<p>Thanks for the helpful questions. He is inspired by Wagner, he is also enthusiastic about film, but doesn’t want to attend a scoring program. He is aware he needs some academic, but has very little interest in a gen ed program, wants a performing arts school. He wants to be somewhere that has a theater program also. He only has a 3.0 He was falling through the cracks, I think its called “at risk gifted”, in 9th grade, so he moved to a performing arts cyber education program in PA. It has helped us survive high school. He has just started to study with a piano/composition teacher in a private weekly lesson, in addition to his high school composition teacher. He has already scored a feature film and he finds it difficult to pull himself away from his music for academics. He is a guitar performer, has written some open mike type songs, also a little piano and a school band knowledge of percussion. He has had one composition performed at his school (its also the music for his film’s trailer). He wants to be around passionate people who are single mindedly driven by music. Why Cal Arts? Because they encourage collaboration among the disciplines and they understand that for some creative minds, the passion is so consuming that the rest of life falls by the wayside. It is in their mission statement, in fact their mission statement describes his life experience. We toured and liked it overall. If he gets in I might not be able to afford it, but hopefully I can work it out. Julliard is on his list because of the faculty, he has studied their work. He is requesting a private with one of the faculty, as mentioned on their website as something to do if so inclined. Admissions there said that they are looking for a certain type of creative mind, as well as technical knowledge. If he even makes it past the initial screening…well I’ll let you know. In addition to all of the above, he has written a screenplay, which he has filmed part of, has a trailer finished. He also is good on stage and when he can make the committment he is in school and community theater plays. </p>
<p>My oldest is a soph at Columbia, civil engineering/swim team. It was all measurable-GPA, SAT and swim times. He was not looking for an IVY but for a good fit. Columbia was the only IVY he applied to because it was a good fit for him. Loves the coach and team, and they have civil engineering that will get him the degree he needs to make a living. We visited over 20 schools in all categories for him and it was tough, down to the wire decision. This situation is so different because I don’t know the classical comp theory music at all, so I totally have to allow my son to find his way. He only wants to go to college to learn from people that will make him better at expressing his creativity. He lives eats and breathes his ideas, and he is looking for a school that fits. He will buckle down and do the life requirements, such as go to a job to make money, or mow the lawn or do enough work to get a B in Algebra 2, but only enough to meet the life requirements so he can get back to his music/writing. It is very frustrating because he has the mental acuity to be more marketable to a wider range of schools, but he doesn’t have the patience or hasn’t chosen to be that kind of person. Of course, looking at statistics, a kid like him might be better off not spending the money on college or taking the 150k that college might end up costing and doing something else with it. </p>
<p>Thanks for asking. I hope that explains why Julliard and Cal Arts? He also applied to a music industry/film minor, maybe a backup plan. He was thinking a local state school because of the comp teacher, but he might not get in there because of 3.0. Right now our list is slim, was thinking Smith McNally but kind of discouraged because of location and now after reading some info on CC thinking probably not, they also don’t have a theater program. I don’t know exactly why he is not into Berklee, I might try to make him visit. In addition he likes Mannes and will apply to Manhattan School of Music. He knows he will be happy at those programs also. He is reworking a movie score right now on a deadline, but when he is done I want him to research some faculty from Hartt, that might be an option too. I also want him to apply to Clumbia College in Chicago, another potentially good internet research fit. A gap year to study with his comp teacher might be the answer, but I’d rather have him get in and defer…I am not confident that a gap year is wise.
Of course I need to apologize for this rambling post. I feel like I should pay you for therapeutic listening…assuming this gets read at all!!! I am new to blogging, I read a lot of posts on CC when my oldest was applying but I never shared anything personal before. thanks, i am open to any feedback. it seems like a lot of CC posters are high GPA types, and it is a little intimidating to post here with a lower GPA. Oh yeah, his SAT scores are decent, he only wants to take them once and they are high enough for most of the schools mentioned.</p>