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Hi everyone...I'm going to be a senior in the fall, and I'm having trouble finding schools I want to apply to. I want to either major in theatre education and music education, major in music education and minor in theatre if the theatre minor is good enough, or major in musical theatre. Basically, I want to go to a school that will give me good theatre AND musical training, but I also definitely want to be in an urban area, and preferably not more than four or five hours away from my home, on Long Island--a tough combination. The schools I'm considering are NYU (top choice), Boston University, Penn State, Emerson and Boston Conservatory. Which of these are safeties, which are matches, and which are reaches? Here are my stats...

First of all, GPA is about an 89 or 90 unweighted, but weighted it won't be that much more, maybe a 91 or 92, since I only took four AP\IB's this year. What does that translate to? I thought it was about a 3.5, but someone please set me straight if I'm wrong.

The honors\AP\IB courses I took are as follows (everything else is regular, or accelerated, but not weighted):

Freshman year: Honors Math, Honors English
Sophomore Year: Honors English
Junior year: AP\IB US History, IB English, IB Spanish, IB Theatre
Senior year (next year): IB English, AP Statistics, IB Spanish, IB Music Theory

Test scores:
PSAT: 57 verbal, 67 math, 74 writing
SAT I: 1260, 650 Math/610 Verbal (will be taking these again in October)
SAT II's: Literature 610, Math IC 690, Writing 750

Extracurricular activities, in order of importance to me. This is also what I'm most likely to participate in next year, in my senior year, but the only guarantees are the presidencies and the things I've already been a part of. Also, please tell me what's worth mentioning from this list and what isn't...:

1 Comedy Troupe – Member 9th, Assistant Director 10th, President 11th and 12th (performance, writing and improv troupe)
2 GSA – Member 9th-11th, President 12th
3 Tri-M – 11th-12th
4 Chamber Choir – 11th-12th
5 ITS – 10th Grade Rep, 11th-12th (hopefully VP next year)
6 District Human Development Committee – 10th-12th (I was the student representative, by invitation)
7 Spanish Honor Society – 11th-12th
8 Musical, ensemble – 11th-12th
9 Vocal Jazz Ensemble – 12th
10 Buddy Program – 10th-12th
11 Peer Mediation – 10th-12th
12 Women’s Choir – 12th
13 Drama, props – 11th-12th
14 Musical, props – 11th-12th
15 Book Club – 10th, President 11th, 12th
16 Leadership Group – 11th-12th
17 SADA – 10th
18 Art Club – 9th
19 Pathways – 9th
20 Pay It Forward

Community Service (Same deal...in order of importance, and please tell me what's worth mentioning and what isn't):

1 Kings Park and East Northport Days – Eleven years, two days per year, four hours per day (I help take pictures and hand out papers. I might write an essay about these experiences, as merely listing this doesn't explain what I do here and how important this is to me)
2 Community Theatre – Ensemble 9th-10th, lights 11th-12th, about 75 hours so far
3 Library Acting Workshop – 11th (self started, directed, produced, etc. at a local library. I might hold another one this year), 15 hours so far
4 Gurwin Jewish Geriatric Center – 10th-11th, 30 hours
5 Breast Cancer Walk participant – 10th-12th


Awards and Achievements

1 If I made it, which I am 99.99999% sure I did (as are my music teachers, who are discussing it with me as if I were already there), New York All-State Choir 2004 (determined by NYSSMA scores--100s and a few 99s are accepted)
1 NYSSMA: 24/28 Level IV, 9th grade; 96/100 Level VI, 10th grade; 100/100 Level VI, 11th grade
2 NYSCAME All-County Ensemble, 12th grade (guaranteed from my NYSSMA grade)
3 2nd place at Nassau Community College’s Annual Monologue Competition, 11th grade
4 1st place at Hofstra’s Annual Spanish Poetry Contest, 11th grade
5 Included in Who’s Who Among American High School Students, 11th grade

Schools I don't want to apply to (for various reasons), but probably have programs that match what I'm looking for are JMU, CCM, and Syracuse; if anyone has fantastic arguments for why I should consider these schools, though, I'll be glad to listen.

So, any ideas, comments, etc...please reply. Thanks.

By Dadofsam (Dadofsam) on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 02:46 pm: Edit

There are huge threads on these subjects under College Choice.