“Twins, you say? Wow, good luck come college!”
I’ve heard this a lot over the years. There’s nothing quite like supporting not one, but TWO kiddos through the college application and decision-making process. To say nothing of the expense, which is sadly not “two for one.”
My twin girls and I went through this process in the fall of ’22 and spring of ’23. And let me tell you, it was NOTHING like my son’s journey the year before. His was a more straight-forward path. He had an idea of the major he’d like and a list of things he wanted from a college. He lined the two up, applied to several schools, got into several schools, and chose the school that gave him the most financial aid. Pretty easy-peasy.
My girls had decided to pursue musical theatre in college. I thought this would make the process even easier – they already knew exactly what they wanted to major in, and they could tailor their choices to schools that had a robust program. Hah! 2024 me shakes my head and laughs at the naïveté of 2022 me. “Silly woman,” she says to my younger self, “you have NO IDEA what you’re in for.”
It was true. But I found out pretty darn fast. The first thing I discovered was that many of the “top” schools required auditions in order to be admitted into the program. But there was more: in order to secure an audition spot, student hopefuls first had to submit – and pass – a prescreen. This, my friends, was a VERY BIG DEAL. I will not bore you with all of the details here, though I will probably post something about that process for any theatre-bound readers out there. Also, I’m hoping it will help me process the trauma (sigh).
This tripled the application process.
Step 1: Videotape and submit your prescreen to EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL you might possibly want to go to.
Step 2: Apply to the school.
Step 3: Apply to the musical theatre program within the school.
Of course, each school had their own order for these steps. Some were quite pragmatic about it. They basically told us not to bother applying to either the college OR the theatre program unless the girls passed prescreens. Otherwise, you were basically wasting your time on a pretty big gamble.
But other schools took a “kitchen sink” approach. “GO FOR IT!” was their mantra, then required the prescreens and both applications (along with the application fees, of course) before they’d even begin to look at the candidate.
In fact, the process was so highly individualized and varied, we had to create an excel spreadsheet just to keep track.
And the SHEER number of schools was unbelievable. Fun fact: getting into a top musical theatre program is statistically even harder than getting accepted at an ivy league school (one school’s acceptance rate was one-half of one percent, for goodness sake!) To put that into perspective, for many ivy league schools, the rate is between 3% and 5%. For every 20 schools applied to, we were told, most students could hope for 2 acceptances and 1 waitlist. The odds are not good, people.
Most of their theatre friends took one look at those stats and ran the other way, deciding that psychology or communications looked like a better bet. And I’m talking about SERIOUSLY talented kids with a whole heck of a lot of training under their belts. Then there were my girls. They’d done some theater and taken a bit of dance – in a family of 6, money only stretches so far. But they had found ways to pursue their passion on the cheap. They had talent. They had a little experience.
But what they had in spades? Confidence and grit.
Here is where their self-directed education allowed them to shine. Yes, some of that was thanks to a transcript that looked wildly different from most (History of American Theater? Biomechanics of Dance? yes, please!). But mostly, it was the skills they’d developed outside of curriculum that gave them a leg up. Those “soft skills” if you will. Like many homeschoolers, my girls were very comfortable holding conversations with adults. They immediately put this skill to use, contacting every school to which they had applied, requesting admissions interviews and conversations with literally anybody in the musical theatre department who was willing to give them the time of day. This paid off big time. In fact, there were weeks they struggled to cover their curriculum because so much of their time was spent zooming with this admissions counselor or that theatre professor. They also asked to be put in touch with any students currently in the program, and they reached out to them. By the time they actually arrived at a campus for a tour or an audition, they were already known by a bunch of people.
And of course, throughout their many interactions, it became clear that they were well-organized, adept at planning and time-management, out-of-the-box thinkers and excellent communicators. The “soft skills” they possessed, thanks to a lifetime of pursing their own passions and taking the lead in directing their education, were largely responsible for their acceptances and financial scholarships.
Two years into their programs, both girls are thriving. Me? I’m gearing up for kid #4’s college process. Thank goodness she’s not a twin.
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