<p>I’m going to apply this year. Since I’m an international student, some schools I’m applying for don’t require SAT but I’m going to take it anyways. I took it in May and did a horrible job, only 1500/2400 although I had no idea what SAT even was like and didn’t study at all.
I’m going to take it again and this time I studied all summer and I’m sure I’ll do just fine!</p>
<p>NYU is %50 academics %50 audition. So it is though to get in if you aren’t academically great.
A friend who is very handsome, took 4 years of acting classes, went to NYFA every summer was rejected from NYU. His SAT was 1647.
However, he was accepted to UCLA. —UCLA is %80 audition!</p>
<p>I don’t even know what “ACT” is, haha! I’ll look it up now… (WOW AREN’T I SO FOREIGN! HAH)</p>
<p>Guys, I wish you all luck, really. I know its tough but with confidence everything is possible 
</p>
<p>Oh by the way, my GPA is horrid. It’s 2.9 this year and who knows what it was before. Probably like 2.7… You know why? Because In my country, we don’t need gpa to get into college. Nobody cares-even the teachers. They just teach and make extremely difficult tests and give grades out of nowhere. Out of my 32 student class, 14 FAILED!!
So I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to US schools… They probably will see the low gpa and reject me. 
Although It’s not right at all, I wish we had mouths in our applications sometime!! :((((</p>
<p>I got this from Yale admissions FAQ:</p>
<p>“An applicants testing history provides useful contextual information to the admissions committee. With a full testing history, the committee is able to look at a student’s highest officially reported score on each section of the SAT, the highest individual SAT Subject Tests, and/or the highest ACT Plus Writing composite score.”</p>
<p>so they actually do want to see the highest score on each section while considering an applicant.</p>
<p>My daughter is a junior and has just taken the ACT and would love to go to NYU Tisch, Bard,BU to name a few on the list . There was a huge disparity between her math and Enlish scores on her practice tests . She scores very high in English and below average in math . She was a GPA in weighted 3.7. Will her weak score inauthentic be a detriment ?</p>
<p>Julietsmom - Auditioned programs place more importance on the candidate’s audition, but some of the most popular also weigh GPA and test scores. I doubt that many of them will turn down a talented applicant with a strong academic record simply on account of disappointing math scores (they might take verbal more seriously). “Below average” might be a problem at one or two schools, but not at most. I think Bard might be an “SAT-optional school.” You should check that out. Has she taken the SAT as well as the ACT? They are different, and some students perform better on one than on the other.</p>
<p>In a BFA Acting/Musical Theater program the focus is much more on the audition that the test scores and grades. To say that the audition carries ALL the weight, it simply untrue. But at the elite of the elite programs, Juilliard, CMU, UNCSA, CalArts, the audition must be like 90% of admission. For programs like NYU and Emerson, these scores matter! It all trickles down to the type of program you’re applying to. But to chance only applying to Juilliard, CMU, UNCSA, and CalArts is too big a risk for any applicant. Even if you think your scores are too low for per say a school like NYU, you should apply. You never know with these things! My friend got into Tisch and had a lower score than I did… and I had a REALLY low score… lol. Sometimes it’s just a matter of the shoe fitting properly.</p>
<p>In our audition information session at BU, they told us that they rank applicants on their auditions and then send their choices to the admissions office and the admissions office has the power of rejection based on GPA/Scores. He said that if you are too far off the bottom of the norms for students admitted to the general university, it was unlikely you would receive an acceptance at BU regardless how great the theater school said you auditioned.</p>
<p>NYU told us its 50/50 audition/scores & GPA.</p>
<p>Scores matter for merit. My daughter did very little preparation for the ACT/SAT and did not take any prep courses or have tutoring. She took the ACT twice the spring of junior year within a couple weeks of each other and scored what we knew would absolutely be more than she needed academically for admission to almost every school on her list. So that was it. She never took them again and didn’t take the SAT at all. We turned our preparation focus to the auditions and filling out the applications.</p>
<p>BUT in hindsight I wish I had known then what I know now. It is one thing to score well enough for admission. My daughter did that easily and she was admitted to most schools she applied to / auditioned at. But scoring well enough to secure merit money sometimes means a higher score. Don’t make the mistake of being just one point away from even being in the consideration pool for merit money. Look up each and every school that you plan on applying to and see if there is a bottom number score (or GPA) for consideration. At many schools, there is. If you are within reach of that number, then chase it even if it means taking the test multiple times or more prep. It doesn’t mean you’ll get a merit award even if you get the score you need, but it is still worth it to try. Hours spent prepping for just a little better score if it results in a merit award is time very well spent. What other part time job can you think of where for 10 hours of prep, you could get 10k/year in merit? That’s $4,000/hour.</p>