College Counselor and the Arts
Each arts department works in its own individualized way with the college counselor in order to assist Idyllwild Arts seniors and postgraduates in the college search and application process. The following description discusses the ways in which each arts discipline is involved in the procedure.

Visual Art
Submission of a portfolio is central to the visual artist’s college application process in addition to the usual essays and recommendations. To this end, all senior majors in the Visual Arts Department attend a weekly seminar geared toward the assemblage of a portfolio. Instructors help the students prepare slides of their works, and the students receive training in how to discuss their artistic work and to speak articulately when meeting college and arts conservatory representatives. Students are also assisted in the development of their critical and analytical skills in order to write about their works, particularly in college application essays. The college counselor is a frequent visitor to this seminar class in order to facilitate discussions about schools and to weigh the options as to whether individual students are more suited to apply to pure arts schools or more of a traditional college or university. Deadlines and application procedures are discussed as well as strategies for essay writing and interviews. The college counselor and Visual Art Department faculty communicate with each other frequently to guarantee that students are applying to institutions that are appropriate to academic and artistic skill levels and that the process is carried out in a timely manner.

There are two national Portfolio Days in Southern California for visual arts students where art institutes and colleges from across the country converge to view and critique student portfolios. The Visual Art Department at I.A.A. sponsors a trip to each of these Portfolio Days through this seminar so that students can show their work to prospective undergraduate institutions. Finally, college representatives from various arts schools visit this class, often to review individual portfolios and to discuss the submission process from that institution’s own particular point of view.

Dance
Every senior dance major interacts with all department faculty in a manner that is geared toward the discussion of college search and audition strategies. The college counselor also works with faculty in order to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of application to dance conservatories versus more traditional four year undergraduate institutions. Each senior major is also assigned an advisor within the department who works closely with the college counselor and the student to discuss potential undergraduate dance and academic needs. This team gives specific counseling as to what institutions are a good fit from the standpoints of dance style, degree of talent, and academic record and interests. The school’s fall senior dance concert is intentionally scheduled to take place before Thanksgiving Break so that the department can spend the remaining months of the semester coaching and preparing the students for their various auditions. Most of the students participate in regional auditions in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, and at the Juilliard School in New York. A few students travel overseas to schools such as Trinity Laban and London Contemporary in Europe for their auditions. The Dance Department faculty often accompany students to their regional college and conservatory auditions in order to lend support and provide final coaching. The Dance Department’s instructors and the college counselor are in frequent communication with each other throughout the college application season to make sure that students are applying to appropriate schools and that their process is carried out in an efficient and timely manner.

Theatre
Senior theatre majors attend two classes aimed specifically at the college application process. The first is a weekly seminar where students work together to conduct extensive research on colleges and to share their findings with their theatre teachers and peers. Students discuss location, size, nature and quality of programs, and to what extent students wish to blend an artistic and academic curriculum at the undergraduate level. The college counselor visits this class to discuss the application procedure, the financial aid process, to introduce the names of relevant schools that students might not have discovered and to answer any questions that students might have regarding their colleges of interest. The second class that students take is a practicum surrounding the subject of the audition process. Idyllwild Arts faculty members are closely involved in the audition process for senior theater majors. Students are given advice on the selection of audition material, rehearsal time is carefully instructed and monitored, and the seniors are given specific tips about the nature of certain schools and the personalities of specific auditioners. They are also coached on how to present themselves articulately to the various audition committees that they will face. Every year in early February, the theatre department faculty members accompany the students to the Chicago Unified Auditions, an assemblage of about thirty five colleges, universities and conservatories from both the United States and Great Britain. Some of the schools represented there are well known liberal arts colleges that happen to have strong theatre programs; some are large state universities, while others are conservatory programs. All of the schools assemble in the same large hotel which is also where the Idyllwild Arts students also stay during a five day audition period. At the beginning of the school year, the Idyllwild Arts Theatre Department generates a letter to parents and students that discusses the details of the audition process and the trip to the Chicago Unified's. The college counselor and theatre department faculty are in frequent contact with each other to insure that students are applying to appropriate schools and to keep updated on each student’s application process.

