BFA program in Theater for American from Australia

TheDad
Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:16:02 +0000

Posting for the niece of a friend, whom I mean into coaxing on to CC, says she couldn’t figure it out when she came here before.

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— American citizen, grew up and attended school in Australia

— Looking for a program in Theater. Say she can act/dance/sing but doesn’t have the chops to pass auditions. Also interested in a broader program, taking courses in English Lit, Psychology, etc.

— SAT optional is probably best. Could take them but does bad on standardized tests (her high school doesn’t do tests and she gets stressed). She “sucks at Math and Science.”

— Looking for minimal breadth or General Ed requirements (see Math/Science above). Works her butt off if the class is interesting, doesn’t pay attention if she’s not interested.

— Probably does better with smaller classes.

— Has produced/written/directed her own plays at high school. More interested in writing/directing than acting. Also, my ear detected a lot of interest in staging and technical aspects of production.

— Plays competitive basketball and has held down multiple jobs including general manager of a coffee shop while being full-time student, producing play.

— Currently in US attending a summer theater program at UCLA. (I get the feeling this isn’t a major eye-opener of a program as far as an application would be but I don’t know this field very well.)

I think she has what could be a compelling narrative for some schools willing to look beyond scores/GPA.

Off hand, I’ve suggested Smith (Five College Consortium), Skidmore, and Vassar as places to explore. She doesn’t like the desert and hated Arizona State when she visited a friend there.
My gut says an LAC is definitely the way to go for her. A well-lopsided student if you know what I mean. The basketball/theater combo is kinda interesting and the Australian background is a bit exotic. Paraphrasing, she doesn’t want to be around a bunch of plodders. She schedules herself very intensely.

Anyway, do any colleges come to mind? She’ll be finishing up school in Australia this December and is looking to start college in the US in Fall 2010.