High School versus Performing Arts High School

alwaysamom
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:51:31 +0000

Attending a PA school for your senior year will not “make a large difference in applying for a musical theatre college program.” And I say that as the mom of a D who did attend an excellent PA h/s. Actually, I am not familiar with any good PA schools which will even allow a senior year transfer. Is there some particular reason that your D wants to do this?

The college admissions process for these theatre kids is a very selective one. What is important is for these kids to have the best training and the best academics possible. The training can come in many forms; through their school, through respected summer programs, through outside vocal, dance, and acting classes. Ideally, all applicants should have some combination of those if they hope to have a successful audition season. While it is true that many kids in the college programs that we discuss here on CC have, indeed, attended PA schools, it isn’t a necessity.

The other issue is that not all PA schools are created equal. This is something which needs to be investigated every bit as carefully as the college process does. The PA school my D attended required not only artistic auditions, but academic testing, essays, and an interview. Once accepted and enrolled, students were required to maintain strong academic grades in order to stay. The school provided a rigorous program, both academically and artistically. This is not the case with all of them.

If your D is getting the training necessary to launch into this process, I don’t think that a transfer is necessary, or even advisable.