A recent Greenwich High School graduate, Adrienne, who is planning to attend NYU Tisch next year with a concentration in theater. Adrienne was set on a life in musical theater. But Adrienne quickly discovered that applying to college for musical theater is a completely different process than that of her peers.
The tricky thing for Adrienne was finding a school that was equally challenging academically as it is musical theater wise. She knew NYU was the right choice for her. Although Tisch is ranked as one of best musical theater program in the country, Adrienne was also attracted to its great academics. Another major attraction to NYU was the fact that it was located in the capital city of theater. She knew early on that NYU was the school for her. That was the easy part.
If the application process wasn’t stressful enough, a complex audition process would surely turn up the heat. Because the audition process varies from school to school, Adrienne had to prepare a slew of monologues, songs, and dances for her many auditions. A couple of schools even required an interview and a music theory test.
Adrienne was overwhelmed. She hired a coach to direct her to colleges in order to organize the different components of her applications. The hardest thing about the process was the aspect of randomness. What if a girl just as good as her went before her but she made them laugh a little more? What if NYU already had a brunette mezzo soprano?
Adrienne decided to apply early decision to NYU. In Tisch’s early decision program, if students do not make the cut in the early decision round, then they are flat out rejected. Fortunately, Adrienne was accepted.
Looking back on her college application process, Adrienne thought that she handled the whole application process well. Instead of looking at college rankings provided in books, she was guided by playbills and her own needs.