22
Opinions
December 2O21
PORTFOLIO PANIC Article by Ella Norman Graphic by Jaidyn Holt
We can all feel the tension as seniors rush around campus, desperately trying to make it through the day so they can go home and try to finish their college applications. There is a widespread awareness of the stress that comes with college applications, but the challenges faced by performing and fine arts students are often overlooked or even unknown entirely. Their applications don’t end with a Common App essay and lengthy supplementals but also include a portfolio portion and stressful interviews or auditions. The resources Trinity has right now are good; knowledgeable teachers in almost every subject area and college counselors with a general understanding of the portfolio process. But, it could be better. If our college counseling department expanded to include a counselor specific to arts applications, it would be better for not only just the art students but all parties involved. This topic hits very close to home. I have recently finished applying to college for stage management. It has been an incredibly tedious process with a ridiculous workload. “[Bachelors of Fine Arts] programs require, it feels like, 10 times the amount of work because not only do you have to have an app and an essay for each college, then you have to have a separate portfolio, or audition . . . and separate essays for each school,” Fine Arts teacher Donna Walker said. “And on top of that, each school has different requirements.” On top of all the additional work, students in many areas also face a decresed chance of acceptance. Carnegie Mellon University released acceptance rates for different departments. In 2020, the university as a whole had an acceptance rate of about 15%, but its School of Drama had by far the lowest acceptance rate, at only 4%. The additional portion of my application requires me to include a headshot and resume (both of which I did not previously have) as well as obnoxiously long writing samples for a couple of colleges and the dreaded portfolio. In short, this portfolio for stage management included everything I have written (blocking, props lists, set change sheets, light, sound cues, etc.) for every show I have stage-managed. As
you can imagine, that is absolutely a nightmare to assemble, especially since I had virtually no direction as to formatting. Because of this lack of direction, I believe the school and college counseling would largely benefit from learning more about the needs of art students as a community to learn how they can better assist us. “We are super open as a department to tell us how we can help you better,” Director of College Counselor Christine Grover said. “I’m hoping with individualized counseling that … the art students are feeling supported because everybody’s different. They have a different path.” Senior Isabel Tongson has the unique major of dramatic writing. She and I are in a similar situation, as there is no teacher specific to scriptwriting or stage management. She mainly received help from Fine Arts Department Chair Janine Papin to help look over the plays she submitted in her portfolio. “For a script writing portfolio, I included four different pieces ranging in size and genre to show the full breadth of my abilities,” Tongson said. “Plus a research paper I wrote using a critical feminist eye to demonstrate that I can thoroughly analyze works of writing in addition to creating them.” Tongson said she lacked resources specific to her major because there have been very few scriptwriters from Trinity and no specific stage-writing teachers. Instead, she got advice from English, theatre and film teachers, but most of them were not certain about how to go about the process. Sarah Suarez, a senior majoring in Music Therapy, received significant help from Fine Arts teacher Christina Carter on the audition process and requirements. “Every school has different requirements,” Suarez said. “Every school asks for one to four songs, and some require all or partially classical music. Some schools require pre-screen videos, which are videos that you have to submit before you get asked to audition in person. Also, some auditions also ask for you to show some music theory skills through sight-reading or improvisation. Also, many schools ask for an interview.” Suarez, like many art students, needed to
travel to complete her auditions. She received a lot of support from her counselor at TPS, but her application was still a very confusing process. “I have an unconventional major and had pretty strong opinions on what kind of school I wanted to end up at, so my options ended up being pretty limited,” Suarez said. “Since music therapy is such a new and growing field, not many schools have it as a major. I had to do a lot of independent research and find all of the schools that had it as an undergrad basically on my own.” For some schools, you need to be accepted into the school to even be considered for the arts program. Also, assuming that you need to interview, a lot of schools look at your portfolio and application first before they even offer an interview, so in those circumstances you need to make it through like three rounds of decisions. “I mean, there are so many things that you have to do even to be able to qualify for an audition,” Papin said. “Not only do you have to be accepted to the school, but you have to be looked at with these pre-screens for most programs to see if you can even get an audition time. [There are] so, so many more hoops to jump through.” “Going into this, I had no idea how to put together a portfolio, and I don’t think my counselors did either,” Tongson said. “Additionally, auditions and arts interviews take quite a bit of preparation depending on what the program asks for. Students often have no clue what is going to make them stand out, so they rely on those who have gone through the arts application process to give them pointers.” Many students have no prior knowledge of the portfolio process. Not only is there a limited capacity of knowledge given to the prospective fine art majors about the process, there’s also no way for them to gauge talent. “While we’re excellent at the logistics of helping you guys get the applications out, get them early, follow the deadlines, I will never be somebody who can say like, this person’s talented enough,” Grover said. “So I think that makes it tougher for you guys, if you don’t have somebody who can look at your work and say,
