Applying to College in the Performing or Visual Arts

Last Updated on July 26, 2019 by Jill Schwitzgebel

Applying to major in the visual or performing arts in college, whether it’s Music, Theater, Dance (or a combination of those three!) , Visual Arts, or any of many subcategories of one of those, adds a whole new level of complication to the application process.  Now, the student has to not only maintain their GPA and take the SAT or ACT, write essays, and fill out the standard applications,  they also must be ready with portfolios and/or audition material.  And, the student has to be ready to apply early in the school year – no waiting to get those applications out.

I’ve helped kids and parents with college searches for a diverse variety of majors, but I think helping my daughter with the application process to major in music may be the biggest challenge I have faced.  But, we stumbled our way through it somehow, and couldn’t be happier with her results. But here is what we learned.

“So, you’re letting your child major in music?”

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard this question from someone when they discovered our daughter was applying for degree in music, a Bachelors of Music degree.   Actually, now that I think about it, I got that comment for her first couple of years in college too.   Sometimes, people don’t say it aloud, they say it with their silence or with their raised eyebrows.  I was probably particularly sensitive to this comment, because I was resistant to this path myself, until into her sophomore year of high school.

But, if you have a kid who is involved and passionate about any of the arts, you likely know that the real question you have to ask yourself is “How could I NOT let my kid major in the arts?”  In most cases, whether it is music or painting, it is not something that the student just became serious about during their Junior year in high school (although that happens, and can make the application process more difficult due to time constraints).  It’s usually something your child has been involved with and building skill in for years, and it may be consuming as much or more time than academics.  It may be also consuming a lot of your money, as you shell out the money for lessons!

Similarly to how she began begging for piano lessons at age 3 before we even owned a piano, my daughter began saying she wanted to major in music in college in eighth grade.  She was only in middle school, so I dismissed it and suggested lots of other majors.  Her grades were good, and she liked math, why not major in business?  So practical!  It was actually her piano teacher, who HAD originally graduated with a degree in business, that really made me stop and think.  She kept telling me how badly she had wanted to major in music herself but wasn’t allowed to, and how she still regretted that she hadn’t…and here she was teaching piano lessons, rather than sitting in an office. At some point, it hit me that I didn’t want to be the reason that my daughter looked back at her college years with regret for a lost opportunity.

By the time it was time to think about college applications, I was happy to answer with a smile, “YES, I am letting my kid major in music.”

What’s next?

For arts majors, you need to begin that whole search/research process probably about two minutes after you realize that’s the path that your child is taking. At the very least, you’ll need to start earlier than if your child is talking about being say, a chemical engineer.  You’re going to discover that you have a lot of decisions that need to be made, and sometimes, extra preparation that must begin ASAP. For instance, after doing some research, we quickly realized that my daughter needed to attend a specialized summer program or two in order to have a competitive music resume’ to be able to apply for her intended major.  Minor panic then set in because she also had to audition for those summer programs and so we had to get her prepared.

For a visual arts major, they will need to have plenty of studio time to get their portfolio prepared.  If your student does not have a private instructor, then it will be a good idea to begin reviewing what the general portfolio requirements are for arts programs so that you can be sure that your student will have what they need to submit.

Among the earliest decisions you’ll face for arts majors is what kind of program your child wants to attend.  As a music major, my daughter had to choose among applying to a stand-alone music conservatory, a conservatory connected with a college, or a program at a college with a good music department.  Not all colleges grant a Bachelors in Music, which did help narrow that down…somewhat.  But, then she would still have to decide between a large public university program or a small liberal arts program.  And yet other factors that had to be considered were the professors and the reputation of the program.  Some schools are known for turning out amazing cellists, while some are known for the quality of their film scoring programs.  Just because a school is “known for music”, doesn’t make it the right fit for every musician.

There is a similar dilemma with most of the arts majors. Someone whose area of studies is in the visual arts will be trying to decide whether to attend a school dedicated to art and design or whether to attend a program within a college…and again, you’ll face the large school versus small school dilemma to get that Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.  And, while one school may excel in animation, perhaps another excels in photography.

There are schools and programs where you may not have to audition or produce a portfolio, which certainly makes the freshman application less stressful.  BUT, I personally know students who went in to college intending to major in music, knowing that they would have to get accepted into the program at the end of their freshman year or during their sophomore year, only to be rejected.  Colleges will often have alternative routes in that case, but the student better be ready to make some tough decisions if they have a year or two of coursework in already.

