BFA Acting Pre-Screen and Auditions. Class of 2022 - Sharing!

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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@STHmom ask @artskids about Purchase as her D goes there.

We know one boy who was asked not to return to Purchase but he may not have been doing the work. It was not his fit. But he is in another great program doing well now. This was 3 years ago.

Most programs (all?) do a review with students each year and if a student is not working or is failing they may ask them to move to a different major or “cut” them. However most schools would hopefully try to support said student first to succeed.

Additionally, true cut programs are those that admit many more kids then they intend to graduate. Programs which no matter what you do or how talented you are, you may be cut simply due to numbers. Purchase does not do that. So, in that sense, it is not a cut program.

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@emf1959 Congratulations!! One of our local kids is at Emerson and LOVES it. We sat in on their Spring Awakening rehearsal - those were some talented kids! It feels so nice to finally come through this grueling process with a smile on our kids faces. Now to process the pain of them leaving. We can commiserate in August. :slight_smile:

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Any thoughts on Long Island University vs Hartt vs Marymount Manhattan for BFA Acting? Getting down to the wire!!

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@STHmom D1 is at SUNY and D2 has been admitted. It is not technically a cut program - they do not accept more than they intend to graduate. However, you MUST do the work. It is not a program that will keep a student who is not putting in the work. There are regular juries and evaluations so your student will always know if there are issues. D1 does know kids who have been asked to leave and, according to her, they should have been.

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@Noreplays2018 My daughter and I can SOO relate to your family. She had two programs initially give her huge talent and academic scholarships - one was full tution! We were thrilled! Both award were revoked on a technicality. My daughter spent one semester (fall 2016) at a small college BFA program that she had to leave due to a personal situation (She was being harassed and stalked by a guy in the program and the college wouldn’t take any action unless he “did something.”) Anyway, for her emotional and physical safety, she withdrew in Dec 2016. She thought she could transfer to another college in the spring 2017, but discovered that BFA programs do not allow you to do that and that her credits would not be accepted either (except as elective credits).

 So, knowing that she would be starting over as a freshman again, she completed all her applications and checked "freshman" as the status and  then dove in to a second round of these crazy auditions.   So when she got accepted to Molly/Cap21 and LIU fpr MT- they both gave her huge scholarships -  academic and talent.  Then in late April, she got revised award letters that pulled almost all of her awards because she was not a "first-time" freshman.   Mind you, on her applications, she also completed all the "previous college" info so she was not trying to hide the fact that she had been at another college and we thought they knew about it.   The colleges considered her a transfer student even though NONE of her BFA college credits would be accepted and she was, for all practicality, a Freshman.   Transfer scholarship award are pitiful.  This was a huge blow -- as you know from your own experience.    She was devastated to learn that 4+ years of hard work, maintaining a 4.8 GPA and getting fantastic scores on SAT and ACT meant absolutely nothing to these colleges less than a year later.    
 We have gone to almost no loans (she had nearly a full ride at the first college) to having to take out huge loans now.  I'm just committed to working and helping her pay them off over the next 6 years or so.and bye bye retirement travel plans.   I do hope that your daughter finds  something that will make her happy and fit your budget.   Best of luck to you!
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@daughtersdreams -

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to your D! Did you ever go and meet with the new schools and explain why she had withdrawn from her original school to see if that might make a difference in the aid awards? Maybe it’s not too late now to get her some additional money?

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Hi @techmom99 Thanks for your concern! The scenario that I wrote about happened during last audition season - she is now the Class of 2021 at Point Park University. What I didn’t know when I let my daughter withdraw from her first college in fall 2016, is that any student who enrolls in a college after high school graduation will be considered a transfer student by any other college – even if there are no credits to transfer and even if the student drops out before attending a single class. Another thing I didn’t know is that 90% of college scholarship money is reserved for “first-time” freshmen. At most colleges, transfer scholarships amount to a few thousand at best.

Trust me, we did everything possible to plead our case- I wrote letters, my daughter wrote letters, even the theatre department people at the colleges lobbied for her (and they did get a few thousand extra dollars) but it just wasn’t enough. That is just how colleges do business.

I think from a business standpoint it is foolish of a college to undervalue the merits of a transfer student - especially one with a proven record of academic success. That is why I caution anyone who is thinking of taking a GAP year - to be very very careful what your student does during that time. If he or she enrolls in a community college to get some gen ed courses out of the way, you may be risking scholarship opportunities at a 4 yr college later on.

One of the main reasons my daughter is at Point Park is because they were very generous in both their academic and talent awards and did not discriminate because she had previous college experience. Though she still needs large loans on top of the Federal ones, it was the best financial option she had.

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@STHmom My S is considering Texas State Acting! He visited last week and really enjoyed it! We are still between a few schools, but TXST is a strong contender. He LOVED the facilities! He liked the campus and enjoyed the student vibe as well. He felt that the class he participated in with Lauren Lane was exceptional and on par with the class he sat in on at Calarts yesterday, so that was nice to hear from him. He really likes all the TXST faculty and they have been very personable with him. He is pretty picky, so I trust his judgement with overall quality. Really, really looking forward to his decision!

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@Rizzo2, my D got into Marymount and Hartt too. We have seen plays at both schools that were excellent. The main difference is that Hartt is an intense conservatory program with 107 credits in the acting major (and only 30 liberal arts credits), whereas Marymount has only 60 acting credits and 60 liberal arts credits.

