<p>My son was applying to BU as a BFA and was rejected from BU academically. Again, not sure how that happened but what can you do? Colleges are unpredictable. That’s why it’s best to increase your chances as much as possible and to cast a fairly wide net. I realize your D is busy–that’s why I suggested 10 minute daily practice sessions for the SAT. Most ambitious students practice considerably for the SAT, so that’s what she’s competing with. Look, again, it is what it is. It just doesn’t hurt to practice, in the same way that it doesn’t hurt to practice for ANYTHING. The lower SAT scores may not hurt her in many schools, so if she ends up staying low, then ok–but if she practices for it, at least she knows she tried.</p>
<p>I agree with KEVP–if she’s not a voracious reader and she’s reluctant to do academic work like practice for the SAT without your ‘squeezing it out of her’, try to seriously consider the best match for her. A conservatoire without academic requirements and/or a school with low academic requirements sounds best for her. Of course yes, you don’t have to go to college to be an actor, although I have to say, KEVP, it does seem much more competitive now than it was even a decade ago, and again, every bit helps. ANyway a good college program will hone your strengths, shave away weaknesses, and give you direction and connections. It sounds like she wants that at least. Best of luck with it all.</p>
<p>“you do have to question the level of passion…on the other hand, these things also flow from a clear direction.”</p>
<p>I feel studying for the SAt’s is also a sign of passion.</p>
<p>Kids have dream schools and dream jobs and have done the research and know what test scores to reach for. Some get help with tutors. But many others find low cost ways to study for the tests. If a child commits themselves to studying I think that is admirable and not really a god case for calling the tests unfair. There are other reasons it is an unfair test but no child should feel a victim of unfairness from this test due to lack of practice and study. They knew it was coming and had four years to prepare for it.</p>
<p>While prepping monologues (and songs for some kids) is essential, so is putting effort into putting forth the best academic record you can muster, particularly at schools where that matters in terms of admissions. It is not a matter of either/or when it comes to audition prep and academic prep. Both matter, I think.</p>
<p>By the way, while not in relation to the OP, one reason to get all testing out of the way in junior year is so that senior year has plenty to do in terms of audition prep and applications. I advise doing all testing in junior year (two sittings of the test) if possible and being done with it. My BFA applicant kid did that (well, actually she finished all SAT testing in tenth grade as she applied to college in her junior year…took the SAT twice, plus three SAT Subject Tests) and so the fall of her admissions year was full enough with audition prep and doing the applications.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing, though. Some students just do not test well, period. It wouldn’t matter how much “prep” time they put in. It could anxiety, ADD, or a multitude of other issues. In fact, the student could be a good, solid student in classes but fail miserably at standardized testing. Every student is different, and suggesting lots of prep may or may not work. In our case, it doesn’t. </p>
<p>ActingDad, I highly suggest you and your D look for at least one test optional school, just for safety’s sake. I’m heading out to senior pictures right now, but when I get back I’ll find the link for you. It’s stressful, I know. We’ve been living it. There is little to no hope of my D’s ACT scores increasing, but she is going to try one more time.</p>
<p>I realize some students do not test well. But it is worth doing whatever you can to increase your scores, rather than leaving it to chance. Retaking the test with no prep or practice likely won’t yield much change. Test prep can pay off and is worth the effort and if it doesn’t, then it is so. I do not believe test prep courses are too worthwhile. Taking timed practice tests and reviewing answers can help. Part of it is learning how to take the test itself. A tutor can also zero in on individual issues. A lot of effort goes into years of grades in school and since tests also count (unfortunately), it is worth not leaving it to chance and putting in some prep/practice. It surely cannot hurt and often it can help. Then, once that is done, the scores are the best you can do and find schools to apply to that are in range academically.</p>
<p>I will add that if a student has test anxiety, then one way to help with that is to go into it very well prepared. If a student has a learning disability, such as ADD as mentioned in the previous post, there are test accommodations that one can apply for if the disability can be documented.</p>
<p>Look, of course some kids have anxiety taking tests. Some kids have anxiety doing auditions too. Some kids don’t audition well. Some kids don’t take timed tests well. It always boils down to practice. The more you practice, the better your chances. There are no guarantees, of course, and no one is saying that these tests are a be all and end all, or that there is a one to one correlation between the tests and intelligence. There isn’t. But I have to say as a tutor–families that value academics are having their children practice hard for the SAT. They don’t say, ‘My kid has anxiety taking tests so oh well, it’s a wash.’ They say, ‘My kid has anxiety taking tests so we are going to do everything in our power to help him do the best he can.’ Again, there are no guarantees, but practicing and preparing for something will always increase your odds. </p>
<p>You’re not saying the same thing for the audition–you’re not saying, “My kid has horrible anxiety for auditions so therefore we won’t do any practice for it because it’s stupid anyway.” Or: “My kid has way too much on her plate right now so she can’t practice for her auditions more than a couple of hours.” Your’e not saying that because auditions are important to your D. She is motivated to do well on these. So she is doing ALL it takes to give herself an edge. The same cannot be said for SATs. I’m not saying that everyone is capable of a fabulous score–I"m ONLY saying that it’s best to position yourself to do the best you can do. If you’ve practiced a lot and taken the tests several times and your scores don’t improve anymore, then at least you know you’ve done the best you can do. That’s all one can ask.</p>
