<p>Probably not a big deal, Bappy.</p>
<p>Megpmom: NYU Steinhardt has a major in Vocal Performance with a specialization in Musical Theater <a href=âhttp://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/theatre/curriculum/undergraduate;[/url]â>http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/theatre/curriculum/undergraduate;</a> while NYU Tisch is theater but they do a lot of musical theater productions [Undergraduate:</a> Tisch School of the Arts at NYU](<a href=âUndergraduate Admissionsâ>Undergraduate Admissions) There is also Northwestern and Carnegie-Mellon both with outstanding MT majors. Oklahoma city U is where both Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli OâHara both went - Chenoweth studied MT undergrad and got a masterâs in opera performance and OâHara got a degree in Opera - both studied with the famous Florence Birdwell. CCM is also a great school. </p>
<p>My brother is a broadway/tv actor. He went to Georgetown undergrad and Yale school of drama. He was very lucky to graduate and go right to Broadway; however, that is the exception. He has been in so many famous plays, and my d wanted to follow in his footsteps. However, his advice was to make sure she had a back up because Broadway does NOT pay. No matter how good you are, youâre only as good as your last show, and I can tell you postal workers make more than the majority of Bway actors (lol)! You have to truly not care about an income and only love what you do. </p>
<p>My brother loves what he does. Heâs been in the business now just about 20 years, and weâve been to many Tony awards, and the best perks are going backstage to meet the other actors and see the sets. If he had to do it all over again, he would have started when he was younger, as many of the kids today are millionaires by age 18 because they started in TV or film first. He was always against my D starting early, so we didnât dare. Now sheâs so frightened about the biz, she only sings at school and barely does theater (she reserved that for summers at a pre-professional mt program). </p>
<p>Sheâs more interested in making money first then doing what she loves (whatever that will be). I remember thinking that way and then winding up staying at a corporation for 20 yrs and never left to pursue my original goals. I donât want that to happen to her.</p>
<p>Anyone know of any career/major assessment tests for teens? There was one recommended to me a few years ago, but I donât remember what it was called. </p>
<p>We have just 6 weeks of school left too - finishing end of May. The year went way too fast. They did SATs in 7th and 8th and were advised not to do them in high school since the grades are there for the colleges to look at;however, you only have to submit the highest scores. We were also advised not to take it more than twice (3x max) by the admin directors and our CC as the scores donât change much. PSATs were last Oct and next Oct with SATs in the spring. </p>
<p>I miss the baby years 
Donât know what Iâll do when my only child goes off to college. I think it will be time for me to go back to college too! I told my D we could be roommates and go to the same college together; wouldnât you like that I asked? I was just kidding of course, but she nearly fainted!!!</p>
<p>Medavinci: Nice to hear about your brotherâs experience. My sonâs been in the âbusinessâ since he was 8 - with a national tour, and several film/TV/voice over credits and it is always surprising how many people he works with that have no âdegreesâ in performing. His current MT coach has a degree in History and then she spent years on Broadway and national tours, etc. </p>
<p>S2 has been in training for MT for so many years (dance lessons, voice lessons, coaching, auditions, etc) that it is hard for me to get my head around a different path (possibly opera). D1 is a current freshman in a MT program and I finally have the whole process down - researched all the schools, auditions, campus tours, etc. I was hoping to just coast with S2, but now it seems like Iâll have to start the research process all over again!</p>
<p>Funny. Yesterday I was contemplating asking megp and other parents how they had such faith to let their kids major in the arts. Itâs the path my son wants to go down and sometimes I just get so panicked when I think about his future. But I know he will be happy doing what he loves, regardless of the money. The problem that I have is wondering what kind of living he will make if he isnât able to find work doing what he loves. And I know thatâs putting the cart way before the horse. But still, I worry.</p>
<p>I think itâs interesting how many MT types are on here. I donât know a single person IRL with a kid whoâs majoring in MT.</p>
<p>My kids go to a performing arts HS - so everyone we know is majoring in MT, acting, voice, etc!! But my kids at least see the struggles that their friends go through trying to make a living by waiting tables, bartending, etc. They have seen the starving artist lifestyle first hand and are still willing to give it a shot. H and I are both dreamers as well (left high paying jobs to live our dreams) so I donât think weâve set great examples for conservative, financially secure lifestyles.</p>
<p>^^^ But I bet youâre happy!</p>
<p>^ So far, so good!!!</p>
<p>Wow - so many various talents and paths for our kids. Iâm very excited to follow this thread.</p>
<p>Our spring tests:
SAT II - Math II - May</p>
<p>AP Govt</p>
<p>I would have liked son to do Latin SAT II, but it just did not work with his schedule. I really hate the subjects that are limited test dates.</p>
<p>âMyâ plan is for him to study PSAT/SAT this summer and then take both in October. Hoping for 1 and done SAT. Heâll take ACT Dec/Jan. SAT IIs in May 20112 to coincide with AP. He has no plan. He takes life 1 step at a time. Planning for May 2011 SAT II was advanced planning for him. Iâll just wait til July to pull out the SAT study guides.</p>
<p>Life has been crazy stressful here. Both son & I feel like we are always playing catch-up. DH has been traveling a lot for work. Physical labor job with 10-12 hour days. He is so exhausted or late some nights that we donât even get a call from him. Up until December he had never traveled for work before. It is a lot for our household to get used to. I repsected single Momâs before, but now I am in awe of them. I just canât keep it all together here. I want school to end more than my kids just so I get a break from helping the younger ones study, etc. I hope Iâll be more organized by September.</p>
