We recently caught up with one of our current clients, Livvie Goble, who was accepted early decision to her dream school, NYU Tisch, back in December. She will be headed to New York in the fall, and she has not had to worry about the college application process for months, which is just a major relief for a high school senior.

There are many upsides to applying early decision: you get notified by the school months earlier, and your odds of getting in are better–simply because the school is sure that you will come! The downside is that if you are accepted early decision, you must attend the school (this is different than early action, which isn’t binding), so early decision only works if a client is 100% sure. When we have clients with a real “dream school,” and the school isn’t entirely out of their reach, we often do encourage an early decision application. It doesn’t always work out–but when it does, it’s a beautiful thing!

When we chatted with Livvie, she was sitting backstage at her high school in Park Ridge, Illinois, where she spends most of her free periods. Livvie was currently working on making the puppets for the upcoming production of “Shrek the Musical.” Livvie will be playing Gingy, as well as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and a Dragonette. She will also be in the dance ensemble, and serving as Dance Captain.

When we asked Livvie how she was feeling, she said she felt “lucky to come as far as I have.” And here at ArtsBridge, we feel so lucky that we’ve been able to be a part of Livvie’s past few years! She’s made amazing progress, and it has been a privilege to watch her grow as an artist and performer.

Here’s more from our conversation with Livvie: 

You’re nearly out of high school! Just a few more months until graduation. What has your theater experience in high school been like? 

I did not get cast in a show until the end of my sophomore year which was hard to take, as I’d been really active in theater prior to high school. It was because of this that I began working with ArtsBridge, and Halley reassured me that wouldn’t necessarily negatively affect my college options.

During my junior year I became more involved in the theater department, but it was not until this year, my senior year, that I fully jumped in. I was cast in the fall play at my school, and was not only in the cast, but also the crew.

This all led to the greatest opportunity I’ve had in high school: stage managing and choreographing our winter musical, Pippi Longstocking. This show was a whole different take on the process for me. I was not performing or a part of crew for this show but rather the stage manager and choreographer. The experience was absolutely incredible while also extremely difficult at times.

What was it like working with Halley (President of ArtsBridge)?

Halley is absolutely incredible to work with. She is always completely honest. If you ask for advice, she won’t just give you a sugar-coated answer, but rather the answer that will help you grow as an artist.

What was it like working with Stan? (Stan oversees the academic portion of the entire application process, including essay editing). 

If I ever had a question or needed help with a part of the application process I knew I could count on Stan to not only have an answer for me, but to also get back to me very quickly. When you are applying for arts programs, the academic portion of the application, especially essays, can fly under the radar sometimes. With Stan’s help, I was able to feel as confident in my written applications as I was with the auditions themselves.

Did you participate in any of the audition workshops? 

I participated in two of the workshops. The amount of information you learn in just one short day is unbelievable. It’s such a great opportunity to get feedback on material mid year rather than all throughout summer programs. It really proved helpful for me to get feedback mid year so that I got a check point on where I was at and where my next steps should take me.

You attended ArtsBridge Summer for two summers in a row–in 2013 and 2014. Can you tell us what that was like? 

For me, the program was totally different both years. My first summer, I was able to get feedback and things to work on over the year. My second summer, I worked with some of the same faculty and some new, and I had all new things to work on to continue to improve.

So what were your actual college auditions like? Were you prepared? 

I only ended up having two auditions, since I was accepted early decision to NYU. But because of the experience I gained from the summer programs and workshops, I knew what to expect for the most part at the auditions.

Without being a client or going to ArtsBridge Summer, I would not have been as prepared for the audition process as I was. There were so many common misconceptions about the process, and with ArtsBridge, I would have been much less prepared; I would have had to scramble to prepare for the audition season. But I had the experience to know how I needed to prepare the day before, and the day of, so that I was in control of how the audition went as much as possible.

And it was obviously a success! Last question, did you feel ArtsBridge was helpful in picking out schools for you to consider and later apply to? 

My mom and I have talked about this a lot recently. Without ArtsBridge, my final application list would have been all over the place in range of schools, and may not have been as realistic for me as it turned out to be. So many of the decisions I made that helped get me to where I am now were because of the advice and counseling I got from Halley, Stan, and the whole ArtsBridge team.

Thanks Livvie! We were all so happy the day you got accepted to Tisch. They are lucky to have you, and we know you’ll do great things there! 

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If you’re a current sophomore or a junior in high school, and you need help applying for college in the performing or visual arts, please get in touch. And if you want to get a better sense of what we do at ArtsBridge, attend our upcoming April audition workshop at Ithaca College–find out more here.