For most students, the college application process only involves writing essays and getting teacher recommendation letters. For students looking to pursue an arts major, however, the college process requires a few extra steps.

Beyond completing the standard elements, students majoring in the performance and visual arts build portfolios, prepare auditions and present their best work, with the hopes of being accepted to a school that values their talents and prepares them for a future in the arts.

For most theater programs, students must submit a prescreen video before they can be invited to a live audition. In most cases, students need both academic and audition acceptance into college at the same time. To do this, they supplement their applications with recordings and interviews.

Senior Audrey Navarrete is committed to New York University as a theatre major in the Tisch School of the Arts. She said the interviews and auditions were more personal than standard college applications.

“I was expecting the environment to be really stressful, but they actually ended up being welcoming and encouraging,” Navarette said. “It helped me learn a lot about myself because, for the interview, we had to have answers prepared for their questions. I got to really focus on honing my skills and making the best quality work that I could to give the best impression.”

For singing majors, the application process is similar to that of theater majors. According to senior Ingrid Aumiller, admissions committees focus on getting to know applicants as singers and people. In only a few recordings, students try to summarize their talents.

Aumiller will be attending the University of Hartford in the fall as a music management and contemporary art major. She said that she submitted many recordings showcasing her singing abilities, and performed pop songs, jazz songs and songs in Spanish. Aumiller received offers from Berkeley College of Music and Hartford.

“I was trying to sell myself to Berkeley. So I went into the audition trying to please them, but I feel like I was putting on a little bit of a character. I felt like they [wanted] a very curated image,” Aumiller said. “Even though it’s a good school, after I had my audition at the University of Hartford, and I went in there being completely myself, I was like, ‘these people are so awesome.’”

The application process looks different for artists pursuing the visual arts. According to senior Katherine Dougan, these students submit portfolios that typically contain 10-20 pieces consisting of their best works, which include finished pieces, experimental works and sketchbook pages.

Dougan is taking her talents to the Rhode Island School of Design as an Illustration major. She said that throughout the portfolio-building process, she learned to filter feedback.

“It’s hard because some of the feedback you get is: ‘I don’t like this piece,’ ‘I don’t think it’s finished,’ ‘I think you should cut it,’ and it’s a different [admission] officer’s favorite piece in the entire portfolio because it feels emotional and experimental and fun,” Dougan said. “In the end, the decision was just, what do I feel like speaks to my art and who I am as a person most strongly? Because, ultimately, if a school doesn’t want that, they don’t want me as an artist.”

Dougan said that in addition to building a portfolio, arts majors can also face stigma from family, friends and classmates. Dougan said she was lucky to have parents and family who supported her and were accepting of her desire to be an arts major, but that not everyone has always been excited about her pursuing an art degree.

“I felt a lot of external pressure, especially small comments [that] students, teachers or other adults would make. I was worried that going to an art school, I would not get a fully routed education,
I would be cutting off my options—all the things people tell artists.
I think I really deeply internalized those,” Dougan said.

Aumiller said aspiring artists shouldn’t let external pressure deter them from following their dreams and passions.

“Sometimes you’re working so hard and have so many things going on in your life, you can’t lose passion for what you love, don’t lose the spark, you know?” Aumiller said. “Remember why you love the thing you love.”