Hi! I am now a rising senior in high school and am embarking on the terrifying and exciting quest of navigating all of my college auditions. I am looking for a BFA Acting degree in a professionally-known school with a liberal arts education. I prefer a smaller class inside my major, but am not particular to the size of the school. I am trying desperately to leave my home state of Georgia. These are my top schools:
University of Minnesota BFA Guthrie Training
DePaul University
UNCSA
Montclair State
Rutgers
I prefer the north and an urban campus, but am willing to compromise those for a semi-affordable out of state tuition. My father has, since I last posted on this forum, cemented his rule: if I were to go out of state, he will still pay as much as I would pay in state. Because of the Georgia HOPE scholarship, at UGA he would be paying around 10k. At the majority of those schools, that would leave me with around 20-25k to make up for in merit and talent scholarships.
As of now, I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA with a 4.7 weighted. I have taken 7 APs and have been enrolled in my schools Honors Mentorship program for two years. My first SAT score was a 1740 (which spooked me, I’m studying up NOW) though I’ll be bringing that up soon. Please ask away for any of my statistics/extracurriculars to get a better feel for me.
My question to you is what do I do now? I understand the particulars of choosing material for my auditions and am doing that now, but how much do I really stand a chance on getting merit and talent scholarships that are likely to help me attend any of my top schools? Obviously you can’t measure talent through this site, but I am just in need of knowing what motions I should be taking right now to help me get into any of these schools. HELP ME. I’ll be auditioning at Unifieds in Chicago and for any of these schools that aren’t there and will be studying at the Governor’s Honors Program this summer in GA (a prestigious program that culminates the “best of the best” students around the state) for theatre, but what should I be doing right now? Any help as far as audition materials, tips on writing my essay or applications, what I need to be raking up in statistics is greatly appreciated. How can I get into my top schools? Help. Please.
Hi, I am sure I don’t have many of the answers you need, but I am glad to chime in. My daughter just finished the whole audition process. She applied to all of your choices (except Montclair) and she is proudly going to attend UNCSA in the fall.
You sound like you are doing a good job of preparing yourself to be given merit aid for academic achievement. Just keep going with that. You never know what will and what won’t be offered to you. UNCSA offered a very small merit scholarship to my daughter. I don’t know what the other programs will or won’t do. I have heard that Montclair offers many of its theater students in-state tuition, even if they are out-of-state. That would be a great deal.
One thing about this process that is very hard is that kids really have to put themselves completely out there, all in hopes of being admitted and then in hopes of being given scholarship money. There is a GREAT DEAL of uncertainty to the process. You can be admitted to a dream program that it turns out you can’t afford. That happens. There isn’t much you can do about that.
All that you can do is to prepare. Keep your grades stellar. Get your audition materials ready. (Admission truly is ALL about the audition). Write your essays over the summer. Hone your talents. And apply to lots and lots of schools.
SUNY Purchase has a very highly regarded program and is relatively cheap compared to the others. It is really hard to get into, though, as are many of the schools on your list.
The first thing I would recommend is expanding you list. All of the school you mentioned are excellent- and extremely competitive. Job 1 is to find a non-audition academic safety that meets as many of your requirements as possible. One that I might recommend is Drew in NJ. @Bissou 's D goes there and loves it (and got great aide as well). I don’t have a ton of info on the school, but it is well regarded, in the north- and nothing in NJ can be TOO far from an Urban area You might want to look at Columbia College in Chicago for similar reasons.
Also remember that schools will base the amount of aid or grant money you get (not talking merit or talent scholarships) on the FASFA, which is something that your parents need to fill out. If the FASFA calculates that your family contribution (based on income/tax numbers for your family) is 30K, they will base aid on that. And if you dad is firm about his 10K contribution, that could leave you short at many schools.
I think that your financial hurdle will be hard to meet, honestly. I do know someone (a boy) who got pretty close to $11K net cost at Pace, you might want to look into that school. I’d love to recommend my son’s school to you, which is in Chicago and seems to offer pretty awesome training/work connections, but CCPA/Roosevelt is probably too expensive.
Texas State offers in-state tuition. Is there reciprocity for tuition between GA and other states? Start researching programs and their financial aid/scholarships available. I second the idea of taking a look at Drew University. Also run the NPC calculators, but keep in mind it is an estimate and not a guarantee of an award.
@toowonderful:
I should’ve clarified, I am interested in more schools not in my top! I am also interested in:
-Point Park
-U of Mich
-Ithaca
-UConn
-Evansville
-U of Oklahoma
I believe the most of these are at Chicago Unifieds, thank goodness. I will certainly look at Drew and Columbia Chicago since I am really looking more towards Regional theatre acting than anything.
@Jkellynh17 I’m excited that you mention CCPA in Chicago! I know several people there that love it. Is there much I can do to overcome the finances? Will the facts that my twin is going into college the same time as myself and my mother did not receive a college education help me…at all?
@entertainersmom I am not too sure what that means, ha, but if you’re talking about the HOPE’s validity in other states… no. The HOPE was primarily established to keep GA students at GA universities. Where can I find the NPC calculators?
