Hi, im applying and I honestly dont know where I should even be applying with my stats. My GPA is 3.7UW because of just math to be honest and I’ve just had issues with it, otherwise I’ve gotten close to A’s. my SAT is 1550, and my ECs are rly good to be honest like more than participation. I want to ED to Columbia but I dont know my chances and I dont know where I should apply.
So to be brutally honest, at this point the highly desired colleges like Columbia get so many applications from such highly qualified applicants that they can afford to be very picky. So, for example, they can effectively require all their intended Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (HASS) applicants to have also gotten at least A if not A+ results in advanced STEM classes too, because why not if there are plenty of those in their applicant pool? They do make some exceptions, but those exceptions are demonstrably rare, and mostly involve some sort of formal “hook”.
That said, if Columbia is your favorite US college, you know you can comfortably afford it, and you know you would not want to compare offers including merit offers from any other college–you can go ahead and apply ED and see what happens.
But the bulk of your college list should be made up of colleges which demonstrably are happy to accept students with transcripts like yours.
And then the good news about your SAT being so high is some of those colleges will go from being iffy to admit you to being pretty likely to admit you. Indeed, if you choose wisely, some of those colleges might be inclined to throw serious merit money at you, honors program offers, or so on.
So there are lots of ways to take that excellent test score and use it to your advantage. It is just a reality that the least promising avenue is to try to use it to get into a college like Columbia. But there are many other way more promising ideas.
And if you are interested in that concept, the people here are GREAT at helping. The more you can tell us about what you really want in a four-year college experience, academically and non-academically, the better. Similarly the more you tell us about your financial circumstances and what would be a desirable cost of attendance for you, the better. Armed with that sort of detailed information, we can provide you with all sorts of ideas on how to benefit from your profile.
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What is the breakdown between math versus English scores on the SAT? Unless I am confused you must have gotten at least 750 on the math part of the regular SAT test, which suggests that you should be able to handle high school math relatively well. 1550 is a very good SAT score. A 3.7 unweighted GPA is decent, but is not as exceptionally good.
I do think that with a 3.7 overall unweighted GPA your chances of getting accepted to Columbia are poor.
To give any useful suggestions regarding where else you might want to apply I think that we need to know more about you. What is your budget? What is your budget without taking on any debt? What is your home state? What is your likely majors? What do you want in a university?
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so, financially I have no worries so I dont really mind any budget so I’m flexible because of family background. I got a 790 English and a 760 math, and more specifically my uw gpa is 3.75. Im currently living in Texas in the DFW area. On my ap exams I’ve gotten all 5’s and 2 4’s out of the 11. I was thinking about doing a major something around the likes of liberal arts so either like a major in theatre and a minor in political science.
Financially, I dont really have any issues so i’m not worried about debt just based on like family income. In terms of what I’m looking for in college is just to attend a good program thats notable and besides academics build connections with other people because thats something I really want to do. I also want to attend a school where its easy to like intern or get recruited for some sort of you could say job. I just dont know where else I could apply based on my major or my stats. I’m going to major in theatre and minor in political science so I’m just really lost.
Are you looking for a BFA or BA?
What does this mean? It’s best to have a budget number if you aren’t full pay. Will you qualify for need based aid?
@o77m this was meant as a response to you, not to @Mwfan1921
Some colleges cost $90,000 a year…or more. Is that OK with your family?
If a BFA, you will need to audition in most cases. Is a BFA your plan? If so, your audition will be the number one criteria colleges will use.
You need to make sure that whatever colleges are open to theater majors having an additional course of study. Remember, theater majors often put in a LOT of time for little to no credit (think…participation in any capacity in any productions).
Also, what exactly in theater do you want to do? Acting? Sets? Lighting design? Costumes? Stage management? What?
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Like, I dont need to apply for aid because my family can pay for the tuition fully pay. And im looking for BA
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Yeah, in terms of cost its okay with my family so we can do full pay. Im going to do a BA, and what I’ve done and want to do is like direct, write and produce which I’ve already done in high school. I’ve already directed and written 3 plays so far and theyve all been pretty successful.
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Look into Sarah Lawrence, Vassar, Skidmore, Kenyon and Hamilton. If you are female, Barnard may be of interest.
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I feel like I could maybe major in political science and minor in theatre because I feel like i’ve done a bit more in terms of my ecs for poli sci. if i do end up changing my mind where do you think I should apply for poli sci?
