Answers to your college admissions questions

Admissions expert Jon Reider, college counselor at San Francisco's University High School, generously offered to answer some questions for blog readers. The first two are both about students who intend to pursue the arts in college. Q: Is there a single source of information or "ranking" for performing arts programs? Does U.S. News and World Reports rank programs within colleges like that? I haven't been able to find it. If not, who does? We are having a really hard time finding information about the quality of musical theatre programs. A: Trying to find information is one thing; trying to find rankings is another. To me, this is just looking in the wrong place. By looking for a shortcut, it runs the risk of substituting someone's else usually unreliable opinion for your own research and judgment. You don't need the "best" program, as if there were such a thing; you need one he can enjoy and thrive at. Did you pick the "best" husband out of 40 million available American men? My point, exactly. I think all ranking systems are inevitably flawed and nearly useless. I would be even more dubious about a ranking of fine arts programs. Suppose they have a good piano teacher, but not a good oboe teacher? Who is to judge? There are directories of fine arts programs, like Peterson's Guide, but I don't see how anyone can rank them. It would just be the nebulous area of "reputation", which doesn't get us beyond the worst features of US News. UC Irvine is supposed to have a good program, for what that is worth. Q: My teen is a passionate musician (instrumentalist) whose test scores are high but whose grades aren't perfect. She'll probably graduate with a 3.0-3.5 GPA. With selective colleges that audition music applicants (such as NYU, UCLA, Oberlin etc.), would the audition and other musical experience potentially carry enough weight to offset an imperfect GPA? Or should we just not set our sights on those schools?

A: Yes, the audition can make a difference if the other numbers are not stunning. This can vary by the culture of the school, the degree of autonomy of the music program (Tisch [School of the Arts at NYU] has a lot of autonomy, and UCLA clearly has some wiggle room for talented musicians and actors.), and, as always, the competition in any given year. It doesn't mean you can't "set your sights" on them, you just have to have a plan for what you will do if they don't come through. You don't buy insurance planning to have an accident, but you like having it when you get into one.