<p>My daughter is considering attending a Performing Arts High School her senior year. Would that make a big difference for her when she applies to a musical theatre program in college.</p>
<p>I cannot answer that definiteavely, but I can say that every one of the schools with MT BFA programs that my s and I visited last month asked the following questions:</p>
<p>What are your academic grades?
Have you had private voice lessons and if so for how long?
Do you have dance training and if so how much and what types?
Have you been in productions outside of school ie community theatre?</p>
<p>Moving high schools at the senior year stage can be quite stressfull if the student does not have a "built in" social circle. I would weigh the pros and cons before making that move. There are many many students who are accepted into college MT programs that do not attend Performing Arts High Schools but have considerable amounts of training going in. What I heard from the colleges was that they are looking for a good student that is talented and able to balance the academics and arts studies in order to produce a well rounded educated talented adult.</p>
<p>Dear Britbrat</p>
<p>Thank you for your feedback. I am new to the process and am starting to assist my daughter in preparing for the process of pursuing MT in college.</p>
<p>How goes your process of investigating schools and in doing so, which schools did you visit and what impression did you have</p>
<p>Taylorsdad - my D is one of those kids who did not attend a PA HS, but a rigorous college prep with a mediocre theatre program, yet was accepted and is happily attending NYU's CAP21 this fall. </p>
<p>I would like to second britbrat to be quite carefull switching from a regular HS to a PA HS for senior year. It can be just as effective to take dance, voice and acting lessons outside of school to feel more prepared. Also, please know that, depending on the schools your D plans to appy to academics can play a bigger or smaller role.</p>
<p>Taylorsdad, I was wondering how Taylor felt about changing schools at the end of her senior year? As to it helping much regarding gaining admission to a top program - the impact of your senior year is minimal (for example, junior year grades are usually more important, in any discipline, as not too much of your senior year has passed by the time one applies). What matters the most is a good audition. So, if Taylor wants to transfer for some reason - then transfer. I think a far more valuable resume builder (and useful experience) might be attending some great summer program such as the Broadway Theatre Project. Best of luck in whatever course you choose.</p>
<p>My S did not attend a PA high school but his high school has a decent theatre program. I don't think a PA HS is necessary expecially if it is just for senior year since auditions are held mostly in Jan and Feb, you would not even attend the school that long. I agree with using the time for private voice and dance lessons. I think that made all the difference when my S auditioned last year.</p>
<p>Everyone has given great advice and pointed out important issues with resepct to the PA High School. Most notable is the short period of time that a new senior at a PA would have with respect to the time line of auditions.</p>
<p>It seems the consensus is that as long as you have the voice, dance or acting lessons, that it should prepare your child for the audition process to a MTV program</p>
<p>I greatly appreciate everyones feedback</p>
<p>Great point MTdog71......my s has attended Broadway Theatre Project for the last 2 summers and the value of the program has been fantastic. I think that getting good training on your own and then joining a group like BTP for 3 weeks really helps to define where one is in their levels of training. It is especially helpful to be grouped with college and out of college students (the age range of the program is approx. 16-26)so that the student can be "stretched" out of their comfort zone. I highly recommend BTP;and I am sure that their are others, for preparation for college auditions and college.
Best of luck :)</p>
<p>My D did BTP her summer as a rising junior, and NYU Tisch's CAP21 summer program as a rising senior, and I cannot emphasize enough how great both of these programs are. I think it is important for anyone embarking on this journey to realize that your child may be a "big fish" in your local pond, but you many not necessarily know how they stack up on a national level. These summer programs help a lot with that, and it reassured me as a parent that my D was on the right track, pursuing a BFA can sound a bit scary for some of us :D.</p>
<p>I also want to point out though that these programs are not a "must", they are just helpful.</p>
<p>My son didn't do a High School play his last two years and focused on productions outside of the school. He was accepted in 5 out of the 10 programs he auditioned for.</p>