Applying for College Scholarships with Brown Ballerina Ambassador Morgan Cruise
It’s no secret that college is expensive. Other than the cost of tuition, college students are faced with the costs of supplies, books, housing, and food. Dancers must also consider the cost of dance supplies, physical therapy, and extra lessons if necessary. Scholarships are a key component of helping to reduce college costs, but applying to them does require a bit of work.
From researching the best scholarships for you to writing essays and meeting deadlines, the scholarship application phase of your college journey may feel overwhelming. That’s why we interviewed Morgan Cruise, an 18-year-old ballerina from Baltimore, MD. In her interview below, Morgan shares her experience applying for scholarships, along with some great tips.
Photo: Morgan Cruise; shot by Marc Cruise
Given the push from her grandmother, Morgan started dancing at 6-years-old. She’s studied ballet, pointe, tap, modern, hip-hop, and jazz. She’s studied these techniques with various studios and programs, such as The Baltimore School for the Arts, Dance Happens Inc., and in high school. Currently, Morgan dances with The Ballet Nouveau School. Morgan hopes to become a professional ballerina in the future. In the meantime, she looks forward to all ofo the friends she’ll make while in college.
Related: Brown Ballerina Ambassador Jaivyn Beauford Discusses The Importance of Having a Dance Mentor
Morgan’s College Prep Status
I'm currently enrolled as a freshman at Drexel University, majoring in Dance: Performance and Movement Therapy. I'm still working on gathering all of my supplies for school, but I'm super excited about starting in the next few weeks!
Preparing for College
As a dancer, it's very important to properly research each college to figure out which program is the most suitable for your goals. I found it very useful to get in contact with the program directors to get detailed descriptions and ask questions directly. Also, sign up for different colleges' meet-and-greet events, info sessions, and tours.
I would also recommend researching the audition and video audition requirements for each school and starting to work on them well before the deadlines. From my personal experience, procrastination is not your friend.
Scholarships Dancers Should Seek
Of course, dancers should search and apply for dance and artistic scholarships, but there are also tons of scholarships available for things like your hobbies, work experience, ethnicity, gender, location, academic excellence, and community presence. I tried writing down things that I thought were unique and significant about me and using that list to guide my search. This can help you to find hidden scholarships that you’re more likely to be awarded!
Other Scholarship Tips for Dancers
Another scholarship tip, that also applies to college applications, is to find some common essay topics and start drafting multiple essays. That way, when it's time to apply for colleges and scholarships, you have template essays that can simply be edited and submitted!
Follow Morgan’s dance journey on Instagram!
Our Brown Ballerina Ambassador program is designed to create opportunities for young dancers in training to be seen as leaders and to eventually become mentors to other Brown Ballerinas in Training. To find out more about our ambassador program and how you can support it, visit our Ambassador/Mentorship Program page.
Be sure to check out our Brown Ballerina Blog, where we feature spotlights on our Brown Ballerina Ambassadors, updates from our organization, useful tips for ballerinas, interviews with dance professionals, and more!
Note: This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.