A Speedy Yet Thorough Response Is Needed and Appreciated!

<p>Hi, I’m a bit new to the site as far as posting goes, but this whole thing has been an absolute Bible in my College search! I have all my auditions secured and they consist of Juilliard and North Carolina School of the Arts, and UArts afor acting, and then Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Carnegie Mellon, and Marymount Manhattan for MT (there also three instate backups). I am a very strong actor and feel extremely confident going into audition for even Juilliard. Yet, my true passion is musical theatre. I’ve played piano for ten years, so I have a very musical ear, yet I’ve been singing for only two years. My dance experience is even shorter, but in the one year I have danced, I’ve improved rapidly, and love it more. I’m currently taking ten classes a week along with my voice lessons. My only bind is this. While I may have a good voice, and can act/sell a song and move it very nicely, I’m concerned that I’m not vocally experienced enough to make it into a MT program. I decided to audition for CCM and CMU as two what the heck, might as well schools, and then MM as a more secure one, but I have one dilemma. I know that wherever I go and no matter with what degree I graduate, I want to do musical theatre. Sure, film and plays would be great, but when I’m doing a musical, I really feel like I want to do that for as long as I can. So, to cut to the chase, my question is about UArts. I’m absolutely in love with the school, Philly sounds amazing, and I want nothing less than to be surrounded by all types of art in college, but right now I’m applying for acting. I’m doing this because I think my odds are greater on getting in, and this is a university that I would rather be in and not doing EXACTLY what I want, than to not get into. I would love to apply for the MT minor the second semester of my freshman year, but I can’t find much about it. If someone in the Acting Program with the MT minor could tell me about their personal feelings about the MT minor, how it prepares them, if they feel truly competent in MT, and what courses they are taking, this would really help me settle the matter. Finally, if anyone, preferably a MT major would tell me if they think that a guy could get in off of selling a song that’s not the most blowout vocal performance, a self-choreographed dance with good movement and personality, and two extremely well done monologues, please let me know, because if I have a chance with MT at this place, I’ll jump on the phone and change my audition ASAP. Some places just feel that MT majors need to be phenomenal singers, o.k. actors, and decent dancers, rather than what I am, excellent actor, decent singer and dancer, with potential to grow greatly in both! Thanks for any response!!!</p>

<p>I can't tell you any more about the MT minor than what appears on the website but can offer the following. First - and most important- very frequently, if someone auditions for MT at UArts and is not accepted for MT, but the school feels they are desirable for acting, UArts offers the student the opportunity to accept an acting admissions. I know of several students who applied for MT, were offered acting instead and are very happy. This is different from many other schools where you must choose to apply to one or the other and no "crossover" is permitted. Tell the school that you want to change your audition to MT but to note in your audition file that you would accept an acting admission if it were offered instead of MT. As to the dance portion of the MT audition, you are taught routines and combinations by the auditor and then judged on how you pick up and perform what you were taught. Don't worry about putting together your own dance piece, it's not required and I don't even think you would have an opportunity to perform it (I may be wrong on the latter though).</p>

<p>Thanks for the response! I talked to the school, and she said very rarely are students auditioning for MT offered a place in Acting, but if I can have that noted on my audition file, that doesn't sound like a half bad idea. The whole thing about the prepared dance piece, the audition representative told me people at the unifieds had to do this, as there is not a prepared dance section, which is good because this gives the advantage of preparation! Thanks again for the response, but anyone who knows about the MT Minor or even some that does know about it, have them respond if they can!</p>

<p>it is kind of rare that people audition for MT and get put into the acting program. i know of 4 people: one freshman, 2 sophomores, and one junior who that has happened to. there might be a couple of other people...i don't think it happens all that often, but ya never know....i would say, though, that if you don't consider yourself to be a very very strong vocalist, that you might be better off in the acting program, either minoring in musical theater or just taking singing and dance classes.</p>

