NYU: Tisch for Drama

EmmyBet
Sun, 07 Oct 2012 10:04:57 +0000

kat, I really wish you well, and I think you’re doing everything you can to move on from your past problems.

This is said many times on CC, but I’m going to say it again: It’s wonderful to have a dream school, but you will not be failing anyone, including yourself, if you don’t get in or if you change you mind and go somewhere else. Any school that has very low admission rates is going to reject a lot of very capable and deserving people, and no one should take it personally. I worry that if you see getting into NYU specifically as proof that you have turned things around, that a rejection might send you back to thinking you are a “loser,” or believing your parents will think you are. None of this will be true - the work you put in to get yourself on a positive track, to go to college, to feel productive and successful, will be valuable whatever school you go to.

If you are thinking of going to NYU as a non-theatre major, then your application will be more straight-forward. If you do plan to audition, please know that there is not one thing AT ALL that you can do to “make sure” this will happen.

Practically everyone here has known kids who decided long ago that NYU is “the place to be” - either because of its reputation in the theatre world, or because it’s an exciting city in the middle of Manhattan. Absolutely do everything you can to get in - many, many students do this for their favorite schools. But please also find a few other schools that are similar to NYU (in a city, big, exciting, whatever it is about NYU that you love) and apply to them, too. You can be happy and successful at countless colleges. Please don’t set yourself up to feeling a failure, because you will NOT be one if for some reason NYU doesn’t have a spot for you.

We would say this to anyone who has their mind set on a super-selective, expensive school. It’s not personal!

PS - I know a young woman (not a theatre major) who dreamed of NYU since she saw it on a family trip as a little girl. She did get in, but at the time her parents couldn’t afford it, and she decided she couldn’t take on the debt herself. She went to our (excellent) state flagship, but still felt disappointed well into her second year. Then everything clicked, and she told me she wouldn’t trade the experience there for anything in the world. Now she is finishing grad school at her next “dream school” (not NYU, as it happens) on a full scholarship. Life does go on!