Rising Senior Preparing for BFA Audition/ Admission

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>Hello everyone, I would like to say thank you for such great posts! I usually spend a few nights a week rereading threads or finding new ones and I always learn a wealth of information. I probably sound like such a little nerd, but ever since 8th grade I have been researching drama departments- I have always known this is what I want to do with my life. </p>

<p>I will be a senior in the fall and am preparing for my college auditions. I have a detailed resume with a fair amount of training(for my age, although I am sure there are seniors with probably more shows and even more impressive resumes), as I have been in shows around my city, school, and take classes at different academies in my area, with private voice teachers, and have been working with a CMU acting professor since summer 08. I attended MPulse 2008 and a few workshops here and there. I have been taking acting courses since I was in sixth grade and voice since fifth, but I know that I want to major in Acting/Theatre. My voice is very, well, let's say it is classical musical theatre... Julie Andrews as an example, in the sense that I have a verbratto and don't usually sing the pop, belt songs. While I enjoy musical theatre, straight has always been my passion, and I feel as if in today's market my voice might not be what is desired for the new type of musicals. </p>

<p>I take CP courses ( Religion, and my math and sciences) while my language, history, english and choir are honors courses. I also took a CE course this year and will be taking a few more next year. My GPA is 4.0 for the year and I think a 3. 775, 3.8 for all three years weighted. I was very sick in the beginning of the year and while I wish I could say my grades were higher, there are some things you just have to accept. Since I am not an all AP/CE student it isn't as high. My un-weighted GPA doesn't drop as significantly as it would if I were an all AP/CE student. I am a member of National Honor Society, on the High/Highest Honor Roll, and I make A's and B's. But my grade scale is 93-100 being an A in comparison to 90-100. Will colleges take that into consideration? I always seem to be around a 90, 91 which would be an A at a public school. But that is my own fault for not getting those extra three percentage points. </p>

<p>I plan to audition for CMU, NYU, Minnesota/Guthrie, Syracuse, SUNY Purchase, UMich, Rutgers, Juilliard, Emerson, maybe Hartt and NCSA( although when I visited I liked the program I just didn't feel as if the school was the right fit)</p>

<p>Should I add a few more schools to the list? I have read threads that some people auditioned at 15 or almost 20 and I find that to be so many!!!- especially since I plan on going to each university to audition. </p>

<p>Another question is safety schools? I have read on CC that everyone should have safeties, but in theory, when you are auditioning is anything really a safety? </p>

<p>My teacher at CMU guides me in many things, one obviously being the colleges to look at and so on, but I would love to hear other opinions. My parents are very supportive but not "theatre people" and while they are active in my college selecting, I tend to lead them.</p>

<p>Another question: any personal opinions about auditioning dates? I have always been interested in hearing when people think you should audition. I plan to audition for CMU in November and Tisch as well, but I am curious to hear if people think auditioning in the beginning is a bad choice or not. </p>

<p>Also, any feedback, experiences on the audition process with the listed schools, or the courses in general would be great! </p>

<p>Thank you all so much! Sorry it is a longer post, I can get carried away sometimes and this is all very important to me so I want as many opinions and insight as I can get. :)</p>

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<p>You certainly have chosen more than enough schools to audition for. I personally think more than 8 is not necessary, and can be very expensive as well. However, as you mentioned, you have no safeties on that list and that is extremely important. You are correct in stating that any school that requires an audition cannot be considered a “safety”. You need to find one or two non-audition schools that you qualify for academically, and that you would be satisfied to attend. No matter how talented you are, without a safety school you run the risk of being left with no viable options. Believe me, it happens to many students every year – make sure you aren’t one of them!</p>

<p>Regarding when to audition – I am a strong believer that it can be to your advantage to audition early – if you are well prepared. There are several advantages: smaller crowds and better traveling weather. You’ll also miss most of the cold and flu season; and if you DO get sick and have to cancel, you’ll still have the opportunity to re-schedule your audition appointment. </p>

