Emerson Early Action

HSN · 09-14-2009, 11:14 PM

My D is thinking about applying to Emerson BFA Acting Early Action, but I am not convinced of the advantage of applying early. For us it would mean a cross country trip to Boston vs. her doing an audition in our hometown. Does anyone have any stats on this or even anecdotal information?

soozievt · 09-14-2009, 11:41 PM

They take very very few in the EA round. They do defer students though, and of course, reject some. It can be nice to spread out the auditions and do one before the holidays but there is no big advantage at Emerson with the EA really. Given your distance, not sure it is worth doing, unless your D has never visited before.

HSN · 09-16-2009, 01:28 PM

Thanks Soozie. I kind of hate for her to be doing so many auditions at Unified especially since she will just be coming off a show and might be tired and/or sick, but cross country trips that could jeopardize grades aren't so fab either. She has definitely seen the school and loves it.

jbehlend · 09-17-2009, 10:50 AM

HSN .... my S and I attended an Emerson College Info Session last evening. The Senior Assistant Director of Admissions (Ms. Sara B) was asked this very question. Her response was that "only a couple" of EA BFA students were accepted in any one year, as the auditions review team wants to view the full field of applicants before making any admissions offers to potential incoming students. "Only a couple" means (to me) a quantity of two (!), as the incoming Emerson class size yields about 24 students. Even though we live close enough to Boston (in Vermont) to audition for EA, my S's decision is to wait and apply for the regular admissions.

soozievt · 09-17-2009, 11:01 AM

Jbehlend....hey, I live in VT too.

My D auditioned EA to Emerson in Dec. 2004. That year, they took five in the EA round for MT (what she auditioned for), not sure for Acting. In her case, she was accepted to Emerson in Dec. (the college itself) and deferred to Spring for the BFA. We were told she was on a small pile of deferrals. In spring, she was denied for the BFA. My D did EA at Emerson just to have one audition prior to the holidays and to spread it out a little (and of course, if she heard from one school early and it was an admit, it would take the edge off the audition season). She did have a friend who got in EA to Emerson that year (but chose another school ultimately). Emerson was not my D's first choice (though she liked it and had visited prior) and it is a good idea to not audition at your favorites first and so that was another reason my D did EA to Emerson.

I am not against EA to Emerson at all. Just saying that they take very few in that round but you could find out if you were rejected or deferred that early in any case.

jbehlend · 09-17-2009, 02:54 PM

ff Emerson EA thread

Soozie, tried to send you a PM but ....

"soozievt has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space."

n Emerson EA thread

soozievt · 09-17-2009, 09:38 PM

jbehlend....

I prefer to not use PMs because my box constantly fills up and I can't keep up with it. Also, I have three email accounts to deal with daily for work and personal and so the PM box is just one more thing to check and keep track of. So, I'd be happy to hear from ya if you can click on my member name and go to "send email to SoozieVT". Thanks!!

chrissyblu · 09-20-2009, 03:45 AM

Hi. My D did Early Action last year in the BFA Acting Program at Emerson and was one of the ones that was accepted. We did fly all the way from San Diego, CA and went to Emerson to do the audition in November some time near Thanksgiving, if I recall. I can't remember the stats, but they do accept around five for the Acting BFA program (I don't know about the BA.) They won't commit to a number for sure. I know they accepted at least two last year.

I highly recommend it if you think your kid has a shot at being one of the ones. My D had a 4.05 GPA and was in the top 10% of her class, was an AP Scholar with Honors, and although I can't remember her precise SAT, it put her in the 85%. She had won two National Youth Theatre acting awards (its now three.) She was fully ready for her audition and loved the experience.

It was also very good for her because it was 17 degrees in Boston that weekend. She got to see what COLD WEATHER would be like, which was something those of us from San Diego had no clue about. She actually liked it.

When she got her admission, around Christmas, she cried like a baby. It took a VERY heavy load off, because we like Emerson very much (my sophomore will be applying for a writing major in a few years) and love Boston. Yes, it was expensive to fly out for the audition, but having the experience of doing another audition before unifieds, experiencing cold, and knowing she had a good school "in the bag" gave her confidence for the others.

