<p>My S (actor/singer) is at a high school with NO drama department, but a fair music dept. and a yearly musical, produced by great volunteers. The school allows you to create an academic independent study course for yourself, with teacher supervision, for half a credit. He wants to do one on musical theater; history of, etc., or on opera, ditto. There would be a writing component, standards imposed, including some kind of performance/presentation he’d have to do for the various music classes. My question is, how would this look on his college apps? I can see an upside, in that it does show genuine interest and creativity. But will they shrug it off as non-academic? Anybody in admissions or whose kid has gone this route, please sound off.</p>
<p>datripp,
My S did a half year Independent Study in Drama during Fall 2007. It counted as an elective. Since he was taking 3 AP classes, we were not concerned that he would look weak academically. If you can, I would recommend that he/you consider structuring the study to further his preparation for audition season as that is SO much work. Hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>It probably depends on the school, but my D created an independent study in art during her senior year. She also took art classes at colleges during the summers, so she was pretty focused on doing independent work. She was a very good student, top in her class, great scores, and was accepted at great schools. She believes that she wouldn’t be where she is now if she had not done everything the way she did it. Schools look very highly upon students who take the initiative to do independent things. I would assume that the theatre is where your S wants to devote his time, so pursuing it on his own is really admirable. IMHO. :)</p>
<p>yeah, i think anything that shows initiative is great-- even though his school doesn’t have the resources for what he wants, he’s making it happen anyway. if you’re in an area with some theatres, maybe this could tie into an internship with one, either in the summer or during the year; if not, maybe his indep. study teacher could serve as an advisor for him to direct a small show?</p>