I don't think some of you fully understand my dilemma... I go to a high school of less than 200 people with a VERY small theatre budget. We have no designers, aside from scenic (the art teacher/art club do our sets). Because we have no designers, we have no production meetings.
I don't mean for this to sound patronizing in any way, shape or form, but if you've never made a prompt book, attended a production meeting, called a cue, or held a stage management position...are you
sure you want to join a college's stage management program? Universities are expensive (as you have no doubt discovered) and that's a whole lot of money to waste on the discovery that you’re not as passionate about stage management as you thought. Also, unless you look like a stellar-prospect, a lot of university theatre departments won't be beating down your door to throw scholarships at you.
Here's a much cheaper alternative. Read
The Art and Craft of Stage Management by Doris Schneider. (It’s expensive, so buy it used at Amazon or somewhere similar.) It details out many, many different aspects of stage management...from casting to closing. When I mentored at my former university, I lent that book out like crazy. I've noticed that many university theatre departments around the country use that book as part of the stage management curriculum, so if anything you'll already own and have read your SM class' textbook.
Now mind you, I come from a much different schooling background; my high school had 2000 students, our theatre department was 60 members strong and our working budget was $10,000...I was not allowed to take a stage management position until I had read that book (as well as a couple of others...but their names escape me,) and was able to explain in-detail how each part of the process worked.
If you've read the book and you're still interested, I'd get accepted to a college that looked like it had a nice theatre department...then not join the theatre department right away. Try volunteering, talking to the department chair or even just attending a show there. It will become immediately obvious whether or not this is truly something you want to do full-time, every day, year after year.
Just be careful about deciding on your passion without first understanding everything it entails. Good luck to you.
~Alice~