<p>i'm a musical theater major at UArts, but i'm familiar with the minor. the wonderful thing about uarts is that you are able to take classes for non-majors (ie: voice for non-majors, dance for non-majors) that are open to the entire school. some acting majors are even able to wiggle their way into private voice lessons with the head of the voice for musical theater program in the school of theater...there are also always dance classes to take. Acting majors will never be able to take Voice for Musical Theater (a musical theater performance type class) with the MTs, but i know the minor has a class similar to it in style taught by a different teacher. so there definitely are things available as an acting major with a MT minor. i hope this helps! good luck!</p>

<p>I also know someone who did not get in for MT and was offered Acting instead. The MT program and the Acting program run very closely at UARTS as the two groups take the acting classes together and I believe some of the acting students have been able to take some dance classes and get voice lessons privately. I also agree with MichaelNKat. I think if you audition for MT and let them know you would also accept Acting it should work out.</p>

<p>Perhaps I overstated the frequency of a "crossover" when I used the phrase "very frequently". It certainly seems, though, that it is within the realm of possibilities when you consider the small size of the School of Theater Arts and the number of students that anecdotally are being reported as having applied for MT and been accepted to Acting (my freshman daughter knows 2 - but are they 2 of the same 4 that BroadwayWannabe knows?). BroadwayWannabe is in a better position than I to know students to whom this has occurred and, more importantly, the opportunities for some degree of MT training/experience for acting majors. IchBinKunst, I'm curious, did you speak to the admissions office or the School of Theater Arts office?</p>

<p>thanks again for responses. good to know a little more about the MT minor and what not, but a few of you talked on the private voice lessons and being able to possibly manage those. is it really that hard to get them, and if so, how would one go about that? because private voice lessons is a HUGE thing of importance for me! oh, and i mentioned Marymount Manhattan in my audition list... does any one know of a program of about the same size and caliber, you know something decent with a MT degree but not huge and cutthroat like CCM or CMU?</p>

<p>^^^ Please realize that very selective programs are not necessarily "cut throat." Many are very supportive atmospheres. For instance, you mention CMU and it is not cutthroat. Also please realize that those programs are not "huge". CMU has about 10 MT majors per year. UArts and Marymount Manhattan actually have more than CMU has. CCM has about 20 per freshman class and less in subsequent years and neither program is considered "huge." </p>

<p>There are many criteria involved in picking a college and you really didn't give yours. Seeing that you are looking at UArts and asked about Marymount Manhattan....have you looked at (though these all differ): Hartt, Wagner, Pace, Roosevelt, Point Park, Shenandoah, Indiana?</p>

<p>Sorry, I suppose my word choice was a bit incorrect on those programs, and the connotation wasn't quite what I was going for. When I said cutthroat, I didn't mean it wasn't a supportive atmosphere, I meant it was more intense than say perhaps a BA program (well, all BFAs typically are) and that simply it is more selective... as you mentioned with numbers of 10 and 20. Clearly these numbers aren't huge, but I meant huge in terms of their reputation. CCM and CMU have huge reputations for being two of the top in the nation, at least that's what I've gathered. I've looked at a few of the others, but the criteria I'm looking at for a possible 10th audition school is one with a BFA in MT, possibly a BFA Acting with MT Minor, somewhere with good location (e.g. mostly near NYC) yet not as selective as say NYU or CMU. Would Marymount Manhattan and UArts be considered about the same in selectivity? I thought Marymount would be less selective than UArts, so I was thinking something as selective as that, but let me know if those figurings aren't quite right.</p>

<p>Very few have BFA in Acting with a MT Minor like Marymount Manhattan. However, if you attend a school for a BFA in Acting that also has a MT program, you might be able to take some voice and dance, compared to a school that only offers Acting. </p>

