which schools do you think will accept me into their acting program?

College Majors Musical Theater Majors
1

<p>-resides in FL, class of 2012
-Female
-African American/Haitian American
-Lower class income so need financial aid
-GPA: 3.04 unwghted 4.30 wghted. SAT: 1720+ ACT: not yet but prob 27
-30 college credits
-12 college courses.
-3.0 college GPA (I’m still in high school though).
-10 honors and 2 APs
-100 cc hours at Theaters and film festival,</p>

<p>EC’s: 8yrs Church choir and dancer, community acting & touring group/organization 2yrs, acting college classes, music college classes, 2 part-time jobs (still have 1), honor roll for 9th and 10th grade, secretary of health club 1yr, won health district knowledge test on nutrition 2nd place (state competition), Gay-straight alliance club 2yrs, performing arts club (stepper, singer) 2yrs. Hobbies: workouts, guitar and piano, recording and producing music for my brother (using home studio)who is an up and coming artist. also promoting him on the web.</p>

<p>I want to major in Theater. Specifically, Acting. BFA or BA.
I’ve done a total of 10 plays including schoo plays, church and community.</p>

<p>My choices:

  • Boston Conservatory
  • Boston U
  • Carnegie Mellon U
  • Cornell U
  • DePaul U
  • Emerson College
  • Florida State U
  • Fordham U
  • Ithaca College
  • Juilliard
  • Marymount Manhattn College
  • New York U
  • Pace U
  • Rutgers NB/Pscataway
  • Spelman College
  • SUNY Purchase
  • Syracuse U
  • U Central Florida
  • U Florida
  • U Mass Amherst
  • U Miami
  • U Southern Calif
  • University of the Arts</p>
2

<p>I think you will find better luck in the theatre forum, if you’re looking for a BFA Acting program. This is the musical theatre forum, but there is plenty of information for you in both. </p>

<p>[Theater/Drama</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/]Theater/Drama”>Theater/Drama Majors - College Confidential Forums)</p>

<p>You have great stats, now you just need to cut down your list and make sure you have some safeties. There’s plenty of topics about that in the theatre/drama forum as well, so I’d look there for help on choosing safeties.</p>

<p>Best of luck!
Alexa</p>

3

<p>Boston Conservatory (musical theatre program), Boston U, Carnegie Mellon U, DePaul U, Emerson College, Florida State U (BFA), Fordham U, Ithaca College, Juilliard, Marymount Manhattn College, New York U, Pace U, Rutgers, Syracuse U, U Central Florida, SUNY Purchase, University of the Arts, and I THINK U Miami, and the BFA program (maybe the BA as well) at U Southern Calif require an audition.</p>

<p>There is no way for people to predict whether anyone would be admitted to any audition based program. There are talented performers every year who are admitted to some programs rejected from others. The key is putting together a balanced list of schools (if finances are an issue looking at need based and guaranteed merit aid as well as possible talent based aid and competitive merit aid at each of your schools as well). You will want to have a couple of schools on your list that are safeties academically, that do not require an audition, and that your family can afford. As a FL resident you may find that FL state schools will be your best bet in this regard.</p>

<p>I do not believe that Cornell U, Spelman College , U Florida, U Mass Amherst require an audition for undergraduate students. Although they may offer talent scholarships.</p>

<p>Spend time reading both the MT and the Theatre/ Drama forums. You will learn a lot that will help you to focus your questions more specifically, and likely answer many of your others.</p>

<p>:)</p>

4

<p>In audition based programs, your GPA, test scores, EC’s etc. don’t usually count for as much as your audition. If you blow them away with your audition, your stats should not be an issue in any way as far as admittance. Where your stats will count is with regard to acceptance at schools that do not require an audition, as well as at audition based programs where you are trying for an academic scholarship.</p>

5

<p>The importance of academic stats really depends on the school even among BFA audition based programs. As some examples from your list:</p>

<p>BU - must meet school’s academic criteria similar to any other liberal arts program. 2 SAT IIs are recommended.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon - Audition will count 80-90% in admissions and academic standards are relaxed from what is normally required of other majors.</p>

<p>Emerson - academic and talent admissions are 2 totally separate processes. Admissions decides on academics and theatre department on talent. On the academic side, you must meet the same standards as any other applicant. It is possible to be rejected academically in which case it doesn’t matter how your audition went. It is possible to be accepted academically to the school but rejected by the program in which event you can be offered a different major if you so indicated on your application.</p>

<p>Ithaca - academics and talent are blended together in the admissions process but you still must meet the academic standards for admission.</p>

<p>NYU - Academics and audition each counted 50%. Generally, must meet the same academic standards as other liberal arts students. 3 SAT IIs are required.</p>

<p>Syracuse - Same as Ithaca. Blended process, academic standards for liberal arts students count.</p>

<p>UArts - audition weighted more than academics and academic minimums are relaxed. However, many students who apply have academic stats that would make them competitive at selective and highly selective liberal arts schools so that if there are two applicants with relatively equal auditions, academics can play a deciding role.</p>

<p>In addition, at many of the schools on your list, academics will impact greatly on scholarship money offered. Most of the scholarship money out there is academic merit based. As a general proposition, at schools where the theatre programs are housed in a full university or liberal arts college, academic merit based scholarships are greater in number and higher in amount than talent scholarships offered by the theatre department. Even at UArts, where where there are many university level scholarships based on talent, the highest levels of scholarships usually go to those who present a combination of strong academics as well as talent.</p>

<p>Part of putting together a smart list of schools to which to apply is understanding the role of academics and talent in the admissions process. Take the time to research each school’s website and ask questions of both the admissions and theatre departments.</p>

6

<p>Michigan State also has a BFA Acting program. My D was accepted when she visited without an audition. She performed a monologue in one of their acting classes and they offered her spot right then. They also doubled her scholarship to $13,000 a year to get her to attend. However, she wanted MT so passed on the offer. Just another option to add and they do rolling admissions so you could find out in October if you are in academically.</p>

7

<p>Clarification: For NYU Tisch the SAT reasoning test or 3 SAT subject tests are required - i.e. an applicant does not have to take the subject tests (though to do so might help…). Here is the language from the NYU Admissions page:</p>

<p>NYU has changed its policies on standardized tests to provide applicants with more flexibility to demonstrate their talents and mastery of subject matter. So long as they comply with the minimum requirements specified here, an applicant should feel comfortable presenting material which presents him or her in the best light. No preferential treatment is given to any one of the following standardized test options in our admission process. Applicants for admission to NYU’s New York City campus are required to submit one of the following:</p>

<pre><code>The SAT Reasoning Test or;
The ACT (with Writing Test) or;
Three SAT Subject Test scores (one in literature or the humanities, one in math or science, and one non-language test of the student’s choice) or;
Three AP exam scores earned prior to senior year (one in literature or the humanities, one in math or science, and one non-language of the student’s choice)
</code></pre>

8

<p>That’s correct on NYU. My D got in to Tisch just on her SAT scores. No SAT II’s were submitted.</p>

9

<p>Just speaking from an audition for acting done at Boston U about four years ago, but the kids auditioning were told then that their GPAs had to be a 2.0 or above, but as long as they met that minimum requirement and rocked their audition (and made the auditor want them in the program), they could be accepted. I specifically remember the auditor telling the kids “If your GPA is below a 2.0, I can’t help you.” So academics count much less for an acting program at BU than they do for, say, the acting program at NYU.</p>