<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>It depends on the school, of course, but in general BFA programs are looking for talent and a willingness to work. Academic achievement is less important. Of the schools you have mentioned, DePaul is not academically challenging and CMU seems to be more interested in artistic achievement (although they do like students with technical aptitude). The other schools may care more about core academics.</p>
<p>I urge you to attend Pre-College at CMU. It will give you a very good idea what to expect in a BFA design/production program and this knowledge can help you a lot in admissions interviews and essays. Also, CMU accepts quite a few students from the D/P Pre-College group. Overall, CMU is not hugely competitive. I believe they accept about 2/3 of all applicants. However, Pre-College students get the first slots. They get their letters in September and then do not have to reply until May.</p>
<p>I can only speak to Carnegie Mellon’s program and Pre-College since I am not familiar with other programs.</p>
<p>So the deal with Pre-C is that there is no statistical range that all Pre-C students are within or above that I am aware of. It is more that they bring in students who are both academically high-acheiving who may be lacking in experience, students who are fairly low-acheiving academically but who can boast full resumes, and those in between because they take students who they could potentially have in their freshman class. A lot of it is about attitude and aptitude, not just about skills or being “the best” so they take students who might have that potential.</p>
<p>Within a Pre-C class, they will accept as many as they feel will be successful as full undergraduate students. Some years it is four, some years it is eight, it just depends on the year.</p>
<p>As far as total acceptances, 2/3 is not an accurate estimate of students who get in overall. A closer estimation is that about a tenth of students are accepted, which is still good odds. Although remember that CMU, as I would assume with most conservatories, are rigorous and do not count on admissions to find a graduating class. The hope is that everyone will be successful, but unfortunately not all students who matriculate will graduate. For CMU DPs I can tell you that the class of 2011 is at 11 students of the 22 who matriculated, 2013 is at 17 of 24, and 2014 is at 20 of 22. Most of the class of 2013 is around, they were a particularly strong year.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>I got my info from College Confidential and it may be wrong. On top of that, I misquoted it. I’d read that about 80 students apply and roughly 24 enter. Of course, that does not tell you how many are accepted since some who are accepted go elsewhere. However, if what I read was right, the “yield” is about 1/3. However, that was last year. It may have changed.</p>
<p>Your information may be more accurate. In general, however, design and production programs are less competitive than acting programs where 10% would indeed be good odds.</p>