Early January means the end of the application phase for most seniors. And while Katie is technically done applying, her musical theater ambitions means she still has a lot of auditioning to do on top of regular applications. That and a bout of pneumonia have kept her a little more stressed into the new year. Read her entire interview below!

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.
Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy.
Katie ATTENDS A Private Christian HIGH SCHOOL IN Ohio

First, how were your holidays? Did you get a good break? Do you feel rested?

The holidays were decent. I had pneumonia for a full week starting my first day of break and was unable to do much, so that was a hassle. My family came up from South Carolina, so I spent a lot of time with them. Overall, I have been crazy busy and playing catch up after having a week where I couldn't work on college stuff. It has been really fulfilling, and I feel as though progress has been made.

You've sent in all your college applications. Reflect on the past five months: do you have any regrets? Have you gained any wisdom you can share? Is it what you expected it to be?

I missed three of my scholarship deadlines, and that is really biting me right now. I think I was pretty well prepared coming into the year, and even though I have been cutting my deadlines a little too close for comfort, I have done pretty well given the circumstances. It is honestly more enjoyable than I was expecting, which was really surprising. My biggest advice is related to the musical theatre applications mostly, but it is that prescreens take a long time to film. I spent like four hours each time I worked on them, and I ended up having to reshoot every single one at least once. I spent about 20 hours just filming and refilming videos, which I wasn't expecting. The last few days I have spent trying to figure out which of my material I will be using for which schools, and I have had quite a bit of trouble with it. I would advise doing that a bit earlier than I did because I now have a lot of new material to learn, and it is audition season.

You've reached the point where you no longer add to your college list but start reducing it to the final one. What's your plan? What are your priorities? What's you best-case scenario that will make you the happiest?

My goal is to schedule an audition at every school I have applied just so I can get the most opportunities, but that might not be possible. I am trying to make sure I meet all of my deadlines for auditions and such. A lot of schools I have applied to have been quite flexible with audition scheduling, so I have been pushing off the flexible in-person ones until March and doing my more strict schools first. I think this might be saving the most money, which is really important to me. The best-case scenario would be getting into a school with a really good reputation because it would give me the most opportunities for the future, but I would truly be happy anywhere I applied.

What's your spring semester at school look like? Have you got more school theatre?

I have a Model UN conference coming up in the next few weeks, which I am looking forward to. That is the only extracurricular I am currently heavily participating in because I am the heat of audition season and have no time. I have the same sort of schedule as last semester even though it is almost all new classes. I have two classes at my high school. Then, I have the five at college. I have 9 credits at college instead of the 11 I had last semester though, so it should be a bit lighter. I have no college classes on Fridays though, which I am really excited about. I don't think I will be in my school show because I am a bit too busy, but you never know with me.

Have you got any college-related events planned soon? Any tours, interviews, or auditions?

Yes, I finally do! I have done like nothing in person, but that is all changing now. I have at least 8 auditions in the next month from the time I am writing this. I have Unifieds, pretty much just a ton of college musical theatre and acting programs that come together in a hotel in a major city. I will be at the Chicago ones which are the biggest set of them, which is terrifying, but I am really excited to really get in there. I still am not totally sure what is happening in the next month, but it will be things.

Here's your list as it stood in December. What news is there to share? Any changes? Have you already eliminated any of them from consideration?

Penn State
University of Hartford
Ball State University
Central Washington University
Columbia College Chicago--accepted, offered honors college, offered scholarship
Indiana University Bloomington
Minnesota State Mankato--accepted, offered scholarship
Montclaire State
North Dakota State--accepted, offered scholarship
Rider University
Roosevelt University
Temple University
University of Central Missouri--accepted, offered scholarship
University of Utah
University of Minnesota Duluth
University of Minnesota Twin Cities--accepted, offered scholarship
University of Oklahoma
University of South Dakota
University of the Arts
Western Michigan--accepted

I was accepted to University of Oklahoma and University of Minnesota Duluth. There is no good news to share other than that though. I missed the deadline for Oklahoma and Roosevelt, so I don't have a shot for their musical theatre, which is my fault entirely. I was redirected to acting at Rider, which is a bit upsetting but usually a good thing. I was completely rejected by my program at Temple and University of Colorado Boulder. I am not auditioning at University of Minnesota Twin Cities because it was just too expensive. There are a few schools I am considering not auditioning at, but I still have a few more prescreens to hear back from before I would eliminate them entirely.

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Photo by Angela Elisabeth.