<p>If you want a city.....
Hartt (BFA Acting, BFA MT) in Hartford (a city itself and not that far from NYC)
Wagner (BA in Theater with a MT emphasis by audition) on Staten Island by NYC
Pace (BFA in Acting, BFA in MT), in NYC
Roosevelt (BFA in Acting, BFA in MT) in Chicago
Point Park (BFA in Acting, BFA in MT) in Pittsburgh (though you start in a BA by audition as a freshman)
Montclair State (BFA Acting, BFA MT) in NJ, very close to NYC
Emerson (BFA Acting, BFA MT, BA Theater by audition), in Boston....more selective than ones above overall academically and artistically
Webster (BFA Theater, BFA MT) in St. Louis</p>

<p>***You really ought to be open to schools that are NOT in NYC</p>

<p>(I have no clue your qualifications, criteria, rest of list, etc.....so this is really just running down some schools to look at that are not the MOST competitive MT programs, yet still are hard to get into, and are in or near a city)</p>

<p>Thank you for the list. If your asking for my list of schools that I'm currently scheduled to audition for:</p>

<p>Juilliard
North Carolina School of the Arts
Carnegie Mellon
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
University of the Arts
Marymount Manhattan
Coastal Carolina
(And two in-state backups that are non-audition, but still decent)</p>

<p>As far as qualifications or criteria for the school, I preferably want a BFA program in MT, with a MT Minor, or at least with dance and voice at the school. An urban campus is preferred, NYC does not have to be that city however, as you can see by the list which only includes Juilliard and MMM for schools in NYC. For my tenth audition, I want a college with ideal location, which to me is in or around NYC, not extremely selective, and well rounded in acting, singing, and dancing. I'm really adding this on here because I think I would rather change my UArts audition to a MT audition, and while this has less of a chance than an Acting Audition, I think a school that is less competitive will be a good reassurance. So, while this is last minute, I think it's a smart move.</p>

<p>just to clarify, uarts has about 20 per class as well for MT...some classes are smaller than that too</p>

<p>I know it's been spoken about many times on CC but I really don't know how you can figure out levels of competitiveness for BFA MT programs. I have to say that when hundreds are auditioning for 20 spots and that is split between approximately 10 boys and 10 girls, and that is further split into what might be a certain type or look that a school is looking for, then its almost impossible to make any predictions. In addition my daughter was the only girl who was accepted from our state and the other 9 girls are from other states and even international. The only thing that can improve your odds is being well prepared,and applying to enough and maybe a variety of programs, and Of course luck and talent.</p>

<p>shellipearl, have you any idea how many students (boys and girls) UArts accepts into a usual freshmen MT class? How about acting? I noticed yesterday that UArts conducts auditions on about a dozen dates (in Philly and elsewhere, including Unifieds) and wondered how many kids, in all, usually audition and how many UArts selects. Does anyone know? (I will post this on the regular UArts audition thread, too.)</p>

<p>NMR; I was told that last yr. (2006/07) for M/T they had auditioned 1,000 and
from that they wanted to yield 20. I don't know how many they<br>
accepted in total, but this yrs. class holds 24. As for acting, I was told<br>
they wanted 12 (I don't know how many auditioned).</p>

<p>Each year's freshman MT class generally holds in between 20 and 25. The acting classes tend to hold 30 to 35. I would assume that acceptance is offered to around twice the lowest number of class members, so about 40 MT acceptances and 60 acting acceptances, but these are really just estimates. As UArts has a waiting list, it could be a large exaggeration as well. Though I've been a student there, I've never asked about the acceptance process and am not sure it's incredibly clear-cut as to which waitlisted person would be the next in line for acceptance if two people had the same audition score. </p>

<p>We all know that Universities accept more students than they would want, just as airlines tend to "overbook." Statistics show that it tends to work out better for Universities than for airlines, though. ;)</p>

<p>sheerviolette, that lines up with what someone else told me, especially that the acting class is larger by about 10 than the MT class. Thanks so much ...</p>

<p>Last year I wrote to the school to ask about numbers and I was told that over 350 auditioned, 50 were offered acceptance to end up with a class of about 24 for MT around 12 boys and 12 girls, I was also told that that was similar to the year before. This year I have been told that auditions are widening and including more international.</p>