<p>I am a current Junior in High School is looking to go into Technical Theatre Design with a concentration in Lighting Design.
I am in the process of creating my portfolio and am in the process of applying to CMU Pre-College Program and Interlochan to further my experience.
I do not have stellar grades, but good test scores and good extra curricular activities. I was wondering if colleges will prioritize academic achievements or artistic talent throughout the admissions process?
The schools I am looking at are CMU, Depaul, Emerson, BU, PennState and UConn.
Also, does anyone have the admission statistics to the technical theatre design pre college program for CMU? How competitive is it?
Please&ThankYou</p>
<p>You should take this question to the Theater/Drama Majors sub-forum in the College Majors Forum. There are several people there who can advise you about this. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/</a> </p>
<p>Design programs are often hideously expensive. Be sure to identify an affordable safety school for yourself. Check the public universities in your home state, some of them have very good programs.</p>
<p>I only personally know one technical theater lighting designer, and she was VERY successful, doing all the lighting design for several world-wide concert tours for rock stars (as well as theater lighting). She went to UConn.</p>
<p>But, a question for you: I was on an airplane one time and the guy next to me was working on his laptop using a 3D animation program. Since that’s the kind of stuff my son was interested in, I asked him what he was doing. He actually worked for the division in Disney that did stage shows and he was a lighting designer. He did his initial design work on that program so he could test various lighting, move lights as necessary, and see the effect. I would assume that is done more and more these days - computer-aided lighting design. So, the question is, how are you with computers?</p>
<p>Are you stuck on stage work, or have you considered film and/or TV lighting? And most importantly for future work, have you even considered staying inside the computer and doing lighting for any of the animation or CG effects houses for the film/TV industry?</p>