metaphor17

Hi there, guys.

I am currently a junior in high school (soon to be a senior!) and Denison has recently captured my interest.

I am planning to either double major in Music/Vocal Performance and Theatre, or major in Theatre with a minor in Music/Performance. My mom took a look at the Denison website and told me "Oh, you wouldn't be interested in the theatre department", so initially I didn't look at Dentison. Then, on a whim I browsed the website and I was actually pretty impressed with the theatre program... I should have known that my mom doesn't exactly know what she's talking about when it comes to theatre So I looked up more information about Denison, and it looks great!

I am planning on visiting Denison this summer and early next fall, but before I visit I wanted to know if any of you could answer some of my questions... just to make sure it's worth visiting


Here are my questions:

1. Do any of you know how prominent or professional the theatre program and the productions at Denison are? I know some of their alumni are famous actors, so that always bodes well. Also, about how many people audition, and about how many are accepted?

2. Would any of you know much about the music/vocal program? It looks pretty standard to me, which is a good thing. I just want to make sure it's not sub-par. If anyone knows about how many vocal students audition and how many are accepted, or if a minor in music requires an audition, please let me know.

3. How likely is it that I would A) be accepted to Denison and B) be offered merit scholarship, based on the profile below? I know that Denison is selective and academically prestigious, and I also know that they are a bit more generous with scholarship money than some of my other college options.


So here goes.

MY PROFILE!

Female, white
From central Ohio, a suburb of Columbus
Intended major: Drama with a music minor or double-major in drama and music

Top 10% (Large, competitive 2,000+ student high school in suburbia, but diverse)
PSAT: 96
SAT: 2060 (730 reading and writing, 600 math)
ACT: Haven't taken yet. Shooting for 28-31.
GPA: 4.1 weighted, 3.9 unweighted

Have taken the AP European History test but no grade back yet. Will take the AP Music Theory, AP French, and AP English Lit tests next year... I should do well on all of them, since music, languages and literature are my strongest subjects.

Academic courses taken:
Honors Science 9, Honors Biology, Honors Chemistry
Honors English 9 and 10, American Literature, Research and Exposition
Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry
3 years of highest level choir, Music Theory 1
AP American History, AP European History
4 years of French, 1 year of German

Academic courses I will take next year:
Probability and Statistics
Music Theory 2 (I will take the AP test) and a fourth year of highest level choir
German 2
AP French 5 (I am taking this through Kenyon College)
AP Liberal Democracy in America (Taking this through Kenyon, too.)
AP English Language and Composition



EXTRACURRICULARS!

I have been doing theatre since I was 5 years old. I've done many MANY community productions, regional and professional productions, school productions and even professional and college operas. I have had many leading roles including Alice in Wonderland (twice!) and will definitely attach my (long) resume to my application. I have also taken voice and piano lessons since I was about 7.

I am very involved in my church, specifically in the drama department. I do a monthly drama, dance and song program for Sunday schoolers, lead worship and learning at our summer program, and have volunteered for the children's choir for two years. I played a main part in an evangelistic musical that we toured around Ohio and the Carolinas, and will probably do so again next year. This summer I am helping to develop a daily worship and praise service for families and children at our church's free lunch program, which I am really excited about!

I am part of my school's drama club, and the International Thespian Society. I am pretty active in it, and participated in our annual Halloween food drive this year. I represented my school at our area Thespian Conference as Alice in Wonderland earlier this year... we took a scene from the play

I am going to be entering my third year of our school's Senior Choir, as well as our out-of-school honors ensemble called Madrigals, which is a huge honor to be in. We do MANY performances throughout the year, especially around Christmas. We do a lot of volunteer performances, and when we do get paid all of the money goes to our school's music boosters program.



Other colleges I am looking at:

Otterbein College (Westerville OH) for a BA in Theatre and Production, minor in Music
Butler University (Indianapolis IN) for a double BA in Theatre and Vocal Performance
Ball State University (Munsey IN) for a BA in Theatrical Direction, minor in Music
Wright State University (Dayton OH) ...undecided about which program
Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green OH) for a BA in Musical Theatre
Was looking at Kenyon for Drama and Music before I realized how little scholarship money they offer, and DePauw before I realized that their theatre department was not very strong.



Other Important Stuff:

I was inducted into the National Honor Society this year thanks to my grades, extracurriculars and community service It's a big deal at my school, we're pretty selective about it.

Next year my GPA will be considerably higher due to all of my AP courses, but unweighted it will only go up a little bit.

I will continue ALL of my extracurriculars and my academic rigor next year.

My recommendations should be really good. My teachers are AWESOME about writing rec letters for anything, and (most of them) love me... I have known some of them since I was 6 or 7, thanks to my involvement with theatre!

I am a pretty good writer. My essays are high-quality, and I have an amazing English teacher who would be happy to proofread my application essay and give suggestions, but by NO means will she "write it for me". I got an A on my Research and Exposition essay portfolio, which is hard to do.




SO I've probably just overloaded you with information, but I really want to be as thorough as possible... you can skip over the parts that you don't think are important

Any answers would be greatly appreciated!

Hopeful2012er

My scores are lower than yours, and I was accepted into Cinema (plan on double majoring in Cinema and Communication). I'm a full IB Diploma Candidate, if that makes any difference. I was awarded a $13,000 renewable merit scholarship in additional to several grants. I have a terrific financial aid package, and with your scores, you should get an even better one. I don't know how selective the theatre program is, though -- but Denison is definitely worth the visit. I would wait until fall (there's a Fall Visit Day) to visit so you can get a feel for the campus when the students are there. You can contact Emily Nemeth - nemethe@denison.edu - she was my admissions counselor and I'm also from Columbus.

applicantmum77

You should add Muhlenberg College in Pa. to your list for Theatre. Would be a safety for you and they give nice merit scholarships for academics and additional money for theatre talent by audition.

Denison is a wonderful school. Don't know anything about theatre there.

metaphor17

Thanks so much for the help! If anyone knows anything more about theatre or music or anything at all, please post!

Applicantmum - thanks for the suggestion, but I am really only looking in Ohio or central Indiana... my family is in Ohio and my godparents are in central Indiana. I'm going to college at a pretty young age and I don't want to go too far away

Hopeful2012er

If you've skipped grades and have those scores, you should get into very good schools.

metaphor17

Do they really take grade skipping into consideration? I didn't know.

Whistle Pig

Yes, it would be noted, and not always positively. Campuses are mutually academic and social institutions.

metaphor17

Well I've only skipped just one, and it was pretty early on, so I've been with my current class for quite a long time. It's not as if anyone would see me or talk to me and be like "Hey, you're not a senior!"

So I think it's fine...?

Whistle Pig

Great. So why'd you ask?

metaphor17

I just didn't know that was even something colleges considered. It was interesting to me.