Music
The Music Department at Idyllwild Arts also offers a weekly senior seminar, the major theme of which is the college application and audition process. Taught by the department chair, the course is closely coordinated with the college counselor who is a frequent visitor to the class, especially earlier in the school year. Students are charged with the responsibility of conducting research to discover what colleges and conservatories might be appropriate given their instrument and musical interests. Students are asked to submit a list of prospective colleges, to assemble a resume of musical honors and extracurricular activities, and they work on writing samples of essays from the various college applications. Students are also asked to consider who they intend to ask for letters of recommendation and why. One of the more important subjects discussed with the students in this class is whether they should attend a college or conservatory. Some students are encouraged to visit certain music schools and to have an actual lesson with a prospective teacher to see if that person is a good match. A great deal of time in this class is devoted to the subject of auditions. After students are given guidelines and told what might be expected of them in an audition, they prepare and submit a list of pieces from their repertoire that they intend to perform. Students discuss the decision as to whether to send in a recorded tape or attend a live audition. If a decision is made in favor of a live audition, then the relative merits and benefits of attending an on-campus versus regional audition are weighed. Since students attending live auditions must travel extensively and visit several institutions, the arrangement of travel plans, practical itineraries and the scheduling of auditions is also arranged within the context of the course. If they plan to submit a recorded CD or DVD instead of attending a live audition for some of their prospective colleges, students use the class time and resources to make recording arrangements and secure the services of a piano accompanist. Some music conservatories enthusiastic about our students request permission to come to Idyllwild to audition our students. Such visits are arranged by the college counselor and the music department chair. This school year, the New England Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, and Eastman School of music are scheduled to audition students on the Idyllwild Arts Campus.

Interdisciplinary Arts Major
The Interdisciplinary Arts Department also has a weekly seminar attended by all senior majors. The class is taught by the department chair, and visited frequently by the college counselor. Within the first month of school, IM majors are asked to submit a list of colleges, universities, and conservatories in which they have an interest. The IM chair and college counselor together discuss these schools with the students in class so that all senior majors can learn about each others’ institutions of interest. The department also publishes for students a list of colleges and universities that it frequently recommends for its majors. Many of them offer interdisciplinary and thematic programs or individualized majors, structured similarly to what the students experience at Idyllwild Arts. Students are asked to maintain an accordion file of information on undergraduate programs of interest, and then obtain or download applications from each of these schools. They begin work on their applications during the senior seminar class by the third week in October, filling them out, and writing then editing statements of purpose and admissions essays. In addition, time is devoted to a discussion of the subject of requesting letters of recommendation and the mailing of transcripts. Because of the broad nature of the interdisciplinary major, students in the department can often have a rather complex process of displaying their art to prospective colleges. Thus a great deal of class time is devoted to a discussion of appropriate artistic and portfolio submissions, and for those who may enter a music or theatrical program, various audition options are reviewed and decided upon, much as they are in the Idyllwild Arts theater and music programs.

Moving Pictures
The application process to undergraduate film programs is often similar to that of a traditional academic rather than an arts student. Many film schools do not require the submission of a motion picture in the application process because most entering freshmen do not have the prior cinematic experience of Idyllwild Arts Students. As a result, the college selection process for Idyllwild Arts Moving Pictures majors is a particularly careful one because their high school experience is often so extensive that once they matriculate, IAA graduates often find themselves fully two years ahead of their undergraduate peers from both technical and artistic standpoints. Thus, the college application process for some IAA moving pictures students often takes a more traditional approach with the consideration of many academic possibilities outside the realm of film schools, especially those offered by small liberal arts colleges. For those students who seek this option, the college counselor plays an important role in helping the students select and apply to various undergraduate institutions. For those students who wish to go on to a film school, the department and college counselor work together to facilitate this process. The college counselor contacts one major film school each fall semester and helps facilitate a visit to that institution by all senior majors. The college counselor also arranges visits of film school/department representatives and professors to the Idyllwild Arts campus so that they can see our moving pictures facilities and discover what our students do within the context of the moving pictures major. One of the Moving Pictures Department faculty members has also served as a professor at many of the nation’s top college and university film schools. He employs that expertise to advise students about college level film programs and he works closely with the college counselor to help students find institutional matches that are appropriate to their academic and artistic levels.

Creative Writing
Since Creative Writing majors are more like students who take numerous English courses, their college counseling process is usually much more traditional. The department frequently invites guest writers from major college and university writing programs to come up to Idyllwild Arts and deliver master classes. The college counselor arranges for admissions representatives from colleges with especially strong writing programs to come and speak directly to creative writing classes. Each year, juniors attend a writing conference and school fair where representatives from all of the major large university writing programs are present. Senior majors have at least three hours of meetings with the college counselor to discuss undergraduate choices and narrow them down to a final list. The college counselor and Creative Writing Department Chair then meet to review and discuss the student’s list and make recommendations. The department helps the students in the assemblage of a writing portfolio to be submitted to schools in the application process.