If you knew senior Lila Gilbert, you’d know about her heavy presence in the Niles West theatre program. To her advantage, that hard work and dedication during productions paid off. Gilbert was admitted to DePaul University’s theatre school under their theatre technology BFA. Not only is this program ranked in the top 20 drama schools in the world by the Hollywood Reporter, this program only admits four to six students each year.

NWN: Can you share your GPA and ACT score?

Gilbert: My unweighted was a 3.3, my weighted is a 3.7, and my ACT composite is a 32.

NWN: Can you tell us more about you’re high school activities?

Gilbert: I think all the training I got here and all the portfolio material from being in Niles West theatre for four years amped up portfolio enough to get in. I’ve done theatre here  for four years which totals up to 28 productions here at Niles West. Every year, I’ve been a lighting designer for Orchesis, the dance show. I did Allstate, which is all the best technicians and all the best actors  from Illinois were interviewed and taken. Once a month, for a weekend, we went to Glenbard East to build and in January. We performed at Illinois high school theatre fest. Between my sophomore and junior year I did an internship through the University of Wisconsin Parkside and Fireside Dinner Theatre in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I’m also in National Honor Society.

NWN: What’s your advice for students who have interviews as a part of their application process? 

Gilbert: Come in with all kinds of questions to answers. Think about what your weaknesses are, think about what you want to learn more of, think about why DePaul would be the school for you, because they’re definitely going to ask you that. The majority of my questions were theatre based.

NWN: Have you visited the campus?

Gilbert: I’ve only really visited the theatre school building because it’s so gorgeous. It’s brand spanking new. They just built it last year and it has two or three theaters in the building along with all the instructional classrooms. It’s beautiful.

NWN: What’s your advice for prospective students who are afraid of rejection from their dream schools? 

Gilbert: Don’t give up. Don’t count yourself out because I know before I heard back, I was expecting not to get in, but when I did, it was such a great thrill. Don’t ever count yourself out of something.