Theatre Candidacy Appeals

All students are required to be admitted to candidacy to earn a B.S. degree in Theatre. Candidacy is required as a prerequisite to enrollment in some upper-division THEA courses, including THEA 3700, THEA 4800, THEA 4810, THEA 4900, and THEA 4990.

For guaranteed admission to candidacy, a student must have

  • completed all learning support requirements;
  • completed all high school deficiencies;
  • completed 30 hours of coursework with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0;
  • completed all candidacy courses (12 hours) with a grade of 2.0 (C) or better: THEA 1015, THEA 2000, THEA 2100, THEA 2900, and THEA 3820; and earned a GPA of 3.5 on all THEA coursework.
Candidacy Appeals

Students who complete each of the above THEA candidacy courses with a grade of 2.0 (C) or better but fail to meet one or more of the other requirements may appeal for admission.

A limited number of students may be admitted to candidacy on appeal, based upon available resources and upon faculty committee recommendation. Approval by appeal will be based on exceptional circumstances. 

Candidacy admission by appeal will be granted following faculty committee review near the beginning and end of each Fall and Spring term as announced by email. Online appeal applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis, with deadlines announced via email.

Write a Personal Essay:                                                                                                                                                                                           

Of all the elements that make up your appeal, the personal essay is perhaps the most important. Therefore, it is recommended that you spend time crafting a thoughtful, persuasive and compelling argument as to why the committee should recommend approval of your appeal.

The personal essay MUST be no more than 750 words in length.

When drafting your essay, please keep these points in mind:

  1. What were the circumstances that prevented you from attaining candidacy? For example, was there a sudden illness or crisis that kept you away from school or significantly impaired your ability to complete your work?
  2. Did you start off your collegiate career poorly (low performance in your freshman year, for instance) which has negatively impacted your inclusive GPA but have since shown a marked improvement over a number of semesters?
  3. Avoid clichés such as: “I realize my grades are low, but if I get candidacy I’ll work really hard,” or, “Theatre is my life, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
  4.  Don’t be hostile or blame faculty: Remember this is a faculty committee. Accusing Professor XYZ of conspiring to ruin your academic career is not a wise tactic.
  5.  Don’t blame the educational process: MTSU is a four-year, comprehensive, public university. Don’t argue that you would have done better if you didn’t have to take general studies classes. That’s not an approach to higher education that the committee applauds.

Do not submit an incomplete essay or essay document with errors. Write, read, and rewrite. Poorly written essays loaded with misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and general incoherence will be considered a reflection of your sincerity, desire, and overall commitment to the program.

Students are encouraged to draft their work offline and to copy and paste their final version into the box below.


Please enter full legal name as shown on MTSU record



Please enter your M Number (including the M)



No more than 750 words in length. Students are encouraged to draft their work offline and to copy and paste their final version into this box.


 

 

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