<p>D4 is starting to work on her applications in earnest. She has 12-14 schools on her list, including a non-auditioned in-state safety, seven auditioned schools, and 4-5 liberal arts schools, one of which, Sarah Lawrence, comes highly recommended by several people, including her acting coach, who has a graduate degree from there.</p>
<p>We plan to visit the school later in October (because of overlapping commitments, she won't get to visit every school she is applying to in advance, but this school seems so unusual that it seems important to visit in person.) </p>
<p>From its website, Sarah Lawrence seems perfect for her learning style. She is extremely self-directed and has no problem dreaming up ambitious projects, launching them, and bringing to fruition. She is also a good writer and researcher and is intellectually curious. She does very well one-on-one with adults and in peer seminar settings. So the description of their academic plan seems made-to-fit. </p>
<p>We realize that as a BA program, she would not get the intense theater conservatory education she craves. But the theater program does seem to allow a stronger concentration than most LACs we looked at, and they have excellent internship and study-abroad opportunities, from what we read on the website.</p>
<p>What I'd like to know is, is there anyone with first hand experience willing to talk about the theater program at Sarah Lawrence?</p>
<p>I have no first hand experience with their theatre program but my daughter took a summer program in creative writing for high school students and she loved it. The campus is bucolic (is that the right word?), very peaceful, and very close to NYC, which is nice. The professors were very approachable and their philosophy fit with my daughters so that was great. I’ve heard really good things about their theatre program but since it’s way too close to where we live neither child would even look at it. Oh, and the male/female ratio is way off kilter for my liking - like 25/75 or something like that.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence has always had a reputation for very strong performing arts departments, and a focus on creativity, even when they were an all-women’s college. One of the greatest drawbacks is the price-tag: it is one of the most expensive colleges in the nation. My friend’s daughter is a serious singer, and went for one year, before transferring into a public college. I do not know anything about the current theater department, but know that it’s an historic strength.</p>
<p>My D looked at Sarah Lawrence, and did an info session. She decided against applying because for her, they came on too strong with the “read, read, read, write, write, write” and “we are so different and so much more intense than anywhere else.” Your D might like that, though. I think it’s a school where the right people have an incredible experience; I have heard of several who have transferred out because it turned out not to be a good fit.</p>
<p>LeftofPisa’s D was accepted and visited several times. I recommend PMing her about what they learned about the theatre program, financial aid, fit, etc. (her D decided to go to Muhlenberg instead).</p>
<p>My D and I visited SL last spring, and here are a few observations:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The campus is lovely, but it is quite small (as is the student body, of course). It is not really near any amenities such as shops, restaurants, or movies.</p></li>
<li><p>The students seemed very happy.</p></li>
<li><p>While the school is very close to NYC, it is not that easy to get there. It is quite a walk to the Metro North train station, and the trains cost quite a bit more than the NY Subway. The school does run a “shuttle” bus into NYC, but it is not that frequent, and lets them off at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which, while lovely, is not that near a subway stop.</p></li>
<li><p>There seemed to be a reasonable amount of theater activity going on (departmental and student productions), but the theater facilities appeared to be limited and somewhat out of date.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My daughter liked the school very much. She did apply there and was accepted, with a very generous merit-based scholarship. Had she not been accepted by one of her audition schools she probably would have enrolled there. She is very intellectual and has a wide range of interests, including writing, and it would have been a very good fit for her, including the ability to have some acting training.</p>
<p>Visit, visit, visit. My DS is very similar and is applying to conservatories as well as a few LACs. We went to Sarah Lawrence and he loved it - the Performing Arts Center has unusual spaces that inspired him; there are a lot of advanced-level theater courses, and the train to NYC is about a 15 minute walk away - and about $6. Most important, talk with current theater students - they love the place. And if you look at Emmys, Oscars, Tonys, there are SLC alums absolutely everywhere.</p>
<p>Just to clarify - I think Animom and I are seeing the same situation, just from slightly different angles </p>
<p>One other point that someone in my D’s circle of drama people suggested: at a very small school such as SL, which offers a fairly wide variety of LA courses for a college of that size, there may not be a large number of students in any given year who are seriously interested in acting, and you may not have a lot of qualified people to act with. </p>
<p>So overall, from my D’s point of view, it made more sense to enroll in a BFA acting program once she was accepted at one, but she really did like SL.</p>
<p>Chiming in here as parent of lst year (male) student at SLC who is NOT a theatre person so Im not sure how helpful I can be but I did want to respond re post 5: going into the city seems easy and inexpensive. In fact I was a bit concerned as to how often S was getting in but now that workload has heated up, I sense trips to Manhattan are falling off. </p>
<p>Male-Female ratio this was a concern of ours as well but the odd thing is that Ss experience bears out what one of the students said at the April Accepted Students day: in classes/dining hall/social situations, the imbalance doesnt really register. S claims his classes feel like 50-50, not 75-25.</p>
<p>Lastly, re the intensity of academics. Its very early days for S but so far everything seems manageable and he is a student who easily gets stressed. I think the curriculum really helps in this respect: students take three classes and then takes each of those into greater depth in the conference. So while some say the workload is 6 classes, it is really three but three in depth (taken in the direction the individual student pursues in the individual conferences). Hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>Could anyone tell me more about admissions and financial aid at SL? Seem like a good fit for D, she is very strong in Spanish, English and History but not good in math and science. A program with flexibility and lots of humanities as opposed to hard sciences is ideal…her average is 90% in a very competitive college prep school, half courses are honors or college, 3 APs. </p>
<p>Not sure how to rate her since again, math and science are dismal but humanities are great. And SL doesn’t “do” SATs but to give you an idea CR is 680 while math is 580.</p>
<p>Our problem is that we need MASSIVE financial aid. So, does she have a chance at merit scholarships? Need-based aid would be great but I have heard that SL “gaps”. Only a merit scholarship would make up the difference.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence does offer merit awards. My daughter received one. Its hard to judge why she qualified because a) they don’t take scores and b) her high school didn’t calculate a gpa or rank. My D is also a lopsided kid, stronger in the humanities that math and science. I suspect her writing samples helped as she is a strong writer and she submitted a supplemental writing sample after she submitted her application and her admissions counselor seemed to be happy with that. I don’t recall exactly but I believe the award was around $15,000. It was a very happy surprise. While my daughter ultimately did not choose SLC it was one of the top contenders.</p>
<p>Momcinco-As I mentioned above, my D was offered a “massive” merit scholarship, but her SATs (total of best scores) were 2340 (or 2350-can’t remember anymore. Her grades were OK, but not amazing, but her SAT IIs and AP scores, including sciences, were mostly 5s.</p>
<p>If substantial merit aid is important to your family, then a possible strategy is to find some schools that are academically “safeties” where your D would really stand out and where she would be happy attending. (If she can get her CR up to a number starting in 7 that would also help a bit, since my impression is that some merit aid is given to get the school’s stats up.) </p>
<p>My info is a little out of date now, but she might consider, e.g. Connecticut College, McDaniel, Case Western.</p>
</p>