<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I continue to check on these message boards frequently, as you are all so helpful in sharing your knowledge and experiences.</p>
<p>My daughter is a Junior, and will be applying to BFA programs next year. I have seen a number of people referencing making a spreadsheet to manage all the details and deadlines of various colleges. (My daughter intends to apply to about 13.) My husband (our go-to IT guy) said he will make this spreadsheet for us. </p>
<p>My question is, what sort of data did you put on the spreadsheet? I can imagine quite a few items, but figure I am probably missing some. Here is what I imagine: application deadline, set up audition?, audition date, SATS sent, letter of reference sent, thank you letter sent (after audition). Surely I am missing many things, though. </p>
<p>Any suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Pre-screens, number and type of monologue (contemporary, classical, contrasting,etc), On-campus audition, Unified/NYC/Chi/LA or regional audition location, some require a song a capella, Common App, resume, Letter of Reference, Head Shot, SAT Code, ACT Code.
I’m not a tech person and there was a point when the spread sheet became too busy and I separated info into separate folders with hard copies, but initially it was great to compare and group schools, especially if you plan to go to Unifieds and have multiple Common App schools. Have fun on the journey and the insanity is only temporary, or so I’m told!</p>
<p>Not specific to theater/drama majors, but our spreadsheet ended up with multiple tabs. We had one where we tracked all the schools she was interested in (info about the schools). Stuff like SAT acceptance range, size, info on the majors she was interested in, etc.</p>
<p>Also a tab on application tracking. Dates, essay topics, what test scores were required, what had been sent, when they are supposed to get back with a response, id and passwords for portals, etc. One note of advice - create an email account just for college communications that you and your kid share. That way it is really easy to get stuff like portal info without waiting for your kid to forward it. </p>
<p>Then we had another tab for results. Accept/reject/deferred, any scholarship money information, dates for housing deposits/responses, etc.</p>
<p>I also created a tab to try to compare the finances for each school. Started with the known costs for a year (tuition/room & board/fees), and put in columns for four years with an assumption about cost inflation increasing the cost each year (averaged around 4%, you could just use that). Added a transportation column. Totaled those four years up (oof). Then subtracted what we had saved for college. Used the net price calculators to calculate need based aid at each, and put that in a column to subtract out. Had a column for merit scholarships (made assumptions at a few schools where I knew they were likely, but replaced with actual numbers once she had them in hand. The number we were left divided by four with is what I expected we would have to pay out of pocket for each school. I didn’t put in books or spending money, as our kids are responsible for those expenses themselves.</p>
<p>Oh, and if you are applying for need based aid, you may want a tab for tracking what each college wants and when – they are all a little different.</p>