<p>It’s about the time of year when rising juniors are finalizing their lists of schools to which to apply. A question that has come up here and in other threads is that of “fit”. I thought it might be interesting to kick off a renewed discussion of “fit” as it applies to selecting schools on your list. So here are some thoughts I’ve cobbled together based on thoughts I’ve expressed on other threads. </p>
<p>“Fit” is not a static concept. How you evaluate it at the application/audition stage is going to be different from the point at which you are choosing from among acceptances. At the application stage, it’s a bilateral concept: what are you looking for in a school and what are schools looking for in an applicant. You need to think through both aspects as you put together your short list of schools to which to apply. At the end, when you are deciding from among your acceptances, it’s all about how you think the school fits you. The factors will be different for non-audition schools and audition based programs both at the application and the decision stages. And how you prioritize and evaluate the factors that go into fit will evolve throughout the process based on your experiences and info you pick up along the way. At the beginning of the process, the thresholds to be met in determining preliminarily whether a school fits your desires probably should be a bit lower than at the end so as to not prematurely eliminate schools where you match their criteria. Once acceptances are in, then you can re-evaluate schools and tighten up on your expectations. So, where to start….</p>
<p>First, what are your strengths and weaknesses – innate talent, training and experience in acting, voice and dance. Academic/student profile. How do they line up with schools on your long list. Keep in mind that in the audition process, schools often place different emphasis and weight on the 3 talent components and may evaluate them differently. Audition based schools require varying thresholds of academic performance and give varying weight to academics vs. talent. Non-audition schools are all about academics/student profile. School websites have a lot of valuable info. Visiting the schools and speaking both with admissions and theatre department reps can be an invaluable source of info of this type. This type of inquiry is an important aspect of figuring out the “short list” of schools to which to apply. Are you a good fit for the schools which you are considering for your list.</p>
<p>It can be a very daunting task to try to get a handle on whether you fit the audition based schools on your list, often leading to a frenzy of applying to an extreme number of schools instead of a more focused, balanced, manageable list. With regard to the audition process, some things to consider, based on website research, talking to the theatre departments and to students in the program are: what are the audition criteria, how are they scored, what types of scores are needed to have a successful audition and what is looked for to get those scores. How are the voice, acting and dance components weighed relative to each other. Ask about songs, monologs, dance routines. Ask about the curriculum, the focus of the acting, dance and vocal components, the pedagogy, all to get an in depth understanding of the school. Identify your areas of strengths and weaknesses compared to the info you acquire. Then throw in issues of diversity in terms of program size, number of applicants, regional vs national pools, academic requirements and acceptance rates. Through this kind of process, you can narrow down your “big list” of schools to a manageable size that is diverse, balanced and tailored to your strengths. It’s a lot of work to do this up front, but in my view it is better to do this in July than to run yourself ragged applying and auditioning at 15 or more schools when 8-10 well thought through ones will do the trick.</p>
<p>Second, what are you looking for in a school. There are so many factors that can go into this. Size of school/program, full university/college vs. arts university, city vs. town vs. suburban location, encapsulated campus vs. city streets campus. BA vs. BFA, balance of performance curriculum vs. liberal arts curriculum, balance of performance curriculum amongst and between acting, voice and dance, balance of academic theatre vs. performance classes, opportunity to minor or double major, strength of the liberal arts curriculum, typical performance season (drama vs. musicals). Dorms, meal plans, campus life and activities. Climate, geographic location. Scholarships, financial aid and costs. Does the school have some kind of cut system. All things to consider when putting together the “short list”. All things to look at again when deciding on acceptances.</p>
<p>At the end, when April hits and acceptances are in, you go back and evaluate fit all over again, with the benefit of an audition season’s worth of experience, having visited schools, met with reps and having asked a ton of questions. Probably the best description of how to evaluate and compare schools at the end of the process was posted by mtdog71. See <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1098171-any-advice-determining-quality-mt-program-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1098171-any-advice-determining-quality-mt-program-2.html</a> Also, sitting in on classes, once the decision is down to the 2 top acceptances, provides a tremendous opportunity to get a first hand feel for a school and could very well be the ultimate determinative factor (as it was for my daughter).</p>
<p>It’s a multi-faceted process involving a lot of research and time. There’s a ton of objective information that can inform about fit and the trick is to methodically organize it so that you don’t go nuts from information overload. But at the end, the ultimate determiner of “fit” is often a gut reaction! I’ve posted this elsewhere but it is worth repeating. Throughout my daughter’s school selection, application, audition and final decision process, I had binders, charts, spread sheets, containing the accumulation of 2 years of research, web site browsing, campus and department visitations. At the end, when she was down to choosing between her top 2 schools from her acceptances, she sat in on classes and her gut reaction to that experience superseded all the objective research. When she came home conflicted about what choice to make, I had 3 questions for her: where do you feel you will learn the most, where do you feel you will have the best rapport with the teachers, where do you feel most “at home”.</p>
<p>Hope some of this is helpful. Any other thoughts anyone?</p>