Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers
By Elaina Loveland
Supercollege, LLC (Los Altos, CA), 2005
$19.95, 320 pages, soft cover
Reviewed by Bradford R. MacGowan, Ed.D.
College Counselor
Newton North High School (MA)
Counseling student actors, artists, dancers and musicians for higher education involves skills, knowledge and resources that are unique to working with these students. And, as if being a student in the college search and application process is not challenging enough, prospective visual artists, performing artists, and writers are presented with very different sets of options and challenges.
Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers by Elaina Loveland is a great book for both creative students and counselors who work with creative students. Creative Colleges provides counselors with knowledge and resources to help students and provides students with the tools to address the options and challenges that they will confront.
As NACAC members and readers of the Journal of College Admission will remember, the author is a former editor of this Journal. In Creative Colleges, she combines that experience with her background as a writer, dancer and student in each discipline. Who could be better qualified than this to write a book like this?
Creative Colleges is divided into eight chapters and an appendix, which contains references to general and specific resources in print and on the Web. All students pursuing further education in these creative areas will benefit from reading Chapter 1: The Creative Student's College Search, Chapter 2: Frequently Asked Questions, Chapter 8: The Next Step, and the appendix. Chapters 3 through 7 are in-depth resources for actors, artists, dancers, musicians and writers, respectively.
The information is clear, practical, well researched, and well presented. Students will get help with decision-making and advice on applications, auditions, portfolios, essays, resumes, and other aspects of the process. They will also get a feel of what schools are like and each of the specific chapters includes a sample college curriculum. Much of the advice is quoted directly from admissions professionals, professors, and from creative students who went through the process. Counselors will find parts of every chapter helpful including the profiles of selected programs in each area and the comprehensive lists of colleges with programs in each area.
As a counselor, I find the overall philosophy of the book, which emphasizes finding the right fit, refreshing. Too often with college guides, I find myself saying to students and parents, "ignore this part of the book" and "take this with a 'grain of salt.'" Such caveats are unnecessary when recommending Creative Colleges. There is a good balance between encouraging students to explore their own needs, researching the important characteristics of colleges and finding the right match.
Creative Colleges is a book that can help every high school junior and senior who wants to pursue acting, art, dance, music, and writing at the postsecondary level. Elaina Loveland's experience and empathy for the creative student are evident throughout the book.
This book should be within arm's reach of every counselor who works with these students. Creative Colleges is a comprehensive resource with the right approach and attitude, and having it on my desk makes me a better counselor.
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