<p>My daughter will be a senior at Syracuse next year. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions about that program. I’m also a vocal coach and specialize in college auditions, so I’m familiar with quite a few of the schools on your list.</p>

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<p>onstage, thank you so much for you input! Do you have any suggestions on non auditioning safeties? I know of Vassar, but am not familiar with many others since I put so much energy into researching the schools I listed and preparing my pieces, not to mention my other theatrical happenings/performances/classes etc,etc. just the hectic happenings of a typical rising senior! </p>

<p>I may take you up on your offer, thank you for extending it! My father and I plan to visit Syracuse next week sometime- I have to call tomorrow to schedule my visit/appt. One thing I like about Syracuse is the fact that the as an actor you can also audition for the musicals if you wish. I am correct on that? But the cut process is slightly daunting, so I may PM you within a few days asking more information on that. Clearly your daughter made the cut, so congrats to her! I hope she is enjoying her experience there!</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t have Vassar as a safety. You have some CP courses, which isn’t terrible but not great. You do have honors though, nice. I would apply to a lower ranked LAC as a safety. You may like Hampshire College as a starter.</p>

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<p>Okay, thanks early college for your input. I know, I wish I could say all of my courses were hons and CE. Although next year they will be (Hons Calc, Hons Eng, Hons Economics, Hons Choir, Hons Global Insights, with CE French, CE Argument) besides, religion, but I don’t have control over that- since it is a catholic school everyone is required to take it and then one of my english electives that isn’t offered at a higher level besides CP. Oh and good old gym class.</p>

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<p>Unless something has changed, I believe that the only auditions for Tisch in November would be for those who are applying Early Decision. Not sure about CMU, but you should check with both schools to see if they can answer that for you before you start making a plan for your visits. Also check the new standardized testing policy for NYU, which may affect you, depending on what testing you’ve already completed.</p>

<p>If you check through the threads, there are some very informative discussions of non-audition safeties. Check Soozievt’s posts, she always gives excellent information.</p>

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<p>My daughter is also a rising senior and I can share some of the non audition schools that we have come up with (not sure if they are safeties, but they might be a little “safer” since they are non audition). The first one is Muhlenberg. It is located in Allentown, PA, and has a reputable BA program, but also offers outstanding voice and dance. Recently we heard about Webster in St. Louis – Tony nominated Lara Teeter left Shenandoah is is in his second year as head of MT there (I’ve heard he is connected). Someone recently mentioned American in D.C. – Great city for theatre, new facilities and program, and it’s supposedly getting better. I heard Fordham has good theatre, as well as Pace, Marymount, Wagner and Barnard - although Barnard, like Vassar, is getting more and more difficult to get into.</p>

<p>This “safety” school search is a very difficult one. I would definitely go have a look at Muhlenberg. My daughter really liked it alot. The head of the department there is Charlie Richter. He’ll spend time with you if you call ahead and set up an appointment. We’re actually going back to see a show there next week.</p>

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<p>About the non-audition safety…</p>

<p>A safety school must first be non-audition. But not all non-audition schools are safety schools! On top of that, one person’s safety school is not another person’s safety school because what makes it a safety school is in relation to each individual’s qualifications in relation to the admissions standards and acceptance rates for that school. </p>

<p>Safety (“likely” or “sure bet”) schools are the ones where a candidate will have little problem being admitted. I don’t agree with some posters who say that safety schools are ones in your academic “ballpark” as those would be “match” schools. Safety schools are schools where your academics are ABOVE the mid range of accepted students’ stats to that college and also where a college doesn’t have a very low admit rate. Your safety schools are still very good schools and are “safe” only in terms of your chances. Everyone needs these schools on their list. Make sure that your safety schools are ones you would be happy to attend. Put energy into finding ones you truly like. </p>

