@HopeinMT -My son was sure he bombed the BU audition so he pulled his application to have a fallback (School of Communications-film). He got in for that, but a little sad to have it as a backup since BU had been his first choice. I’m trusting that he’ll go where he is meant to be- just wish I had a crystal ball.
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@SFSClark so glad your son is excited about CCM! My D’s class is pretty geographically diverse…Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Washington state, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio. But, there aren’t any east coasters in her group. There are kids from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia and North Carolina among the upper classmen. The caliber of her fellow students is excellent…they all challenge each other and bring a myriad of other talents to the classroom (clowning, writing, directing, music composition, singing, etc.) The kids who were with us over spring break were truly giddy about the upcoming scene work they’re doing with their classmates. So neat to see and hear that excitement. Richard Hess is one of the most supportive and community-building focused professors I’ve ever met!
@momto2artists Thanks for your response – Great to hear these positives and confirmation of our impressions of the program. And nice to hear your daughter is happy there – that’s always the main goal.
@CLDMom @frontrowmama the current freshman class at LMU is 48, 12 boys and 36 girls. They don’t seem to choose their class the way other programs do, hence the imbalance. It more mirrors real life…more girls interested in pursuing acting in general. I’m an honest person and I will tell you the negatives of LMU. My D learned when she was making her schedule for the spring semester that many of the theater classes close out, leaving freshmen with nothing. She got lucky…she came in with 12 AP credits, so by spring semester she was considered a sophomore and was able to register early, hence got into two theater classes this semester. Some of her friends did not get into any. It was the same situation with the Film/TV production majors. Not sure why this is the case but it was disheartening to hear. The other negative is that there are kids in the program who got in purely on their academics. The chair of the theater dept makes recommendations to admissions based on the audition video but admission still accepts students into the major even if they have not been recommended by the department. My D tells me there’s someone in the program on a full academic scholarship but her acting is “cringe-worthy bad” (my daughter’s words!). So that’s the kind of thing you run into. That being said, I doubt that student will be cast in shows. My daughter was cast in the first show freshman year which was pretty cool. She even had a call back for the lead in the other show that was being cast at the same time. There are also some great aspects to the program and the location can’t be beat. The teachers are great and there is even a Pulitzer Prize winning professor on the faculty. Feel free to PM me for more info.
Question for the group. My S has a school that is telling him he has to let them know by early April or they will give his spot to someone on the waitlist? Can they do that? They have said it in 2 separate emails to him. I understand the plea to let schools know asap but we will be in the middle of visits to other schools over the time frame they are asking he make his decision by. I’m just telling him to let them know that and see what they respond. He hasn’t acknowledged the early deadline to them in any communication. Thanks!
@vpvpbp Would love to know what school is doing that…he received a letter accepting him to the program, correct? All schools deadline is May 1 - they cannot rescind an offer for “not choosing” early. Is it the admissions dept or the theater dept? I would call admissions to confirm. This is not right.
Hi everyone! I have been lurking on CC for several months now but just joined because my S didn’t have the amount of experience most of your amazing kids did so I had no idea how this would turn out. My S was a percussionist since elementary school and I thought that was the direction he was headed until, one day, at 14 years old, he told me he wanted to try acting. I was very surprised because he was always so shy. We are from a small town in SC but are fortunate to have a small community theatre so I signed him for a few acting classes and the summer workshop. It changed his life (and he even got the lead!). Fast forward, he decided he wanted to get a BFA in Acting. He did everything he could locally - community theatre, technical intern, acting classes - because he felt so behind. When we started the application process, we were clueless. We reached out to some local directors and that helped some but, it wasn’t until I found CC, that I realized how far behind he was and how we had no idea how competitive the programs were. Thank goodness for all of you!! You have no idea how much your posts have helped us. My S didn’t know how many colleges he should apply to (we thought 4 or 5 would work, lol), how to select appropriate monologues, songs, record pre-screens, what to put on his resume,etc. We had ideas but reading all of your comments made all the difference on how we approached auditions. Long story short, he applied to 14 schools, made it through all prescreens but one, and was accepted to several programs. He was rejected from most of the top names he auditioned at but, he got one amazing one - Elon BFA Acting!! He is thrilled!! I’m thrilled, too!! He is still waiting to hear from one but I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you for your willingness to share on CC!!