Marymount prides itself on having fewer acting credits than most BFAs because it allows room for more liberal arts and electives or a minor so students can explore other interests. My D isn’t interested in that - she wants to be totally immersed in acting training, so she’s most likely going to Hartt. (She’s sitting in on classes tomorrow.)

So it really depends on what your child wants in a program: flexibility and freedom to explore other interests, or intense acting training?

I don’t know anything about LIU, sorry!

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@daughtersdreams, I’m so incredibly sorry to hear of your D’s experience. That’s truly awful–first, that this happened to her without being protected by the first school, and then that she was penalized for having spent time there.
What a valuable cautionary tale - thank you for sharing it.

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@daughtersdreams, I’m also so sorry that this happened to your D. What a painful, frightening, frustrating experience. To be victimized like that and then victimized all over again with the college situation… Wow. Hugs to you both even thought it’s been awhile since it happened.

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@daughtersdreams I’m so sorry that this happened! I thank you for being so transparent and hopefully helping one of us reading to understand what can happen. I have a feeling that she will come out with a bright future full of success!

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@actingdreams How was the DePaul admitted students day? I’m on the wait list and would appreciate if you could share some information on the program

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Two weeks left, one more class visit at the end of the week. I can’t help but feel that this is familiar to the few weeks remaining on a pregnancy…trying so hard to be patient.

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@DoinResearch - too funny. I was telling friends that my D started this process in August (and I guess we were LATE on that) and so it feels like it’s been an 8 month gestation! Happy our process is DONE and we are moving on to the fun stuff of dorm furbishing and looking at meal plans! :slight_smile: Hang in there - like with the babies arriving, the college decision will be made and hopefully all this anxiety will soon be a distant memory.

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@actor16 Hi! Friday was short for us (I didn’t know my son had a 2pm performance and 7pm last performance of HS) … But The time we were there was FANTASTIC!!! It was nice to see a couple of CC Parents there… So much info.

They split the kids up away from the parents to experience a different info/tour/ class etc. Parents were able to sit in on an International Dialect class ( really great! ) one of the voice teachers pronounces everything so perfectly when she speaks (well Duh )

Kids can double major for the same price and this is only for Theatre School Students. Of course the catch is “can you handle it ?”
their degree requirement is 152 credit hours of Conservatory training and about 52 liberal arts classes ( You’re BUSY)

I realized again Why Chicago is such a great city! (So much culture and so many places to go, see and do)

with all of the talk about Financial Aid, It was nice to see that each parent had a time slot as part of their packet to meet with the financial advisor that was selected for them inside of the Theatre school where they were set up. This was nice because many of the parents were curious if they could get more $$ (who wouldn’t ?) and those options are certainly available for all of them

found out 1728 people had auditioned for all of the BFA spots within the Theatre school (playwriters, film, directing, acting, tech) they only took about 90 I think is what was said

98% of the students have representation when they graduate and the majority of them have the option of signing earlier into their Senior Year but can’t until all agents from NY, LA and Chicago have had a chance to present their agency

It looks like last year they had a class of only 22 actors for their BFA. I’m not sure if thats about how small it will be this year. They didn’t go into that portion other than the 1728 pre-screened auditioned for their program

Day 2 was very short 9-12pm… The Actors were able to take a Master class with who will be their first Acting teacher
with ROB ADLER . ( his imdb is Robert Michael Adler) who holds sessions for season actors when he’s not teaching at DePaul … My son said the class really changed his mind from “it’s still not far from my home” to " Wow, there are so many filming, theatre, agencies here that I can tap into with so many connections"

There was also a recent graduate panel Saturday for parents/students and to be quite frank, Their experience is exactly like the Juilliard Alumni experience. They all seem to be doing the exact same thing (except these kids weren’t discussing how broke they were lol)

Since we’re not far from the school, my son really didn’t take the theatre school seriously (and for other reasons) but after taking the Master class and meeting future DePaul students who have already committed from California and from New York (Brooklyn, downtown etc) He’s realizing that this is just a time where you find your “Tribe” who you vibe with. He even met someone from our hometown who will be a theatre studies major and actually lives 2 blocks from our old house in Missouri (we’re still floored by this one)

It was great!! I had no idea it was that difficult to get into the Theatre school but once again, we’re now on the other side of just knowing where the school is etc …

I would certainly tell anyone to apply to the DePaul Theatre School for next year as a choice

My son was reminded again from several of his drama teachers in their FB group that they know students are approaching their final choices for college and they all wanted to remind the kids to NOT go into DEEP DEBT and that all of their students will come back in 4 years to thank them later for it or they will be on the other end of “we told you so” :slight_smile:

NYU will cost us a bit more $$$ but DePaul is now REALLY FAR UP THERE because of their program, connections, almost debt free and opportunities to connect prior to and after graduation.

it’s also not always about the $$. We’ve received a couple of practical full-rides and either the programs were not established yet or the caliber of the seriousness of other students that he didn’t feel comfortable with.

I thought he would finally pull the plug yesterday but he didn’t. It will be interesting to have gone through this wild ride only to end up back home lol

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Wow @actingdreams! Sounds like a great day! 98% of students having representation upon graduation is an amazing statistic. I guess your S really does have a tough decision to make and any decision he makes will be great!

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@jbtcat yes I thought that was really nice to hear. I guess it’s part of it being a small size program and being in a larger city where theatre/film is happening.

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I’m sorry @actor16 I meant 52 Hour course in Liberal Studies and 152 hrs in the Acting Major. I previously said 52 classes lol

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Anybody not accepting the nyu waitlist?