Over $2.2M in Merit Scholarships awarded to this year’s seniors!
This year we had the unbelievable, and enviable opportunity to work with some amazing creative seniors and we want to acknowledge their hard work and tell you the lessons we learned early in this admissions cycle.
Know why a college is a great fit for you
Do your research. Are you reading many doom-scrolling social media posts about how the most amazingly qualified applicants were denied from their early decision schools? Yes, there is probably much truth to that, but we can attest that if you do your research and find schools that are the best match for you the feeling will be mutual. So far our students have been accepted to 99% of the schools to which they applied early. This is great news for the students and means that they applied to schools that would love them as much as they loved the school — the recipe for acceptance and for great merit aid packages.
Think holistically about your whole application
Craft your application so it tells your whole story. If you are reading this post you are most likely an artist, but you are more than your art and the admissions committee needs to see that. One applicant shared her love of being a pen pal and how much those correspondences meant to both her and the recipients. Another applicant wrote about how helping her dog and cat navigate crossing on the stairs shows her abilities to help people with differing opinions meet on common ground. A third told how overcoming her fear of scary movies has given her the confidence to be challenged by new situations. In all of these stories, the students let the reader learn more about them through their extra curriculars, descriptions of their artwork, and their essays and it paid off, both in acceptances and in merit aid.
Respond to the application prompts
Prepare your creative supplements with careful attention to the requirements. Your creative work does not magically appear out of thin air. This year our students worked hard to create their work, to think of the initial concept and to implement their ideas with a high level of technique and professionalism. Many of our visual artists spent hours with our Art Coach, Laura McFaden to take their portfolios from good to amazing. Our film students spent weekends planning, shooting, and editing their short films. Performing arts applicants read many monologues to be sure that their selections were right for them, and so far their audition call back rates have been amazing. Just like athletes spend hours practicing so must artists. If you’re a creative student applying for a BFA make sure you allocate time to submit your best work.
Merit aid is available
The right applications to the right schools is rewarded. The most remarkable aspect of this admissions cycle for my students is the amount of aid they received both because they submitted excellent applications, and because they applied early. With only about 30% of our students' decisions announced, they have received almost $2,200,000 in merit based scholarships.