She ultimately turned down Emerson (after very much consideration) in favor of UCLA BA Theater (Acting) mostly because of the alumni network and partly because of money. (And a little because she had to admit everyone -- even those not in the acting/drama scene -- has heard of UCLA and that means something to her.)

I recommend the experience if you can afford it and you think your kid has an iota of a chance.

capemom · 09-20-2009, 01:02 PM

Do you know of any early action BA theater programs in the Northeast?

soozievt · 09-20-2009, 01:23 PM

capemom,
Your question is very broad. For instance, almost every college has a BA in Theater and so we are talking of MANY colleges in the Northeast! I'd have to check each one's admissions policies. Not only that, it is so broad because finding a college is beyond "which ones offer Theater" because it is very much tied into a student's qualifications. For example, Yale is in the Northeast and has a BA in Theater. Yale has Single Choice Early Action as an option. But if your kid is not in the ballpark for Yale or the school is not a good fit in terms of his selection criteria, that is not helpful. Some schools like UVM and UNH which both offer a BA in Theater have Rolling Admissions which means you can find out earlier too. But I'd have to check every school in the Northeast for you to find out which have Early Action. Most offer a BA in Theater. You have to find BA schools in your child's academic ballpark to narrow it down and then look up their admissions sites.

Also, THIS thread is about Emerson, let alone about its audition based programs. If you are looking at BA schools, you may wish to start a thread on that.

SRED · 10-18-2009, 09:22 AM

Does anyone have experience with the Emerson Acting audition? I've seen posts about the audition for MT and we know the requirements on the website (only one monologue), but curious about other aspects people may have learned from auditioning. Do they tend to ask for other monologues on the spot, do they do a callback kind of thing at the audition? I'd be interested in hearing anyone's experience. If someone knows of a thread here on this please direct me. Thanks!

mikeyshypnotic · 10-18-2009, 01:45 PM

same. I want to know, as well.

mikeyshypnotic · 10-18-2009, 05:35 PM

How heavy are grades weighted at Emerson for Acting? For instance, you do a killer on your audition and the judges absolutely love you, but your academic GPA & SAT scores fall below the school's average admission rate (2.95 GPA in a class of about 900+ kids). Would you be rejected? Also, could you apply to both the BA and BFA Acting programs for backup if you get rejected by one?

jbehlend · 10-23-2009, 03:38 PM

I think my S is going to follow Soozie's model above and apply EA @ Emerson. Although Emerson isn't his first choice, it is certainly in his top 5. And today, he confessed that he'd like to do an audition so he can get through the "whats an audition going to be like?" gut check before his #1 school does it's audition in January. Again, we live close enough to Boston that this isn't too much of an inconvenience, rather than batching the auditions together for the Unifieds. On the down side - he's got to get his app in by November 1st - running out of runway!

chrissyblu · 10-28-2009, 11:15 PM

Hi guys... sorry I wasn't on the ball. Okay. Acting audition. Here is what my D reported (yes, she was admitted, BFA, early action.)
First, her audition was at Emerson. We traveled to Boston on an exceptionally cold day in November. We arrived early and we were parted. Parents one room, kids another. They started by talking to the kids. The audition time is a range of time so the kids can self select when they are ready to audition. So, my D, who wanted time to sit and prepare, was one of the last to go. Somehow this works out. Students are there to get them in front of the room. She waited for her auditor, who was a male professor. He asked her in. She sat in front of him and they talked a little. Then she did her monologue. Its one contemporary monologue. He then had her do the monologue a different way. She did. And then he had her do it yet a third way. Then they had a chat about different acting techniques and a few other things. She thoroughly enjoyed the audition and felt very good leaving. We found out on December 15 that she was one of the about 3 or so BFA actors admitted early action.

My understanding is that Emerson is a 50/50 school, like NYU. 50% audition, 50% grades and test scores. My D had a 4.09 GPA weighted (3.89 unweighted) and an 1850 SAT. She was an AP Scholar with Honors.