<p>For MyFairLady…you sound like a very good student, but I would have to know your SAT or ACT scores and class rank or distribution percentile to better gauge what is an academic safety school for you. Muhlenberg may be but I can’t say for sure without more information about you. Muhlenberg is a safety for very good students but it is not a safety for some students. It is too hard to tell you what is a safety with what you shared in terms of your stats (not enough). But there are threads on CC on the Theater and Musical Theater forums that discuss non-audition BA schools (again, not all of these are safeties!!). I have participated on many of those and so please look those up as I don’t want to recreate all those posts and don’t have time. </p>

<p>Terig…Webster is a BFA and thus not a safety school at all. American has a fine BA program but it is by audition and while it is not as hard artistically to get into as a BFA, it is not a safety by any means due to the audition. Fordham, while a BA, is also by audition, thus not a sure bet school. You mention Pace and Marymount which also are by audition. Wagner is by audition but also has a musical theater emphasis and I’m not sure the OP wants that. Barnard, is non-audition and a very good option for the OP, but it is definitely not a safety school for the majority of applicants, much like Northwestern is not either. I don’t have enough to go by for the OP but if she has very good SATs, coupled with her grades, she may be able to apply to some BA schools that are fairly selective but could be a safety for her such as Skidmore or Sarah Lawrence (but these are not safeties for all students!!) or perhaps Rollins or even easier would be Indiana University and many others mentioned on the BA non-audition threads (do a search).</p>

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<p>MyFairLady – yes, acting majors can audition for musicals at Syracuse, and are frequently cast, often in lead roles. My D’s boyfriend, an acting major, will be playing Judd in Oklahoma this fall, for example. It’s too bad that you won’t have a chance to see a production when you visit the school next week – but the campus is beautiful and at least it won’t be snowing!</p>

<p>Syracuse does NOT have cuts, by the way. Some schools routinely make cuts in order to reduce the size of the class. Syracuse does not do this. They do have “sophomore evaluations” at the end of sophomore year. Students perform for faculty and are evaluated on their progress. If they are not making sufficient progress, they may be required to re-take certain classes; it is very rare for anyone to actually be cut from the program. I’ll be glad to discuss this further when you PM me.</p>

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<p>If you child is looking for a BFA I believe their are a few BFA programs that do not require an audition for the program… although many of these will require a student to audition at a later time to officially enter the BFA program. I believe that Catawba in NC still works this way. </p>

<p>Depending on where you are from your state flagship (or smaller state schools) could be good BA non-audition safety theatre schools.</p>

<p>I know someone who is in the theatre program at Rollins and LOVES it! </p>

<p>I teach at James Madison University in VA there is no audition required for the BA Theatre Concentration (only for the MT Concentration). Christopher Newport also in VA has a good BA Theatre program as well, and no audition is required. </p>

<p>I have also seen strong auditions from students at UMass-Amherst, UNH, Connecticut College, Ohio Wesleyan, and the schools that Sooze mentioned above.</p>

<p>There are MANY strong undergraduate BA Theatre programs around the country that do not require an audition. I would suggest starting by checking colleges and universities in a geographic area that interests you, and work from there. In the case of assessing your child’s academic chances at a non-auditioned safety school, your HS college guidance counselor could also be helpful.</p>

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<p>That’s is fine. As long as you take the hardest classes you can, but don’t take classes you can’t handle. I took Accel Math and got a 72 both semesters. I think Indiana U may be a good safety for you. Marlboro College and Bennington would be good saftey schools for you too. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your info! </p>

<p>KatMT: I have never heard of Rollins, but I will look into it. </p>

<p>earlycollege: A few of my older friends, already in programs, or auditioned have said Indiana U was on there list. I will definitely look into that, thanks. </p>

<p>alwaysamom, I am positive that CMU holds November auditions as well as Jan and Feb, but the November does not count as early admission. NYU has also, this year, opened up fall auditions for Regular Decision students, they have not specified the dates yet, but as I read on their website they said most likely in November. </p>