@griffilus, great story!!! Congrats to your son!
@vpvpbp, call them and explain that you’re still waiting to hear from other schools and that you need more time. If they still won’t budge, I would ask them if the deposit is refundable before May 1, since May 1 is the “official” college reply deadline. As long as you can get your deposit back by May 1, I think it’s okay to “tentatively” accept before then.
As we try to help out our WL pals and narrow down choices, S is truly floored as to what he should do when it comes to the schools that don’t have an accept/decline offer button in the portal. DePaul’s was pretty straightforward with a Decline Offer option with a 100 character limit as to why, but what should he do for schools like Ithaca and Ball State? And what’s the best way to word this kind of thing?
how awesome @Griffilus Congratulations!! I love his story. I’m excited for him
@#booknerdmom it is the theater dept. giving him the early April date. He has received official acceptance(letter, etc) from the school and only email acceptance from the theater dept. He has gotten 2 different emails from them. It is a small state school, definitely not a national draw(not well known). This is the first year you have to audition to get into the BFA prior to attending, years before you auditioned to pursue the BFA track sometime during the first year. Maybe they don’t know how this works-lol! Just puts my S in a awkward position to be the one to tell them how this works…he likely won’t attend but it is his in state option so want to have it as an option should the need arise. Don’t have a complete financial pkg from all other schools.
Yesterday was a GREAT day!
I checked the mail just before heading to school to help with costumes during tech week for my S’s last high school show. There was a large envelope from Webster!
I held the envelope up to the light, but resisted opening it. (Huge self-control!!)
Arrived at the school to my S bounding up to me. He had just gotten an acceptance call from Dean Irvy at SUNY Purchase!!
I handed him the large envelope – an acceptance to Webster’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts!!!
After weeks of waiting and news trickling in at an excruciatingly slow pace, two acceptances within 30 minutes of each other!
Remember, however, I said this was tech week. So after a 2-3 minute celebration it was back to work! Shows are this weekend. Wahoo!
@rutgersmom321 If they want to stay on the WL, I would assume something that sounds like he/she looks forward to getting off of the waitlist because of a strong interest into the program.
If he/she doesn’t want to attend and needs an explanation, You just say that you’ve decided to move in a different direction. I find them needing an explanation interesting. Did they give specific explanation as to why the student was WL in the first place?
or possibly a “…” Sometimes an explanation can be too personal and it’s not really needed
@vpvpbp, I second the suggestion that as long as you’d be able to get your deposit returned, go ahead and tentatively accept if the school doesn’t budge on that mandate. I would, however, get everything in writing. You’d have the e-mail to support you in the event the school didn’t want to release your funds. Good luck.
Congratulations @STHmom ! Yesterday was a good day!
Anyone out there get recent calls or emails from Pace BFA or FTCV? Any snail mail? Was expecting to see happy folks reporting Pace calls last night?
@Rizzo2 Nothing for FTVC, except endless (daily) calls from admissions.
@actingdreams I meant that he got in to those schools but wants to eliminate them and help the people on the WL! No need to prolong declining the schools he doesn’t want to keep in his top 3, he says. Sorry, my post was a little confusing. He made really strong connections with the faculty at these auditions and neither of us want him to seem insensitive/ ungrateful in his emails about moving in another direction and are just stumped as to what to write 
@STHmom - Congratulations!
@rutgersmom321 - I think you are asking how should you reject an offer (so as to help people on the WL). I would approach it as if the person on the other end could remember your S and could someday be in a position to help your kid. With that in mind, if there is a constructive suggestion that you believe could be helpful to the program (e.g. Financial package not as generous,etc), by all means share it. I would also share why you in fact liked their program. Then explain why you went elsewhere. If he doesn’t feel like he’d be comfortable getting into these details, then just say that he has several other options and needs to narrow down at this point and wanted to respond early to provide WL applicants more time to consider. I’ve heard that some kids never respond at all (so the school finds out when there is no action on May1), so responding early even with no details will be appreciated by the school.