What I learned:

1. The title and description of your work helps the viewer interpret your vision.

2. When submitting a portfolio pieces should to relate to each other.

3. Bold and sophisticated personal voice and vision are key to successful portfolios.

4. Don’t be afraid to be amusing.

The 5C’s include Pomona, the original of the colleges and the one that most resembles a small Ivy League liberal arts college with excellent departments in just about everything, Claremont McKenna, which attracts students most interested in political science, economics, business, and international relations, Harvey Mudd, for the ultra STEM focused students, Scripps, the all-women’s college, which focuses largely on arts and humanities, with strong dance and visual arts departments, and Pitzer, the most recently founded college, which, since the 1960s has been known for social justice and environmentalism, as well as a top-notch media studies department.

All students in a Parsons BFA program must take a comprehensive Freshman Foundation Year of five courses: Drawing and Imaging, Space and Materiality, Objects as History, Sustainable Systems, and Time. In addition to these courses students also take five additional courses (Inflections) in areas of interest to them. All courses focus on building skills needed for competent designers and the coursework is centered more on technology and becoming proficient using digital tools, and less on hand drawing.

Demonstrated interest can tip the scales in your favor. Learn the six easy ways to show it.

It’s never too early to start visiting colleges, (yes, 8th and 9th graders this is for you too) and I completely recognize how daunting beginning that search is. Here’s the advice I give all my families: Make it easy, start local. Start by visiting schools near you that represent a variety of characteristics.

If you have decided to pursue performing arts in college, you likely have the added stress of perfecting your repertoire and preparing for possible prescreens and impending auditions.