Below are some schools that you may want to investigate, sorted by my guesses as to your chances for admission. All chancing done here is based on the presumption of a BA that does not require an audition. This chancing does NOT apply to any program requiring an audition and I have NOT verified that all of them offer BA programs.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
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Baldwin Wallace (OH): About 2800 undergrads in a suburb of Cleveland with a strong reputation in theater
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DePaul (IL): About 14k undergrads
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Drexel (PA ): About 14k undergrads and a big focus on co-ops
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Marymount Manhattan (NY): About 1600 undergrads and is in talks to be merged with/taken over by Northeastern
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SUNY Purchase (NY): About 3200 undergrads
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Temple (PA ): About 22k undergrads
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U. of Cincinnati (OH): About 31k undergrads and another school with a big focus on co-ops
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Webster (MO): About 2200 undergrads
Likely (60-79%)
- Fordham (NY): About 10k undergrads
Toss-Up (40-59%)
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Emerson (MA): About 4200 undergrads
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Howard (D.C.): About 10k undergrads at this HBCU
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Loyola Marymount (CA): About 7300 undergrads
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Low Probability (less than 20%)
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Boston U. (MA): About 19k undergrads
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Carnegie Mellon (PA ): About 7300 undergrads
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Emory (GA): About 7400 undergrads, and Atlanta/Georgia has a lot of film industry opportunities
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New York U.: About 30k undergrads
If you let us know what appeals (or repels) about suggestions (mine or others’) then it will help posters to provide more targeted suggestions for you (whether size, location, religious affiliation, etc).
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OK, that is helpful. To summarize what I understood, you can comfortably be full pay at the most expensive private colleges, and you are interested in a BA in Theater where there is also the possibility of a minor in Poli Sci. You also mentioned networking and internship possibilities, although I will note that is not very restrictive as pretty much all the colleges we are going to recommend for you are going to be good for that sort of thing (including the ones in smaller towns and such–kids from such colleges do plenty of internships).
One idea would be to look at Muhlenberg, a Liberal Arts and Sciences College (LAC) in Pennsylvania. They have a very big, very active Theater program for a college their size, with the ability to focus your curriculum on Directing and/or Playwriting:
And although they have talent scholarships that require auditions, you don’t need to audition to just go to Muhlenberg and do Theater.
You can also do either Majors or Minors in Political Science, and it is a pretty popular major there:
Muhlenberg is in Allentown, PA, which is an interesting historic city, and it is relatively easy to get from there to both Philadelphia and NYC. As an LAC with a flexible curriculum, you could definitely go there and feel out what you really want to do in terms of majors and minors.
Another idea for you is Fordham, a great Jesuit college in NYC. Fordham’s Theater Program allows you to concentrate in either Directing or Playwriting, and while they do have special admissions requirements, they are tailored to those concentrations:
https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/theatre/admissions/directing-concentration-interviews/
And they also have a Theater minor which is open to all:
https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/theatre/training/theatre-minor/
I note Fordham is complex because they have two main campuses, and the theater stuff is mostly at Lincoln Center, but fortunately you can also do Poli Sci at the Lincoln Center campus:
https://www.fordham.edu/undergraduate-admission/majors-and-minors/political-science/
They have both a major and a minor, and if you click through on the minor you will see it is also available at Lincoln Center:
https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/political-science/undergraduate-studies/
Generally Poli Sci is one of the bigger programs at Fordham, and obviously being in NYC is great for all sorts of stuff.
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Of the schools I suggested, strongly consider Hamilton, Kenyon and Vassar, in particular, for a combination political science and theatre. Hamilton offers term-length programs in D.C. and NYC, with associated internships; a notable public policy major; perhaps the most impressive theatre building in its class; and an open curriculum. Kenyon offers a strong political science program, an atmosphere infused with students with creative interests, and national reach in its student body. Vassar offers a mix of attributes that would align with your interests, including a NYC connection.
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I dont really care about religous affiliation, I’d prefer somewhere near a city but if the school is great I dont mind otherwise being in a college town or similar. NYU is a school I’m really thinking about applying to so I may apply EA
Perhaps one of my questions is what kind of an education (and/or career) are you hoping for? Are you hoping to become a director/playwright/screenwriter and desirous of getting experience and building connections in that field? Or are you hoping to do more of a liberal arts degree, and theater sounds as interesting as anything in the liberal arts?
Paging @DadBodThor who is a parent of a kid with a focus in directing (I think) who also probably can think of more forum members who have more experience in this area.
Something on the lines of being a director/playwright/screenwriter but in the past with my productions it has some political affiliation.
For a non-audition theatre program, I would check out Bard, Ithaca, Baldwin Wallace, Belmont, LIU Post and Skidmore. Keep in mind that schools that offer a BFA in Acting may offer more roles/opportunities to those students over BA students.
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You should apply for whichever major you are more likely to want to stick with. It sounds like you have plenty of ECs for whichever of these majors you pick, and your ECs do not need to match your major at all. It is more important that your ECs show that you can stick with a goal and work well with others. It sounds like your ECs show this very well and are very good regardless of which major you pick.
This is quite good and somewhat unusual. In high school one daughter had a friend who had acted and sang in at least 3 plays, but he had not directed or written any of them. He did end up majoring in musical theater.
And to me “theatre” is when you do the exact same thing, but in Canada (which is where I am originally from).
Unfortunately I am not familiar with musical theater programs in your part of the world. I know a couple of good programs in the Province of Quebec, but that is a long way from Texas.
Your interest in playwriting can overlap with the curricula of creative writing programs, so you may benefit from considering this aspect as you research colleges more deeply.
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