<p>D would like to apply to U of Miami, but her ACT score, while quite solid for most other schools and admittable for even the top academic ones for MT, is in the lower end for U of Miami. Is U of Miami like CMU, where only the audition really matters, like UMich, where scores do matter but may be lower for MT than the rest of the college, or would she likely not be admitted because of her score? As I said, her present score is good, but it would be in the bottom part of admits. </p>
<p>Also, her English, reading, and writing scores on the ACT are very high; it's the math and science which brought down the score. Do schools tend to take that into account when applying for MT, or do they just look at the composite? What do you think U of Miami does with that?</p>
<p>Another question: D may retake the ACT for scholarship reasons; just one or two more points would open up more scholarship money for her. Does UMiami give generous talent scholarships? Even with one or two points, she'd be in the middle of admits, which wouldn't qualify her for much or any merit money there and would make attending impossible for her.</p>
<p>U Miami definitely has an academic cut-off for admissions. We were thinking about walking in there at Unifieds two years ago and the admissions rep was very clear that we should not waste our time and money without academics and scores above a certain level (which was not Ivy-high and not a problem in our case, but still it counts). But sure, take the ACT again and apply if you’re daughter is interested. Talent money is REALLY unpredictable, but you never know until you try. </p>
<p>I think you will find that the majority of scholarships available at U Miami are for academic merit. I know the music school has some talent scholarships but I don’t think the theatre department does. You should not take my word for that and check it by having your daughter call up the department and ask. </p>
<p>Back when my daughter applied for 2012 admission, U Miami specifically said on their website what the requirements were just to be under consideration for merit. I no longer see that on their website now (not that I looked very hard) but I still have a cut and paste of what it said back then in an old email I sent to my daughter. (See below). Note the mention of the 31 ACT. Also note that they said that they only consider the math and critical reading section of the SAT. I don’t know what if anything that meant for how they judged the ACT score breakdown.</p>
<p>Just as a single data point and take that for what it is worth, my daughter was a strong student and met the criteria to be considered for merit. She was accepted to U Miami for MT, but did not get a dime of merit money. If you look at their data on the scores and grades of admitted students, you’ll notice the bar is high. </p>
<p>Here is the cut and past from the website back then:</p>
<p>ELIGIBILITY</p>
<p>Students considered for an academic scholarship:
• demonstrate significant academic achievement above and beyond the average academic profile of a student admitted to UM’s freshman class
• have significant academic achievement in the classroom typically taking the most challenging curriculum and earning top grades throughout their high school career
• have significant achievement on standardized tests and a minimum requirement of a 1350 SAT or 31 ACT to receive consideration
Return to top</p>
<hr>
<p>SCHOLARSHIP AWARD DECISIONS
The University of Miami takes into account students’ high school curriculum, difficulty of course selection (such as AP/IB), extracurricular activities, essay and guidance counselor recommendation(s), as well as the overall quality of the pool of applicants applying to the university each year. When reviewing standardized test scores, UM considers only the math and critical reading sections of the SAT. A student may receive only one academic scholarship from the Office of Admission.
The Scholarship Committee will make the final determination on all scholarship awards. </p>
<p>Thank you! Those were helpful posts. </p>
<p>Even though the website no longer states the specific score needed to be considered for merit money (from what I could see, anyway), I was definitely getting the impression that this school was not budging for admittance for MT as most other schools do, so I figured merit money would be difficult to get. Darn. D falls just a bit under that, but it’s good to know this information so that we don’t spend our money and time on the school, as good as it is (and as much as I would’ve loved visiting her in paradise 
). With it’s high price, we wouldn’t be able to afford it without significant aid or loans (which we won’t do). Ah well, there’s one off the long list!</p>
<p>@myloves, U Miami does also award need eligible grants. That is different from scholarships. You might want to read up on those if you might qualify.</p>
<p>My son was a walk-in audition for Miami at Unifieds. They were requesting everyone write their SAT or ACT scores on the top of their forms, so those are definitely a factor in getting accepted. Like your daughter, my son was much better in English, but still a very good student over all. He was accepted into the program at. Miami with a sizeable scholarship, but we never knew if that was academic or merit. Even with that, though, because of Miami’s overall cost, in the end it was still our second most expensive option after NYU, which offered nothing in the way of scholarships. He got into the honors programs at Emerson, Oklahoma and Coastal Carolina, which all come with significant scholarship monies.</p>