<p>And I completely agree with Soozievt and others–studying hard for SATs demonstrates a dedication to academics and self discipline in trying to achieve your goals. </p>
<p>For students with learning disabilities and ADD–as soozievt says, there are many accommodations College Board makes. Many of my students have ADD and learning disabilities–a few have had autism. College is competitive and a lot of work. If you won’t devote time to studying for the SAT, then a more rigorous academic setting is most probably not for you. Does that mean you’re a failure? Absolutely NOT!!! It just means that that’s information you should know about yourself. YOu should plan your college experience accordingly and should probably avoid programs that include fairly rigorous academics.</p>
<p>I think that sometimes parents and students have to accept that certain scenarios are probably out of reach, or are - at the very least - an extremely long reach. I sometimes read posts on CC predicting score increases that are unlikely to occur. If your child’s scores and grades simply aren’t going to get him or her into an Ivy League college, then it’s unfair to keep pushing more test prep - why not find alternatives that are more realistic? Take a second round of tests, by all means, but work with what you have and presume that they will not change radically. Most BFA programs are within academic reach of most students; they are selective in terms of talent. There are some excellent test-optional schools out there, but you should identify them very soon if you are applying for next year - they often have early deadlines. If you are seriously considering theater, disappointment and rejection are just part of the landscape. Thousands of talented, accomplished kids will be turned down, but almost all will get in and thrive somewhere. The college admissions scene is often bewildering, and especially so for BFA aspirants. The best advice I can give is not to get your heart too set on one or two schools, but to consider other criteria (e.g. location, size, “vibe,” etc.) in order to create a realistic blend of long-shots, possibilities, and safeties.</p>
<p>Actingdad, I can’t remember your daughter’s list, but there are some BA programs with good acting departments that are test-optional-- Bard and Sarah Lawrence come to mind. Why not throw in an extra couple of applications, just to cover all bases?</p>
<p>Just curious, are you saying your son was accepted into the acting BFA program at BU by audition, but was then rejected academically with a 2300 SAT and high gpa?</p>
<p>That’s mind-blowing! Of course, BU, like other institutions, go by lots of other criteria besides just the scores/gpa, so there may have been other things folded into the decision for your son. And others with lower scores I’m sure were accepted - again, the admission group saw something in all the other materials submitted by those students.</p>
<p>You are right that colleges are unpredictable - which is why I think ActingDad’s D should still apply despite her lower scores, because you never know what could happen. As long as the expectations are realistic - GO FOR IT!</p>
<p>Just to clarify–I was responding to the poster who was dismayed at the thought of practice tests for his D.</p>
<p>I am not talking about different abilities or bright kids who even with practice, don’t do well on tests. Nor am i saying that your scores will increase infinitely with practice. I’ve indeed had a student whose scores increased maybe 80 points max. But I could see that would be the case from the get go–the girl, a great kid, simply did not have the academic ability to do much better than that. But she did TRY. And a good and honest tutor will be able to assess pretty easily what the potential gain will be. You can tell that from the first session or two–whether the errors are, say, basic reasoning errors, inference errors, or whether they’re careless mistakes or strategical mistakes. Depending on the sorts of mistakes and errors, the student can improve drastically with practice, or - in the case of a student who struggles with the sort of reasoning the SAT values - the scores will not increase much at all. But that’s not something you can tell without practicing and analyzing. If you don’t practice and analyze your test scores, you cannot tell what your potential is.</p>
<p>What I am talking about is the importance of at least trying and at least practicing. And I’m not judging the poster at all-some kids don’t want to practice and don’t care about the SAT. What I’m saying is that that’s important info to know–that if his D doesn’t like to read and is shying away from essays and practicing for her SATs then that is something she should know about herself when applying to schools. As glassharmonica says, she can also try colleges that don’t value these tests as well.</p>
<p>marbleheader–I actually don’t remember believe it or not! I know he was academically rejected from BU first, before he’d heard about the BFA results. So that was that. I think he did get rejected from the BFA program too, but it was several weeks after he’d already been rejected from the college itself. By that time he’d already put BU out of his mind anyway. And I have no idea why he was rejected academically–these things happen. Perhaps he’d been rejected from the BFA program and they somehow communicated to the college but we heard from the college first? It’s not a comment on BU of course–these things happen. That’s my point, colleges are unpredictable.</p>
<p>My son was startled that a very talented and academically able friend of his, who was accepted into the Acting BFA programs at both Rutgers and NYU, was not accepted into the BFA program at Boston University. These things happen…sounds like it happened to your son, unfortunately, Connections.</p>
<p>There are all sorts of programs out there that provide excellent training, for all sorts of kids. I’m sure ActingDad’s daughter will end up with some fine acceptances, even with SATs that are a little bit on the iffy side.</p>
