<p>Thanks for all the information madbean. Very helpful</p>
<p>Right. I assume the minimum GPA for UCal schools is a prerequisite, regardless of how good the audition is, or am I wrong about that (in other words, I wouldn’t have thought amtc’s suggestion that a strong audition with as little as a 2.0 GPA is feasible). I’d love to be wrong about this, as my out-of-state D’s GPA falls just below the 3.4 requirement.</p>
<p>Well, the good news for kids applying as Theatre BA at UCLA is the School of Theatre, Film & Television will consider them first by audition/portfolio review, supplement. If the department wants them, that will win the day. I’m not certain how much leeway they have, as the GPA & SAT must indicate the student will be able to thrive in the other non-theatre courses, but we have heard anecdotal stories of pretty low GPAs with admissions. The caveat is that applying to the theatre major means if the student is not selected by the department, their application is then denied. No back up with the rest of the university admissions. Also, a theatre major may not ever transfer to the film major (which typically is available to all UCLA students by competitive application for junior year). </p>
<p>There is definitely hope for a theatre or art student at UCLA, but their work, awards, portfolios, etc must make them among the top candidates of that year.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Which of the BA programs that we would regard as “good” are at schools that we would regard as “safeties” in the sense that they have a high admissions rate and the middle 50 percent of the class has SATs in the range of 500 - 550? It’s fun to talk about UCLA et al., and I’m not here to discourage anyone–heck, my D is going to audition there–but I’m actually having a harder time coming up with respectable “safeties”, particularly on the West Coast, where she wants to go to school. Thoughts?</p>
<p>CapeDad, </p>
<p>D had friends aiming at West coast conservatories, who used U of San Francisco and Loyola Marymount in LA as backups. Loyola requires an audition DVD, so it’s not a true safety, but it is less competitive that UCLA by a lot.</p>
<p>madbean… thanks so much for all the info… sorry I haven’t replied sooner but I have a Senior and I’m sure you can imagine all that we are going through right now… My DS who is interested in theatre is a 10th grader and I am just starting to put some ideas in the air. He is creative and LOVES theatre, but also is interested in physics… I know… weird combo. He has been invited to 2 fully funded Shakespeare Summer Intensives and is a California State Arts Scholar. The problem is is hasn’t really decided what he wants to major in… and I can’t blame him he is still very young. We live in So Cal so of course USC and UCLA come into my mind. I also think he should consider small LAC’s like Wesleyan and Vassar if he doesn’t want to go the conservatory style theatre program… I think he must have some talent as he has yet to be turned down at any audition… and he is a boy. I am just trying to decide the best way to steer him… but he may do the steering himself…</p>
<p>5boys, no apologies necessary. I remember very clearly how senior year goes–and I have only 2 boys. (Do you really have 5?? I’m in awe.)</p>
<p>Sounds like your soph son is on the right track and doing great. If he’s looking at LACs, Kenyon is known to have a stellar theatre program, too. </p>
<p>Others may chime in with more ideas.</p>
<p>How did you come up with this list?</p>