What appears random is not for the most skilled, best prepped and best credentialed candidates for academics, instrumental or insert major here.
And kids coming out of certain schools, summer programs and from certain teachers have preference as well…
I truly believe that it is type over talent. If your S or D is a type the school needs they have a much better shot at an acceptance. For example, a 5’6" blonde soprano may have a great audition but if that school already has five or six 5"’ 4" - 5" 7" blond sopranos, you might not get an offer. On the other had if a 6’ 0" male has a good audition (which is maybe subjectively not as awesome as the aforementioned blond soprano), he might still get an offer if that is a type the school needs. Basically don’t take anything personally. A no from a school is oftentimes more about the “type” than a suggestion your S or D doesn’t have the talent to succeed. Keep the faith.
@claire74 thanks that made me laugh out loud. We have joked about just such an essay.
So an analysis could be to look at the a current senior class of each school by type and compare to freshman class the next fall. Then you could add trends like a schools desire for more ethnic or geographical diversity and see if you could predict what type a certain school would be looking for?
@archtectkc, That sounds to me like a great idea! And the info on senior classes is usually readily available by March or April, when they are gearing up for their showcase. You can find resumes that often list height, weight, hair color, voice type, etc. Of course, you might guess wrong, but it seems like a good way to start narrowing down your list by figuring out which schools might be most open to accepting your “type”. I wonder if you called up schools and asked what “types” are graduating or what “types” they are most interested in, would you get an answer?
I like this quote from Matthew Edwards at Shenandoah (from his “Auditioning for College” blog):
“I am, however, not without sin in this regard,” said the pot to the kettle.
Pot here! Ha, ha, ha! What else are we for but strategizing and endless anxiety that our kids’ talent level matches the rest of the universe! Let our kids alone to do the practicing, we’ll just handle the excess worrying so that they don’t have to!
I think the allure is finding an element you CAN figure out. It helps to have something to obsess about rather then just waiting for news…
Regarding trying to guess type as mentioned in #22 and #23 above. It might be good for a few hours of entertainment and distraction but it’s a bit like playing with Pokémon cards. You can go in with a strategy and a stacked deck but what someone else plays, their damage, what they evolve into, the energy and who you get as a trainer impacts the outcome. Actually, I don’t exactly know what any of those things mean despite my then 5 year old son’s attempt to explain it to me but I do remember overhearing him play with Pokemon cards with his little buddies and it seemed to me that it was awfully hard to predict the outcome of the game in advance because so much had to do with what somebody else had in their deck and when they decided to pay it.
@halflokum, so funny! Pokemon is exactly how I shall envisage the process from this time forth! Here’s a Pokemon quote from Grimsley: “There are bad ways to win–and there are good ways to win. What’s interesting and troubling is that it’s not always clear which is which. A flipped coin doesn’t always land heads or tails. Sometimes it may never land at all. . . .” May our coins always land the way that’s best for us!
@claire74, clearly Grimsley at one point did musical theatre. He does sort of have that Adam Lambert thing going on so it makes sense.
…and to think this thread started with a light hearted, cleverly written parody of the college essay - filled with thoughts most of us have had! I figured by tonight this thread would be filled with satire of other common questions like “What club would you start and why?” (My second personal favorite)
With the blood, sweat, tears, time, energy and money involved in this process, I’m confident most of us (and especially our children) took/take college visits, head shots, resumes, applications, essays, and ‘list building’ very seriously, with much thought and painstaking attention to detail. I wouldn’t even venture a guess as to the number of essay drafts, edits, redrafts and ‘start from scratch’ moments my daughter worked through to get her applications, essays and prescreens in! (Hence my earlier post…a joke BTW!)
It’s great that everyone is so willing to share strategies, tactics, experiences, and well-articulated guesses as to the ‘best’ approach…but this is a journey we will all experience and perceive differently. In most cases we will NEVER know (and will probably second guess) if talent, essay, GPA/ACT, type, hair color, resume or ‘whatever’ was a strength or weakness…or really didn’t factor into the decision at all. I think this post is headed right back to Pokemon.
Enjoy all the small victories along the way! Oh…and great quote @EmsDad
Heading toward the home stretch with the last of three kids and college applications, I sure do wish they’d ditch the “Why …?” question. Three kids x at least 10 groans at the sight of it and then the following the well-beaten path of spending time on the website, finding little nuggets of specific-to-that-campus things to us, very much aided by any in-person visits to that campus – which, like so many of these components, favors those who can afford to make these visits, as well as favoring those who are able to get good advice like @soozievt 's.
My daughter is applying to 12 schools, 9 of which are for their BFA programs. Her favorite question was the only one asked from one particular school. It had nothing whatsoever to do with their program or school or anything academic or artistic. But it was an interesting, engaging question which encouraged self-reflection and creativity, and there were many ways one could run with it. It was a breath of fresh air, and she disappeared for a few hours, came out of her room happy and asked to read it to me. It was by far her best-written essay and showed way more about her than any other her “Why…?” ones. At the info session for that school, the admissions counselor noted how much they enjoy reading the essays and how they remember a lot of the best ones and love matching them up to the incoming students in the fall.
All this said with a sigh as tonight my daughter faces #11 out of 12 - and it’s got five 150-words or less (which I think are the hardest) to pound out. Fingers crossed, by Sunday evening it will be adios to all undergraduate college essays in this household.
The Why X College essays generally are not creative writing. The other essay prompts tend to be and are more fun to write and tend to show more about the student! I do understand the desire to assess a student’s interest in a school. Those essays tend to be more statement or explanatory oriented and less of a creative narrative.
I agree that the 150 words or less essays can be difficult to write because you have to edit, edit, edit and make every word count.
I think all these app essays are a LOT of work. On the bright side, it is a chance for a school to know you more as a person beyond the factual stuff and the numbers.
I advise students to think of the Why Us? questions as job applications. If you are applying to Pixar and they ask you, “Why Pixar,” you need to be able to answer. It helps to get into their mindset. They want to know: What can you bring to the table and the team? Are you making an informed choice? Obviously, one answer is, “I want to apply to Pixar because you guys are awesome and I really really need a good job.” Just as with a college application, that would be true. But it would also not help in landing you a job.
What I advise is for students to look at the school in a few targeted arenas. This takes about an hour or two per school but it’s worth it. The essay will write itself because you will have a concrete goal oriented statement.
Use any or all of these (and any more you can think of).