<p>So many of our theatre kids are just not kids who can absolutely “do it all.” My son did NOT do some of the things that have been urged upon high school students in some of the posts on CC. He chose an easier academic load his senior year than some of his high school peers, bypassing a couple of AP classes that many of them took. He did have decent extracurriculars (school newspaper, etc); however, he never had very much that could be described as community service, because schoolwork and theatre, plus the ECs he did have, took up basically all of his time. And he still got into three auditioned BFA programs.</p>
<p>Our kids simply have to do the best they can, and hope for the best. It usually works out. I think having the passion, and being as well informed as possible, and doing the very best monologue prep possible, goes a long, long way.</p>
<p>The whole thing can be very stressful and confusing. It’s hard to know what’s best. Perhaps I can use another personal example to show you what I mean. Unlike my other kids, my younger son is a terrible student although a strong actor. Right now he’s being homeschooled. He did very well on his SATs but academically I’m very uncertain about his ability to balance theatre with studies at this point. At the same time I’m uncertain whether a BFA program is the right fit for him. Luckily he is uncertain too, and knows it–so I was relieved when he said he wanted to take a gap year to figure things out. He will be taking classes at community college soon. His drive and ability in these classes (or lack thereof) will then give him data to figure out what sorts of college programs are the best match for him. But if he’s not motivated to do well in academic classes now, then tossing him into programs with academic classes (even if he gets in) would not be a good idea. Many colleges with strong BFA programs count the audition much more heavily than academics. But even if my son were to get in at this point, I’m not sure that it would be a good idea for him. Can I ask you, NJ Theatre Mom–how has your own son’s academic experiences been at BU? Since he chose an easier academic load has he had any difficulties once he was at BU? Or has it been fine?</p>
This may have been my daughter (since she’s friends with both NJTheatrerMOM’s son <em>and</em> connections’ son (small world!) She got into many academically challenging programs-- Mason Gross, NYU, Fordham, and a bunch of other non-auditioned schools like UPENN, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, and others. But, despite having what she thought was one of her best auditions at BU, she was rejected there, kind of a shock ,as her academics seemed to be in line with what they wanted. This was her only rejection that was surprising and disappointing. Of course, no idea why! And it doesn’t matter, as she’s happy where she is now. I guess the point is, you never know, so it’s a good idea to cast a wide, wide net.</p>
<p>Connections, my son has been doing fine at BU. I should point out that it was only during senior year of high school that he took the lighter load – so that he could concentrate on the application process and also take advantage of some performance opportunities – and the APs he eschewed were Physics II, Calculus and Latin, which might not have been viewed by the colleges as the most highly relevant ones. </p>
<p>Prior to his senior year, he took quite a few AP classes, and he ended up as salutatorian of his class. Fortunately, he has always been one of those students who are mysteriously blessed by being able to earn good grades without excessive studying.</p>
<p>The BU SOT wants kids who can do okay in the two-year theatre history class, which is relatively demanding academically, with quite a few papers to write. The general liberal arts requirements of the degree are really rather light. My son did take a fourth year-level course, dramaturgy, as a junior, and found it to be somewhat difficult. Dramaturgy was an elective course, though, and could have been avoided if he had wished to.</p>
<p>KEVP – did you actually look at the list of schools my daughter is applying to? Other than perhaps a recent shift in emphasis at BU, NYU is the only school on her list that I would put as an academic emphasis school. I have little doubt that she is fully prepared to attend and thrive in a conservatory environment. The great bulk of her schools – CMU, Purchase, NCSA, U of Arts, Depaul, Hartt, etc. – are schools that are essentially the audition and thats it. </p>
<p>Also, on the SAT practice test issue, there is some context here beyond what I’ve posted. My daughter experienced some serious health issues that put her on home schooling last year. Some of these issue resurfaced this Fall. Keeping up with school work and preparing for monologues is pretty much full time without a lot of time left for practice tests. Stress level is quite high right now. Though I supposed Sandy could end up giving her some more time to do practice tests.</p>
<p>GH – a BA program is just not a good fit for her so even if one might accept her without an SAT score it would not be what she wanted.</p>
<p>Connections - your younger son sounds something like my older son, who is now in a BFA program. He seems happy, but it’s too early to tell whether he is fulfilling all of his obligations. His Critical Reading SAT earned him a spot in an Honors Writing class, which will enable him to take some additional liberal arts classes. He does not have to worry about Math and Science requirements, though, which pleases him. BFA programs are usually small, which can also be a boon for the less motivated student (although I have a friend whose child flunked out of a BFA program last year).</p>
<p>ActingDad–I hope your D is fully recovered. That sounds tough. It sounds like a conservatory would be a good match for her. Best of luck with the process.</p>
<p>stagemum–yeah, I worry about the requirements, etc. My own philosophy is that if they are ready for something, they’ll demonstrate it. If they’re not able to do classwork or scholastic work without constant nagging, then they’re probably not ready for college with a lot of classwork. THis has freed me up a bit to stop my nagging :-)</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence used to be the most militant: they would not look at scores even if you sent them; but now they have shifted back to test optional.</p>
<p>Notice, too, that The New School is on the list. It might be worthwhile to inquire if the new BFA program at Eugene Lang (the undergraduate college of The New School) is test optional…</p>