Prep Seniors Apply to Colleges for the Arts
Senior Emily Amesquita ’21, (bottom) looks to major in Vocal Performance.
November 1, 2020
(See below for these artists in their element!)
Letters of recommendation. Supplemental essays. Common App prompts. These words are familiar to this year’s senior class who are hard at work to meet their nearing college application deadlines. However, students who submit arts specific applications have additional requirements. This describes seniors Elizabeth Lugo ’21, Jane Broderson ’21, Emily Amesquita ’21, Christina Winemiller ’21, and Victoria Elizabeth Olivera ’21, look to advance their passions in the arts to the collegiate level.
Lugo is applying to New York University, Pace University, Fordham University, and DePaul University for a major in Stage Management.
Her freshman year, Lugo was a part of the tech crew for Prep’s theater production of A Pocket Full of Truffles. After not getting cast in an acting role, she wanted to try all aspects of backstage. “I’d done acting, but doing my own hair and makeup was no fun, so I did costumes, makeup, lighting, sound, tech… I’ve done everything, but stage management was just my absolute favorite,” said Lugo. She has been stage managing since her junior year at Seattle Musical Theater, “which made me feel like I love this. I never want to stop doing this,” she said.
Between applying for the arts vs. other majors, Lugo said “I’m applying to two other schools for Poli Sci, so I definitely see the differences in the application process.” In addition to the Common App essays, Lugo must participate in school interviews and piece together a portfolio. In the portfolio, she must give examples of her previous experiences and creative statements.
“I have examples of my directing, so pictures of notes I’ve taken during rehearsal, spreadsheets I’ve made in making sure information is distributed to the right people, and photocopies of scripts I’ve written on and written blocking into,” said Lugo.
After college, Lugo said, “The theater world might look really different post-COVID so I can’t say with a 100% certainty what I will be doing, but I know that stage managers are really good at managing and I’m excited to see where that goes. I hope that I’ll be working on Broadway eventually, so you might see me there.”
Similarly, Jane Broderson ’21 is applying for majors in Theatre Studies, Directing, Theatre (Directing Concentration), Playwriting, Directing, and Theatre at Chapman University, Pace University, Fordham University, DePaul University, Marymount Manhattan College, and Rutgers University.
Having always been very interested in theatre, Broderson has known that she has wanted to work in the industry in middle school, “but it was only recently that I decided to focus on directing and playwriting (as opposed to acting). I first got into these specific areas of theatre when I started writing scripts in my free time, and it just grew to be my greatest passion,” she said. Career-wise, Broderson looks to be a director or playwright and create and bring to life her own stories. “I could also see myself maybe doing some minor acting jobs, but I mainly want to just focus on directing and writing,” she added.
For theatre applicants, she said, “a lot of schools have specific theatre-only deadlines, for example, I cannot apply Early Action to DePaul, I have to just apply with the theatre deadline. There are also a lot of creative supplements that I have to complete along with the normal Common App questions/personal essay, including theatre-specific instructor recommendations, portfolios, theatre supplemental essays (about your experiences in theatre), interviews, and video clips.”
As for COVID’s impact on Jane’s app process, theatre program interviews have shifted to all online.
Music-wise, Amesquita is applying to colleges for a vocal performance major, which is a part of voice and opera. She is applying to Northwestern, Vanderbilt, University of Southern California, McGill University, the Peabody Conservatory, University of Michigan, Baldwin Wallis University, Pacific Lutheran University, and Lawrence University.
Amesquita joined the St. James Cathedral Youth Choir in 4th grade, and if she hadn’t joined, she said, “I wouldn’t have known to pursue it to the level that I have because it was my choir teacher who said I should do something with my voice.”
Like Lugo and Broderson, Amesquita agreed; applying to college with an art major is “kind of a half-and-half deal. Half of it is exactly the same with what everyone else is doing with the Common Application, personal statement, and supplements,” she said. “What’s a little bit different, is I have, in general, two applications per school—my Common App and a separate music school application. This music school application is less about essays and more about musical experience, so I need to submit a resume and pre-screenings. which essentially are videos where they get to hear me sing before they invite me to a live audition.”
In addition to not being able to visit the schools she’s applying to, Amesquita said COVID will start impacting her app process in January/February. Live auditions, in which she would’ve flown to the school and performed for them, is predicted to be either via Zoom or pre-recorded. “It’s a little disappointing. I was excited to be able to travel since I have schools in all parts of the US. But it is what it is and I think that this newer method has its advantages. I’m trying to focus on the more positive aspects!” she added.
After her college endeavors, Amesquita said she wants to be doing music in some way, whether through a church job, being in a promotional choir, or opera.
As for the studio arts, Christina Winemiller ’21 looks to turn her childhood hobbies of drawing and painting towards a major in studio arts/graphic design. She is applying to Gonzaga University, Washington State University, San Diego State University, Loyola Marymount University, and the University of Arizona.
For Winemiller, the app process differs in that some colleges require a creative supplement, “which means an additional letter of rec. from an art teacher, more writing, and a portfolio of your artwork,” she said.
In the future, Winemiller says she “want(s) to be a graphic designer and possibly work for brands designing logos.”
“There has been a lot of focus on STEM in our current educational climate, and while that’s really important, I think pursuing an education in the arts, in any form, provides you with a new way to look at subjects intellectually,” said Amesquita. “I think that music, especially, is a lot more intellectual than people think it is and provides the foundation for a more holistic sense of education because it brings together a vast variety of different subjects.”
A word of advice to those who think they might want to major in the arts but is hesitant, “whether this is for a fear of rejection, thinking you aren’t talented enough, the competitivity, etc., go for it!” said Broderson. “A good suggestion is to apply to a combination of theatre and general studies programs just in case, but you will totally regret it if you don’t just go for it.”
These seniors, along with their peers, will finish their applications in the next few months and look to receive their acceptance letters either at the end of this year or in early 2021.