We found it helpful to visit and have appointments with the professors my daughter would be working with at the various programs.  I’m not sure how else she could have narrowed down what kind of program she wanted.  And honestly, it was the professor that tipped the scale for her at the program she ultimately decided to attend.  She met him and knew that she clicked with him and would work well with him.

There IS one downside to meeting the professors before applying – one of the hardest things for both of us was that she really liked a professor at another conservatory too, and when that acceptance came through, along with a nice scholarship, walking away from that opportunity was really difficult.  After establishing that personal connection, it felt like she was letting him down.

The Application Process

After you have identified the schools where your student would like to apply, the next step is going to be familiarizing yourself with the arts application process for each school.  For every school, the process is going to be a bit different.  One thing that almost all of them have in common is that the application must be in by an earlier date than if your student were just applying for an academic admission.

In some cases, your student will need to submit what is called a “prescreen”, meaning the school, usually a conservatory, will want to evaluate a video audition before giving your student the green light to apply to their program.  The program will have VERY specific parameters for what they want to see on that video and how they want it to be submitted.  Read carefully and call the department itself if you are uncertain or have questions.  Sometimes, selective art schools also want to do prescreens of applicants’ portfolios and the same cautions apply.

The benefit to a prescreen is that your student gets feedback very early on in the admissions process.  While it can be discouraging, it is good to know where NOT to waste time applying.  With conservatories that require a prescreen, keep in mind that the acceptance rate may look much higher than it really is.  That’s because they may have turned away students before they even submitted an application, making the students who applied much more likely to be accepted.  So, don’t be discouraged if your child has gotten turned away after a prescreen at a program with what appears to be a high acceptance rate!

For conservatories connected to colleges, as well as departments within a college, your student likely will need an academic acceptance prior to their arts acceptance.  BUT, that does not mean that your child will be sitting around and waiting for that acceptance letter before submitting whatever is needed for the arts application.

If there is no prescreen for the program your student is applying to, or if the student has gotten the green light, one of the very first things that your student needs to do in the fall is to sign up for an audition slot at their schools.  Book EARLY.  Again the process will vary by school, but I have read about many programs where slots are full by the end of September.  Now, slots will occasionally open up later in the cycle, but it’s nicer if you can do the audition at the time of your choosing.  Most auditions are held between December – early February.  And just like the prescreen, it will be very important to pay close attention to what each audition requires.  We did find some overlap among programs’ audition requirements, but it generally seemed that each school required one minor thing that was different from other programs.

You can sometimes audition via Skype or by submitting a videotape if the travel distance and expense is too great.  If you have not visited the school yet, I would say that you will want to make every effort to get there to visit though and the audition is a perfect time to do so.

For theater majors of all kinds, there are opportunities to audition and interview for a large number of programs all in one place, at Unifieds.  Unified Auditions are held in three major cities between December and February.

For students majoring in theater, they will also need to provide head shots along with their application materials.

Finally, an application requirement surprise for us was that for some music programs, the student needs to submit the programs of all the performances that they have been in throughout high school, as part of the application process.   I understand that can sometimes be the case for theater programs as well.  Fortunately, as a proud mom, I had saved almost all of them, and we were able to get a couple of others from friends.

And Then the Waiting Begins…

Just like applying to any program, after the applications are submitted, and auditions have been completed, your child will be forced to wait to hear the outcome.  We were lucky that my daughter did have two academic admissions in hand prior to some of her auditions…but only a week prior.  It’s not like she could have waited to find out those results before scheduling the auditions.  Those admissions only meant that she could attend those colleges, not that she could major in music there.

In general, the audition or portfolio will supersede traditional admissions criteria, like GPA, test scores, etc, but it really depends on the school.  In some cases, the school wants to see that your student excels in the classroom as well as on stage.  And in other cases, a strong academic application will give the program a chance to offer a nicer scholarship than they may have been able to offer otherwise.

The waiting time will give your student a perfect chance to step back and really process what is important to them in their post-high school experience.  It may mean that when they get that offer of admission from that really prestigious program that they thought was their dream, they suddenly realize that it’s not the right fit for them.  Or, they realize it’s not worth the loans they will need to make it happen.  Either way, good for them for figuring that out now, rather than during the first semester there.

While you wait to hear results, my suggestion is to take the time to breathe a sigh of relief, pat yourself on the back for surviving the whole arts application process, and enjoy the remainder of your child’s senior year.  Good luck!

 

>>>>For an overview of the Arts application process, please go to Guide to Applying to College in the Fine Arts.