<p>My D is a dancer (Ballet), and is at a pre-pro school where she dances about 25 hours/week. Summers are devoted to further perfecting this very difficult art form (and it's so bad for the body too). She cyberschools due to the dance schedule, and takes Honors level and AP courses (and a few college courses) and does extremely well. She is an avid NYT reader, well read. She will take SATs late fall (has not yet taken PSATs).
We will be facing the very difficult prospect of auditions for traineeships (long shot, given the arts funding climate), as well as college applications. My concern is how will colleges (thinking of major city schools- DC, NY, ?Chicago)view a student who has dedicated her HS years to a single, all consuming passion?</p>
<p>The majority of colleges basically select students by their stats and their academic courses. If ECs are paid attention to, it's for things like merit aid. In addition, most of the colleges in the country admit the majority of students who apply to them.</p>
<p>It's only the very top colleges -- places like Harvard -- that pay lots of attention to extracurriculars. That's because they have such an overabundance of applicants with stellar stats that these colleges can afford to select students based on creating well rounded freshmen classes. For colleges like this, your D's EC probably would not be enough because most of their successful applicants have two very strong ECs, usually in different fields. However, her EC would be wonderful for most colleges in the country.</p>
<p>many colleges will be impressed with your daughter's dedication to the art, especially if she has gained recognition for her talent (shows in professional venues, regional/national awards etc). also, if she points out on her applications that she will definitely be majoring in dance, the colleges will know where she stands in terms of the applicant pool; every college needs "diversity" in talents and interests, so students who are POSITIVE that they will contribute a certain skill to a campus community will stand out in an applicant pool and be easy to place (especially when promising to major in something like dance - a relatively unique choice).</p>
<p>also, has she taken the courses colleges expect of many applicants? (4 yrs. english, math through calculus, etc.)? As long as she shows that she has a solid educational background, her passion will be looked upon quite well by a number of institutions. good luck!</p>
<p>Is she intending to apply to colleges with ballet-based dance programs? Most of those require an audition in addition to admission to the school itself. But any school that has such a program (like Butler, Indiana, etc.) understands the requirements of classical ballet and are specifically looking for students like her - otherwise she'd never pass the audition.</p>
<p>She says that if she can't make it into a ballet company, she will give up dance. So she is not planning to major in it- she is also interested in genetics, languages (very talented), psychology. Yes, Indiana and Butler are probably the 2 top ballet programs (and very difficult to get into), but most dancers don't go that route.</p>
<p>My d is also a dancer (recreational only, and more into jazz than ballet). At the schools we looked at, many indicated that one passion is sufficient - she's looking at top schools which may only have a minor in dance. I know a number of former pre-pro ballet dancers doing very well in top schools, some which don't even have a dance major. They got in with only that one single passion. I think that if your d can describe the passion and commitment she should be fine (and any school with a dance department should understand, even if she doesn't want to major in it). If she likens it to an elite level of sport (say, gymnastics, running, diving, etc.), most schools should understand.</p>
<p>Dufay:</p>
<p>From your post, your D is doing very well in academics, so she is a solid contender for top schools. I should think that her passion for ballet would make her a very strong contender for schools where dance is not necessarily a major but is a strong EC. You may wish to PM TheDad whose D, a ballet dancer chose schools based on the availability of dancing opportunities. She is now at Smith.</p>
<p>If she is in the ballet world, she must know other kids who have gone through the process. Ask them? </p>
<p>Also, why not ask the colleges you are looking at? There probably isn't a standard answer on this. I'm sure that every college sees a few people like your daughter, but the specific risk/benefit calculation (especially with a kid who says she is going to quit) could vary a lot from place to place. You may just get platitudes, but you may hear real differences.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, my daughter's (small, pretty good) ballet school sent a couple of kids to Indiana a few years ago -- at that point, the best dancers to come out of the school in a long time, with bona fide professional potential. It worked out well, if differently, for both of them. The boy (who had also been accepted at Harvard) spent two years there, and left to join a major company where he is now a soloist. The girl had internships at a couple of regional companies but never caught on. She enjoyed her college program, though, felt it was worth it (in part because she improved as a dancer and got real opportunities), and is now getting a teaching certificate. Obviously, this is anecdotal, and others probably know a lot more, but for them Indiana was a real alternative to all-or-nothing.</p>
<p>My sister--now in her 60s--went to Harvard with pretty much the same record as your daughter. However, it was there and at that time that she discovered modern dance, which she still pursues. She switched because (she says now) it was not so hard on the body, and modern dancers dance into their old age.</p>
<p>With your D's clear love of dance, she should not plan to give it up, but to explore all of its ramifactions, not just the traditions of ballet.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, I'm surprised to read your post, ---my impression has been that it doesn't matter whether you have one passion or several for a school like Harvard,--it only matters how far you have taken it. In fact, I know of a student at Harvard that took a gap year specifically so she could further pursue her ballet abroad before going to college. While I'm not certain that it was her only EC in high school, it was certainly her primary activity beyond academics. And she also was accepted to Yale.</p>
