i hadn't already) D: Work my little butt off on my audition pieces/applications.</p>

<p>What I am looking for from you all is simply this: any words of advice, encouragement, recommendations, etc. etc. from your past experience or the experience of others. I know applying as a transfer student is harder than as a freshman (though i am 100% with starting over as a freshman) and I have read every thread I could find on this website about transfers. I was wondering if you think the year I am about to take off will seem like a negative to auditioners? How can I maximize it to make myself the most marketable transfer candidate possible? Honestly, any advice would be appreciated. Most of my questions I suppose will come in future months as my journey is JUST beginning. BUt since I never went through the audition process before, I am so nervous! </p>

<p>Anyway, thank you so so much for even reading this RIDICULOUSLY long post, let alone offering your advice. You can't imagine how much I appreciate it. Thank you thank you thank you!</p>

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<p>I’m glad you are posting. I think you have a very good plan to take the gap year. And I like that you will earn money, and also try to be in productions. The one thing missing that I strongly suggest is to ALSO use the year off, particularly June through December, to get some acting training. I would find any classes you can in your home region and look for a private acting coach to help you prepare monologues for auditions. Maybe there is a university nearby that has suggestions of who offers private acting coaching. A great many of those who are competitive for audition based programs are getting some individualized help with their audition prep. Added to that, training is also important and so balance acting classes with production work. Add of course, your paying job. </p>

<p>Also, start early on the exploration of college programs so that you have a wise list and a well thought out one. Pace this process by starting on that stage of it now and then when college is over in May, have your training set up for the following six months. </p>

<p>I wish you lots of luck and hope you will keep participating here.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much soozievt! I definitely plan to seek out private coaching as well as classes at some local universities. Good advice for sure! And while I am still at my current university, I am getting some individualized attention from some of the theatre faculty in searching for and beginning to work on monologues.</p>

<p>and I definitely plan to keep participating here! it really is a wonderful resource :]</p>

<p>one quick question I forgot to ask: What do you feel is the max number of schools to audition at realistically? I have a pretty long list right now and plan to cast a wide net to increase my odds being a transfer student, but don’t want to be unrealistic!</p>

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<p>PS…to answer your question if the year off will be seen negatively by auditors…NO! Gap years, if spent productively, can be seen very positively. While not the same as your situation, my nephew applied to a different type of arts degree program last year as a senior in HS. I won’t get into any mistakes he made in his process, but he did not get into any of them. He has taken a gap year. I have been working with him on his entire process with his gap year and his college selection and admissions process on this go around. For his gap year, he has a job to earn money, got an internship in his arts field, and additional training at a level above what he had before (with a college professor at a local conservatory). Now, his college list is very different and much better than last time and his applications, recs, essays, resumes, etc. are MUCH better this time. But he also added to his applications an additional statement about how he spent his gap year and the rationale behind it. I very much recommend that you have an additional statement (not a topic for the required essays) that discusses the purpose of your gap year and how you spent it and what you got out of it. Anyway, while all his results are not in, a majority have come in and all are acceptances so far, I’m thrilled to say.</p>

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<p>I cross posted with you. </p>

<p>It is hard to tell you what number to apply to as I see this as pretty individualized. Not all my students apply to the same number of schools. NO matter the number of schools, the college list must be balanced. The BFA programs should be balanced in terms of a range of BOTH artistic selectivity AND a range of academic selectivity (relative to your academic profile) and I would have two non-audition safety schools on the list that have very strong theater programs. </p>

<p>But how you build this and how many you have depends on a lot of other things. For instance, say you strongly prefer a BFA. You might have 7 BFA by audition programs (in that range I mentioned earlier), 1 BA by audition program, 2 BAs with no audition. Let’s say you are not entirely 100% on the BFA and like some BFAs and some BAs…then you might have 6 BFAs in a range, 4 BAs by audition, 2 BA no audition schools. Or let’s say you are not that competitive artistically, you might have fewer BFA’s and more BA by auditions. </p>

<p>So, how the list is built is gonna differ on many factors. </p>

<p>If you have to weigh financial aid packages, you might need more schools.</p>

<p>Generally speaking, I can’t think of too many circumstances where one would have less than 8 total schools or more than 12. But there are exceptions depending on various circumstances. Truthfully doing more than 12 apps is difficult to do them well. And doing more than 10 auditions is hard to fit into one’s schedule and could also be costly.</p>

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<p>I suppose it was sort of a silly question - the process seems to be very different for each student! I will certainly work on whittling down my list to be both realistic in terms of range of selectivity (both artistically and academically) and simply the whole issue of scheduling the auditions! </p>

<p>To give some context: My high school GPA was a weighted 4.0 (can’t remember the unweighted.) As I said I was in a very academically competitive high school and at times it got the best of me (trying to balance all of my extra-curriculars with being in an advanced math class [I am NOT a math person!] was tough!) I got one bad math grade and that pretty much ruined my GPA and my class rank! I took 6 IB classes/exams and 9 APs - I certainly didn’t skimp on the work load! My extra curriculars were very solid (holding multiple leadership positions, active in multiple clubs all four years, community service, a job on the weekends, etc. PLUS theatre!)</p>

<p>SATs: 1460/1600, 2180/2400</p>

<p>College Stats:
GPA: 3.9 first semester looking like it will be 3.9 - 4.0 second semester. [honor roll/dean’s list/whatever it’s called]
Extra curriculars: general participation in multiple clubs, photography work for campus cultural magazine, etc.</p>

<p>Obviously the whole extra curricular thing will be upped significantly during my gap year!</p>

<p>Any recommendations that jump out at you for fairly safe, non-audition BA programs?</p>