<p>I don’t have a top choice as of now and that is why i wouldn’t audition to NYU ED- I like to pick out things I like about all of the programs considering they all only take 12- 20 students and I have to realize I may not get into all of them! Although, after going to CMU and working with my teacher and taking classes with the actors there, I must say I do really enjoy it. And NYU has always been a little dream of mine since I was 12, but these past few weeks my attention has really been on Minnesota/Guthrie. I go through phases, focusing attention and leaning more towards a certain program one week and another the next. </p>

<p>onstage, thanks for clearing that up. We can chat more about that as I gather my questions and PM you. I know I wish I could see a show while I visit. But I have to get my visits in June and August as I am in shows in july and possibly September. </p>

<p>terig- Yes, I have friends who have mentioned some of the schools that you listed and have looked at a few but could always do more extensive research. </p>

<p>Soozievt- I have not received my SAT scores back and only took them in June since I was sick earlier in the year. I have done practice SATS and calculated the score myself from the information about scoring that they give, but when you are in the peace and quiet of your room I am sure the results may be a little better. I will know by the end of June and think that I, from what I gather, would be over or around an 1800. I don’t foresee breaking 2000 though, unless I tested better than I thought- but I highly doubt that. However, this is all guessing and hypothesis since I have not received the scores. Also, my school doesn’t class rank and won’t even let the girls see their percentile until senior year! </p>

<p>So I have gathered much information on safeties and sure bets, thank you all so much!!!
BUT should there be a school on the list like the ones Terig listed that are reputable programs but maybe not as competitive as CMU, NYU, Minnesota/Guthrie, Purchase, and so on ? Like onstage said earlier in the thread, I feel that around eight schools is a nice amount and I have, what?, not counting Hartt and NCSA, seven, so two more wouldn’t hurt. I just really don’t want to be left without any options since this is my only desire and really want a BFA. I never thought about safeties much until after reading CC, I guess I was rather foolish not to put more time and energy into them. </p>

<p>So should I really consider researching and possibly adding Pace, Marymount, Wagner as a school that I have, maybe, more of a chance to get into? Point Park University is also in my area and people will say to me, “well if you are really that worried about safeties you could audition there” Not that I necessarily agree with that, but could the same be said for places like Wagner or Marymount? Because, I remember going into my junior year when I was talking to an acting coach she said well places like Emerson or Elon or Ithaca, those are nice “fallbacks” you may want to consider, just to have. But after reading numerous CC threads those schools also seem competitive. Those were what I thought to be safeties, until now, I guess. </p>

<p>Once again, thanks for such great info- I greatly appreciate the time you are taking out of your day to help me out!</p>

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<p>I still cannot say what a safety BA school would be for you because you don’t have an SAT test score in hand yet (do you have a PSAT score?) and also you gave your weighted GPA and I would need to know the unweighted GPA. So, it is too hard to gauge. Indiana is likely to be a safety. Depending on how high your unweighted GPA is and your test scores, Muhlenberg or Skidmore may fall into safety range (and Muhlenberg is test optional). Hofstra is a safety for you…a BA that has the BFA option by audition after 2 years.</p>

<p>With regard to the BFA schools on your list, you should have a range of artistic selectivity and while ALL BFAs have a low admit rate, some are more competitive to get into in terms of their applicant pool and so on. Most of the BFAs on your list are the most selective of all and so you may want to balance the BFA portion of your list (in addition to adding two non-audition safeties) with some less competitive (but still difficult odds) BFA programs…be it Marymount Manhattan, Webster, Pace, Hartt, Roosevelt, and many others and/or have one or two BA by audition programs such as American, Fordham, Chapman, or Wagner. Balance your list both academically and artistically when it comes to “odds”.</p>

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<p>Rollins is in Florida. You may like U of Miami or FSU’s BFA in Acting.</p>

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<p>Your acting teacher was not well-informed: Emerson, Elon and Ithaca could never be considered “fallbacks” – they are highly selective. (For example, this year Ithaca auditioned around 1,000 students to end up with a class of 16.) Even a BA school that requires an audition should not be considered a safety school. If you qualify academically, Muhlenberg could be a good safety. Be sure you check out the schools that others have mentioned – I’m probably going to sound like a broken record, but it’s extremely important to have a good alternative in case you are not accepted into an auditioned program.</p>

