mboyd

Is it true that Syracuse requires 4 credits of both highschool math and science? That's what it says on the collegeboard website but it just didn't sound right. The vast majority of schools require 3 or even 2 of each and 4 for english and history. Did EVERYONE on this forum who was admitted to Syracuse take four of each?

soozievt

Double check directly with Syracuse admissions. Generally, the stronger your curriculum the better (keep that in mind). But you could ask about math and science directly with admissions at this university.

My kid got in. She graduated HS after her junior year. She had five years of HS math courses/credit on her transript and went up through AP Calculus. She had Alg. I, Geometry, Alg. II, PreCalculus, and Calculus. For science, she had just three years of science as she had only been in HS for three years. She had five years' worth of HS math because she took HS math for two years in middle school for HS credit. In science, she took the sequence in our HS, the highest available which was Earth Science Honors, Biology Honors and Chemistry Honors. The only way to take Physics would be in 12th grade and she didn't stay for 12th grade. She did earn a HS diploma.

mamalu

Check with Admission, but when we visited earlier this year I did ask this question. I was told that for "Theater/Music" prospective students the admissions folks were lenient with math/science number of courses.

In fact, the admissions rep with whom we spoke had been a music major herself at SU. She had 3 each of math and science herself and agreed that it didn't make a lot of sense to hold all majors to the same standard.

My d will have had 4 units of math and only 3 lab science courses when she applies this fall.

NewbieMTMom

My D will be going to SU MT in the fall. She had 4+ years of everything all the way through AP level classes. Benefit of the rigorous academics was an academic merit scholarship to SU. And with the steep price of this school, you want as much $$$ as possible.

For our family, a strong academic school at which to do MT was extremely important. You never know if they are going to wake up one day and decide MT is not for them. My feeling is that the university your child chooses should have the best possible "non-MT" academic choices available to them should they decide an education and career in theatre is not the right choice after all. This is also why my D did not apply to conservatories that were not housed within a university.

MTguy17

Does that mean academics are just as important as your audition? I don't know much about Syracuse in that regard.

onstage

Yes, SU requires strong academics. It is possible to get accepted into the MT program, and then be rejected by the admissions dept. My D will be a junior in MT this year; in HS she had strong academics, -- 4 yrs math, 4 yrs science, many AP classes, and high SATs and GPA. All of her classmates have a similar background.

NewbieMTMom

This is why I particularly liked Syracuse and Michigan for MT. Loved the fact that strong academics matter in the admissions process.

When we went on the CMU tour and the guides told us that an MT student had been accepted with a 2.0 GPA (because he was a phenomenal talent), the jaws of every parent in the room fell. That was not what I expected from a school with such a stellar academic reputation. I was stunned.

Having said all of this, MTguy17, if your GPA is above 3.0, I would still apply and audition at SU because you never know. I think they do make some exceptions for the theatre kids but I understand that the lowest they might be willing to go in the case of a very talented student is 3.0. That is what I have in my notes from a general admissions person (not a College of Visual and Performing Arts admissions person where drama is housed) during a spring 2007 visit.