My S is finally able to relax. Rutgers sent him a notification that we were missing a few parts for the financial aid component. S filled them out and an hour later got his scholarship. :-j HOORAY for being able to breathe.
I’m sorry for the late response @Notmommarose , but I know at my S callback weekend session, the alumni that came back for the staged reading were ALL working. It’s funny that the “thing” for Rutgers actors is Netflix. One alumni is the title role in a Netflix show, and two are recurring characters in another hit on Netflix. As for work for recent graduates, my S talked with a 2018 graduate on the phone and he told my S that everyone gets representation. It’s actually pretty prehistoric how the whole process works at these showcases from what my S tells me he was told, but moral of the story: Rutgers makes sure their graduates are in good hands. Some graduates got more representation offers than others but everyone walked away with something. The .5 year is dedicated to professional development/ “real world” auditioning.
Re NYU and others with high academic/test score averages/standards… Some don’t “require” SATs or ACTs but will accept them and use them as part of the decision factor. So if your child shines academically but doesn’t do well on standardized tests then you may opt not to send the test scores in.
Back when I was in college I worked giving tours for maybe 2 years or more, 1 year as a part time administrative assistant in the undergraduate admissions office and another semester or year (I forget) as an administrative assistant and computer programmer in the graduate school admissions office. Staff in there told me that a good admissions team would take into consideration that tests may not work well for some students, which doesn’t reflect much on how they will be in their future career (most careers don’t have you taking standardized tests). And others would have grades that start lower in a course and finish high, but average out somewhere in between, then with great SATs it might reflect that the student is fully learning the material but works towards it and that’s not a bad thing. So they look for whatever shows them in the best light and gives the most true overall look at a student.
But, if someone doesn’t fall within their normal ranges, the hope is that something else about them shines, between essays, activities, maybe overcoming a disability, or with acting there’s the audition.
So, with my own two’s academics being a bit below their average, I’m not holding my breath. They weren’t too far off and they do each shine other ways beyond just the standard high school curriculum (we are just at a normal public high school, no majors or concentrations for them) and one had the audition as well to help her shine. So it was worth applying and we can’t rule out the possibility. (Plus it would be great for us to have them in the same city or college, of course… and we have countless free places to crash for 4-5hr drive visits to NYC if they went there, their uncle is just a subway ride away, it’s the city that my husband and I met in, and he even attended NYU for part of his college, did well but liked being a transfer student for some strange reason… So if it happens, it happens, if not it’s not a big loss to us.)
@Fergie978 @“Jamieand Winthrop” oh yes there’s a lot of financial work to be put in… My girls have been lucky enough to act alongside working union-member adult actors in at least 10 roles between them and several of their past castmates post about the financial/business end of things. A number have outsourced things like taxes, and work with a planner to figure out how to budget and plan on how to qualify their legitimate expenses that could be written off from their taxes (ie how not to mess up and disqualify them), then share that knowledge with others. Of course, with the new tax code there are many changes in place and coming, so even more of our actor friends are planning to get help now or soon.
Taking courses in the business/budgeting aspect of their career is something to jump at if it’s available at your college, but can also be invested in along the way outside of the college.
@actingdreams That isn’t true. There is a Tisch BFA grad in the MFA graduating class this year.
For those who are interested in what undergrad schools MFA candidates have attended, you can usually find this information on the schools’ websites. I’ve been fortunate to have met several of Tisch’s graduating class this year and there is a real range of undergrad schools and majors, including neuroscience! Most successful applicants to top MFA programs like Yale and Tisch will have extensive work experience and training prior to applying, and not necessarily through an undergrad program. Few apply to attend right after finishing undergrad.
@actingdreams - D and I had this conversation while she was home in storing break from NYU. An MFA is something she has pondered. She said she thought being an NYU grad would hurt her there for
MFA - so we looked up the resumes of the past several years (easily available on their website) and actually found that not only ARE There NYU grads in the program- there are more NYU grads than any other single school - at least a couple in each year, and we did not see many other repeating schools.
@toowonderful ahh that’s great! Thanks for educating me. all of these years I was told that it’s hard to get into their MFA if you’re obtaining a BFA from there. Certainly something to look into (if my S goes that route) and it’s helpful for anyone else lurking on this board
I had heard the same thing @actingdreams in more general terms that if you get a BFA at a certain school they tend to not take you for their MFA. Good to know that’s not true.
I’m not sure if this is the proper place to post this, but since you guys have just gone through the process maybe you could help. My S is a junior and has been working with his high school theatre teacher on finding appropriate monologues for his auditions next year. They have found one that he really likes. A small part of the monologue is in Spanish. My son is fluent in conversational Spanish and is part Hispanic so that’s not an issue, however he doesn’t look Hispanic. I wonder if this would be a problem audition wise? Do auditions have to be in English? Will they disapprove of a person who looks Caucasian doing a monologue that was written for a Hispanic?
