My daughter kept APs her Senior year of High School during the college audition process. She took AP English, Government, Statistics but did drop AP European History since had already placed out with WHAP & APUSH scores for college. She did take and easier Math & placed out of Science already too. She was in shows and had tons of Fine Arts commitments at home during college audition process. So it was a constant juggle. But she got in academically everywhere & lots of scholarship so it was worth it fiscally. Audition materials, prescreens etc worked on over summer. Also worked with school to get excused absences during travel for auditions. It was a lot to manage. But so glad she placed out of so many credits for college. For her it was what she wanted. But she always has a high GPA. But my other child struggles & could not have taken a heavy AP load during college auditions. It really depends on what your kid can handle vs what you think they can handle. They will know what’s too much. I asked her to drop APs at beginning of audition process but she refused. Trust their instincts. She was right. She was able to handle it.
Very interesting discussion. I wanted to add our experience in case this helps 
For my homeschooled daughter, she and I planned out her senior year together. She wanted a year that was challenging, yet still allowed time for intense audition prep and time to have a little bit of a breather after auditions. She took 4 dual enrollment classes and 4 high school classes (most of these were intensive training focused on the arts ). For her, this allowed her to excel and have some space to schedule an extra audition or college visit or be in a show or creative project. I also scheduled the class that I thought would be hardest during second semester so that if she didn’t do well, it wouldn’t be weighted for her admissions score. Academically (except for the rigorous stat class), it was a pretty easy year for her. Mostly, because she jumped in skill level for what she needed for college and she really matured in terms of organizing her time and tasks and schedule. Once audition season was over, she took on some part time work, which gave her extra skills and some extra cash.
One benefit to having a manageable schedule is that she’s had some time to “fill her cup” and gain a lot of balance. Junior year and the audition season were pretty intense and I think these past few months added a much needed break to her schedule and time for her to read real books, learn to cook, and gain friendships and memories that are a huge part of a life balance. Had she not done auditions, she would have taken more college classes…
We didn’t worry too much about what was going to count or not count for dual enrollment as she applied to a range of colleges across the board. Fortunately, the school she chose accepted her dual enrollment classes, but this was a bonus. The intent was to prepare for academic and artistic rigor wherever she landed.
Interestingly, as she came closer to her decision, she realized that she liked the academic part of college and that was a factor in her decision.
In terms of what colleges like CLEP, Dual Enrollment, AP, this varied by college for us. So, we didn’t worry about that either. We have a great CC five minutes from our house and it seemed to work the best with the schedule and my daughter’s learning style.
The key takeaways from senior year is that my daughter had a schedule that was challenging, but manageable. The rigor was there, but it was a manageable rigor.
Thank you for sharing this. I really just enjoy taking hard classes and challenging myself on stage and in the classroom ! I am hopeful I can have the same success your daughter did!
Can anyone give any advice on a resume for college? I have heard so many conflicting things. List years or shows? Or no years? Names of directors ? Or not
^^^If you are talking of the Theater / Performing Arts Resume, don’t list years for the show credits. List Show, Role, and name of theater or theater organization. No need to name the director unless that director is well known. In terms of training, do list number of years in that area of training.
For a non-theater resume, an activity resume or application does list which years of high school you participated in each particular activity.
My S did AP and college courses throughout HS. He took all his academics his senior year at a 4-year college and everything transferred (Baldwin Wallace). He was able to pick up extra coursework in his areas of interest. D2 did APs and a college credit plus; APs transferred if she got 4s (other than English - many of the schools will require their freshman English/writing courses regardless of AP); CCP did not transfer (Boston University).
@soozievt As a parent, I am struggling with this. I would really like my D to enjoy her senior year. She intends to take 3 APs (US Gov, Lang and Comp, and Stats) in addition to taking Honors Anatomy. She has definitely taken a rigorous academic load every year in addition to performing in theatre and advanced choirs. I worry that she’ll burn out before audition season. But like your kids, she wants to be challenged and be in classes with kids who also like to learn. But I want her to not be stressed about keeping up with classwork, grades as well as preparing for audition prep.
@Kkrazie Thank you for this. You’re right. I have to trust her instincts. She is motivated to keep her grades up so I know she will continue to do what it takes to achieve those goals. I just hope it won’t be at the expense of her ability to be prepared for her auditions.
