Admission performing arts

kmcmom13
Tue, 06 Aug 2013 14:55:27 +0000

Hopefully someone with more direct experience will come along…but just in case…I’ll at least share what I learned as a parent with some of the SMTD programs.

My son’s girlfriend was accepted to the BFA directing program a few years ago. My understanding is that she had a strong and pretty deep portfolio of previous acting and directing experience, good grades, and excellent writing samples and references. And knowing her, she then probably blew them away at the interview ;)

I would assume that acting is similar in that they’re looking for a trifecta of raw talent, drive/experience garnered from drive, and the academic capability to manage at a rigorous university.

So they are likely to screen on a split combo of academic stats and adequate experience when selecting applicants to audition.

My guess is that like the music programs (for which my son was admitted) if all else is equal (eg. if there are three applicants with equally strong academic stats) then whoever has the most outstanding audition will be the one ultimately offered admission.

For example, while my son had solid stats from a great school and was given an academic scholarship at UMich, he wasn’t the “4.0 35 ACT” academic legend his friend was who applied to the same program a year later.

But his friend was not admitted to my son’s program, because although he was a fairly accomplished composer and player, he didn’t have quite the same depth of tehcnological/recording/mixing ear, compositional variety, and I suspect the strong regional level recommendations/awards in his discipline.

So grades, once sufficiently high, will not trump talent and experience/training, but need to be solid. All the BFA degrees are in essence professional degrees, so there is a presumption of a fairly solid level of background experience when it comes to admission.

Best wishes.