<p>As my daughter approaches her senior year of high school, she’s debating the best use of her time. She’s reached a point where most community theater companies are kind of frustrating–a large investment of time for a mediocre production. There are some shows coming up, though, with roles she would love to play, in the late summer and early fall.</p>
<p>There’s potential to add a couple of wonderful roles to her resume–and no one reading the resume would know the quality of the shows. Or she could spend her time on voice and dance classes and keeping her grades up and generally minimizing the stress in her life.</p>
<p>She really wants to do her school shows, which are even more time-comsuming than CT, but she gets something different from them and enjoys the process.</p>
<p>Francesca - I would never tell me daughter not to do a show if she really wanted to. But, be very clear that the late summer and early fall period is precisely when she will have to be doing essays and college apps (or even taking the standardized tests!). My D hated doing the apps, essays and tests. She’d look for every excuse to be doing something else. We found that once the logistical arrrangements for the auditions were done, she had a lot of fun with the audition process. But getting to that point (apps and essays done and submitted) was pure torture for us. So consider your D and how focused she’ll be on something that may be about as enjoyable as getting root canal (and the pain that comes before it).</p>
<p>My advice- cut back on big commitments as much as you can. The application and audition process (not to mention actually deciding where to go once everything else is done) is physically and mentally exhausting. This past year I was under a professional contract (rehearsals during the day, six days a week for four weeks, then eight shows per week) up until less than two weeks before I had to leave for my audition trip, and the pressure of being on top of my game for performances, school work and extracurricular dance, voice and acting was a lot to deal with.</p>
<p>I agree with others here. D spent virtually ALL of August completing essays and applications for 12 schools, so she was ready to start scheduling auditions as soon as slots became available, which was critical for fitting them all in. I think one should plan to be finished submitting everything by late September.</p>
<p>So it depends on how disciplined she’d able to be about leaving a LOT of time for applications while in the midst of a show.</p>
<p>My little observance here is that it’s all about the training you have and what you bring to the audition, and not what shows are listed on your resume. So I’d cut back on shows at this point if they get in the way of training (dance classes, etc). The competition is so fierce. So very fierce. Did I say it was fierce? ;)</p>
<p>My D gave up community theatre or some of the reasons that your D seems to be feeling. For D the amount of time they required, with a lot of it in her mind “wasted time” meant it just did not make sense for her. She did not apply to many schools, if any, that required essays so that wasn’t an issue, but she needed to be more time efficient. We live in an area where communityh theatre is BIG and the competition is intense - some auditioners have in their past worked in NYC and regional theatre - so typically she was only getting ensemble parts. Maybe if she had bigger roles, it might have been a more difficult decision.</p>
<p>We had the choice of a professional theater this summer vs a “program” and was told by her dance, voice, another show director and a MT coach I cold called- this is the time for them to get education more then another show on their resume ----as long as they have 4-5 shows on there. My D turned down the professional theater and will do her school musical, take the dance classes and audition a lot this school year.</p>
<p>This is my question exactly. I’m an undergrad who is NOT an MT major but I’m planning to go for the MT master’s degree. I’m not a strong dancer but I also have little stage experience. I can always do community theater shows over the summer…but as for during the school year…</p>
<p>If I have time for EITHER a show OR dance classes, which should I do?</p>
<p>caramello 12 – DANCE!!! Get quality dance training – you need it for auditions, for the field you’re pursuing. Although my kid just survived undergrad MT auditions, one thing she kept saying over and over again was how glad she was that she has a lot of dance experience…it was one thing that helped set her apart in a field of many equally talented and trained singers and actors.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for the sensible replies. I think my daughter is actually already clear about her focus–the problem is that I’d love to see her play Liesl! I need to shut up!</p>
<p>To take this thread on a tangent . . . what about math? </p>
<p>My daughter is taking Algebra 2 right now and math is clearly not her thing. For senior year, she could take Statistics, but that would mean a semester without choir (block scheduling) and she really wants to be in her beloved choir for all of her senior year. We’ve looked into summer math classes at the two nearby community colleges, but they overlap with her summer theater program. </p>
<p>^^^My S is a college freshman who also hates math and took AP art history instead of math his senior year. When he was planning his schedule as a Junior his GC told him that he wouldn’t get into any of the schools he was interested in. She literally called it “transcript suicide” and said he’d regret it for the rest of his life! My S is not one to allow other people’s opinions to outweigh his own and his feeling was that if he was rejected by a school for taking a course he was interested in over a course just bc it might look good on his transcript, then that wasn’t the school for him. Six months later when this same GC was reviewing his completed application she said he would get into all of the schools he applied to…and he did with plenty of merit $ to boot. </p>
<p>So while many people will advise you that the 4th year of math is critical, I’m a believer in trusting your own instincts as long as you are prepared to live with the consequences, without fear and without regret…and not being that type of person AT ALL, lol, I’m extemely impressed with people who are! :D</p>
<p>thanks sandkmom my D and I have been talking a lot about this and she feels like your S and I am a true believer in trusting your instincts. My D is a sophomore and will have Algebra 2 next year. After that she is planning on a finance class for 4th year of math because our state requires 4 years and its not her thing either. She is toying with AP History or an AP Science class-along with an independent study with her Choir teacher.</p>
<p>I agree with sandkmom. My D actually liked math and was in AP classes, but did not take it senior year. She was academically accepted into all schools she applied to; and ended up in the honors department at Syracuse, in the BFA MT program.</p>
<p>As far as math…I took up to pre-calc in high school (3 years) and went into a music ed major. We have to take 6 credits of math, which is 2 classes, and I took one of those 2 classes already. Its course number was 036 so a pretty low level, and it qualified toward my gen ed. I had no problem taking the course, and there are other courses lower than 100 level that I can take for my second class.</p>
<p>It didn’t hurt my chances at admission - I’m at Penn State - so I chose not to take the 4th year of math in HS. Though I had a friend that applied at James Madison that wanted you to have taken calculus already. So I’d check with what your top-choice colleges want you to have - maybe even email someone in the MT department - but if you don’t need it, don’t take it if you don’t like it.</p>
<p>Agree with caramello12 about checking requirements with your top-choice schools. Also – states are different in what they require for graduation, so make sure all readers are meeting their own h.s. graduation requirements. If applying to schools that have stronger academic requirements, or a pre-screen (UMich and NYU come to mind), think about that senior schedule, and how it will present to admissions (which is often a different world than the MT department.) Finally, if it’s a school that will look holistically at your app (think Muhlenberg, which has had a large uptick in applications to the school in general), take a look at that schedule, as well as factor in if it will make a difference in the “academic rigor” of the schedule, which can help both with admissions (academically…NOT anything with the audition side) and merit scholarships/honor college admissions (if that is important to you).</p>
<p>Also, the odds of these programs aren’t in anyone’s favor. If she doesn’t get in to an MT program, does she have the academic strength to get into another school/program? Just asking</p>