<p>I wrote a letter or rec for a student similar to your D - she, too had a passion for ballet. She received national ranking, and sent in a video of her dancing. She also did one or 2 things in school - was Pres of SNHS, and val. But the summer before applying, she went to S. America and worked with youth there. (By then, she had completed her national ranking test). So, she added one more passion - Spanish. She applied ED to P and was accepted. I think that having one or 2 passions comes off better than having a long list of EC's just to fill up the page.</p>
<p>One of the transfer students at Stanford last year (my class) was a former professional ballet dancer. She had gone from high school to a very famous company (you would know the name), then went to community college and transferred to Stanford. </p>
<p>So I think that dance can be viewed very favorably---especially if she has prestigious awards/etc. in dance.</p>
<p>"Northstarmom, I'm surprised to read your post, ---my impression has been that it doesn't matter whether you have one passion or several for a school like Harvard,--it only matters how far you have taken it. "</p>
<p>From what I've seen as an alum interviewer and a person who has been very active in national alumni activities at Harvard, right now, most people who are getting in have in addition to very strong grades, courseloads, class ranks and stats -- 2 passions in which they have gotten either statewide or national attention/recognition in 2 different fields. </p>
<p>I am sure that there are exceptions for people who have done extraordinarily well in one time-consuming field such as nationally or state- ranked top athletes or someone who has been in a professional ballet company or is a professional musician who was a child prodigy. If the OP's D's "pre professional school" puts her in this kind of category, then HPYS could be very interested.</p>
<p>If the OP's D is not in that kind of top category in the dance field, then she IMO would nothave as strong a chance at Harvard as would the type of people whom I mentioned. The exceptions to this would probably be people who have something else going for them such as being first generation college, low income, from a rural area or inner city school that has never sent someone to Harvard before, have a very unusual EC (ballet is not an unusual EC) etc.</p>
<p>Case in point: I know a girl who also devoted herself to ballet as did the OP's D, but wasn't in any preprofessional school as there is none locally. The girl had excellent grades, rigorous curriculum, decent stats, some nice local dance roles, but no national or statewide recognition in dance, and no other strong ECs. She was rejected by Harvard and similar schools, but accepted at Barnard, which I think is likely to look very favorably on students who are passionate about one artistic EC, and haven't had recogniton for it beyond the local level.</p>
<p>Since, however, I am not an adcom, if the OP's D wants to apply to places like HPYS, she should go for it. If her preprofessional school is impressive, she probably has better than average chances of getting acceptances. At the same time, she should make sure that she has match schools and safeties that she'd be delighted to attend. I think that she'd stand out more at top LACs than at places like HPYS, but that's just my opinion.</p>
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2 passions in which they have gotten either statewide or national attention/recognition in 2 different fields
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<p>This is not accurate. My S has been an all-math all the time kid, but without national or even statewide recognition as he did not enter competitions except as part of his science team. He did attend some well-known programs and took advanced classes. He had hardly time for doing ECs.</p>
<p>We went to a Stanford admission session at which a parent asked about single ECs. The admission rep said it was just fine, adcoms understand that some ECs consume huge amounts of time. The example she gave was that of someone involved in music--which is close enough to ballet. S also got into Stanford.</p>
<p>Also, even if this were true of Harvard, the OP never mentioned Harvard, and there are lots and lots of selective schools which do care about EC's but would be very impressed with the level of commitment shown by the OP's D in a single one.</p>
<p>Marite,
I still stand by what I said that most people who get into H now have had 2 passions that resulted in statewide or national recognition. There are of course exceptions, and I listed some of the exceptions that are possible.</p>
<p>The odds always are long for getting into places like H. The more realistic one is about the odds when one applies, the greater the chance that one also will take the time and effort to have the best recommendations and essays possible and to also have suitable match and safety schools -- something that probably the majority of H applicants will need to use. Meanwhile, if one beats the long odds -- hurray!</p>
<p>I still don't believe that having two passions is better than one.
That is the topic at hand. The bit about essays, recs, stats applies to all, whether one has 1 or 10 ECs, so I don't see how relevant it is to this particular discussion. While HYPS are reaches for everyone, I do not think it is good to suggest that admission into H is tantamount to climbing Mt. Everest. Frankly, of the 11 kids from my S's cohort who got into Harvard last year, they strike me as stellar students but none of them, I believe, has achieved national recognition for their ECs.</p>
<p>It is a somewhat sad commentary on places like Harvard that state/national recognition in an non-academic activity unlocks the door rather than superlative academic success and potential. In our community it has been the rowers who have gained access to Harvard yard in recent years--all good to excellent students but not academic superstars. Two of them with primarily national rowing credentials, one with rowing and music credentials.</p>
<p>I was a little surprised (and concerned) by Northstarmom's post. I thought my son, with the one consuming obsession, I mean passion, Latin, Ancient Rome and JCL, would be okay in the app process because he's shown leadership, dedication, creativity and academic prowess all in that one EC. He's a rising senior, so it's a little late for him to take up an instrument or a sport!</p>
<p>mol:
Harvard has more than its share of academic superstars, as per USA All-stars, and various academic competitions. But it also wants a well-rounded class. Personally, I think that if students can handle the academics, there's nothing wrong with admitting students who are passionate about sports, the arts, community service. They certainly enrich the community. </p>
<p>BurnThis:<br>
Your S sounds like mine insofar as his passion is academic rather than extra-curricular. He should have a good range of schools where his love of Latin will be a definite plus.</p>