How important are SI listings on college applications?

[Balletmartyr]

I was wondering how important are all the SI's are in a college application? My DD has done 5 summers at well known ballet companies. Now she is a junior and definitely decided that college is her first choice-not company. She is contemplating whether or not to do another summer before her senior year. She knows a few girls that have successfully gotten into top programs (Indiana, NYU,and Utah) without ever attending summer intensives. She is wondering if it is all hype as far as the importance on an application. She loves the experience and always takes away something that adds to her growth as a dancer, but as a parent I am wondering if these summers left as a teen are worth more than another year of training? She gets good training at home and has a wonderful experience now performing with a college troupe.

 

Thoughts, advice, and personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

[ddm3]

It sounds like your daughter has already attended several SI's. I don't know how important they are, but my guess is that she has enough to show on her resume. If she has great training at home, then it would seem adequate to me to go with what she already has. I doubt the list of SI's will be a determining factor when applying to college. What can help however, in my opinion is if the auditioner/faculty has a familiarity with the dancer prior to the audition. If the college offers a summer program, then I would consider going to it. For instance, NCSA has a summer program. There is a facultly member at IU who has taught at the Chautauqua Institute SI. She taught the IU audition class. Look up the faculty of NYU and Univ of Utah and see if any of them might be teaching at a particular SI. Teachers tend to teach at the same SIs year after year. So, this could be something you might want to consider and research further.

[SEM]

Last month I attended the Open House at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. They discussed admission requirements at length. Judging from the breakout session for the Dance Department I would say the Audition is paramount and resume is a lot less important. After the Auditions they send their recommendations to Admissions who then review the applicants academic application.

[Victoria Leigh]

I think the actual audition is always far more important than the resume. They see the dancer first, and if they like the dancer, the resume won't matter at all!

[Robin G]

I agree that the audition is what really counts but if you have attended top SI's it it doesn't hurt.

[BalletNutter]

Agree with Ms. Leigh. Audition is the most important -- the rest does not matter. We just went through this process last year.

[dance_through_life]

I definitely hope not because I haven't been to an SI away from home... going this summer though. I guess I'm hoping to wow them at the audition!

[twinkltoze]

My dd is a freshman this year. Her school prepares the students for college from practically lower school. (It is a preparatory school). So now of course, we are hearing important factors about getting into college, and the word around here is that if your son or daughter has attended high profile SI's and has been doing ballet for quite a while, really has stuck with it, that is a major plus for the resume.

[Robin G]

Well aside from the resume it 's great prep for dance ahead,and I feel a must for serious dancers.

[BalletNutter]

The SIs are wonderful resume boosters for the general academic application for the colleges themselves but not necessarily for the artistic application for the dance programs within the colleges. It is the audition that gets you into the dance program of the college.

[Taradriver]

If the college asks for a dance resume, listing SI's attended cannot hurt. Of course it is the audition that gets you in, I think we can all agree on that. DD listed SI's on both dance and academic resumes.