Taylorsdad

My daughter is considering attending a performing arts school for her senior year of high school. Does that make a large difference in applying for a musical theatre college program.

NotMamaRose

Taylorsdad, can you clarify your question? What do you mean by "making a large difference" in applying for a college MT program? Do you mean to ask whether or not attending this school will confer an admissions advantage (for college) on your daughter?

I will take a stab at answering without clarification by saying that really, the most important elements for your daughter and anyone else auditioning and applying for college level BFA programs in musical theater are what she does at the *audition* and her grades, scores and transcripts.

I don't have statistics to back me up on this, but I would posit that most kids attending BFA programs did not come from performing arts high schools. I say that simply because most kids don't attend pa high schools!

However, attending an arts high school might help your daughter in a few ways, depending on the quality of that program. One, one would presume that the faculty/counselors at an arts high school would be more versed in the whole audition process (and thus able to help her prepare well) than would teachers/counselors at the average American high school. And two, one would hope that the training available at a good arts high school would benefit a student. However, considering that your daughter is only thinking about attending for senior year, I doubt that will make much difference, when you take into account the fact that college auditions take place in the fall and winter. That's not much time to get a lot of training under your belt. But it is time to get *some* training!

I should reveal here that my own kid went to a quite wonderful public arts high school for three years (where she studied acting ... there was no musical theater major there) and loved every second of it. It was a great experience in and of itself.

MichaelNKat

The question of performing arts high schools v. "regular" high schools has been discussed in a number of prior threads. If you do a search, they will pop up. The bottom line, though, is that the decision to attend a performing arts high school should not be driven by a calculation of whether this will improve one's odds of acceptance to a college MT program. A student should attend a performing arts high school or a regular high school based on educational values and priorities applicable to the HIGH SCHOOL educational experience. Qualified students from both types of high school back rounds get accepted into equally fine MT programs. And students from both types of high schools who THINK they are qualified for admission to a MT program often find themselves rejected too.

In addition, changing high schools at the beginning of the senior year is a huge disruption in a student's life that can create a host of issues. I can't conceive that there is any salutary benefit to be gained from 3 months at a P.A. school before the audition season begins that would even begin to outweigh or otherwise justify the impact of leaving all your old friends, not graduating with those you spent the last 3 years with, trying to make new friends and fit into life at a new school and established social circles etc. All happening at a time when a student should be able to focus on audition preparation and college apps with a minimum of distractions. I think it's a recipe for chaos. You would be better off just focusing on continuing with voice lessons, monologue coaching and other audition prep through existing channels.

Taylorsdad

Thankyou very much for your input

You have highlighted many of the same issues that we have debated
and bring up a good point, being that many kids get accepted from the traditional high schools

Taylorsdad

Great insight of the idea, I appreciate your feedback and in viewing the previous threads I am finding a wealth of informaition

Thank you for your comments

llong39

For what it is worth, when my S auditioned last year, it seemed the panel was more interested in his training. They asked how many voice lessons he had in a week, how many dance classes he was taking and if he had any acting training. My S attended a public high school.

AZKMom

llong39, was this panel for one specific school and audition? Just curious...My S also attended a public high school in a small town with no drama classes just a fall play and spring musical. He had no formal dance training, just learning choreography for various musicals (school, community theatre, and professional childrens' theatre in Milwaukee) but did have private voice lessons and a little monologue coaching his senior year of high school. After reading about others' years of training in all MT aspects, I was afraid my S was woefully unprepared, though I knew he was talented and prayed auditioners would see his "potential". He was very happy with most of his auditions and especially enjoyed the auditions where the auditors worked with him on his monologues during the audition. 2 of those schools accepted him and must have seen his potential, talent and liked how he took direction despite the lack of formal training and non-pa high school.

llong39

AZKmom: All the schools were interested in his training, but CCM was especially interested in the dance training. When he auditioned, he was taking 2 dance classes a week to prepare for the spring musical at his high school. They were doing Crazy For You which required a lot of tap. Anyway, he had been taking voice for four years and one solid year of dance when he auditioned. He never took acting, but was in all the plays available to him at his high school. The Winter-One-Acts helped hone his acting skills. I know training it important, but talent is the prevalent factor. I am glad it worked out for your son.

alwaysamom

Attending a PA school for your senior year will not "make a large difference in applying for a musical theatre college program." And I say that as the mom of a D who did attend an excellent PA h/s. Actually, I am not familiar with any good PA schools which will even allow a senior year transfer. Is there some particular reason that your D wants to do this?

The college admissions process for these theatre kids is a very selective one. What is important is for these kids to have the best training and the best academics possible. The training can come in many forms; through their school, through respected summer programs, through outside vocal, dance, and acting classes. Ideally, all applicants should have some combination of those if they hope to have a successful audition season. While it is true that many kids in the college programs that we discuss here on CC have, indeed, attended PA schools, it isn't a necessity.

The other issue is that not all PA schools are created equal. This is something which needs to be investigated every bit as carefully as the college process does. The PA school my D attended required not only artistic auditions, but academic testing, essays, and an interview. Once accepted and enrolled, students were required to maintain strong academic grades in order to stay. The school provided a rigorous program, both academically and artistically. This is not the case with all of them.

If your D is getting the training necessary to launch into this process, I don't think that a transfer is necessary, or even advisable.

NotMamaRose

And keep in mind that, unless I am very much mistaken, the most important element is that the training that a kid has gotten, whatever that may be, shines through in his or her *audition.* In other words, it's what shows at the *audition* that is most important -- more important than what is on the resume, for sure.

kedstuff

I'd agree with alwaysamom on her assessment. Our S attended a great pa hs for 3 years. From my perspective, the few senior-year transfers they admitted during that time frame did not end up getting the value of the school's program because they had no context for the sequence of the arts training. They were plunged into various levels of dance, acting, voice, depending on how they auditioned. In addition to the college application process, they were dealing with a new school, new friends (many of whom wondered how this kid was going to compete for parts other seniors hoped to win in the year's performance schedule), and new faculty who would need to write letters of recommendation within three months of meeting them. That said, some did just fine in their college process but I'm not sure they wouldn't have anyway...and then they would have done so within a less stressful final year of high school.

Taylorsdad

It seems the concensus is that the PA is not as big of a factor. As long as voice, dance, and acting lessons are provided, they should prepare you for the audition process for a MT program.

I greatly appreciate everyones feedback

EnjoyTheAdventur

Two more considerations if a child were to transfer to a PA school

1. If they were the star at their high school, trsnsferring as a senior to a school where they are one of the many talented might be extremely detremental to their confidence during their college auditions.

2. The influence of the other PA students and their very strong teenage opinions of what the 'best schools' are might result in your child having very short list of just reach schools as opposed having a well rounded list of good fit schools. I actually saw this happen to one very talented young lady. A group of other students had her convinced that you had to go to CCM, CMU, BoCo, UMich or NYU or you were nothing. So she applied to just those five and got in no where as that year she was simply not a good fit for them.

NotMamaRose

I saw this (what is referred to above) happen, as well. The kids all seem to audition for the same schools and not everyone gets in.

ProudDadFL

sENIOR YEAR GOES VERY QUICKLY.