FWIW, thought I would pass on some advice from an old friend who has made a successful career in the theater world (straight acting, on stage, and on television, at a local level in Milwaukee and Madison, WI later in life and in NYC, doing off-broadway plays and working at Tisch as an assistant professor for stage managing). She graduated with a BA in theater from Illinois Wesleyan because her parents made her go there (they gave her merit money), so no NYU Tisch or Northwestern. They also made her get a BA rather than a BFA (back then, that meant one additional semester of liberal arts courses). She went to NYC after graduation and waited tables and later got the job at Tisch. Her grandmother paid off her 12k in loans before she left. I asked her what, if anything, not having student debt meant to her while auditioning for that decade between 21/22- and 32, and she said: “it meant that I could eat” when “I was cast in a show” because “I didn’t need the extra income from the second waitressing job to pay my rent and buy groceries.” I asked her if she had known actors that had to choose between having a room/apartment and having to eat to act in shows and she said “oh yes!” The term “starving artist” is thus, apparently, not a euphemism.
A few other pieces of advice she passed along:
She and many other graduates of little IWU with BAs and BFAs are working in theater and making a career of it on local levels all over the country and in major universities (in her class, Fred Rubeck, now Director of Elon's program, just for example; and Mariann Mayberry, in my graduating class who worked as part of the Steppenwolf ensemble for 30 years before her recent death in 2017), but her roommate in NYC, who graduated with a Yale BA and MFA, is not doing any theater and hasn't for about 20 years. So, do big name schools and connections lead to living wage jobs in the theater? Maybe, but so do smaller programs, and those who last are those who stick with it and don't think of themselves as a failure because they don't win a Tony or an Emmy. She said, "sometimes the expectations that people who go to those elite schools have for themselves, and those that others have for them, are so unrealistic that the weight of those expectations snuffs out their careers before they have even started." She also said, "sometimes an actor needs to grow into the person they need to be to play the character roles that are just waiting for them!" In other words, she said "actors need to know their type and play to type" and if they are going to be a character actor/actress, they need to be patient and prepare for that time to come.
"There is a reason that the training details come at the end of a resume." She said "its because the training, while important, is less important than the shows, characters, directors and experience you have had on stage." Her advice: go where you can get the experience early in your career; stay non-union as long as you can to get as many roles and as many diverse roles as you can and build your resume and experiences to develop character to play characters. Don't get into unions too soon because those limit your ability to do student films and low-budget hole in the wall theater; there is plenty of time to be an equity actor, and once you are an equity actor, your price goes up and your roles become more limited because less new works directors can afford to hire you.
Training is important so that you have the tools to show what you've got; but what you've got to offer is never ever going to be the result of having those tools. What you've got is who you are. She advised my D to "go see the world" and "go be as many different versions of yourself as you are brave enough to be" and "then go act!"
Don't spend a fortune on NYU to get a BFA. If you are going to spend a fortune for a piece of paper, wait until you are going for an MFA and know what you are spending the money on. At 18 years old, no one knows what they want to do because no one knows yet who they are well enough to know who they want to become.
@noreplays2018 wow wow wow Thank you! #2 hit home for me…I am a school teacher and truly believe a person learns by doing. I have said many times that not being cast in shows makes a difference. You can have tons of training but if you aren’t practicing your craft you have a more difficult time learning. Every single thing you said I agree with and thank your friend for sharing her wisdom!
@Noreplays2018 very smart friend!! I happen to LOVE IWU and regret many days that my S had to cancel his audition for Rutgers callbacks (although he did get an acceptance) it would’ve been nice for IWU to be a choice for him as well. He has 2 Classmates who are attending as freshman’s and they are both Very talented actors! I know that they will go far. My S. PA school never stressed about what schools to apply to. They believe in holistically finding a place that you feel good and where they can continue training. They have over the course of almost 4 years stressed to each and every student at his school to NOT Go in debt. Little debt as possible for College. To find the best program for the least amount of $$ as possible. If a top school gives you $$, of course GO! run for it but if a smaller school gives you a great foundation, you will be able to make things up during your Senior Showcases Pending that they travel to larger cities during Showcase days. Many of them are doing this now and days. I could go on about more experiences regarding UIC Champaign (not being on my S. List) but a Recent Alumni performed Superior Doughnuts and is now a prime time regular. Being from Chicago, he was able to attend for almost FREE. he’s doing great right now and was picked up by a fantastic agent during his senior showcase.
I am with you. This entertainment business is a very long journey. We have to learn how to pace ourselves. It’s very scary but aren’t these kids typically nervous right before they perform anyway? It helps them perform well. I’m sure that they will no matter where they go
Thanks everyone for all of the fantastic information and personal stories!!! It is so helpful. The conversation in our house tonight was trying to de-stress about options. BA, BFA, name brand, cost, personality fit . . . I told D there is no perfect school and she can make any option that she chooses work the best for her. Each path would just be different and require a different concentration of her efforts.
@gulf1609 I’m pretty sure I used your exact words in my Final Decision story last year: “to think we could have been done in December”. After applying to 23 schools, 9 months of coaching with a pretty good outcome of five BFA offers, she ended up going with the BA program she was accepted to in December! It kills me whenever I think about it…but honestly, she had to go through the whole process to be able to make that final decision.
@collegeadmiss If you read the fine print on the BFA program websites for schools, most of them say not to use dialects when doing monologues (or pick monologues that require use of dialect). This process seems so long ago now but If I were going to give anyone a top 10 list of things to do when starting this process it would start with READ THE WEBSITES VERY VERY CAREFULLY and click on all the links to make sure you see all the fine print, and then call the department and visit and ask as many detailed questions as possible BEFORE you begin to pick monologues and tape prescreens. They are all different. One size does NOT fit all. One school may love the Spanish monologue and another may hate it.