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<p>I agree with onstage, no BFA/ BA audition are safety’s. School A may love you and School B may not like you. It all depends!</p>

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<p>Funny, they are rather well, meaning highly, connected or a better word being informed and familiar, experienced in the college circuit. I feel as if they were referring to them as schools that may not be as competitive as some of the ones I have on my list, fallback as a second tier not a safety and at the time I took it to mean safety. I have made them sound uniformed when it is in fact the complete opposite, plus I guess it is all relative to individual experience and opinion. </p>

<p>yes, I now feel like I should really find one or two safeties I like, but I have to admit the idea of not auditioning does not at all sit well with me. It doesn’t even sit well with me for summer programs, but I guess I need to get over that, and apply to one. I just find the idea of not seeing your work and capability yet entering into a program, odd and baffling. <em>sigh</em> I know, I know, regardless of how I feel I should still have one.</p>

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<p>Or, and perhaps this is terrible advice, you just don’t apply to a safety school and know that if it comes down to it you might have to take a gap, reaudition and be ok with that instead. That’s how I approached this year, I applied to 10 BFA Acting programs, the majority were extremely competitive ones. But I knew that that’s where I wanted to be, and I didn’t want to spend a year in a college I wouldn’t be happy in. It’s a lot of money/time/effort that could be focused on more training/experience and adversely making money by working part time. Talk it over with your parents, see what they’ll support and what would happen throughout the next year if you don’t get into a BFA Acting program. Many people do end very happy at their safety school, but your plan doesn’t always have to include one, and I feel like the pressure from this board to have one is almost overwhelming. And also, please don’t discount the unified auditions, I know you had said you were adamant about visiting the campus and doing your audition there, but with these kinds of schools that only admit 10-20 people, I think it’s almost wiser to visit a campus after you’ve been accepted. That way you’ll cut travel costs and be able to cast your net a little wider by doing 2 or 3 more auditions. People also don’t take into account how much financial aid your going to get, which is why I feel like it’s so imperative to cast your net wide. Unless you have unlimited funds, say hypothetically you apply to 8 schools and get into 5 (which would be considered a really high success rate) you could get really really crappy financial aid from 3 of them, so that would leave you with only two options. For me, there was nothing worse than getting into a school and then not being able to pay for it. I was really lucky in that I found a school that was extremely generous in academic and artistic merit scholarships, without that one school I would probably be in debt for the rest of my life! But I digress, I think it’s important to apply to a wide variety of schools, and only apply to ones you truly think you could be happy at and don’t settle, because it’s your education and your future!</p>

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<p>I don’t consider it terrible advice, does it contradict most of CC, yes, but it is another opinion. Before I posted this I never really focused on safeties but after reading so many CC discussions I thought well maybe I should ask… and now, while it is great response I appreciate, it is a lot to think about and so on. </p>

<p>Maybe I should reconsider Unified then, although it is said that you usually are able to audition in front of a larger panel when you go directly to the school. When I was at Michigan’s summer theatre program, they told me that if you can come to Michigan to audition you really should because it shows that you are taking the extra step, are more interested and etc, but clearly many kids make it in by not auditioning at the school. </p>

<p>My father wants to visit as many schools as we can this summer and then we will be back there to audition, so the advice about visiting after is interesting…good, but different. </p>

<p>I have also been entertaining the idea of applying to a few schools, different than the ones I audition for, for directing/ theatre studies, since running the whole show or directing it has always been another passion of mine. Not nearly as much as acting, but I thought maybe that could be an option or more options. Something to entertain. Last summer I really wanted to double major in directing/acting, but came to find that no one lets you do that, understandably…they are both highly focused majors. </p>

<p>May I ask where you were accepted and which school you know attend?</p>

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<p>You can always just apply to your local state school as a safety.</p>