My D is going to be a junior in her BFA MT program, so our experience is a few years old, but when we visited some schools her junior year we began to realize that her academics were not going to be all that helpful to her getting into her higher choices for MT. We were hearing things like “Our decision is 90% your audition, and 10% academics” from most of the schools on her list. That said, she certainly wanted to have a strong academic application, for scholarship money and a couple of schools where she felt her academics would be important (NYU is the school most people bring up when it comes to GPA, and although Michigan is a pipe dream for nearly every MT applicant, they do require you to pass their academic standard [which is a bit lower in terms of gpa and test scores for MT than they require for their other applicants, but still significant]). Then my D attended a summer program the summer before senior year, and we did some research and we began to realize what the year was going to be like. She was already heavily committed to her dance ensemble and a fall show at school, had a part-time job, and was signed up for three AP classes and an honors science class. We decided to go talk to her high-school counselor, and in the end she dropped her AP math class and the science class while keeping two APs. She actually became a part-time student, because she had most of what she needed to graduate, WHICH WAS ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS WE MADE FOR THE MT APPLICATION PROCESS. She went to school a little later in the morning, and left a period earlier than the full-time students. THAT EXTRA TIME TO SLEEP AND DEAL WITH COLLEGE APPLICATIONS WAS INCREDIBLY HELPFUL. She still had a great GPA, five AP classes over her junior and senior years, was in National Honor Society, etc., but really, the crazy math and science classes just would not have served her goal, and I think would have been untenable for her that year. I don’t share this story to persuade anyone to drop APs, or disregard the value of math and science classes, but I will tell you that in the MT BFA application process something has to give. Some kids skip their high-school musical, others drop their part-time job, others take a lighter academic load like my daughter did, others decide not to apply to as many MT programs and take that risk. Applying to MT programs, from choosing audition material to prescreens to staying organized with applications, essays, fees, audition schedules, to all the travel for auditions, is like a having a second job, or attending a second school. IT IS A TON OF WORK for the student and incredibly stressful. I urge you to think carefully about how ambitious your student needs to be in terms of academic load. Most MT programs simply won’t care.
i know alot of " old timers & regulars" have often suggested a common set of Pre screen or audition requirements, Well Texas State just posted some updated info for pre screens on their get accepted page that is mildly encouraging
"Musical Theatre Common Pre-Screen Requirements
Dear Applicant,
Along with other programs across the country, Texas State is participating in Common Pre-Screen requirements for our applicants. We hope this makes the pre-screen process less stressful and offers clarity for our applicants. Thank you for considering Texas State.
Here is a list of other participating programs:
TBA"
hope this helps even if no other school is listed yet its only June!
This is great news for everyone! I hope it is more than just the audition requirements (that is the easy part). It is the application process that is the most frustrating. If the colleges can agree on a standard for THAT, it would be amazing! Good for them. Can’t wait to see which colleges.
@NYYFanNowMTdad That is fantastic news for applicants although we don’t know yet how many participant schools are included. Although we no longer have a horse in this race, hope it’s a step in the direction of streamlining the process.
Agree with you @1bamom (we are Acting). D took 2 AP classes Senior year, and given she met other grad requirements had 2 free periods (she was dually enrolled for two different classes at community college each semester but those were online), so had time in between periods to work on essays, apps, prescreens, especially in the fall. This was very helpful! I helped a lot with scheduling and keeping her organized, which worked for us, but truly not sure how one can leave it all for the students to juggle on top of everything else.
@1bamom Thanks for the insight. Realizing early what our daughter’s (rising Junior) senior year would look like (applying to 10-20 MT programs) at the beginning of HS, we created a path to where she would only have to take 3 classes her last year of HS. We wanted to create the widest berth possible for the audition process. It sure helps that she does not have school related extracurricular activities as she attends an online school within a local school district. Directors for any performances she is cast in that year will need to accept (sometimes many) audition related conflicts. If not, we have already agreed what is most important during her senior year - getting through the college app/audition process successfully. Stage time takes a back seat.
What is better, doing the common app or individual applications at colleges?
@Ashermom Do the common ap for every school you possibly can. There’s no advantage to doing separate applications, and the common ap makes it easier when you’re applying to a large number of schools.
Wonder when or how we could find out who is using the “common prescreen” procedure. This will be so great- hoping many participate!
Thank you! @speezagmom
@NYYFanNowMTdad Great news. Let’s hope other schools get on board.
i just read this amazing story for the second time, first time was 12 months ago…thought it was worth the read, albeit long for all my fellow class of 2024 peeps… enjoy this guy is the bomb!