Lets talk letters of recommendation

NJTheatreMOM
Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:14:14 +0000

The regular required letters of recommendation are generally sent by academic teachers as part of the application to the college. For common app schools, you can do this more or less automatically. As I recall, you give the Common App the teachers’ email addresses. The Common App does not send in recommendations from outside people.

Supplementary artistic recommendation letters may or may not help, at least in the case of an auditioned BFA. Check the application procedure for the theatre program in question. The main thing for auditioned BFA programs is…the audition.

Requirements vary a great deal. Some schools might even want you to bring artistic recommendation letters to the audition (SUNY Purchase did this when my son applied…then they had callbacks the day of the audition and I strongly suspect that the letters of those who were not called back were just thrown away).

Some schools ask you NOT to send in artistic recommendation letters. NYU is like this, I believe. It is important always to do what the school says!

Perhaps artistic recommendations would be the most important for a student applying to selective non-auditioned BA programs like Northwestern’s. My son only applied to auditioned BFA programs, for better or worse, so other people could tell you better than I about standard procedures for students seeking acceptance into a BA theatre program.

Probably it is best to send artistic recommendation letters to the theatre department instead of the admissions office, after the application to the college has already been processed. You want to be sure that the theatre faculty/staff sees them and knows who is being written about.

In our experience, obtaining artistic recommendation letters was a challenge. Some of the artistic type people the kids might be asking are very busy, not-very-well-organized individuals.

Then there is the matter of confidentiality. It might be best to have the recommender mail the letter, but that’s a lot to expect. If you mail it in for the person, it’s best if it’s in a sealed envelope with their signature written over the seal. Another thing you could do is have letters of artistic recommendation sent to the school guidance counselor, and have the guidance counselor forward them to the school theatre dept. Helps to have a good guidance counselor and a good relationship with him or her.

Artistic recommendations should focus not so much on talent as what the student is like to work with. Easy to get along with, team player, on time, etc, etc? Drama departments are really interested in this.