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<p>You have a very strong profile on paper, based on what you shared so far. It would help to know the unweighted GPA too but sounds like you took a very challenging curriculum and have a strong academic record at your college so far as well. </p>

<p>I think you are aiming at BFAs, right?</p>

<p>If I were you, I would consider one or two BAs that are NOT safeties, that are still non-audition. For example, Northwestern is not a safety but you are definitely in the ballpark and while you could not count on getting in, it is a non-audition school very strong in theater. Or maybe even Emory, Tufts, Middlebury, or Vassar. You would still need two safe bets that are non-audition. </p>

<p>It’s hard to gauge your TRANSFER chances but generally speaking easier matches of the non-audition sort might be Boston College, Brandeis, Barnard, or Connecticut College and then closer to safeties would be Sarah Lawrence. Skidmore, or Muhlenberg. All these BA schools are very strong in theater. </p>

<p>A total sure bet for you would be Indiana or Hofstra. Hofstra has the added bonus of that after two eyars, there is a BFA track by audition (you likely would enter as a soph and then could audition after one year for the BFA track). </p>

<p>I don’t know how you feel about highly selective non-audition BAs that have long odds being on your list…but should you consider that…you seem pretty strong and ya never know…but Brown, for example, is great for a theater student. Same with Yale or Cornell.</p>

<p>Look at some BAs by audition too such as Fordham, which typically is not as hard to get into as the BFAs but has artistic selectivity in the admissions process. Same with Chapman.</p>

<p>Then, of course, there are all the BFA programs. You are a very good student though, and so may enjoy a BFA that is located in a selective university…such as NYU/Tisch or UMichigan. There is someone on this forum who transferred into UMich in this admissions cycle. I know someone who transferred from Cornell into NYU/Tisch. So, these programs will take transfers. USC and UCLA also come to mind for a person like you.</p>

<p>Then there are all the other great BFAs that academically would be no sweat for you.</p>

<p>The thing I don’t have the data on is how many transfers each of these programs tends to take and so that has to be delved into directly with each one, as it is not entirely the same as freshmen admissions.</p>

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<p>soozievt, may i just say that you are such a wonderful, wonderful resource and contributor to this board. I’m sure you get it a lot, but please just know how much I really appreciate you taking the time to answer some of my questions. So, thank you!</p>

<p>I am definitely going to look into the schools you mentioned as potential non-audition options! So much to think about and I already feel like time is running out (isn’t that ridiculous? lol) Again, thank you and i’m sure i’ll be back with more questions quite soon :]</p>

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<p>Thank you for your note of appreciation. I like to help. </p>

<p>Your member name caught my eye. Are you aware of the song in the musical, A New Brain, that is called Heart and Music? It is a wonderful song. My D has performed it as an ensemble piece in cabarets and musical revues.</p>

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<p>Last semester I was a JUNIOR drama and music double major at Ithaca college. For 2 years, I was doing everything I needed to do to become a voice actor. I was in a mainstage opera, I was in student run shows, I took voice lessons, I directed some shows, etc. One Sunday though, I literally just woke up and decided I needed to leave. So, the next day I withdrew from Ithaca and started packing.</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong. Ithaca is AMAZING and I do not regret my time there. In fact, I could not be the person I am today without Ithaca. However, I soon realized that I was not getting the proper training and would not come close to my full potential by the end of my four years, thus I withdrew, got a job a week later, and started working on my auditioning monologues.</p>

<p>I spent the next month searching for cheap, good acting schools. I say cheap because I spent 90 thousand at Ithaca and had 30+ thousand in loans. I was only really able to find 3 schools (Rutgers, Purchase, Montclair) that fit my budget and needs so I applied, worked my monologues and finally auditioned.</p>

<p>As of today, I got into Montclair and am currently waiting on Rutgers and Purchase.</p>

<p>The only thing I regret to this day is not applying to more schools because I have less to fall back on. Besides that, I have never wondered if I made the right choice because acting is what I want to do.</p>

<p>Also, don’t forget there are many ways to become an actor. Don’t just look towards the college major (ie. professional classes)</p>

<p>Heartandmusic, be proud of your choice and never look back. I can tell you made the choice that was right for you and even if you don’t get in for BFA Acting, you will be able to say you at least tried. I know I will.</p>

<p>One final note: being a transfer student will really give you an advantage, especially if you have taken acting classes already ;-)</p>

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<p>soozievt - yes, that song was actually the inspiration behind the name! it’s a great piece with a lovely message :]</p>

<p>neo - thank you for the words of encouragement! it’s really nice to know i’m not the only one going through this process. i find it inspiring to say the least hearing of people strong enough to know when their situation is simply not right for them and taking the intiative to CHANGE it! good luck to you as you wait for the word from purchase and rutgers (but it’s nice to know you have one in the bag already!) keep me posted on your results!</p>

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<p>Neospeed, Rutgers and Purchase are obvious places to apply in your situation, but I am intrigued that you feel that Montclair will give you better training than Ithaca. </p>

<p>I agree that Montclair has a strong program…one that probably doesn’t get mentioned often enough on this forum.</p>

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<p>NJTheatreMom…Neospeed was in the BA at Ithaca which really is not training based. It is the BFA at Ithaca that is very strong. If she switched to Montclair to get a BFA, they are very different types of programs. Not only was she in a BA at Ithaca, it is a school that also has a BFA and thus the BA is rather second tier in that situation there. I know someone else who transferred out of Ithaca who was in just the BA there too. She went to another BA but one at a school where the BA is the core of the theater department and also at a school with stronger academics. </p>

<p>HeartandMusic…oh, glad to hear that indeed the song was an inspiration for your member name after all! I was wondering if that may be the case! “Heart and music make a song.”</p>