In the south there is something called the Academic Common Market. Member schools will offer instate tuition, instate tuition plus a percentage to students from member states, most often when the particular major is not offered at an institution in the applicants home state, although I believe there are exceptions. Here is a like to the programs that participate for students who reside in GA – http://home.sreb.org/acm/SearchResult.aspx?state=GA
It looks like most of the theatre programs with an agreement with GA offer degrees in Musical Theatre, Design and Technology, and Arts Administration.
Hey @mjantoci, my S loves CCPA and he’s in his second summer working in professional theater, so it seems like it’s working out pretty well for him. The financials are very tough, though. He’s getting a pretty good amount of aid for CCPA, but it was still about $28K all in for the first year and less for the second because he’s living off campus and cooking for himself and working…but still way more than $10K. My understanding is that they will sometimes adjust aid to account for need, but not always, and the initial awards are based on the audition alone. It is a fantastic program and an excellent springboard for working in Chicago.
@mjantoci, KatMT answered the reciprocity question far better than I could, phew! The Net Price Calculator (NPC) are not always easy to find, but usually there is a link on the Financial Aid page of many college web pages. Check out Wright State University. I know they have awarded substantial merit aid for some students. I think it would be a fine plan to boost your SAT if possible, as many merit award are based on a combo of grades and test scores.
@KatMT Well that’s nice to hear… But if I wanted to be eligible for instate tuition at, let’s say, U of Oklahoma or Coastal Carolina, I’d have to study MT?
@jkellynh17 that’s great! I do think the loans I’d have to take out would be too outrageous, but I’ve heard great things.
Maybe if I am accepted into one of my top hoops, my father will bend his ways if I vow to live on my own etc after freshman year… Are there any talent scholarship opportunities outside of a school offering them? Where do I go to look for theatre related scholarships that would require me to apply soon?
They are all super competitive. We had the best luck with local arts-oriented scholarships. You should check with your guidance counselor to see if there are any in your area.
You are right to be very careful about loans. Even if you’re successful, your income is likely to be unpredictable and highly variable. The last thing you need is a big monthly payment hanging over your head.
I’m from Georgia, too, and will be attending DePaul in the fall! It sounds like you’re doing all the right things to obtain solid merit aid. Some schools have merit aid that is not competitive, and the requirements for that aid is outlined on their websites. If receiving merit aid is a must, I would seek out those programs.
I know DePaul is very generous! They’re covering half of my total costs. Plus, they have a lot of work study available as well as the ability to gain additional scholarships after every year at the school.
If you have any questions, PM me! I love finding other Georgia thespians on CC!
Can anyone talk about the successes or losses their son or daughter might’ve had at Unifieds? I plan on going to Chicago ones and am curious if any one has any advice per the week or individual schools.
Plan to get there a day or so beforehand to allow for Chicago weather in January. Also be vigilant about staying healthy (avoid sick people, get a lot of rest etc.) Walk around early in the morning to see which schools are accepting walk-ins. Bring a checkbook to pay additional audition fees. Make friends but avoid drama, negativity and people who talk at high volume in public areas. Don’t talk about programs and auditions until you’re back in your room with the door closed. Check HotTix (http://www.hottix.org/index.aspx) for half-price theater tickets while you’re in Chicago. Unifieds were an amazing experience for my S (he did NYC), but it could go south really quickly if your flight is cancelled or you get sick.
I’ve gotten approval from parents to go ahead and apply/schedule auditions for:
-University of Minnesota
-DePaul
-Rutgers
-UNCSA
-Point Park
-Evansville
-Columbia Chicago
-Oklahoma
-Montclair (possibly)
-Coastal Carolina (possibly)
Opinions on these schools as far as their generosity with aid, their selectivity, and any person audition tips for individual ones?
I’ve begun to work on solidifying my key 8 monologues (with the great help of @frostyagain ) and am hoping to get all my apps in by Oct-Nov.
I was wondering if anyone has had any luck at Unifieds and if they could offer any advice? Any schools I should try and make an effort to visit on-campus?
Also, I would love if anyone knows of some schools preferably in the Northeast I could look at that don’t require audition and tuition is under 20k, just as a back-up? I’m using Coastal sort-of as that, financially, but they still require an audition.
I’m scheduled for the SAT & ACT both in October and hopefully that can help with merit aid.
Finally, I would still love help with finding where to look for scholarships. I am ready to rumble as far as essays and such go and want to get started!
We had a gut instinct that doing as many on campus as possible was advisable. Our experience did not prove that to be the case. And I’ve never seen any evidence showing that a student is any more or less likely to get accepted at unifieds versus on campus. My daughter did very few unifieds – we live in NJ which made it convenient to travel to many – but the most selective school she got accepted into – UNCSA – was a school she did at Unifieds. We did not visit until an accepted student visit after the audition.
As far as cost, I know UNCSA does provide some financial aid but its much less than many private schools can do and it will usually be tied to need and talent and not ACT/SAT scores. My daughter has found that there are lots of bright kids with high ACT/SAT scores that go there but the school’s appeal is not the based on the entrance ACT/SAT scores so they don’t offer money to get people with higher scores to go there.
You might want to look at Columbia College in Chicago for similar reasons.