<p>I am a parent of a daughter obsessed with musical theater. She is entering her senior year at our local high school and also attends a performing arts high school. she also has a full fellowship for voice with the main theater in our state. Does anyone have any insight whether going to a performing arts school with a concentration in musical theater provided any edge into getting into the main mt school?</p>
<p>I think attending a performing arts high school in many cases offers the opportunity for more intensive classes in music, dance… but other than that I don’t think it gives an edge. My son attends a traditional high school but has several friends that attend a performing arts school. One got into a top MT program, and there were a few others who did not get into an audition based MT program. Several chose to major in vocal performance or music ed.</p>
<p>I don’t think it gives an edge either. College auditioning is a total crap shoot. My class consists of kids who’ve been on BWAY and Nat’l Tours, and kids who woke up one day 2 years into another school deciding to do theater. </p>
<p>And this is crazy, because I graduate in 2012 hah. Good luck!</p>
<p>Crapshoot isn’t the term I would choose. But it has some accuracy. Bottom line is talent and in fact, the type of talent the school is looking for at that moment. Most schools don’t really look too closely at resumes, if at all. </p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, I spend more time interviewing students from the arts magnate schools to get a better sense of who they are and what they expect. I hate to make generalizations, but I’ve run across several whose sense of entitlement and perceived training were far greater than perhaps it should have been. I’ve also seen several who were wonderful students, and went on to do fantastic things.</p>
<p>I agree with kjgc. The bottom line is, in fact, your audition at the school. Sometimes it is “how your audition was perceived” at the school as, at times auditioners get weary after seeing 60 students in five hours and perhaps they did not see you nail the triple, but did see your land poorly on the gran jete! In any case, what matters is you come in as prepared as you can be and show the best you possible. At that point your resume does not matter, your choir, summer camps, equity card, whatever - it is your audition that matters. So, if you can get good training from your high school choir, or learn to dance well at “Miss Suzie’s” down the block - that’s OK! I am not against BTP, music/dance camps, seminars, conventions,etc - but the importance of these things is often overstated. So, if you are not able to afford to partake in what has become a little industry of “prepare my child for MT college” - do not despair, get what training you can and give it your best shot.</p>