<p>megpmom, I bet your S knows a lot of my Dâs friends! They, too, have done national tours and Broadway. Some are at PPAS and LaGuardia⊠They all convene during the year and go to Stagedoor in the summers. </p>
<p>My Dâs been putting in 13 hour days AT school, then coming home to do hw. Itâs concert time, so they have to do sports then go off to rehearsals at night and back in at 7. </p>
<p>I think we will be saving all subject tests until much later, because you have to be in honors or AP to take them, and in my Dâs school, it is too difficult to get into AP. Most kids graduate with 4 the max even though there are 19. The process to get in is very rigorous. So we will waitâŠ</p>
<p>This will be the last summer to enjoy themselves, and my D will do a short program or two and then spend the rest of the summer working in europe with relatives. She hasnât seen that side of the family in quite a few years, and it will be good to reconnect and sheâll be forced to speak another language (jump right into the ocean)! </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone!!</p>
<p>Spring Break at last! Spent the whole day in my Dâs room cleaning and removing her childhood from it. (sniff, sniff) Removed four bags of trash (found Halloween candy from 2005 I think!), two bags of recycle, two bags of clothes, and scores of possessions that reminded us of the little girl she used to be. The room is now ready for her Dad to paint away the purple she couldnât live without at age ten.</p>
<p>Found a great way for S2 to study for the World History AP exam. We purchased â5 steps to a 5â at our local Borders that is closing. It has 500 multiple choice questions. So S2 has started quizzing me in the car as we drive places. Today, we had to drive to his piano lesson 30 minutes away - so we got an hour total of quizzing. He is so amused at how little I know of Chinese dynasties, but he is learning as he makes me feel really dumb.</p>
<p>megp, that sounds like a clever plan! What kid doesnât want to look smarter than his parents? My kid would keep asking me questions all day if it meant he could demonstrate his superiority!</p>
<p>In exciting news, he got the internship in our congressmanâs office! REALLY excited.</p>
<p>I agree, my kids would likely be motivated to prove I donât know everything too!!</p>
<p>And congrats to your S YDS!!!</p>
<p>We have the Baronâs notecards for the AP World exam but that book sounds great.</p>
<p>What is the AP World History exam? We donât have that in our school - we have World Cultures in 9th grade, and AP European History in 10th and then 11th - 12th AP US History and AP Comparative Governments, AP Government and Politics. Each school is very different. </p>
<p>Has anyone heard from their college counselors that the colleges/universities only count 4 honors and 4 ap classes from each person? We were told that by a recruitment officer from an ivy last week. He said he knows that there are differences in getting into AP classes and some schools are harder than others so to even out the playing field, they just count the best scores from just 4 classes. Thatâs good newsâŠ</p>
<p>medavinci: Iâm not sure what you mean by âcounts.â D1 took 6 APs and her scores were all âcountedâ by giving her credit for each one when she matriculated. </p>
<p>I know that different schools handle how they handle honors & AP/IB classes differently. Some take the student transcript as it. Others only take the core classes & recalibrate the GPA. Some strip out weighting. </p>
<p>What I have heard over and over is that adcoms looks at individuals in the context of their home HS. If you go to a school that doesnât offer APâs, then youâre not penalized for taking any. But if you go to a school that offers 21+ and you donât take any or only 1 or 2, then that may raise questions. </p>
<p>I mean, for kids in our district to graduate with the district honors diploma, they have to take a minimum of 14 honors/AP/IB classes. And a LOT of kids earn that distinction. So for a kid here to âonlyâ take 4 honors & 4 AP classes, well, they wouldnât even earn district honors.</p>
<p>Thanks, shilly! Heâs so excited and trying to figure out how many hours theyâll let him work. And considering wardrobe choices. :)</p>
<p>Our school offers AP WOrld. When D1 (08) was there they offered AP Euro, but switched to AP WOrld for S2 (10). The UCâs and the Cal States only give the extra grade point to 8 semesters of AP/honors for the GPA to level the playing field. Although they do look at your strength of schedule and I agree they compare you to other kids from your school. And you list all the classes you take and the grades you get on the application.</p>
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<p>Do you mean âcountâ in admissions, or âcountâ as college course credits toward graduation once the student is admitted? </p>
<p>In the admissions side I donât think thereâs any âcountingâ per se. Adcoms at the most selective colleges want to see that the applicant took the most rigorous curriculum available. If the HS offers no AP classes, no APs are expected. If the HS offers numerous AP classes, then the expectation is that the most competitive applicants will have taken mostly or all AP classes. Thereâs no maximum and no minimum; it depends entirely on the school context. As for AP test scores, theyâre not really designed as admissions tests and most colleges will not weigh them heavily (or at all) in the admissions process, except perhaps to verify that the applicantâs grade of A in an AP class correlates with a 4 or 5 on the AP test, indicating that the class was probably quite rigorous. The major exception: a handful of âtest-flexibleâ colleges now allow applicants to substitute AP test scores for other standardized test scores. But thatâs certainly not the norm.</p>
<p>As for âcountingâ as college credit, colleges are all over the map. Some colleges count all APs as the equivalent of college classes and grant full credit. Many of the most selective colleges have some kind of cap. My D1âs LAC, for example, limits credits for APs, IB, actual college classes taken elsewhere prior to enrolling, and all other sources to the equivalent of 4 college classes. APs count as the equivalent 1 college course credit for an AP test score of 5, and 1/2 a college credit for an AP test score of 4; 3s count for nothing. So 4 AP scores of 5 count exactly the same as 10 AP scores of 5; in either case, thatâs worth 4 college course credits. On the other hand it would take 8 AP scores of 4 to use up the 4 available college course credits. Youâd need to consult the academic regulations of each college to see how others do it.</p>